Poor Student looking for help with overambitious Normandy Plans

Posted by Meghan (Madrid, Spain) on 02/10/10 04:18 AM

Hello all,

I have been reading the forums, and from what I have found it seems that the only solution to my desired itinerary is to rent a car. However, I do not know how to drive stick-shift and I am also doing this portion of the trip by myself.

My plan is as follows:
Day 1- Take a train from Paris to Bayeux (morning)
Do a D-Day tour, (maybe? Mt. St Michel?? Shuttles from town?)
Spend the night in Bayeux
Day 2- See some of Bayeux, hopefully go to Giverny to see Monet´s house. I have had trouble navigating the French train site, and I am also unsure of how the roads are at this point. Should I look into a tour, go for a rental car?? It would have to be automatic, but the companies I´ve found do not have automatics.

Can somebody recommend an ideal method of transport? I have been to the SNCF website, but I´m confused by it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Posted by Ed

Pensacola

02/10/10 05:05 AM

9110 posts

Some thoughts:

I think you need to spend the night in Bayeux in order to take most of the tours. You can easily conduct your own tour with a car. Give me a yell if you select this option --too lengthy to post here.

There's no way to do a tour and see MSM in the same day. Also the hike out the causeway to MSM is maybe a mile and a half. MSM is the most expensive spot in France except maybe for the Riviera, but you have cheaper opions there which you don't have at MSM. I've seen buses out there, but believe they were tour, not shuttle buses.

You have proudly stated you are both poor and a stundent. Yeah, you!. However, this brings up a couple of issues. Automatic transmissions are availabe but they add tremendously to the price. Age is an issue for renting a car.

The roads are fine and well-marked.

Posted by Tom

Chicago

02/10/10 07:47 AM

2876 posts

Meghan,

If you want to see Giverny, MSM, & Normandy you'll find it almost impossible without a car. Giverny is right on the highway between Paris & Normandy and an easy 2-hour stop. Be aware that there is a LOT of walking at MSM, and allow a good 3 or more hours. You can get an auto trans car through autoeurope.com. But be sure you get a GPS, or take a friend with you to be the mapreader. The roads in France are very good and generally well-marked, but off the main highways it can get a little tricky. And driving in Paris itself can be hairy. Having a second person makes it all a lot easier.

Posted by Grier

Lake Oswego, Oregon

02/10/10 08:35 AM

1329 posts

Giverny can be done easily by train from Paris. Take the train from Gare St Lazare to Vernon, and a bus will meet the train at the station and take you to Giverny.

Posted by Tim

Minneapolis, MN, USA

02/10/10 09:13 AM

8700 posts

The best site for detailed train timetables for most of Europe is www.bahn.de. Click on the drop-down flag menu for English. After you get summary timetables for point A to point B, click on the arrow to the left of each departure time to see the connecting points (if any).

You cannot get to Bayeux from Paris by train early enough in the morning to take an all-day tour of the D-Day beaches. Battlebus is one of the best, but it only offers all-day tours. Some companies in Bayeux offer half-day tours, either morning or afternoon. Overlord Tour is one of them.

You could take a morning train to Vernon and a bus to Giverny, visit Monet's gardens, and then go on by train to Bayeux. Spend the night, take an all-day or half-day D-Day tour, and return to Paris in the evening.

Or you could take a morning train from Paris to Caen, visit the War Memorial Museum, take the museum-sponsored afternoon tour of the D-Day beaches, take the short train ride to Bayeux, and spend the night there. The next morning you could see some of Bayeux and then take the train to Vernon and the bus from there to Giverny. If you left Bayeux at 11:41, you would arrive at Vernon at 14:51. Monet's gardens close at 18:00. Then take an evening train to Paris.