agrebe

Our (2 couples) trip is planned for mid-March, 2015. Following 5 nights in Paris, we plan to take a train on Sunday a.m. to Bayeux. We'll do a D-Day tour on Monday and spend Tuesday a.m. in Bayeux. That afternoon we'll have a rental car to drive to Mont St. Michel for an overnight. We'll spend the a.m in MSM, then drive to Chinon . Overnight there and on Thursday, we will make our way through the area, Amboise, and eventually up to Orly airport late in the afternoon to return the car rental and overnight there before our a.m flight back to New York on Friday.

A few questions:
Will the train be so crowded on a Sunday that we would need to have reservations? Is it cheaper if we book in advance and how far in advance?

For the car rental, we really don't need it til Tuesday when we drive to MSM, but I understand there are limited rental options in Bayeux, especially when we want to return the car to Orly. Would it be better if we took the train to Caen and rented the car there? Will that be a problem on a Sunday?

Thanks for any advice!

sanderskn

Sounds like a great trip! I would make train res. just in case. Definitely better to rent car in Caen. Great drive from Bayeaux to Caen anyway. Bayeaux is wonderful!

MmePerdu

I think you're short-changing the chateaux near Chinon. I suggest you allot at least 2 nights there so you have a full day+ to visit several. Maybe add Fontevraud-l'Abbaye (Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine & Richard are there), very historic, very beautiful and very near Chinon.

MmePerdu

It occurs to me you might like to stay at Fontevraud, right in the abbey, instead of Chinon, lovely though it is. I did very shortly after it opened and loved it:

http://www.hotel-fontevraud.com/index.php?page=home

PalenQ

Will the train be so crowded on a Sunday that we would need to have reservations? Is it cheaper if we book in advance and how far in advance?>

Unlikely - often more crowded on week (workdays) - reservations are not required on most trains to Caen/Bayeux but you can make optional seat reservations when buying your ticket for a few extra euros.

There may be some minor discounts on that route if you book, in stone with no plans to change nor refund, weeks in advance to get the limited in number discounted tickets - to see the difference in price go to www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com (same trains just different competing booking sites with the latter many say easier to use) - see what the difference for full fare and discounted fares it - it is not nearly as great I believe as on TGV high-speed lines - this line is a conventional train line not high-speed (though trains may still go over 100 mph but that is slow speed in France!)

For flexibility to take any train anytime just buy your tickets before the train - rarely if ever sell out in 2nd class and never IME of decades of French train travel in 1st class, which always IME has lots of empty seats.

For lots of good stuff on European trains I always spotlight these IMO fine sites: www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

You may find more car rentals available in Caen as sanderskn says - if so just train it to Caen, pick up your car then hit the highly acclaimed D-Day Memorial Museum on the outskirts of Caen towards Bayewux (acclaimed as the finest of many and a great place to start to orient yourselfs to the area and major D-Day sites.

agrebe

Thanks, everyone. MmePerdu, friends have recommended that we stay at Chateau des Reaux near Chinon, so that's my reason for focusing on Chinon. One chateau will probably be enough for us, we're more interested in the wines of the region. Can you recommend a good wine tasting spot or vineyard? I realize it may be a little early in the year for that.

MmePerdu

It's never too early in the year for tasting. But, sorry, no recommendations, my experience in that regard is in Burgundy.

PalenQ

Chinon has its own D.O.C. wines - Chinon wines and there are sampling places right in town. But the most impressive vineyards in that area to me was Bourgeuil, a sea of vineyards with lots of wine houses to sample them at and buy from the proprietor.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bour...=1600&bih=1075

nytraveler

We stayed in Chateau des Reaux - but for 6 nights in June - so we could see many of the chateaux in a relaxed way, including a couple of son et lumieres. The Abbey at fontrevraud is truly extraordinary - don't miss it if you can.

Have you checked if the chateau is offering the dinner en famille when you are there? If so - definitely do it. Not sure how full it would be in March so they may not. But whatever you do see as many rooms of the chateau as you can.

PalenQ

March is still a dead season in the Loire - many places may be closed or on a slow down. Dreadfully dreary weather can be the rule IME of being in the Loire several times in March!

travelhorizons

A full day at Mont St. Michel? Too much!

The best thing about Mont St Michel is seeing it at a distance over the fields. Stop the car and take a picture, because that's the highlight. When you get there, it's quite crowded (although not so much in March). You walk up the winding road to the top, lined with shops on either side. Kinda reminded me of Disney World. I think two or three hours will be enough and you'll be ready to leave.

MmePerdu

No travel advice is definitive regarding who likes what best. Rather than say "two or three hours will be enough and you'll be ready to leave", one might better say, "it was enough for me" and know it may be different for you.

I also visited Mont St Michel in March, arrived late in the day, checked into a small hotel on the main drag then accompanied a friend to mass in the church at the top. A wild wind raged while the most moving service went on, tourists excluded for the duration, maybe a dozen people including clergy, all locals but us, and a heartfelt welcome from the steps of the alter to us in English. It was as if the whole world stopped for those minutes. In the morning we had the island to ourselves, along with those who live there, and it's a life-long golden memory.

My point? Not that you'll have the same experience but you will have ones of your own, and maybe not there. For anyone to say in advance of a trip not their own what your experience will be is daft and why there are definite limits to what one can take to heart from what they read on a forum. Nuts & bolts information is much more useful than judgements.

Mimar

Don't miss the Caen Memorial Museum. It's the definitive museum about WWII in Europe.

And be warned: the weather on the coast can be very cool, windy and rainy in March.

PalenQ

Yes glimpsing the Mont from across the water from the mainland is great but at night it is even more a marvelous site as the basilica or whatever they call it is sublimely illuminated as is the whole pile of rocks it regally crowns.