Nornny

We are three guys in our early twenties going to Europe in December for some change of scenery. I've read and done the research of previous postings, and it seems like a daytrip to Mont St. Michel is not recommended at all, but it's possible given some realized expectations (long drives, large crowds). Unfortunately, our circumstances are such that we do have to return to Paris at the end of the day, but I'm hoping people in this forum can look past the insanity of this itinerary and give us a realistic adjustments/trips for our plans. I have been to Mont St Michel and Normandy on a previous trip (love it enough to try it again), but my two friends are new to France. We are willing to endure the long travel hours as the scenery would be new to us and we're that adament about trying to see this area of France. Being young, we're prepared for an exhausting day and getting home very late.

Let's say we do make a day trip of it. Our plan is we'd like to take the train to Caen/Bayeux as early in the morning as possible and rent a car for the rest of our journey. My thoughts are we spend the morning at a D-day attraction or two like the American cemetary in Omaha beach. After lunch, we make our way to Mont St. Michel, where we will visit the abbey and maybe catch the island on sunset.

Our itinerary would look something like this:

6AM Leave Paris
8-10 Arrive in Caen/Bayeux, rent car
10-1 D-Day beach and lunch
1-3 drive to Mont
3-6 Tour of Mont (visit the abbey before it closes at 5PM, see the rest of the Mont)
6-8 Dinner, drive back to Caen
8-10 train back to Paris
10-12 find our way back to our apartment

We will be in Paris between December 24th-30th. Our current issue is finding the right day to do this daytrip. The earliest TGV we could find for that week leaves at 7AM, we were hoping we could do better. What's the fastest and earliest way we can reach Caen or Bayeux? Are those places even a good place to rent a car and start our journey?

We're not against driving from Paris if it's faster, but would appreciate the rest we could get sitting on a trian. Given the right departure time, the train seemed faster as well.

Please help in getting us to an ideal daytrip (not that this daytrip is ideal) itinerary? Has anyone attempted this?

We are open for a tour, but haven't found one that was really well suited.

We appreciate all feedback and help in advance

StCirq

You can find train schedules to Caen and Bayeux on www.sncf.com.

This is definitely do-able, and you seem to understand all the drawbacks to such a plan, so go for it. I would just mention that you will likely pay as much to rent a car for a day as you would for about 3 days, so that's not very cost-effective. On the other hand, you can't really get to le MSM for a one-day trip easily with public transportation.

GeoffHamer

Getting to Bayeux or Mont St Michel for a day is easy. The difficulty is in combining the two.
Paris to Bayeux is an easy two-hour journey by train. TGVs don't go to Caen or Bayeux.
From Paris to Mont St Michel, you can get a TGV at 0705 to Rennes then a bus which gets to the Mont at 1050.
The connections are all on www.bahn.de.

genabee6

the last poster is right. I did this same kind of day trip in May and had to go TGV from Paris to Rennes then catch the bus to MSM then catch a train to Bayeux.

Let me tell you that the earliest train was at 7am and you'll get to MSM around 11ish...then see MSM for awhile and you'll need to make sure your bus will leave MSM with enough time to get you to the train station to catch the train to Bayeux. We had to stay over night since we didn't have time to look at anything. Woke up the next morning and saw Normandy D-day things then took the train back to Paris.

My friend and I are both 25 and did this trip so I understand your thirst to do crazy trip schedules, so have fun, but make sure you've got everything set to go!

laverendrye

Have you taken into account the hours of daylight in late December?
In that part of France, sunrise is not until about 9am, and the sun sets about 5pm.

StCirq

That's a really good point,lavenderye.

Nornny

Thank you for all the help and advice.

What we decided on, our company has a contract car rental rate with Avis. We decided rather than be tied down by train/baus schedules, we would just drive the entire distance. The contract rate gives us some flexibility in not having to book anything now, and playing it by ear based on weather.

The difficulty is still getting a car at an early'ish hour, as most of the Avis sites within Paris don't open until 7 or 7:30 and equally, close around 7. The airports and train stations seem to have better hours, so we may simply cab it to one of those locations, and leave from there.

Thank you for the consideration of daylight given the month. It's something we didn't consider, but I don't think the lack of daylight should be too much of an issue (given all the issues of a trip like this in the first place). Seeing the Normandy beaches at sunrise and Mont St Michel at sunset would be pretty majestic.

Leave Paris at 6 or 7ish.
Arrive at D-Day beaches at around 10
Beaches for rest of morning and early afternoon.
Drive to Mont at around 1PM or 2PM
Do abbey first before it closes (5PM, we believe), see the sunset.
Drive back at around 6 or 7.
Get home close to 11PM.

gruezi

It will be very tight. You are probably fast drivers.

Good luck and be safe!

gruezi

Cathinjoetown

Any chance you could pick up your car the night before in order to get a really early start?

SemiMike

We did this trip by car from Paris - including Colleville, Ponte du Hoc, and MSM - in one day, this past May. Daylight was of course better, and we rented from a large agency at the Gare du Nord, which has long hours (although we did keep the car for two days). So, it is possible! For details, see our phototravelogue at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

stanleys

In my opinion Mt St Michel is one of several sites in France that are more exciting and inspiring when seen from the distance. It is not necessary to go onto the island to experience the thrill of Mt St Michel.

Mimmel

You said you intended to go in December.One of the most fantastic things about MSM is the tide. It looks like the highest tide for the month is the 14th & 15th. I'd suggest going then if you could. The tide is highest around 8AM & 8:30PM. Could you train or drive there the night before? Or drive there & take the train back. I don't think you'll encounter many lines in December but it will be pretty cold - much colder than Paris. (http://www.fodors.com/forums/editrep...90&start=0)
There's a train that leaves Paris around 5PM & arrives in Rennes around 7PM. I'd rent the car & drive to MSM, see it the next morning & then drive to the beaches & take the train back from Caen. There's a train that leaves around 8Pm arriving back at St Lazare around 11:45. Have fun!