Normandy Itinerary help

I should probably clarify. The 1 hour I quoted for Mont St. Michel is only for the abbey -the buildings that top the mount and thus the reason most people come to visit, not the entire island. And this only applies if there are no lines, meaning early in the morning or late in the day. It doesn't include the time it takes to walk from the parking lot up to the abbey, or to explore any other areas of the Mont.

Sounds fairly reasonable, as long as you realize that there's a fair amount of D-Day related stuff you won't be able to see. I would add that you could probably even do a little more on the first day, depending on when you wanted to tour the abbey at Mont St. Michel -my advice would either to tour it late in the day or early the next morning. At these times of the day, you can see it in about 1 hour, even with the audioguide.

Thats is a good suggestion. Maybe we could drive to Bayeux first and see some sights and then head to MSM later that day to stay the night. The the next day return to the Caen/Bayeux area and finish seeing the sights there and then staying the night.

Wow, thanks for the question, and thanks for the info about the 1 hour tour @ Mont St Michael. We will be driving there from the Loire valley, which should take us three hours.

I suppose we need to be at Mt ST Mike BEFORE 10 AM if we wnat to avoid the crowds?

I was not brave enough to try driving in Paris. We took the train to Caen, and rented our car there. It was stress-free! The car rental place is directly across the street from the train station.

If you want to spend the nite at MSM, you could do some sightseeing in Bayeux before you go to MSM. You could easily see the tapestry and some of Bayeux before heading over to MSM. You would still have time to see MSM that day. Then you could get up "early" the next morning to see the famed tides come in.

I would strongly recommend signing up for the Battlebus tour of the D-Day area. You will get such an amazing amount of valuable information and understanding of strategy, etc. that you will never get on your own. The price of that tour was some of the best money I've ever spent!

"I was not brave enough to try driving in Paris." Janis, I know you already know this, but in case any newbies don't--bravery, or lack of bravery, has nothing to do with it--experience, sound judgment, and a desire to have a relaxing vacation will tell a person not to drive in Paris, if there is any reasonable alternative. We have very few travelers, reporting in here, who have admitted that they drove in Paris. And even fewer who, having admitted they drove in Paris, would recommend it to others.

Kent, I'll be one of the few who admits to having driven in Paris... but out of the unique circumstances of that particular trip, which wasn't a tourist visit. And I can say with confidence... DON'T DO IT!

With three nights I would spend one in MSM and two in Bayeux. Normandy is a great area for a car. Getting to MSM late in the afternoon and leaving fairly early the next day works well. This also gives you time to see the countryside. There are a lot of driving itineraries for Normandy. Bayeux is a very nice town with the cathedral,tapestry, and a full day of D-Day sites you can't go wrong. I would see Giverny on your way back to Paris.

That's my two cents. I would agree that picking and dropping the car in Caen would be my 1st choice.

Before we took our first trip to Europe, I was fortunate enough to be one of the callers that RS spoke with on his radio show. He implored me not to rent a car in Paris, but to take the train to Bayeux for our Normandy visit, and rent car there if necessary. After visiting Paris, I know for certain that he's right. We took train to Bayeux, spent 4 nights, toured 3 days with Battlebus, saw the Tapestry and Cathedral, without renting a car. If we had stayed another day, we would have taken the shuttle tour that our Hotel Churchill offered to Mont St. Michel. We also made a day trip to Rouen on the train from Paris, as RS recommends in Paris book. I know lots of folks rent cars and love the freedom. But we don't have time to roam and search. We must make the most of our time, and for us, it's the train and small organized tours.

We visited Bayeux, Omaha Beach, and Mont St. Michel last June. You could visit Dinan and St. Malo as part of this trip--they are just over the border in Brittany. We stayed in Les Andeleys when we visited Giverny. It has a delightfully ruined castle that belonged to Richard the Lion-Hearted and the town is situated on a very picturesque section of the Seine. Check Giverny's schedule---it is closed one day. Get there early and go first to the Lily Pond. It was crowded in late June and I am sure it is even more crowded in July. But we managed to get good pictures despite the crowds.