My husband, son and I are heading to the Normandy area next weekend to mainly see the D-Day memorials and museums. We definitely want to go to Mont St. Michel as well. Can anyone suggest a central village or area to stay? We'll be camping and would rather drive a little further each day and leave our tent-stakes down in just one place. I have done lots of reading about the area, but just can't seem to get a realistic feel for driving times. We'll have three and possibly four nights in that area.

Any other suggestions for seeing the area are gratefully accepted. We'll definitely need to take some time out from museums for "kid-play" and have never turned down the address for a playground!

Thanks for your help in advance!

sardog, I hope this helps you.
http://letsgo.com/FRA/05-Normandy-186

we're going to Normandy on the 4th and will be staying in Bayeux; Caen also is fairly central.

If, as I understand it, you're looking for something equidistant from D-Day beaches and MSM, I'd recommend the area around St. Lo or Vire.

Here are a few sites that might be possible.

http://www.ot-villedieu.fr/hebergement_camping_gb.htm (somewhat nearer to MSM than D-Day beaches)


http://www.legrandlarge.com/gb.html (west coast of Cotentin ? 63 mi. from Bayeux, 85 mi. from MSM)

http://www.france-camping.eu.com/Dis...ormandy.shtml#
(links to several sites)

For driving directions and distances, see viamichelin.com.

Most tourists seem to find Bayeux a charming town with a medieval ambience. I found it (last September) to be sleepy and dark at night, with almost no one around but tourists. The restaurants, obviously catering to tourists and not locals, seemed to close early, by 21:30. Maybe it's more lively in the summertime?

I stayed two nights in Bayeux and one in Caen; I wish I'd done it the other way around. Caen is a lively city - much bigger than Bayeux but also much more modern - with locals on the streets and restaurants that are open late. So I'd pick between the two based on your preferences in a place: medevial ambience or modern city?

Andrew

We stayed in Bayeux this May while touring the WWII sites. We found it absolutely charming with excellent restaurants. The restaurants we chose were not filled with tourists at all, mostly French people. The Baxeux Tapestry is amazing and well worth seeing. The town itself is charming and while I agree it did not have a lively night life, that worked fine for us.

Many thanks to all who have replied with such good information! I've emailed a couple of places asking about availability, so we'll see what happens. The one I'm most hoping for seems to be on a direct line between Caen and Mont St. Michel; being a little closer to Caen. I probably should have planned a little more ahead, but we've recently decided to do as much travel as possible for the rest of the year as we may end up moving back to the States sooner rather than later. "Where should we go next weekend, Honey?" There's still so much to see! Aaugghhh!!!