traveling to Normandy

Sorry Lauri, I typed my heart out the other day, but the system balked and then I forgot about you. You posed a really mean question and you ain't goin to like the answer (I don't like it either), but here goes. Get the car in Paris or at the airport - - everwhere you're starting from. Tossing in a train is going to add time changing modes of transportation and over-all the car is going to be almost as fast. Plus it lets you stop at Rouen of the way north. That was the easy part. Overall, if I were to do what you were asking (with a minor enroute addition), it would be Paris, Rouen, Caen/Bayeux, MSN, St Malo (I know, Brittany, but it works better), Nantes, Orleans, Chartres (the addition), Paris would be the route.I know the roads, I know where everything is. I speak the language. I don't miss a turn. I don't need maps or a gps. If I were to just drive it with nothing but gas stops (no driving into town, going to a hotel, museum, etc) it would take me a bit less than fifteen hours - - and that's on the freeways. A more realistic figure would be something well over twenty hours of road time. I'll break it down into two segments: Normandy and the Loire. NORMANDY I've taken a bunch of people through Normandy a bunch of times. You haven't said what you want to see, so I'll take the middle ground. To do minimal justice to the area, I need two ten-hour days starting from Rouen which is a couple hours north of Paris.

I think what I'd do in your case is stop in Rouen for a couple of hours and then press on to Honfleur for the night. From there, it's going to be a long day. Bayeux is a bit over an hour away. Skip Caen (the Bayeux war museum is better and you can fit in an hour for the tapestry musem). Assuming, you clear both museums and have lunch by noon, you can fit in the cemetery and a beach in another three hours. Now the grind begins. You're going to have to skip any more WWII stuff and hot-foot it directly toward MSN. That's a two-hour drive if you don't screw up. Maybe you could drag your feet and go up to Saint Lo since you're going to get to MSN after dark which is fine. You need an hour there to walk up the one street and don the eastern wall. You'll miss the tour buses, some/most of the shops will be closed, so will the abbey, but that's okay. The best view is stopping on the causeway on the way out and looking back at the lighted mont. It costs too much to sleep there and the food reeks at a similar price. Press on to St Malo. Eat at any of the row of restaurants just inside the wall adjacent to the small recreational marina, walk a bit of the same wall and call it a night. You're exhausted.

LOIRE From St Malo to Nantes is two hours. The best part of the valley is from there to Orleans, but you can cut in at Angers and save a bit of time without missing too much. To drive from Nantes to Orleans in the valley is between five and six hours. Entering at Angers would save a bit, but increases the time from St Malo to the valley - - toss a coin. Regardless, that's driving time and pulling over to take a couple of pictures. It doesn't include a lunch stop or time to go in a chateau. Get out of the valley at Orleans and cut up to Chartres - - it's open late and it would be a crime to miss the cathedral. There are plenty of places to eat just off the right side of the cathedral. Chartres to Paris is about an hour. Getting into the city is a bear at night if you don't know your way. (I can give you ideas of car drop points - - depending on the time of day - - close to the perpherique.) If this is a summer project, daylight won't be a factor.

WHAT I'D DO. Either add one more day to the whole project and devote it to Normandy, ending that section at Rennes to get a better start the last day. or Scrub the Loire, and give three days to Normandy. If you did this, you could scoot down to Fontainbleau on the fourth day. The chateau there trumps anything in the Loire and arguably rivals Versailles. You've got a bear by the tail and not enough time to skin it. Give me what's most important and I'll see if I can come up with an acceptable revision.

i drove through the loire and normandy and liked the drive there. beautify small places along the way, relatively short distance between sites, you'll like it. may cost a little bit more than public transportation, but you'll have many options with where to eat, stop, and spend the night. most people going to normandy like to base in bayeux, it's very close to the beach and you can check out the tapestry. for loire you'll have many little towns with good castle visits to choose so you should plan out which ones you want to see, most likely you'll have to skip some for this trip knowing 2 days is not enough to see all.

I think a car is best in Normandy and the Loire. With the limited time you have, I wouldn't add any of those places in Brittany. What I'd do is find a nice B&B or small hotel near the Normandy beaches, and use that as a base to visit places like Bayeux, Honfleur, & Omaha Beach. I think the Caen War Museum is worth it if you have the time. You'll easily fill two days. (On the way to Normandy from Paris you can easily stop at Giverny & see Monet's home & gardens if you want.) From Normandy I'd drive straight to the Loire. I think Amboise makes a good base. Caen to Amboise is about 3 hours. From Amboise you can easily visit Chinon, Chenonceau, Chambord & a winery if you want (the Marc Bredif winery is excellent). Then you can head back to Paris via Chartres or Orleans.

To clairfy my suggestions and comment on Tom's excellent thoughts: 'any of those places in Brittany' consists solely of St Malo by twenty-five miles. (Rennes (also Brittany) was mentioned only as an alternative in conjunction with an extended plan.) The driving time from St Malo to Nantes is about fifteen minutes faster than from Pontorson and a half hour faster than from MSN. St Malo is cheaper than MSN by a third and offers a heck of a lot more ambiance than Pontorson. St Malo is also the best example of a walled port in France. Staying in Bayeux and back-tracking to Honfleur adds two hours to go see a place you already drove by. With over seven hundred miles to cover in four days, staying two nights anywhere and taking day trips is impossible.

Thanks for the replies, lots to think about. Our original plan was to take the train from Paris to Caen (our hotel is there and only hotel I could find with availability for 4). Pick up car there and visit WW11 museums, beaches etc. Spend 2nd day driving the coast and visiting a few towns along the way. We spend a second night in Caen before driving back to Paris through Loire. We have 2 days, 1 night in Amboise for this leg of the trip. What is the driving time from Paris to Caen/ Bayeux. Thanks.

"What is the driving time from Paris to Caen/ Bayeux." It depends on which part of Paris you're starting from, and which route you take (scenic route? most direct route?). In general, quickest routes (least scenic) are roughly 2.5 hours Paris - Caen, not including stops. And roughly 20 - 30 minutes farther to Bayeux. But actual times may substantially vary from those, depending on: which part of Paris you're starting from, which route you take, etc. The times given at Viamichelin.com and GoogleMaps don't include stops. And they don't include the time eaten up taking wrong turns. If you decide not to use a GPS, you probably want to add some time for taking wrong turns: the French concept of direction signs is a bit different from ours. To do more specific road trip planning, you'll want to get familiar with how to use the many resources at Viamichelin.com. And try our "How much time will it take to get there" FAQ, at the top of this page, one of the stickies.

Cant add much to what has already been written. If you can add a day, I strongly endorse the recommendations for St Malo (within the walls and the little harbor) and Chartres. Really tough, so many facinating things to see. I love the Loire Chateaux but also wouldnt miss the Bayeaux tapestry

I'm not so sure I agree with all the electronic junk. From the peripherique and the N13 junction, I can be in the middle of Bayeux in two and a half hours. It's all (except for the last five miles into Bayeux) freeway. You're sitting on eighty just to keep up with traffic (which isn't heavy except maybe on the Caen bypass). You have to slow down for either three or four toll booths. Signage is excellent except sometimes the French put their signs (the one right at the off-ramp not the warners that lead by a couple of miles) on the far side of the ramp instead of the near one. Regardless, there's no doubt if you look at the painted arrows in the lanes. Every turn has the name of the next town on it along the whole route. This isn't always true, but it is for this stretch. I routinely make thetrip with the map in the console and the gps still in the trunk. I strongly suspect that I've done it a few times while still asleep.

We visited the Loire Valley and Normandy in 2008, although we did spend more than four days. I think what you want to see is doable in four days, although you will have to pick and choose your sites. I played with google maps and found a loop of 728 miles with 15 hours of driving time. My suggested overnights are in capital letters........Pick up your rental car at Orly.....Chartres.....CHENONCEUX.....Chinon.....Dinan......ST. MALO.....Mont. St. M.......Bayeux tapestry......Omaha Beach......HONFLEUR......Rouen......Giverney......return car to CDG and head back to Paris.