How should I allot my days in France?

We drove out to Mont St Michel and spent the night there. it is worth your time to spend about a day to a day and a half. I wish we had done the d-day landing beaches. There are many folks on this website who can give you excellent advice on how much time you should devote there.
Marilyn

I second the vote to spend the night at Mont St Michel. If you can coordinate it with the high tide of the month, that's even better:) We took the train to Versailles and picked up a rental car there, so as to avoid Paris traffic. Spent the night in Chartres. In Provence, I love Arles and Avignon, both great bases for exploring the area. Sorry, not much help on how long to stay though.

We completed a similar itinerary in June: Arrived at CDG & took train to Caen. 2 days in Caen. Day #2- took the morning D-Day tour associated with the Caen Memorial Museum and toured the museum in the afternoon. The museum is fantastic, and the tour was excellent and plenty of time for us. 5 days in Paris. Both my husband & I weren't ready to leave Paris! (we didn't go to Varsailles; I had been there previously.) Fast train to Avignon.
5 days in Avignon - great location to see Nimes, Luberon villages, etc. 1 day in Carcassonne 1 day in Toulouse. Flew back to Seattle from Toulouse. Changes I would recommend: longer time in Paris, go east along the coast instead of west after Avignon.

While in the southern France, you might want to consider Albi, apart from Carcassonne (rather than Toulouse as suggested on previous post). I was in Albi in May this year and find it very beautiful, much more than Toulouse! Wikipedia quote: "Its episcopal city, situated in the center of the actual city, around the cathedral, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2010." Also, Toulouse-Lautrec was born near Albi; you can find a very interesting museum of his work in the palace (Palais de la Berbie ) right next to the cathedral.

For Normandy/ MSM, I would suggest something like this (it all depends on how fast you're willing to go/ how much time you want to spend places): Day 1-Train from Paris to Rouen, rent car in Rouen (tour Rouen, drive to Honfleur), Sleep Honfleur Day 2-explore Honfleur (so lovely, a fabulous place to spend a night) You could go up to Etretat if you had time -- we didn't have a chance, but it looks amazing. Sleep Honfleur again? Or maybe Caen? Day 3- Drive to Bayeux (see tapestry) , Drive to D-Day beaches, (if you're interested), drive to Mont St. Michel-- arriving near the end of the day (once the crowds are gone). Sleep MSM.
Day 4- you could continue to explore Brittany if you want (Dinan/ St. Malo are lovely), and then drop your car off at another train station (would have to research which are best for this), and train back to Paris. I would suggest staying on MSM, but i would bring a picnic dinner and a bottle of wine for youself-- food is not great on the Mont, and since you're "stuck" there, there is a lot of price gouging.

I would recommend at least 3 nights in Bayeux, which is a good base for DDay sites. I would do a one day guided tour, and spend the next full day going back to sites you may want to spend more time at plus the WWII museum in Bayeux (the best one imo). Actually, 4 nights is ideal, because the 3rd day could easily be spent enjoying Bayeux itself (a charming town), the Bayeux Tapestry and the cathedral. I've spent the night on Mont St. Michel a couple of times and really enjoyed it.

I agree that Honfleur is wonderful place. It also has a great market on Saturday mornings that is throughout the town. One of the days that we stayed there it was really rainy. We decided to go to their butterfly house. It was one the highlights of our trip!

I would spend at least three nights in Bayeaux and plan on a Battlebus tour of Normandy. I did the American Experience tour and the Band of Brother tour with them and love them both. The small museums like Dead Man's Corner are all worth a visit. Mont St Micheal is wonderful, I would get there later in the day and spend the night and plan on seeing the castle in the early morning. It gets very crowded. You need to book very early for the tours of Normandy. It is a special place and is worth the three days if not more.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!