Bayeux and environs
 

Dear Fodorites,
My question concerns a day trip from Caen. We'll be arriving in Caen from Paris at 11am on a Wednesday. We plan on renting a car and driving as long as daylight holds, and then spending the night in Bayeux. Thursday we plan to drive to Honfleur and Etretat, Friday is a DDay tour, and Saturday we leave. All 3 nights in Bayeux, and somewhere in there we'll see the tapestry, cathedral and other Bayeux sites. My question is, what is a reasonable drive to plan for Wednesday. Assuming we set out by 11:30am, would it be too rushed to visit Beuvron-en-Auge, Pont Leveque, Pierrefitte-en-Auge and Cormeiiles? Or is this too ambitious? Also, are there any towns/villages in the area that we should make a point of visiting? The places I mention are only a few what I know are in the area... Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated. We'll be gone 6 weeks, including 3 weeks in Paris, and I'm so looking forward ...

FWIW, I wanted 2 hours for the tapestry and another hour for Bayeux's cathedral.

If you don't already have it, I'd strongly recommend consulting the <i>Michelin Green Guide</i> for the area.

Enjoy!

Good to know! I will plan accordingly. Maybe it willbe less crowded in early November when we plan to be there. I've ordered the michelin green guide, and the regional map, but real life reccomendations are so helpful.

Sorry if I gave a false impression -- I didn't need extra time because of crowds -- I simply wanted this amount of time for these places.

Ste Mere Eglise is a tiny town famous for its church steeple that snagged one American GI paratrooper- commemorated now in a stained glass window in the church - I found the town neat:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ste+...ormandy+images

Quite close to Bayeux though inland.

Great suggestion. Thank you. I've added it to the itinerary. Any must see places in pays d'auge?

Were you planning to go to the Peace Memorial (Museum) in Caen?

Three weeks in Paris? Could you possibly leave a day earlier and give Normandy an additional day? Or arrive Caen earlier in the morning?

I haven't looked carefully at a map, but it sounds like your driving involves some back-tracking on both days. Perhaps you could train to Le Havre and start from there. If it's raining or daylight is dim, skip Etretat and you may be able to see others on your list on Wednesday (but don't forget to set aside time for lunch). Sunset will be at about 5:15p, and sunrise at about 7:45a.

You could easily spend more than half a day in Bayeux alone.

This is another vote for the Peace Museum in Caen. You need at least 3 hours but it is beautifully done and life changing especially when taken in the context of all the D Day beach visits.

Take at least a day from Paris for this special area.

Ste Mere Eglise might be on your D Day tour.

If you have that much time I would spend at least a week in Normandy. Not just the D-Day areas, but a full day or so in Bayeux, plus a day at least in Caen, plus some time in Angers at the château and the Jean Lurçat museum, plus Saumur and Chinon and...it's not my favorite part of France, to be sure, but you've got time to give it some justice.

Thank you all so much for your comments. I am now rethinking the trip. I agree that I should spend more time in Normandy but it will ultimately come back to choices since I can't do everything I want, especially since I've already paid for the Paris apartment. I'm actually planning several day trips from Paris using Annabel Simms' book and Michelin maps. Fortunately we go every year, and it is always an adventure. At this point it appears to be a chfor helping me workioice between a day in Honfleur and Etratat area, or touring small villages in the pays d'auge. And I'm still not sure whether to pick up a car in Caen or drive from Paris. Does anyone know how hard it is to leave Paris by car from the 8th?
Thanks again to all of you in this forum for helping me out with the details.

The Peace Museum in Caen is very moving and presents a more Euro-centric view of the destruction on DDay and the following days. I was last there in 2003. During the big film a man near me could be heard sobbing. Afterwards I spoke with him. He was late 80s and had been a young child in the path of the Allied bombs. The film brought back memories for him. We talked for quite a bit and I left with a renewed understanding of the war's impact on the French. Also St Mere Eglise was my son's favorite stop. Read Band of Brother's if you can. The Canadian monument at Juno Beach is a good stop too.

Does anyone know how hard it is to leave Paris by car from the 8th?>

Sat or especially Sundays is a lot easier with a lot less traffic. And you can hit some neat sites en route if want - Giverny, Les Andyleys, etc if going to Caen - I'd take the train if you just want to get to Caen quickly -could be cheaper than driving and less hassle.

Check www.voyages-sncf.com for fares - save much of a day on car rental.

IMO, it would be a very easy drive out of Paris from the Hertz office near Porte Maillot. (Take your luggage with you to the office; don't drive back to the apartment with the car.) It's just a couple of blocks to the road you'd take out of Paris, no matter where on your list you're headed to first. Depending on where you go after Normandy, you could return the car in Bayeux. The Hertz office there is open Saturday mornings.

https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/locat...e/paris/PARC60

Also IMHO, unless the Paris apartment is costing you a lot per night, sacrificing one night to give more time to see all that you hope to see in Normandy would be worth it. Daylight hours for sightseeing are reduced in November, and generally speaking, you'll find lodging costs in Normandy very reasonable, esp. at that time of year.

I would definitely take more time for Normandy. The Hotel Bayeux is a VERY economical and squeaky clean nice hotel with attached secure car park that would make you feel better about the "double dip" on rent maybe.
The Green Guide gives excellent ideas for tours of the battle fields--it is nice to do it yourself, and stop for a nice lunch of mussels on a quayside somewhere.
There are MYRIAD little "museums" so don't get sucked in. I think the don't miss are Omaha, Ponte du Hoc, Arromanches, the American Cemetery, and we enjoyed St. Mere Eglise. On the way TO Bayeux we stopped at the Pegasus Bridge.
We drove from CDG, drove up the scenic side of the Seine to Giverney, stayed a night in Rouen and another in Honfleur and then 3 in Bayeux. Driving back to Paris we stopped in Chartres and returned the car to Orly--just an idea of a "tour". The fromageries of Normandy are so wonderful. Cideries also.
Bayeux has the cathedral and tapestry also, of course.

Thank you everyone. I'm changing some plans based on your input We're staying at the villa lara in Bayeux (big anniversary for us) but if we stay a fourth night, it will be somewhere else in Normandy. We'll be traveling for 6 weeks with 3 weeks in France. I'm now feeling very prepared with regard to the Normandy portion of the trip. Really appreciate all the good information that's been sent my way.

Enjoy your anniversary!

We're doing a similar trip at the end of October, for 8 nights, only this trip to France we're completely skipping Paris. Arrive CDG, pick up rental car and spend 1 night in Giverny. Then we'll head to Honfleur for 2 nights, taking a leisurely drive there and stopping at Chateau Gaillard, probably skipping Rouen. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for a visit to Etretat on one of the days.

From Honfleur to Bayuex for 2 nights, stopping along the way in Caen to see the Peace Museum. See tapestry, D-Day sites, cathedral, etc. Then on to Mont St Michel for 1 night nearby, Chateau Richieux in Cancale for 1 night. Last night undecided, we may take a leisurely drive back to CDG through pays d'auge villages and return the car and stay at an aiport hotel.

Looking forward to it immensely!

@ adlmilr: If there is any chance that you might have jet lag, then please consider spending at least one night somewhere, anywhere, before trying to drive. There is mounting evidence that driving with jet lag is just as dangerous -- to yourselves AND others -- as driving drunk, and nothing you can do will prevent the microsleeps (which you might not even notice) that are the apparent culprit.

We left Bayeux yesterday after spending four nights there. We took the 10:10 train out if Paris arriving in Caen at noon. Luckily the car rental place stayed open until 12:15. We stopped for lunch in Caen at Le Bouchon du Vaugueux which was excellent. Then we toured the Peace Museum. I would have liked to get to William the Conquereur's castle but it was raining and getting late.

Are you doing a guided D Day tour? If so it might include some of the sights mentioned.

We didn't plan enough time for the Pays d'Auge cider and cheese route. Small roads that wind around so takes longer than you think.

We had a delightful meal at Le Rapiere around the corner from your hotel. Book in advance.

The tapestry museum is open until 6:30 in the evening. Maybe sine it will be getting dark earlier you could plan to be back in town late afternoon to visit it.

As far as the jet lag for the above, Giverney is really good/perfect--it is really just around the corner. We had lunch there coming from CDG and then went on to Rouen our first night--also not too far.

Thanks for your post Gretchen! Were you happy with your lunch choice in Giverny, and if so, would you share? We'll probably have lunch while waiting for the room at our B&B to be ready.

On the fence about booking a D-Day guided tour, we may visit places on our own schedule, over a few days.

On the fence about booking a D-Day guided tour, we may visit places on our own schedule, over a few days.>

Yes plenty of do it yourself info tours - Michelin Green Normandy Guide for starters - tours are good for folks without cars and generally only hit the most famous places that you will probably have seen.

DH made an unfortunate choice--it was just a little cafe and we loved it--just off the plane and in France. What's not to like.

We got the Michelin Green Guide and did our own tours. It was also from that guide that we found the Abbaye Road out the "back door" of Rouen toward Honfleur--a string of medieval abbeys along a high ridge road. Really interesting to poke in a few of them.

We visited several fromageries and cideries along the way to Bayeux. Get the Guide and be absolutely over the top with excitement about all you can see.

Touring on your own also lets you have a lovely lunch of moules quayside somewhere with a view.

Medieval abbeys, moules, huitres, calvados, camembert, history and Impressionism: I'm in!

Me too! I can hardly wait. So here's my last question. We'll have a car. Do you think we could do the landing beaches/DDay sites on our own and still get a lot out of it? I was going to use a private guide but the more I read, the more I think it could be ok without. On the other hand, people rave about the importance and significance of their day with a guide.
Also, so many fabulous ideas here for trips near Bayeux. Thank you everyone for your input, and for reminding me to take time for lunch.

I think several of us have said it--get the Green Guide and do it yourself. We did do it over a few days, but as said, lingered over lunches, etc.
I wish you would add a few days also, as suggested by several of us. I truly think you will regret it if you don't--since you DO have the time in France already.
There are museums connected to each major site (AND MYRIAD little corner 'museums" dedicated to DDay!! pass on by) with movies, and exhibits. --several are unique--Arromanches (not to be missed), Ste. Mere Egise, Ponte du Hoc. Omaha, of course.
And the American Cemetery. Oh.
IF you all are such history buffs that you want the strategies, etc. then maybe a guide is for you. I found the beaches to be profound in their "starkness"--yes, beaches offer you a 180* view of the sea--when you see the scope of view the German ramparts had of the landing, it is humbling and horrible to think of the thousands of men coming ashore.
There are also small booklets sold throughout the beaches at the shops that tell the story of that particular landing.
En route to Bayeux we also saw the Pegasus Bridge landing site which was interesting.
Ste. Mere Eglise also had particular personal interest for us since the gliders used for that landing (and others) were made in my home town in Ohio. Again, so amazing to see this boxy "device" made of plywood and canvas--absolutely primitive by today's "standards"that played such a part in that battle.

Thanks for the encouragement about DIY on the D-Day sites. Just got notification from our local library that the copy of Band of Brothers that I requested is available!

I do think that a guided tour is often a wonderful way to get more in-depth knowledge, and I know we'll be sacrificing some of that by touring on our own, but right now that's how we're leaning.

I do think that a guided tour is often a wonderful way to get more in-depth knowledge, and I know we'll be sacrificing some of that by touring on our own, but right now that's how we're leaning.>

Yes depends on the guided tour however so if you research one that has good reviews.... but if one that just is a bus tour that gives bits and spits of info perhaps no.

Too bad the WW2 vets who gave personal tours are dying out - their insight would have been great.

And as Gretchen says above sometimes you want to be in places like the Colville-s-Mer cemetery/memorial by your self - to ponder and think what horrors those entered here now much have gone thru and not have to get back on the bus.

Yes pros and cons of each.

I would start at the Caen Memorial in any case as IME it is the best museum in the area for an overall view of the area and sights to see - a huge relief map orients you to it all. Just outside of Caen en route to Bayeux.

PalenQ, thanks for sharing your thoughts -- we share some of the same sensibilities. As for the museum, that is the plan, either on our way from Honfluer to Bayeux or the next morning, before driving further afield. Ironically, we have friends who just returned from France and stayed overnight in Caen, which I assumed they chose as a one-day base because of the museum, and it turns out they didn't even know there was a museum........

The Caen Peace Memorial museum is one of the best I've visited. A must-go. We took more than half a day there. But we're museum enthusiasts and it was raining.

Side notes:

IIRC the Caen museum offered audio guides in different English dialects, e.g. English English, North American English, Australian English, etc.

This museum pretty much ignores the WWII in the Pacific.

Great discussion and unbelievably helpful information and advice. Thank you. I'm going to add more time to Normandy and will visit the museum in Caen. My husband surprisingly wants to hire a private guide for the day to tour landing sites so no opposition here. This trip I will write a report so stay tuned.