Sue

Trying to decide where to stay as base in Normandy. Will take train from Paris, then rent car. Would like to avoid driving in lg cities (Caen), so if we arrive in Caen by train and do Peace Memorial then, seems we'd have to stay in Caen, b/c of luggage,etc. If however, we take train on to Bayeux and rent car there, then we'd have to drive back to Caen and park there to do Memorial. Any thoughts or ideas I haven't thought of? <BR>Trying to do this with minimal hassle. <BR><BR>I see on the Normandy post that some people prefer Bayeux to Caen and vice verse; is Bayeux really very quiet at night?<BR><BR>Any comments or first hand experiences would be welcome; thank you!

StCirq

I wouldn't call Caen a big city. It's got big broad avenues and is well-signed and you can zip into and out of the train station and to the M&eacute;morial quite easily (the M&eacute;morial is outside the center of town. We found a parking spot right across the street on a busy July weekend). I'm not sure what your question about luggage is - why would you have to stay in Caen if you arrived by train and then went to the M&eacute;morial? Are you worried about leaving luggage in the car while you visit the museum? I suppose that is a reasonable concern.<BR><BR>Bayeux is 20-30 minutes down the road.<BR>Personally, I'd stay in Bayeux, as it's a pretty little town and you can walk to everything. It's true it's not exactly hopping at night - but neither am I! There are certainly plenty of caf&eacute;s and restaurants, and when we were there there were free outdoor concerts in the evenings as well.

D. Phinney

Agree with St.Cirq only more so.<BR><BR>Part of what I love about Bayeux is what a few other people who post here apparently dislike. It is a small, charming city full of nice people whose lives do not center around late-night partying. So what if they roll up the sidewalks at 9pm? It just makes a late evening stroll around the city all the more pleasant. It is one of my favorite places to stay in France.

John

<BR>IMHO take the train to Caen. Visit the memorial and drive to Bayeux. The rental car office is directly across the street from the station in Caen. <BR>Bayeux is a nice quiet little town and as metioned earlier is perfect for the people who don't have to party late in the evening to enjoy life.<BR>We stayed at hotel d'Argouges in Bayeux and loved the town and the hotel. Email for hotel is d&quot;[email protected]<BR>Bon voyage

Sue

Thanks for all the advice; it lends support to what I thought we should do!<BR>Not going 'til May but had a few minutes to think about it here at work today!

Andrew

I can see why some people might prefer Bayeux, but I just didn't take to it. I liked my hotel, the Mogador, and the location relative to the center of town was good. But it was just too quiet at night. I'm *not* a party animal by any means, but somehow I enjoy strolling around streets that are bustling with people. In Bayeux the streets were EMPTY by 9PM (in September, anyway). After a day touring the D-Day sites, somehow I would have enjoyed a nice stroll in a lively town or something before finding a restaurant (this is often what I enjoyed in Paris). There were restaurants open, but the ones I checked stopped serving after 21:30. And there weren't tons of choices. Most of the locals had gone home by then - obviously these places were catering to tourists. Just seemed like a very lonely place to me.<BR><BR>In Caen, the restaurants didn't seem to get BUSY til after 21:00. It's a much more lively town (a university town). I wish I'd had more time there; it has a horse race track that I wanted to check out. There is an Abbey or two there also, though much of Caen is more modern due to WWII bombing. To me, though, this didn't take away from the feel of the place at all.<BR><BR>I didn't mind driving in Caen at all. As I've said before, I found rental cars much more expensive in Bayeux than in Caen last September, but perhaps you will have better luck than I did.<BR><BR>Andrew<BR>

Val

We stayed several nights in Bayeux and toured the area including the Caen Museum. We stayed in lovely chateaux I'd recommend. I thought Bayeux was very quiet and good base.<BR>Ch&acirc;teaux de Sully -Route de Port en Bessin 14400 Bayeux phone: 02 31 22 29 48 fax; 02 31 22 64 77<BR>