amymh3

My husband and I are going to the Brittany and Normandy regions of France Mid/End of May. I was wondering if I could get some feedback on my itinerary?

Day 1: Arrive in Paris at 9 AM. Train to Rennes. Lunch in Rennes. Pick up rental car and drive to Saint-Cast-le-Guildo?? Paimpol? Not completely sure on this one. Spend night there.
Day 2: Depending on where we are, just explore the area. If we stay at Saint-cast-Le-Guildo, we can go to Cap Frehel. Night back at where we stopped on Day 1.
Day 3: Drive to Dinan. Explore Dinan. Night at Dinan
Day 4: Not sure what we would do during the day? Night at Dinan.
Day 5: Drive to St. Malo/Cancale. Lunch in Cancale. Explore area. Night in Mont St. Michle
Day 6: Morning Tour of MSM. Drive to Bayeux. Night in Bayeux.
Day 7: Beaches, Tapestry. Night in Bayeux.
Day 8: Drive to Etretat. Stopping at Honfleur on the way. Night in Etretat.
Day 9: Morning at Etretat. Drive to Giverny. Claude Monet Tour. Paris by night.
Day 10: Day in Paris (yes, I know one day is not enough but big cities aren't our thing, so it's enough for us).
Day 11: Depart at 10 am.

What do you think? To busy? My husband requested a beach view morning, a croissant, and good seafood. I like the quaint old towns, food and Claude Monet.

Another completely different option would be to go over near Breast. and See the Point Pen Huir It looks gorgeous.

Any suggestions on our first couple days as far as places to stay is really appreciated as well.

StuDudley

Don't make lunch reservations in Rennes. There is about a 15% chance you will catch the TGV to Rennes that will get you there by lunch time.

Just stay in one hotel the first 3 nights. You can easily get to all your destinations by staying in Dinan.

Stu Dudley

kerouac

People absolutely never want to spend any time in Le Havre when they are driving along the coast. This is a mistake in my opinion. I revisited both Le Havre and Honfleur last month and enjoyed both of them again in spite of the freezing weather.

http://tinyurl.com/LeHavre2017

http://tinyurl.com/Honfleur2017

FuryFluffy

Stu is right, if your flight land at 9am then you wouldn't arrive in Rennes by lunch time. Passport control & luggage retrieving can last 2h, or more. Train from Paris CDG Airport Train station to Rennes may take 3h. Then, by 2pm many lunch restaurants in France are close already.

Also, you seem to plan too much for your days. Many days of yours is for 2 destinations each. Driving can be longer than you thought too, for that matter I leave it to the people here who drive to comment on.

Michael

You can stay in Dinan while visiting St. Malo. It would save the time of packing and checking in and out.

The Mont Saint-Michel is only 50 minutes from Dinan. It also can be seen as a day trip, or as a stop on the way to the next destination.

amymh3

Thank you everyone for your replies, I have edited down the itinerary with having to move only 3 times.

Thanks also for the travel time to Rennes from Paris, I'll just say we will get food at Rennes at some time haha.

Has anyone stayed on Mont Saint-Michel? I'm torn between just making a stop there and staying there overnight. I've seen that hotels and food are just meh on MSM but that the experience is neat.

kja

Just a few comments:

If there is <b>any</b> chance that you will have jet lag, I would strongly encourage you to take public transportation for your first night or two. Although many people are unaware of it, there is mounting evidence that driving with jet lag is just as dangerous -- to yourself and others -- as driving drunk, and <b>nothing</b> you can do will prevent the microsleeps (which you might not even notice) that are the apparent culprit. Rennes is delightful – I would suggest staying there the night.

I spent a night on Mont St. Michel, and was very glad I did – in contrast to the sardine-can sensation of being there with daytrippers, I found it absolutely magical to roam around at night, and I was able to get into the abbey before day trippers got there. IME, the food on the Mont is not up to the usual French standard, but a mediocre meal seemed to me to be a fair price for the experience.

Do you have a Michelin Green Guide for the area? I think you might find it extremely useful.

kawh

agree with above... stay in one spot (or two) ... all of those are easy drive-to's.

if hubbie wants a nice beach morning, we loved using st malo as our base. we stayed at the belleview and enjoyed the huge window out on the sea with a lovely view from bed. parking was on the street and fairly easy. we saw the whole area out from there... and could walk along the water whenever the mood hit us.

shamouel

For days 1 and 2, both Paimpol and St Cast le Guildo are pleasant places. If you stay in Paimpol you can easily reach the island Bréhat. You may also consider visiting Tréguier. Near Cape Fréhel, try not forget Fort la Latte.

For day 4, around Dinan, you will find quite many interesting towns, depending on your wish to be along the seaside (for example St Briac) or in the countryside (Jugon, Bécherel...).

Except on a few holidays/weekends, May is usually a good and quiet period to visit Brittany.