We are planning our first trip to Normandy and Brittany this fall. We would appreciate advice of where to visit and where to stay if we had 8 days to see the two areas. We will probably rent a car outside Paris unless we drive straight from the airport. We like fine hotels or country estates with fine dining. We like to drive so that is no problem. Hope some of you seasoned travellers can give us some good advice.
thanks,
jeanne

There is no good advice as everyone has their own opinions and experiences.
But I would start with the sea coast for a first visit. Honfleur, to the Landing Beaches and all the way to Pont Aven.

See my reply to your question the first time you posed it: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...orth&fid=2

Also, in Normandy, if you are well-financed, I'd suggest the Ferme St. Simeon in Honfleur - "grande luxe." Its restaurant went through a rough patch but may be back on track. Also worth noting that in addition to over-the-top charm, Honfleur has a high concentration of restaurants. The Absinthe is a good choice for fine dining.

We've just returned from a trip which included a few days in this region. Honfleur is beautiful (1 day) and so is Mont St Michel. We also stayed in Les Anderlys in Normandy and the hotel was the highlight (hotel de Paris - boutique hotel with fantastic restaurant) -the ruins are great too. In Brittany we went to Cancale and had sensational oysters at a seafront restaurant. I persona;ly would have liked to have the time to travel to other more remote parts of Brittany. We didn't do the "Landing Beaches" and associated museums because we are Australian and went to the battlefields of the Somme instead but our teenagers got something out of this - lots of graves containes soldiers their age.
8 days is a good amount. We found French road signage very confusibng ( notto mention driving on the wrong side of the road, so suggest you take a train well out of Paris ( and major cities) before you pick up the car. Bon Voyage,
Judy

OK - definitely jetlagged - will check spelling next time.

For Brittany, you might check out Le Bretagne in Questembert. We stayed there and drove off in all directions each day to explore

Meant to add their website..it is in French but wll give you some idea

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/lebretagne/

Davis, we dined at St Simeon before the fire. Has the interior changed? The food was wonderful but we had more fun dining quai side.

Thank you all for your wonderful advice. We will do some serious research and come up with a plan. It all looks wwonderful to me so how can we go wrong??!!Perhaps later I will have some more questions but first I will do my homework.
jjashworth

You might be interested in my trip report, although it is a couple of years old:

http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....eport%3A+Ghent

Michael. I remember your report because you dined where we stayed for a few days in Pont Aven at th Moulin de Rosemedac. Someone later said they no longer take guests. Do you know if this is true? We like staying there because it's close to Belon, where we love tasting their famous oysters.

cigalechanta,

I have no idea of the Moulin de Rosmadec takes or does not take guests. We were staying outside Quimper at that time.