Jean

Day 4 is almost 4.5 hours without the time needed to rent the car or including ANY stops. How much time did you think you'd spend at Giverny?? Honfleur? Deauville would add almost 30 minutes.

Day 5 is "only" 3 hours of driving.

On Day 7, if you left MSM early you could have lunch in Chartres.

Day 8... Bruges would be too far for me for a day trip. I think it's at least 2.5 hours each way.

vanshoppers

Thank you for your advice. Dropped Bruges. Looking for some suggestions in the second half of the trip, much appreciated!

Day 1 - Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysses, some light walking
Day 2 - St. Chapelle, NotreDame, Pantheon, Latin Quarter, Luxembourg Gardens
Day 3 - Day trip to Provins (by train)
Day 4 - Rent car, drive to Bayeux, with stops at Giverny and Honfleur
Day 5 - D-day beaches, museums
Day 6 - Mont St. Michel, Saint-Mere-Eglese. Any other recommendations?
Day 7 - Drive to Paris, afternoon/evening at Montmarte. Any good places to stop on the way?
Day 8 - Day trip to Versailles (by train)
Day 9 - Louvre (1:30 PM appt), not sure what we do in the AM. Eiffel 2nd floor at 9:30 PM
Day 10 - Eiffel top at 4:30 PM. Haven't planned much else. Open to suggestions. This is our last day in Paris

annhig

Sorry I just found this as I came back from 4 nights in Paris only 2 weeks ago and I might have had a few ideas to tweek your itinerary but it's probably too late now to change much. However just in case, I'm going to suggest swapping the trip round so that on landing in CDG you go immediately to Normandy, spend at least 3 nights there, then one at Giverny [going to the gardens as early as possible in the morning to miss the crowds] and then returning your car to CDG and getting the RER into Paris to your hotel. That means that you wouldn't be wasting time changing your accommodation in Paris - where are you staying BTW?

Talking of accommodation, I stayed in an aparthotel near Bastille which turned out to be extremely convenient and had a small kitchen and dining area [as well as a small terrace] which would be ideal for a family. They have various sized apartments [ours was a studio for two] and have about 12 properties all over Paris so they cover most areas. More details here: https://www.discoverasr.com/en/europ...yAAEgJ4b_D_BwE

Instead of a river cruise per se, I suggest getting the Batobus - you can get on and off as many times as you like as it goes along the Seine from Notre Dame at one end and the Eiffel Tower at the other. It might work well for the last 2 days of your trip as you can get a two day ticket which is not much more than the price of a one day trip. https://www.batobus.com/en

vanshoppers

Yes it's a bit late to make drastic changes. Thank you for the Batobus suggestion!

vanshoppers

Question on rental car and bags.

Is it safe to leave bags in the car when visiting Giverny and Honfleur? We will be renting a SUV, but wont be able to cover the luggage out of sight when parked, unless we leave some bags back in Paris for the 3 days.

P_M

Last month we were in a different part of France. We were driving in tiny little towns and there were signs warning us not to leave anything visible in the car.

On a personal note we were traveling in Canada years ago and we left a jacket and umbrella in the back seat. Believe it or not, someone broke the window and took those. The Vancouver police told us never to leave anything visible in the car.

I'm not saying that getting robbed is a sure thing if you do that, but I would not.

Jean

If you can leave some luggage in Paris, do that. I wouldn't park anywhere if luggage is visible.

Does the SUV have a cover to pull over cargo area?

P_M

Jean makes a good point about a cover, but if it's a flexible cover that shows the shape of the luggage then I still wouldn't do it.

vanshoppers

Thanks, I will plan to leave a couple of bags behind in Paris and see if we can get a car with luggage cover installed. Looking to try NannyBag for storage, they have a location close to the car rental place.

Jean

What's your lodging situation in Paris before and after Normandy? If it's a hotel, they will hold some of your luggage. I've never been charged for this service.

vanshoppers

Going from one Airbnb to another in a different part of Paris