Bayeaux, France in Sept 2010
 

My husband and I are going to Paris this Sept with a 4 day side trip to Normandy, Bayeaux, and other nearby areas. I was reading that Bayeaux would be an ideal central point as a base for these day side trips. Can anyone recommend a moderately priced hotel in Bayeaux? Also, do you recommend taking the train from Paris to Bayeaux and then renting a car there to do our sightseeing? Thanks for your advice!

I recommend Hotel Lion d'Or. It is family owned,in the center of town, has parking, and an excellent restaurant.

I recommend the Hotel d'Argouges. The public area is extremely attractive, but the rooms are a little more plain. I didn't arrive from Paris so I can't comment on that. There are many tours you can take if you don't have a car, but I'm sure with a car you can go at your own pace and see things that aren't part of standardized packages.

We liked the Lion d'Or. Good location, excellent restaurant and with parking. We did have a small room, however it was looking out over the beautiful courtyard.

Another vote for Hotel d'Argouges in Bayeux. And I do recommend taking train to either Caen or Bayeux and renting car there.

We stayed at the Hotel Bayeux--very near the Cathedral, the Tapestry, and the road out of town (easy to get on the road to go the landing beaches). It is squeaky clean, large rooms, secure car park, and very very reasonable.
When we do an area outside of Paris, I prefer to do it at the beginning of the trip (either take the train from CDG to wherever or rent the car there). Then go to Paris to finish the trip--just a thought, since if you take the train to Bayeux, you willl have to return (to CDG?) to Paris.
Driving in Normandy is charming and easy.

Forgot to add that the best meal we had on that trip to France was Le Petite Bistro (whatever the gender!!), also very near the Hotel. Make reservations--it is small, a "husband chef and wife server" establishment--great menu, lovely decor. We were the only Englsh speakers there.

And another vote for Le Petit Bistro, also! Since it is small, make reservations even if just earlier in day.

We really liked the Hotel Churchill in Bayeux. We had two rooms. One was very spacious and the other quite small, but both were very well kept. Loved the location as walking out the back put you right on a street with loads of shops and restaurants.

Another vote for Le Petite Bistro. The other place that we really liked was La Fringale.

Last year I took a trip from Paris to Bayeaux with my nephew . We wanted to see the Bayeaux Tapestries and Normandy. We took a early morning train from Paris to Caen to visit the fabulous War Memorial and then a later train to Bayeaux. We had enough time to visit the tapestries and walk about the town. We stayed at a very lovely inexpensive hotel in the center of town, It was called the Reine Mathilde.The next morning we took The Band of Brothers tour and thought it was fabulous. I think that the rooms at the hotel were about $100 each. That included breakfast in their dining room. The rooms were modest but clean and the staff was great.
Since these were the only places we wanted to visit we did not need a car.After the tour we took an early evening train back to Paris and had dinner in Paris. The trains were fabulous and inexpensive. Hope this helps.

Thank you all for your great advice and suggestions! I really appreciate it! Keep it coming...!

Not to nitpick, but if you're looking for train to Bayeux, you need to spell it correctly--only one "a" in it.

If you take the train, try to book PREM's tickets. You can book those 90 days out, and they are much cheaper. We paid 15-20 euro each way.