Paris to Mont St Michel / Omaha beach

This is a duplicate of an identical post in Transportation. Often better answers will come with one clear thread rather than a pair.

Jeff D., Although this is a duplicate Thread, I'll answer here as this seems like the most appropriate section. Travelling to Mont St. Michel and Omaha Beach as two "day trips" from Paris is simply not practical, due to the transportation times involved. Although you're "too cheap" to pay for another Hotel room, staying at least one night in Bayeux would be a really good idea. Without a car, it's going to be somewhat "challenging" to get to sites like Omaha Beach, so I'd strongly recommend taking one of the excellent local tours in that area. The Guides are awesome and the tours are interesting, so you'd all learn a lot more and would probably find it to be a more rewarding experience. There are a variety of firms offering these, and some have half-day tours. If you need further information on the tour firms, post another note. While in Bayeux, you could also visit the excellent local WW-II Museum there and of course the famous Tapestry which describes the much earlier Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Gun Batteries at Longues sur Mer (which were used for some scenes in The Longest Day) are not too far out of town, but you'd need a rental car or Taxi to get there. One option for travel to Mont St. Michel would be to take the Bus from the Churchill Hotel. The return time is fairly early in the afternoon, so it would only provide a few hours there, but you'd at least be able to have a quick look. Which "travel books" are you using??? You may find it helpful to have a look at the Rick Steves France books as there's a wealth of information there. Note that these are now also available in E-book format. Good luck with your planning!

One possibility to get to the WWII beaches is to take the early, early train to Bayeux and be met by a tour guide at the train station. Tour the sites, have him/her drop you back at the train station and you can return to Paris. BUT - you mention you have kids. How many and what ages? Because for some kids, this would be torture. And if you're going "soon" it could be even more torturous with freezing weather. My advice would be to rent a car and stay the night in Bayeux or close by. You could drive Paris to Mt. St. Michel, visit the place in a few hours (really, that was all my kids could take) and then drive to Bayeux. If you have time, visit the Bayeux museum and see the tapestry. (Huge highlight for the whole family.) Get up the next morning, tour the WWII stuff and continue back to Paris that evening. Not ideal, but do-able. Even this way, I'd recommend hiring a guide, and having the kids watch "The Longest Day" before going so they can be engaged in what you are seeing.

You can do Paris to Mont Saint Michel by public transportation in 4 hours. This is less than the time it would take you to drive there from Paris. Take a TGV Train in Paris Montparnasse to Rennes at 7:08. Arriving in Rennes at 9:17. Take a bus from the Rennes Train station to Mont-Saint-Michel at 9:40. Arriving in MSM at 11:05. For the return, the last bus leaves at 17:15, arriving in Rennes at 18:40. TGV Train to Paris at 19:03 arriving in Montparnasse at 21:14.

'....public transportation in 4 hours. This is less than the time it would take you to drive there from Paris.' Almost but not quite. It's right at two hunded and fity miles - - two fourty is on a freeway where you'll average a bit over eighty. I've made it in three from the north end of town, more usually three point three from around the Latin Quarter.

Trying to do Mont St Michel as a day trip from Paris is really stretching the bounds of sanity (IMHO). I also think trying to do the Normandy Beaches/Bayeux as a day trip is not going to allow ample time to absorb the area. I'm suggesting that you rent a car and plan on committing a minimum of 3 days to see the area.

Ken has the right idea. You could squish it into two days, but you'd be driving home in the dark unless it were midsummer. If you spend the night in Caen, why pay for a room in Paris at the same time? And what's the cost of going back and forth to Normandy twice? I don't consider myself an intrepid traveler, but I've done a couple of Russian trips and a slew in China - - all without tours/guides/etc.

I just did this trip with three days and two nights and it really was not enough time to do everything we wanted, however we did linger a bit in Baueaux and skipped MSM as the days were really short and we would get tired early because it was dark so early. We did however, have a wonderful few days before heading back to Paris. As for being cheap, I also do not want to spend a ton on hotels and there is a very reasonable Etap right off the freeway in Baueaux and it was more than acceptable... not great ambiance, but clean and free parking and a great value. Also stayed in Vernon on the way back at the Normany Hotel which did cost more but was right in town and had a great Old World feel and wonderful breakfast. I looked into the tours also but decided the car gave us the flexibility and ability to drive around the beaches at our leisure and spend all the time we needed at the American Cemetary.

Yes it was a duplicate post on a different thread. I wanted to make sure I obtained the most information as possible.
Thank you all for your contribution, I appreciate it. Happy travels!

Last May, our group did a day trip to Brittany/Mont St Michel via Westcapades. Took TGV to St Malo and used their guided van for St Malo, then Dinan and finished in Mont St Michel. They then took us to Rennes where we took TGV back to Paris. They also have to do that tour, stay in a B& B in Bayeux and then take their van tour of D-Day beaches/Caen the next day. They are a bit pricy but the service was great. It's run by a husband & wife team who do most of the work. It's a good option to consider. The link is: www.westcapades.com

Having done Mont St Michel as a day trip from Paris 6 years ago, and then the American cemetery above Omaha beach plus Mont St Michel more recently from Rennes, I would suggest taking the TGV to Rennes and renting a car. Stay in Rennes, Arromaches, or perhaps St. Malo and make this a two day trip. St. Malo is fairly close to Mont St Michel and is one of my favorite places on the west coast of France. Go to http://www.frommers.com/slideshow/index.cfm?destid=575&p=1#slide and look at the slide show. I would also echo the comment about the Etap in Bayeux as being inexpensive and simple, but clean and convenient as a place to stay in the area.

St Malo is on the north coast of France.

Thank you for the updated information.