Normandy day trips from Paris
Aug 27th, 2011, 02:31 PM
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Yeah-don't do a daytrip.The area is full of history,scenery,great food and wondeful things to see and do.Take a tour;rent a car or take the train and go up to places like Honfleur,Bayeaux,Caen,Mont. St. Michel and St. Malo-you will be pleased that you didn't do it in a daytrip!
Aug 27th, 2011, 03:12 PM
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DH and I wanted to take a Normandy tour a few years back and after some research on the many day tours decided to do it on our own and highly recommend doing so. We made this decision 3 weeks before our planned 10-day trip to Paris but it worked out well. We took a morning train from Paris Gare St. Lazare to Caen and bought our train tix when we got to Paris. After arriving in Caen we picked up a rental car across from the train station--our first experience driving abroad. The car was a stick shift so only DH drove. Had we booked earlier we may have been able to reserve an automatic trans. From the Caen train station signs directed us to the Memorial Peace Museum which was on our list to visit and easy to find. www.memorial-caen.fr/portail/index.php
At the museum one of the staff helped us with driving directions to the Hotel Churchill in Bayeux and we set off after our visit. Might be worth renting GPS. Not a bad drive though,DH called it "Autopia with a clutch". We chose the Churchill because it had a parking lot but we liked the hotel very much. Bayeux was charming and we found a good dinner and walked in the town that evening.
We had had a few days of rain since arriving in Paris but the next morning the light was beautiful so we walked to Bayeux cathedral for photos mostly of the exterior. Then we drove to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. We visited at our leisure seeing what we wanted then moved on to Pointe du Hoc.
We could have squeezed in more sites in this overnight trip but enjoyed our own pace. Normandy has pretty countryside and the roads were easy to navigate. On the way back to the train station in Caen we looked for signs directing us to "gare", "SNCF" or the hippodrome which was near the station. We dropped off the car and boarded our train back to Paris.
Our Paris hotel was already booked so we took advantage of that and left our large bags in our Paris room and carried two small overnight bags. It didn't occur to us that we might have been able to cancel that one night and possibly get the hotel to hold our bags.
We enjoyed this visit so much that a few years later we returned and spent more days in Normandy. We flew to Paris, spent one night at the Hotel New Orient near the Gare St. Lazare and took the train to Caen the next morning. We visited many of the same sites while adding several others such as Arromanches and Mont St. Michel. Again we stayed at the Churchill.
I hope others will be able to recommend day tours but I hope you will consider making a short trip on your own if you are able.
At the museum one of the staff helped us with driving directions to the Hotel Churchill in Bayeux and we set off after our visit. Might be worth renting GPS. Not a bad drive though,DH called it "Autopia with a clutch". We chose the Churchill because it had a parking lot but we liked the hotel very much. Bayeux was charming and we found a good dinner and walked in the town that evening.
We had had a few days of rain since arriving in Paris but the next morning the light was beautiful so we walked to Bayeux cathedral for photos mostly of the exterior. Then we drove to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. We visited at our leisure seeing what we wanted then moved on to Pointe du Hoc.
We could have squeezed in more sites in this overnight trip but enjoyed our own pace. Normandy has pretty countryside and the roads were easy to navigate. On the way back to the train station in Caen we looked for signs directing us to "gare", "SNCF" or the hippodrome which was near the station. We dropped off the car and boarded our train back to Paris.
Our Paris hotel was already booked so we took advantage of that and left our large bags in our Paris room and carried two small overnight bags. It didn't occur to us that we might have been able to cancel that one night and possibly get the hotel to hold our bags.
We enjoyed this visit so much that a few years later we returned and spent more days in Normandy. We flew to Paris, spent one night at the Hotel New Orient near the Gare St. Lazare and took the train to Caen the next morning. We visited many of the same sites while adding several others such as Arromanches and Mont St. Michel. Again we stayed at the Churchill.
I hope others will be able to recommend day tours but I hope you will consider making a short trip on your own if you are able.
Aug 27th, 2011, 03:55 PM
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To the OP, note that Scootoir spent a night in Bayeux. So hers was not a daytrip from Paris. Viator and probably other companies offer a one-day bus tours to Normandy with an emphasis on WWII sites. It's a long day, though. Not the best way to see Normandy but if it's your only option....
Aug 27th, 2011, 05:11 PM
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The Caen museum(whether you are into WW2 or not) is fascinating and not to be missed.It took our family a half day to go through it and my kids were even in their teens.It makes everything come alive that happened in that region and WW2.
Bayeaux and its tapestry is well worth a stop too and to use as an overnight stop.Le Petite Prince is a fav restaurant of Rick Steves in Bayeaux-we thought that it was overloaded with too many American tourists?
Mont St Michel is magical and worth a stay on the mount after the tourists leave-the tourist buses pull up around 830am and leave around 4pm.The salt in the air as you walk around the ramparts at night is a fabulous experience!
I understand if you want to do a daytrip but it will be very rushed and you probably won't be seeing alot in the time given?Just my opinion...
Bayeaux and its tapestry is well worth a stop too and to use as an overnight stop.Le Petite Prince is a fav restaurant of Rick Steves in Bayeaux-we thought that it was overloaded with too many American tourists?
Mont St Michel is magical and worth a stay on the mount after the tourists leave-the tourist buses pull up around 830am and leave around 4pm.The salt in the air as you walk around the ramparts at night is a fabulous experience!
I understand if you want to do a daytrip but it will be very rushed and you probably won't be seeing alot in the time given?Just my opinion...
Aug 28th, 2011, 09:44 AM
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Hi Mimar, thanks for pointing out we spent one night in Normandy. I meant to state that at the beginning. We started out looking at day-trips from Paris but decided we didn't want to reenact "The Longest Day".
Hogster, I just assumed you meant you wanted to visit the D-Day sites; is that correct?
Hogster, I just assumed you meant you wanted to visit the D-Day sites; is that correct?
Aug 28th, 2011, 11:15 AM
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d-day Beaches and American Military Cemeterya t Colville-sur-Mer is an easy on your own day trip from Paris. Take a train to Bayeux and get a mini-bus tour that takes you to the most famous of the nearby D-day Landing sites and the cemetery - a poignant place overlooking the beaches where so many Americans and Allied troops died upon disembarkment.
Anyway arrange the mini-bus tour in advance - www.battlebus.fr (?) is one of several similar mini-bus tours - it is one that several Fodorites have liked.
Bayeux is also a nice old town - about the only old town in Normandy since most others were blitzkrieged into rubble in WW2 - Bayeux was not - it has a famous awesome cathedral and Queen Matilda' Tapestry, woven just after the 1066 Norman Conquest of England by the wife of William the Conqueror to document the invasion and battles, etc.
Trains run frequently to Bayeux from paris in about two hours.
Anyway arrange the mini-bus tour in advance - www.battlebus.fr (?) is one of several similar mini-bus tours - it is one that several Fodorites have liked.
Bayeux is also a nice old town - about the only old town in Normandy since most others were blitzkrieged into rubble in WW2 - Bayeux was not - it has a famous awesome cathedral and Queen Matilda' Tapestry, woven just after the 1066 Norman Conquest of England by the wife of William the Conqueror to document the invasion and battles, etc.
Trains run frequently to Bayeux from paris in about two hours.
Aug 29th, 2011, 07:58 AM
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Uh, Battlebus has gone out of business. And, while the French call the Bayeux Tapestry Queen Matilda's Tapestry, it is believed to have been created by Angle-Saxon(!) needleworkers. (This from my recent visit to Bayeux.)
Bayeux is indeed a nice town to visit; we even liked it in the rain. And the tapestry is surprisingly fascinating, both for the story it tells and for its expressive artistry. Even my husband really liked it.
Bayeux is indeed a nice town to visit; we even liked it in the rain. And the tapestry is surprisingly fascinating, both for the story it tells and for its expressive artistry. Even my husband really liked it.
Sep 27th, 2011, 06:09 AM
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I live in Normandy (here: http://automaxionltd.com/brochures/ChambreDHote.pdf) and am obviously biased. Certainly visit Bayeaux. It matters not that the tapestry (which isn't a tapestry as it is an embroidery) was sewn by the Saxons: both the Normans and Saxons were Scandinavian invader warlords!
There is too much here to see in a day from the local foods, countryside, WWII beaches, historic towns and cathedrals (visit Coutances for example and the tour in English will take you inside the walls, on the roof and as high as you can go inside), music concerts in abbeys, jazz under the apple trees.. the list goes on. You have to ask why so many people from PARIS come here...
There is too much here to see in a day from the local foods, countryside, WWII beaches, historic towns and cathedrals (visit Coutances for example and the tour in English will take you inside the walls, on the roof and as high as you can go inside), music concerts in abbeys, jazz under the apple trees.. the list goes on. You have to ask why so many people from PARIS come here...
Sep 27th, 2011, 08:01 AM
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I agree that to "do" Normandy credit it is due for its MANY goodies,more than a day is best. We spent 6 and loved it. However, at many of the sites we visited (Beaches) there were day tours from Paris. I think it turns into a 14 hour day, but if that is what you have, then have at it. ParisVision, etc. I'm sure have them. It is easy to say, take the train and get a tour. I think it is harder to do that on a close time plan than just give in to a bus tour from Paris.
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