Mont St. Michel/DDay Beaches Itinerary

Your first day will be shortened because of drive time. And when you consider the time it takes to drive back to Paris, turn in your rental car, transfer to the terminal, check-in, and go through security, you won't have much sight-seeing time the second day. If you are still determined to see those Normandy sites, one option would be to subtract a day from Paris (leaving a respectable 5 days in the city), and add it to your time in Normandy.

It can be done. On the first day, do an expedited tour of the beaches. You can do a quick overview in a few hours. Then, drive to Mont St. Michel and spend the night (and enjoy the solemnity). Visit the abbey either late in the afternoon if you're not too tired, or first thing in the morning, then leave before the daily invasion of daytrippers arrives. You'll have plenty of time to reach Orly.

staying the night on Mt. St Michel is magical...I did that last May and it was the highlight of my 2 weeks in France ! Le Mont is horrible during the day when busloads of tourists clog the streets but at night only a hundred or so people are there and you can wander around freely and watch the tide come and go from the ramparts as the sun sets...it is a special place if you can avoid the crowds...otherwise I would say just drive close enough to take some photos and don't even bother going in...just my opinion...also...the hotels and food there are just soso...what I did was bring some picnic foods and found a nice spot by the water under the Abbey and sat on the rocks for a picnic dinner...and then hiked up to the Abbey to watch the tide come in at sunset...it was beautiful ! I stayed at the Auberge St. Pierre...it has a walkway directly onto the ramparts so you can avoid the crowded streets below and was also not as expensive as the better known Mdm Poulard for example ...

Erin,

Your son will very much enjoy both Normandy and Mont St. Michel. I also think you should try and spend the night on Mont St. Michel, and if need be, subtract a night from Paris. Spend 1 night in Normandy and 1 night a Mont St. Michel. I think you'll feel very rushed if you do it with 2 days and 1 night.

I agree with those who say drop a day from Paris. We did Normandy 2 years ago. We did Mont SM and also saw the Bayeux tapestry which was in the same vicinity. On the 2nd day we took the Caen museum tour of the beaches which was excellent and we also toured the museum which was very good. With a flight at 3:00 you really don't have any time the 2nd day. The museum runs daily, eight-person minivan guided tours of the D-Day beaches, which begin at the museum or the Caen train station and cost about €60. Contact the museum at www.memorial-caen.fr/circuits or [email protected]. You can also easily see Monet's house on the way to Normandy!

Bayeux to Paris CDG is a minimum 3 hour drive, that gets you to the car rental return, then you've got to get to the airport check-in counter. Then there's getting breakfast in the morning, checking out of the hotel, getting to your car, getting to the autoroute--before you even do the 3-hour drive. So it's not clear that you have any time to do/see anything on the day of your departure flight, except get back to the airport.

Mont St. Michel was my least favorite part of my trip to Europe last summer. I was under the impression that the tide comes in year round, but unless you are going to be there during a time of high tide I would skip this part of your trip. There were a lot of people and not a lot to do. A few rinky-dink shops and 3 museums that you could easily do without visiting.

Jessie - it's too bad you didn't get to see the tide. It's really an amazing site. We actually planned our last trip around being there during the month's high tide because like you on our first visit we didn't get to see it.

For anyone who's interested here is a link to the Mont St. Michel website that has tide info so you can check and see what it will be during your visit.

http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/horaires_gb.htm