LeslieC

Late April to early May (15 nights total trip). Have aready booked our flights from LA to London (LHR), home from Paris (CDG). Nothing else yet set. Spend 7 - 8 nights in England and 7 - 8 nights in France. Been to London and Paris several times. Been to Cotswolds, Oxford, York, Bath, Stratford, Warwick, Windsor, Brighton. Also been to the Loire Valley in France. Hubby hasn't seen Cambridge or York or been on the London Eye, but I have. We are in our early 60's. This trip will be London 3 nights, 5 nights elsewhere in England (but where?). Then on to France for 7 nights to include Normandy / Mt. San Michel and Paris. My big dilemma is whether to fly, chunnel, or possibly ferry from UK to France. Checked the cost and it is comparable LHR to Orly on BA, or Edinburgh to CDG on EasyJet, Ferry from Portsmouth to LeHavre or Cherbourg or one way Eurostar from London to Paris.

How does this sound? Any specific practical concerns? Will we have nice scenery?
OPTION 1:
3 nights London
Pick up car and drive to Canterbury, Rye, areas of Kent/Sussex (5 nights total)
Either drive to LHR for a BA flight to Orly or take a ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre (leaving car in Portsmouth?) or Cherbourg. Pick up rental car and tour 4 nights in Normandy, seeing the WWII Beaches, Bayeaux, other small towns(?) and Mont. St. Michel (4 nights total). Giverny would be nice but don't know if we will have time.

Then either return the car to Paris or leave outside of Paris and train to Paris. Last 3 nights in Paris.

OPTION 2: Skip the Sussex/Kent tour and instead train to Cambridge, then train to York, possibly on to Edinburgh and then take cheap on Easy flight from Edinburgh to Paris (CDG). Or we could just do a Cambridge day trip from London. We have no problem driving in UK but I've made the drive from London to Cambridge, then on to York and back to Windsor and it was too long and not very scenic. I guess the Cotswolds spoiled me.

janisj

This won't help you much but I would be VERY happy w/ either one.

There is sooo much to see/do in Kent/East Sussex. An option would be to drop the car in Dover and ferry to Calais and collect a different car there (or drop it in Ashford if that is an option and Eurostar to France)

For option 2 maybe a train to Cambridge just for about 1/2 a day then in the afternoon train to York. Late afternoon/most of the next day in York. Early evening train to Edinburgh for the rest of your UK time then fly to Paris. One problem would be what to do w/ your luggage. It might require an over night in Cambridge because I don't think there is left luggage at Cambridge station.

But I really like the Ken/East Sussex plan (even w/ Edinburgh being one of my favorite cities on earth). The Spring gardens, castles, stately homes, seashore, etc. You could base yourselves somewhere in mid Kent/eastern part of East Sussex and be w/i reasonable drives of everything.

Michael

I believe that thee is a ferry to St. Malo. Pick up the car there, and return it in Paris.

Or you could pick up a car in Calais and start your tour there.

There photos cover the area you would see. They are geo-tagged so that there location can be established on a map.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7624436592493/

GBbabe

When DH and I went to Normandy from England in 2009, we took a Brittany Ferry from Portsmouth to Ouistreham. Ouistreham is on one end of what was designated Sword Beach. There is a bus to Cannes that meets the ferry. The Cannes bus station is next to the train station and the rental car companies are across the street. We rented a car there for the four days we were in Normandy. We stayed at a lovely B&B with absolutely wonderful breakfasts in Bayeaux and explored the WWII beaches and other sites from there.

tjhome1

Take a look at combining Cambridge and Suffolk. Personally I think Cambridge compares really well with Oxford and that Suffolk compares really well with the Cotswolds - the Cotswolds is just far too tourist oriented nowadays. We had a weekend in Suffolk recently and really enjoyed it. The villages and towns were completely lovely - Lavenham and Long Melford especially, two of the country's finest medieval villages, but you also have the coast as well. We based in Bury St Edmunds at the Angel Hotel. If you are seeing the WWII beaches it will be nice to connect the strong history of the US forces in Lavenham at the Swan hotel with its bar walls signed by hundreds of America servicemen.

chartley

Just a correction to GBBabe. The city in Normandy that you access by ferry from Portsmouth is Caen. Cannes is in the south of France, on the mediterranean coast. Cannes is the one with the film stars.

On a different tack, we spent a few days recently in Cambridgeshire. The Imperial War Museum at Duxford is well worth visiting if you have an interest in planes, and Audley End near Saffron Waldon is a stunning historic house.

GBbabe

Thanks, chartley, for the correction. I was in a rush. That would indeed by a looooong bus ride.

rhon

Tjhome1, I have to agree with you. Suffolk is a lovely part of England. Our D'in law is from Suffolk and we have really enjoyed our time there [ we are Australian] when our son and family lived there before returning to Oz. Lots of pretty villages and larger towns. Perhaps a bit undiscovered, which is great for us lucky ones.

scotlib

I am enjoying the ideas for the OP about Cambridge and Suffolk .. someday I'd like to spend time there.

Ditto the recommendation (loved it!!) for the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. I visited as a quick layover on a train trip in '09. Left my bag at a bike shop very near the train station .. if it's still available ....yes, http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/CBG.html, down in the General Svcs Info .. it's still the Cycle Hire where you can do left luggage.

mamcalice

When we did a similar trip 5 years ago, we left London by train to Dover, took the ferry to Calais and picked up a rental car for Normandy. It was a very easy and pleasant trip and the sun shining on the white cliffs of Dover is a lasting memory.

LeslieC

Thanks all for your replies. I like the idea of the Dover to Calais ferry if we go with the Sussex/Kent/Canterbury plan. I wasn't sure if that might not be too long a drive to the Normandy sights, but it sounds do-able. Also, I was hesitant to drive all the way West to Portsmouth to catch a ferry to LeHavre, but then I suppose that is no more extra driving than the Calais to Caen trip?

I also like the sound of Cambridge + Suffolk/East Anglia. I wasn't sure how picturesque that area is given my prior drive from London to Cambridge which failed to impress me. But I'll definately look into it. I appreciate the mention of specific villages and I see Karen Brown guides have a driving itinerary for that area so it must be nice. I admit I don't want to go overboard with military history museums but we are very interested in history and WWII in particulaur. My DH was born in London in '46 and came to the US as a baby. His dad served in the British army during the war. We are fascinated by anything "Churchill"...

Since we are flying home from CDG with an 11:00 am flight, you can see why I wish to do the Normandy tour first and end in Paris. Even though I normally like to use my rental car for transport to the airport at the end of a trip, Normandy is too far away. I don't want to lose a night staying near the airport and it makes me nervous to be too far away the day before our departure.

Other Questions: If our itinerary takes us from the UK directly to Paris via Eurostar or via flight to Orly...what are the best ways to get ourselves out to Normandy immediately? Train to Caen and then pick up car? Pick up car rental at Orly? As to returning from Normandy (probably Mt. San Michel) to Paris, what would you recommend? I hate to enter a big city like that to return a car. It is easier to exit. Note: we've seen Versailles twice and Fountainbleu. Never seen Vaux en Vicomte or Giverny - are their car return and train connections from there to Paris?

PS - we had a 3 week trip this past spring to Spain/Viena/Salzburg/Munich/Bavaria. We agreed that was too long and my husband swore he would go for "slow travel next time." Yet he's the one who insisted on this two-country, two-week plan and doesn't want to overload on castles and stately homes which, for my taste, would be great! Any pearls of wisdom on that score?

Mimar

I haven't been to the Suffolk area, so can't compare. But I really liked our trip from Rye west. I love the South Downs, rolling hills in which nestle cute villages. And there's a lot to see around there. We picked up our car at Gatwick, Drove to Rye, then worked our way west. Highlights in my memory were the towns of Rye and Battle, near Hastings, where William the Conqueror conquered. (Quite a lot about him in Normandy too. Don't miss the Bayeux Tapestry.) Also Bodiam Castle (happily set in almost empty countryside), Fishbourne Roman Palace, and especially the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, most especially there the HMS Victory, Nelson's ship: www.historicdockyard.co.uk.

There's also Brighton (the Royal Pavilion, the shops and restaurants, the pier) and Winchester, a pretty town I'm looking forward to seeing next spring.

Ah, England has so much to see -- but so does Normandy. Regarding your car drop-off question. I see Autoeurope has a location in Vernon, which is very near Giverny and has a train to Paris.

I suspect the problem with your previous trip was too many destinations in too short a time. Could you possibly make this trip a little longer? Slow it down?

Michael

We drove from Calais to Honfleur in three days.

janisj

For Churchill-iana stuff, I'd think Chartwell would be a must. Their lovely private home left exactly as when Winston and Clemmie lived there, really pretty gardens, plus his painting studio.

While I really like Suffolk, and Duxford is terrific, Chartwell and Dover Castle (especially the WWII bits) would be a perfect prelude to the Normandy part of your trip.