Does anyone know if I can drive from Paris or take the train to Normany and do a combo mini-tour of both Normandy and Mont St. Michel in one day, or should I spend one night there? We do not like tours on motorcoaches or groups and want to be on our own, not sure how to do this. Any ideas? Also was thinking about driving from Frankfurt straight to Normandy, staying 1-2 nights to see both places, then drive to Paris and do 2 nights there. I assume we can get tickets once we arrive in Normandy? Thanks.

We are planning on going to Normandy this summer as well and we will spend four nights in Normandy as there is A LOT to do there (wish we would spend more time there!). I am planning to spend almost an entire day at Mont St. Michel. Depending upon what else you want to see in Normandy besides Mont St. Michel, you may be too rushed to enjoy your time there.

I would not recommend visiting Mont St-Michel from Paris in a one-day round trip. Considering the distances involved, it would make for a "marathon" kind of day, and would involve an early departure from Paris with likely a late night return - whew! It would be a little bit like going from Boston to Philadelphia and back in one day - technically feasible BUT ... And we have not even considered visiting elsewhere in Normandy yet!

kanadajin

We had a car and did a one day trip to Mont St-Michel from our base of Bayeaux in Normandy. It was very doable from there. I would recommend getting to MSM as early as feasible to beat the tour buses. There is an interesting German cemetary you can go to right outside of MSM which has gorgeous views and is interesting in its own right (from our brief look around most of the buried were either 15 or 45 - sad - must have been late in the war).

<<Does anyone know if I can drive from Paris or take the train to Normany and do a combo mini-tour of both Normandy and Mont St. Michel in one day>>

I know that you cannot do this. Normandy needs an extremely bare minimum of two days if you want to get out of the car (well, you can take a one-day - very long day - coach tour from Paris), and le Mont St-Michel is another bare minimum of about 3-4 hours.

And I certainly wouldn't drive from Frankfurt all the way to Normandy with only 1-2 nights, and you don't want a car in Paris.

Don't know what tickets you're referring to.

We drove from Paris to Giverny, then to Honfleur in one day. Then to Bayeux the next day for a tour of the beaches and the next day we went to Mont St Michel where we spent a few hours. Then headed back to Paris. Three days was the bare minimum to do it all and it left us wanting more. It was too rushed and really didn't let us enjoy ourselves thoroughly.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Maybe I will stay in Paris the first night, then drive to the area stay in a hotel one nignt and try to see both in two days?

No, more than two days if you want to see The coast,
inland Central the Auge, Perche and Suisse Normandy
and the Northwest Cotentin Bocage and MSM .

Hey, just went to the mount absolutely amzing, we stayed off the track in a B&B, very welcoming lady speaks perfect English, http://chambresdhote.freeiz.com/chambredhote.htm
We went to Cancale, not to far from there where you can see the Mount in the mist. There are many activities to do near there Normandy and Brittany are nice regions of France.