Finalizing ideas for Normandy/Paris trip
 

Well I believe I know what we will be doing on our trip and would like some input in case we are overdoing it. Arrive CDG, pick up car rental, drive to Bayeux and check into hotel (which one still to be determined). Take a nap and begin our touring of the area. We've alotted 3 days for the D-day tour, visiting Mont St Michel and driving through the Normandy area. Return to Paris and drop off the car at CDG and make our way to our hotel to begin exploring Paris. Does anyone see anything wrong about this itinerary? We have driven in England and Germany some years ago so I don't think we'll have trouble with driving in France...I hope. Any advice?

Sounds great! Enjoy.

Bayeux is about a 3.5 hour drive from CDG.

Why drive back to CDG when you can drop the car in Bayeux and return to Paris on the train?

And why drive directly from CDG anyway?
It's only two hours by train from Paris.

I suggest spending a night [or more] in Paris, then take the train and rent a car in Bayeux for your tour of the area.

I too would second the recommendation to spend one night in Paris before embarking for Normandy. We did that on our trip in 2000, departing via train for Rouen early the next day. We picked up the rental car in Rouen and from there drove via the Route of the Abbeys to Honfleur, where we spent one night, before driving down the coast to Caen and eventually on to Bayeaux. What a wonderful trip it was!

The train ride from Paris to Rouen was enchanting to me, and the drive down the coast from Honfleur to the D-Day area was wonderful as well.

Hope you get lots of greaat ideas here!

I would drive from CDG to somewhere in Normandy, perhaps not all the way to Bayeux that first day, rather than backtracking to Paris hotel for one night. I do agree with returning car to Bayeux or Caen and taking train into Paris.

Thank you for the imput. As far as taking the train from CDG to Bayeux, after reading some of the confusing posts on taking the train, I'm a little wary. Is it easy to pick up the train right at CDG? Is there a station right there and which train goes all the way to Bayeux?

No, you can't take a train from CDG to Normandy; you have to go into Paris to get the train. That's why many folks rent car at CDG and head north that first day. A lot of us, as reported here, have spent that first night at Les Andelys, about 1.5 hours from CDG. La Chaine d'Or is a lovely place to spend that night.

We drove directly from CDG to Bayeux but had the advantage of meeting my husband at the airport and he'd already been in Europe for a couple of weeks. We stayed at Lion D'Or in Bayeux - very nice, off street parking, quaint. Are you doing a guided D-Day tour? I was grateful to have a guide - allowed us to see much more, really take in the area without worrying about directions, etc.

Hi!
My husband and I did a trip similar to this a few years ago. We were going to Paris and my husband had always wanted to see Normandy. So we decided to do both. It was great, a perfect combination between city and country!

We flew into Paris and picked up a rental car. Hassle-free, driving in France was cake compared to driving on the wrong side in England. People are a bit aggressive, but no worse than Italy or New York.
From there we drove to Monets Garden.

That first day was rather rough. We were completely exhausted walking around the garden and when we got back to the car we both reclined simultaneously for a nap! From there things improved. We wandered around in our rental car and made our way to Normandy. There we stayed in a random B&B which was an adventure - because we spoke no french and they spoke no english.

The second day we toured Normandy, visited the museums, the american cemetary and the top of the bluffs that held the German guns. We headed up to Honfluer where we spent the night.

The third day we wound our way back to Paris through many small villages, (stopping and eathing many french pastries) and dropped the rental car off in the evening - no problem.
The only trouble I remeber having was trying to find the train/subway into the center of Paris from the airport. But we did very little preplanning, and Im sure some people here could explain where to go and how to find it.
Good luck!

Try to make the WWII museum in Caen, it's fantastic. I didn't notice if you were staying in one hotel while in Normandy, but if you can, stay on Mont St. Michel. It's magical in the early morning and at night before/after the tour buses arrive.

Personally, I think you should go directly to Normandy when you arrive in France. Follow Grandmere's advice and drive part of the way. IMHO, I think it's more of a hassle to go into the city for just one night then try to drive back out in the morning.

Hmmm...when we went to England some years back we rented a car at the airport and drove directly to Bath. Although my husband was very tired I can't imagine that this would be anymore difficult than that trip. So I think picking up the car at CDG and driving to Les Andelys(SP) would be a good start. Any recommendations on hotels or B&B's there that are reasonably priced and clean for a triple? Also is it more expensive to arrive without a reservation at a hotel and book a room?

Since I'm still hoping to do a 2008 trip to the same area, I will look forward to your trip report when you return. I too use the car for the whole trip as the train thing sounds confusing to me. But, to each their own!

I would do as you are doing so far as picking up the car at CDG and heading to Bayeux. If you do drive back to Paris think about turning in the car at Orly, seeing Chartres en route. Or driving to Chartres and turning in the car there.
To me, going into Paris for a night and then leaving for Bayeux is a lot of "doing" for little advantage. The drive from CDG is easy. The pickup is easy. Driving in Normandy is very interesting.
I question if you have time to do Mont St. Michelle in that length of time. We allotted 6 days to Normandy and opted out of MSM. But anything is possible.

We did something similar - we arrived CDG and rather than 'lose' time going into the city and then driving, we opted to rent a car and drive straight to Honfleur. I may not be remembering clearly, but I thought it was 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive. We don't believe in napping on day of arrival - but we do believe that a shower and clean clothes does wonders! We walked around Honfleur and enjoyed all the outdoor dining !

We drove to Bayeux where we met our tour guide - are you planning on doing a self-guided tour or hiring a tour guide ? My personal opinion is that the 'experts' in the area are terrific and you will learn much more and enjoy not worrying about, 'point A to point B' etc. (this is coming from someone who always likes to rent a car and hates tours). We only did a 1/2 day due to schedule availability, but we wished we had done the full day tour.

We also visited Etretat - the French version of the 'white cliffs of Dover'. Enjoyed it.

We opted to drive back into Paris. I know there are many that will argue to take the train, but we had to make a dinner meeting and the train schedules didn't work. We actually drove to our hotel, dropped off bags, found a drop-off location for our car, and made our meeting with time to spare.

good luck!

I think its perfect. We did exactly the same trip a few years ago and I would not change anything. Taking the train just cost more money and the drive is not that hard over to Bayeux from CDG.

I've been thinking of doing the D-Day touring on our own. I believe I found the cost of a guided tour and it was a bit too much for us. Does anyone know what the cost is for 3 adults? And is it easy enough for someone to do this on their own?

If you put D-Day and Normandy in the search key, you can see earlier discussions on whether to use a tour or not. Personally, I've read every book I can get my hands on and will try to "do it myself" over a 2-day period.

We used the D-Day guide in the Michelin Green Guide to Normandy to be very adequate for the purposes. There is probably little doubt that having a guide that tells all the stories, etc. is very nice, but the major site museums have excellent explanatory material and narration. There are several very good guide books available at the museums also that will flesh out a lot of detail.

After doing it with a tour guide, I wouldn't do anything else. The personal touch that the guide brought really made it a real-life event for us, as opposed to a historical event. If you have a family member or someone who landed there, email your guide in advance and they will research that company and give you exact details.

Obviously, there are many who have different opinions, but to me, this was worthwhile enough that I would chose lesser accomodations and find the budget to do it. I very much enjoyed the personal touch.

hopingtotravel's suggestion of doing a search is worthwhile -- this gets debated frequently.

Have you finalized your hotel? We loved the B&B in Honfleur...

"Try to make the WWII museum in Caen, it's fantastic. I didn't notice if you were staying in one hotel while in Normandy, but if you can, stay on Mont St. Michel. It's magical in the early morning and at night before/after the tour buses arrive"

I echo this fantastic advice!

You won't regret the cost of getting a tour guide. Roel with Victory tours is only 40 Euros per person he will cover most sights in the half day tour, and he could tell you where to go on your own after. My husband, who is very hard to please, marks his time on the tour as a definite highlight.

I haven't finalized any of my hotels yet. Hopefully I am not waiting too long for this but I've been researching the itinerary for a couple of weeks now. I only have 3 days in Normandy so I can't spend too much time on the tours. I hope to visit Honfleur and Mont St Michel in this time if possible. Wondering if we can just check into a hotel as a walk in and not pay premium prices?

We stayed in Honfleur at Cour Ste. Catherine - a B&B.

www.giaglis.com

I got the recommendation from another Fodorite. We had to leave early our last day and she put some croissants, a baguette in a bag for us. We just stayed in a room in the B&B, but I believe they also have apartments. We appreciated the fridge in the room to store drinks.

I don't know when you are going to recommend whether or not to get a hotel, but personally, I prefer to know where I'm staying. I believe also at Madame Giaglis' B&B there are rooms with a daybed in them - if you are sharing a room with all 3 adults, the extra bed is 20 E... a great deal!

I don't recall when you are going but to try to walk in and not pay top dollar would be a recipe for disaster to me. If you just do a search of hotel possibilities in the various places you are considering--and the wide range of prices--think about driving from hotel to hotel (finding them!!), going in to inquire, etc. etc. And, just so you know, I have done this scenario personally!!
The price of the guide quoted is really quite good, and if we had known about that probably would have done that. And a half day.
I think I have already commented that MSM may not be "possible" in your time frame, but of course, anything can be made the priority destination.
If you want a BIG recommendation of a VERY economical accomodation in Bayeux, then look at Hotel Bayeux. It is VERY inexpensive, very clean, on the edge of town (easy to drive in and out), near the cathedral and the tapestry. The rooms are quite large also--all on ground floor. Car park next door.
In Bayeux we had probably our best meal of that trip at the Petite Bistrot. Make a reservation. Excellent.

I am starting to get a better sense of what we would like to do. Fly into CDG, pick up a rental and drive to Honfleur. There we would check out the sites and spend the night. The next day we would leave Honfleur and drive towards Bayeux stopping at Deauville on the way. After checking into a room in Bayeux we would do the half day D-day tour and check out the tapestry. The next day on the road again to Mont St-Michel where we will spend one night. The next day onward to Caen to check out the sites. We are not sure if we will then leave the car here and take the train into Paris or keep the car a day longer, go to Chartres and then drive into Paris where we will spend the remainder of our time 5 or 6 days. Does this sound reasonable to y'all or are we overdoing it?

Going to Honfleur is good. Deauville?
I would just go on to Bayeux and get started on your itinerary there.
The distance from MSM back to Paris or even Caen is considerable. (The Caen museum, if you are going, needs a considerable amount of time.)But I guess if you drive the motorroutes you can make time, but you won't see Normandy--or anything but toll booths.
MSM is a true sight but in my opinion your itinerary is too spread out. You will have been to your sites/places, but that is about all.