joannyc

In MSM, I stayed at the Mercure Mont Saint Michel which is in the small town so you wouldn't have to drag your luggage up any steps on the Mont (as long as you request a room on the first floor). The bus to MSM is across the street from the hotel and leaves frequently. Easy parking and good place to stay. But, no elevator to the second floor so request a room on the first floor if you stay there.

In case you are interested, here's a link to my little TR and pictures:

Western France - A TR in Pictures

joannyc

deleted as previous message now shows valid link

barefootbeach

sticky, thanks for the tour suggestion.
joannyc, wow! great photos and a lot! I looked at them while on hold for an hour trying to get seat assignments! Not a good thing to look at before lunch....getting hungry from all those delectable food shots! Fun to see your Brantome and Rocamadour shots...we spent an enchanting evening in the latter in '86...kind of a spooky place at night...happened to be eating dinner outside when we saw these moving lights coming up from the valley down below, goat bells ringing in the distance, a full moon coming up over the mountain across...turns out it was the annual pilgrimage.

barefootbeach

Thanks to all of you above for your wonderful insights and suggestions. Based on that and other research, I've booked the following itinerary for early September, 22 nights. I was surprised that several places I wanted to stay were already booked. All of the hotels can be cancelled without charge with reasonable deadlines....good since I tend to rethink myself and change plans. We should know at least a month out whether France will accept US guests. I did book my flights too, and those can be changed but not refunded with a year to use an e-certificate. If anyone would like to add suggestions for Paris hotels and car rental agencies, I'd love to hear them. Chale1...I wanted to stay at Le27 in Dinan instead of Dinard, but while reading TA reviews I saw he has a resident cat. Dealbreaker with my husband and my cat allergies. Stu, I just read too many bad reviews about the hotel & food in MSM so we're braving the crowds early to enjoy a splurge chateau instead.

1nt Giverny La Dime de Giverny

1nt Rouen Hotel de Bourgtheroulde

2nts Honfleur La Maison de Lucie

3nts Port-en-Bessin (near Bayeux) La Cheneviere (would've stayed 3 in Honfleur and 2 here, but you get a free night if you book 3)

2nts Bacilly Chateau de Chantore (see MSM from here...20 min away)

3nts Dinard Castelbrac Hotel (see Dinan from here)

2nts Ploumanach Hotel des Rochers (wanted to stay at Castel Beau Site but booked...will eat there)

2nts Port Aven La Passerelle (Wanted to stay at Villa Tri Men but booked)

2nts Rennes Balthazar Hotel train to Paris

3nts Paris ? Visit Versailles as a day trip. (We've been two times before to Paris but missed it)

joannyc

Thanks very much! Glad you liked them and, yes, there were a lot of pics!!!! Hard to edit them down to a reasonable number. I thought the caves in Brantome were wonderful and coming out of that tunnel on the curve to Rocamadour was the most stunning view! I just had to pull over to take a few pics! Your experience sounds enchanting!

barefootbeach

Modified itinerary to take out one night in Rouen (hate 1 nts!) and added it to Honfleur, now 3 nts. Can visit Rouen enroute.
Any suggestions for hotels in Paris? We've stayed near the Champs Elysee and the Left Bank before. Will be taking train to Montparnasse station. Moderately priced.

AJPeabody

For hotel recommendations, translate "moderately priced" into a currency value as we all have different ideas on what is moderate. Also indicate your room and bed setup preferences and, if you have any for this trip, location preferences.

ldatt22

If you have a y more pics, I wouldnt mind seeing them.



Lynn

barefootbeach

AJ Peabody, For Paris, I'd probably say $250-$350. Just a double room, no suite. Not sure of location as I haven't been able to research yet...don't need to be in the museum or typical tourist areas since we've seen the major sights. Prefer a charming neighborhood with cafes, restaurants, shops to stroll around and soak up the ambience. Need to be able to get to a train station for the trip to Versailles. Rick Steves prefers the Rue Cler neighborhood and Fodors likes the East or the Western Neighborhoods.

AJPeabody

Remembering that all reviews are BC (before Covid) and all future travel will be AC, I recommend the Atmospheres hotel in Paris as fitting your request. See my trip report from 2019:
The Peabody Papers 2019, Paris and Brittany, Unmapped

StuDudley

In both 2018, and 2019 we returned from Brittany to the Montparnasse station and stayed at the nearby Aiglon. Excellent. We had a corner suite which was perfect. Easy taxi access for getting to CDG. In 2019 we booked months in advance. We were surprised that when we were departing for Paris from Brittany at the end of our trip, our Brittany gite proprietor mentioned that she always stayed at the Aiglon when traveling to Paris and highly recommended it to us - before we told her that we were already staying there. We celebrated my wife's 70th birthday at Le Dome restaurant around the corner. In 2018, we dined at the nearby Cobea restaurant - a Michelin 1 star & perhaps our best meal on our 1 month trip.

Aiglon is walk-able from Montparnasse. We did it even though the temps were in the 90s. It was so hot that we did not go outside (except for dinner), and I can highly recommend their excellent air conditioning. https://www.paris-hotel-aiglon.com/
Our suite on July 6, 2019, was 190 Euros a night.

However, as you probably know, the three most important considerations for choosing a place to stay (just like choosing a place to live) is location, location, location. If you will be in Paris for multiple days, focus on location. When we stay in Paris for multiple weeks at a time, we stay in the 7th in an apartment near the Rue Cler (but not because of Rick Steves). Easy access to the RER that takes you to Versailles. But I have no hotel recommendations for the 7th. Get to Versailles very early. There was a 1 1/2 hr line to get in the last time we visited it in September 2018. We bypassed the line by pre-booking a King's Apartment tour - which had a separate line.

Versailles starts on page 64

https://stududley.shutterfly.com/61

Click "Full screen"

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

"".don't need to be in the museum or typical tourist areas since we've seen the major sights.""

We were in Paris for 3 weeks in 2018. Since then, three major attractions have opened and a 4th is on the way

1. the Musee de la Liberation de Paris. We saw a "temporary" exhibit a few year ago near the Hotel de Ville - and it was fantastic
https://www.francetoday.com/culture/...-paris-at-war/

2. The newly opened Carnavalet
https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/musee-carnavalet

3. The newly opened Palais Gallera.
https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/

Perhaps by the time you arrive, Samritaine will have opened.
https://www.parisunlocked.com/shoppi...artment-store/

Stu Dudley

Jean

"... September... fingers crossed."

Keep them crossed. Several countries in Western Europe are experiencing another wave of Covid cases, and more virus variants continue to be discovered. Personally, I don't think it's looking good for U.S. travelers to Europe any time this year.

barefootbeach

Jean, yes the resurgence in Europe is disturbing. Definitely could impact this trip.
AJ Peabody, I couldn't open your link but I had read your excellent trip report earlier. That hotel looks like its in a good location.
Stu, nothing but praise for Aiglon so will definitely consider, especially with good restaurants nearby.

So, What Would You Do?
I had planned to stay in Vannes for one night before training back to Paris, but couldn't get AJ Peabody's recommended place, Maison de Garenne and nothing else appealed. So, then decided to use Rennes instead as a train departure city...and thought I should make it 2 nights to be able to see the city. However, this would happen on a Saturday and Sunday night...so I'm wondering if it's worth being in the city on a Sunday. I had to take a night away from Paris to do this.
So, question #1, would you spend 3 nights in Paris and 2 nights in either Rennes or Vannes...and if it's the latter, which city do you prefer? I'm assuming the construction Stu saw is over by now. That only gives me 2 days in Paris and I will be spending one day in Versailles (or not?)
OR, would you add the 4night to Paris so I'd have three days there and only spend one night in Vannes or Rennes since I can't see much on a Sunday anyway.
Don't think it matters which city you take the TGV to Paris from.
Again, love to hear your thoughts on this.

StuDudley

I definitely would not spend only 1 night / 1/2 day in Vannes or Rennes.

And I would also not visit Versailles on a weekend (which it seems might be the situation for you). We actually visited Versailles twice - once to see the fountains (which are only turned on for weekends) and the garden, and another time mid-week to see the inside of the chateau. There is a entrance for the gardens and a different entrance for the chateau interior. On the weekend, we were there in late Sept, we saw the 1 1/2 - 2 hr line to get into the chateau. No line at the garden entrance. For the week-day visit to the chateau, we got to Versailles before it even opened. We took the "golden" pictures of the outside gates & chateau that appear on the cover of my wife's Shutterfly book, & also inside the book. We reserved for the first "King's Apartments" tour of the day, and there was no line to get in (separate entrance for the King's Apt tour). This tour ends inside of the chateau, where you then continue on and visit the remaining parts of the chateau. The crowds inside of the chateau were shoulder to shoulder. I can't imagine what it would be like on a weekend.

In answer to your overall question about what to do - I always believe that "less is more". So I would delete Vannes & Rennes and spend more days at places you already plan on visiting, and also spend less time traveling.

Stu Dudley

swandav2000

Hi barefootbeach,

Further re: Jean's post --

I live in Germany, and let me tell you that the vaccine rollout has been very slow. Right now, only 3.6% of the population has been vaccinated,and they don't anticipate achieving herd immunity by vaccinating most of the population until the fall. There is the possibility that the Oktoberfest will be canceled for the second year. I really do think that September will be too early for Europe to allow in non-Europeans, but maybe Dec will be possible.

I am so glad to hear that your hotels are cancellable, and I hope your flights are also changeable. I myself love to make travel plans -- immersing myself in train schedules and hotel pictures and maps! So at the very least, you had a fun time planning!

I do hope you get to go --

s

KayF

We stayed in Vannes and Rennes for 3 nights each and much preferred Vannes. To us, it had more character and was more attractive. We also had some good food there. The market was on one day which was good and even though we had drizzly weather in Vannes, we still enjoyed it more than Rennes, where the sun shone.

I'm not sure of your overall plan but agree with others that it's better to stay in fewer towns/cities, with more time in each. Travelling from one place to the next always take longer than you think.

StuDudley

Also consider where you need to return the car if you will do so on a weekend. Pre Covid, most offices were closed on Sunday (Rennes is probably open). Some are even closed Sat afternoon. Some may have a drop box when closed and Covid may have closed some permanently. The office in Vannes is many many blocks away from the train station. In about 2019, a small office was opened near the station - but Covid may have closed it.

Stu Dudley

barefootbeach

Thanks again, everyone. I will plan on August 1 as my drop dead day to cancel the trip if need be. If I have to reschedule, I would wait until next May.
I would be returning the car on a Saturday morning, in Vannes (coming from Pont Aven), so will have to check to verify the car rental place is open. I will spend one night in Vannes to catch the train on Sunday morning. That gives me Saturday afternoon/evening to explore Vannes. So, that adds a night to Paris, which I think is needed. We would go to Versailles on a Wednesday, the day before we fly home. Would prefer to do it Tuesday but I hear that's a very busy day. I can buy tickets online, and would add the guided tour as well. Now, I just need to bone up on Paris to figure out what we want to see.
Stu, thanks for the info on new attractions. From your photobook, I also want to see Le Grand Palais....that architecture is stunning. (

barefootbeach

Several car rental companies are open Saturday am at the Vannes train station (not Hertz) and I booked a room at Hotel Escale Oceana Vannes...1 mile from station and walking distance to old town. Money I saved from Rennes hotel will cover the train tickets!