Normandy/Brittany
 

I've read all the recent posts regarding Normandy however I still have a question (or two, probably more): We will have five days in the area and are thinking that 2 days in Bayeux, 1 day in Mont St Michel & 1 day in St Malo would be good. Where would you add for the one extra 24 hrs? And, can anyone recommend good B&Bs in these three areas? We will be there the later part of Oct, will reservations be necessary or could we 'wing it'? We plan to rent a vehicle at CDG which is much cheaper than renting in Caen and we will save on the train tickets...why does it appear most do not do this? Am I missing something? Thanks

We stayed at a B&B between Cancale and St. Malo. If interested, check its name in my trip report (Ghent, Normandy & Brittany).

Just to respond to the car rental part of your question--we rent our car from the airport also. The benefits start right away. We have no luggage worries; everything we won't immediately need goes in the trunk. We don't have to carry luggage, find a taxi or train station, make any connections, get in any lines, buy tickets, or struggle with expressing ourselves. Our route is (mostly) our choice, so we can go directly or indirectly, take the autoroute or the back roads. Within an hour we can stop at a patisserie along the Seine. I've never compared costs with taking a train somewhere and renting a car there, but I'd think the savings on train tickets alone would really pay off if you're a family.

I can think of two major concerns--will you be rested enough to drive? Can you handle the busy traffic?

Many times I've seen warnings about the dangers of arriving on a long flight and immediately getting into a strange car and braving the airport exit traffic and autoroutes, and I agree that's a problem. It works for us because my husband is an intrepid driver. He drinks a lot of coffee on the plane. When we pick up the car, he figures out the car's lights, gears including reverse, windshield wipers, etc. before we leave the rental car lot.

Exiting the airport is tough unless you're used to heavy traffic. Everybody but the rental car driver knows where they are going and zips confidently in and out. We usually make an extra loop around the airport till we're sure where to go, and even then we've been wrong.

I believe we have a 100% record of leaving the airport the wrong way. Even with printed directions in hand. I am not a good map reader and the French indicate only the general direction on their road signs--not Route 66 West, which you could see on a map, but "Rouen," "Meaux," and other major towns and I often have no clue which is east, north, west, up, or down.

I encourage you to try it. Avoid the autoroutes. Get onto a scenic road (green roads on the Michelin maps) as soon as you can, and your vacation starts right then. You're in the real France, not autoroute France.

Coquelicot has offered great advice. You might like to spend your "extra" night en route to Bayeux. Maybe Honfleur although that might be a little far for leaving the airport. We went to Rouen, planning on Giverny on the way, but just went on.
Staying on the secondary roads (N, I believe) is much better also. More to see, and not difficult at all.

Le Chaine d'Or in Petit Andely is an easy drive from CDG and makes a good first night stop on the way to Normandy after an overnight flight. Bucolic setting along the Seine and great place to relax.

You'll be visiting a lovely area, where I spent 10 days in June and could have spent more. Five days will give you a good intro and might tempt you to return for more. I agree with you about the car--picking it up at the airport makes great sense. We took the ferry over from Portsmouth to Le Havre, picked up the car there, and dropped it off at CDG on our way to Paris. No problems!

In Bayeux I can recommend the B&B Le Petit Matin, not far from the Cathedral. They have only 3 rooms to let, in a lovely townhouse, and serve excellent breakfasts as part of the price. Very nice owners. For dinner we ate at Le Fringale, not far from the tourist office. A good meal, reasonably priced, in a very friendly setting. The tapestry, the Cathedral, and the Battle of Normandy Museum will keep you busy for a day; you might consider a D-Day tour on the second day. There are several that base out of Bayeux; we took the 1-day Battlebus tour that focused on the American-related sites. Very worthwhile, with only 8 people maximum and a knowledgeable, interesting British guide.

Some places you might consider for your extra day:

--Overnight in Giverny. It's a sweet place after all the garden visitors leave--and you can visit Monet's garden at the end of the day or early the next morning, both great times for photography and much less crowded than mid-day. We stayed 2 nights there, at Le Bon Marchechal, another nice B&B with just 3 rooms, right in the heart of the village. Really comfortable and not on anybody's radar. We spent the evenings having drinks and dinner at the wonderful Hotel Baudy, really the only game in town after the gardens close, with a very pleasant outdoor dining area. Giverny off-hours really surprised me!

--Honfleur. Beautiful, picturesque town with plenty to keep you occupied for a day (museums, shops, walks, boats, architecture). I can recommend the B&B Cour Sainte Catherine, a rambling 17th-century courtyard building with a charming organized jumble of a garden and a very friendly owner. We enjoyed dinners at L'Homme du Bois and L'Hippocampe, both in town.

--Dinan. We rented a house here so I can't recommend a specific B&B, but we the town is beautiful and engaging, with excellent restaurants (I recommend La Mere Pourcel), markets, bars, a beautiful church, a fabulous harbor area, and great walks in the vicinity (especially the one up the Rance River to Lehon (you can also rent a boat for the same trip).

You might also consider a day on the Granite Rose coast. We drove from Dinan to Ploumanche for the day--it was a full day's trip but was worth it for the striking scenery and a great coastal walk, punctuated by a wonderful lunch of delicious langoustines at a small restaurant by the water.

I loved the old part of St. Malo--especially the bracing walk along the ramparts. We enjoyed an excellent meal at Le Lion d'Or--my shrimp and scallop salad with mushrooms was one of the best meals I had on this trip. Cancale was another nice spot, with lots of restaurants serving great oysters and other types of seafood, and a beautiful coastline to walk.

aprillilacs took the words out of my mouth for the extra day suggestion. I'll second a vote for either Honfleur, Dinan or Côte de Granit Rose (Ploumanach).

In Bayeux, check out the B&B Aggarthi at the following link: http://chambresdhotesbayeux.com/version_anglaise.htm

We like to rent from the airport. We spent a week in Paris, then took a taxi to CDG to pick up the rental car (easier we thought than picking up in the city and driving through the city).

We thought about training to Caen and picking up a car, but, like you, decided to save the train fare (for 4 people) and just pick it up in Paris. The drive was no problem.

The best meal we had on the trip we went to Paris and Normandy was in Bayeux at Le Petite Bistro, across from the cathedral. Make reservations.

<i>We like to rent from the airport. We spent a week in Paris, then took a taxi to CDG to pick up the rental car (easier we thought than picking up in the city and driving through the city).</i>

This is adding unnecessary cost to the rental (taxi + 37€ for airport pick-up). Pick up the car at the Porte Maillot and you will be on the west side of Paris.

So many great suggestions. We did conclude that a long drive right after the flight would not be a good thing. Now we are thinking about going to Versailles, walking around for hours then drive to Honsfleur & spend the nite. My next question: Honsfleur, Trouville or Deauville? I've read that they all have something to offer. Thank you so much!

I know many people here love to pick up car at the airport - but not I!! However, I usually go to France solo, and much prefer the smaller roads. And with no navigator except myself, the train works best for me. Getting onto those crowded expressways from the airport after flying all night would totally freak me out.

When I went to Normandy a few years ago, I trained to Rouen and picked up car there. I had a lot more time than you do for this trip (2 weeks), so I spent 2 nights in Rouen without the car. I loved driving around Normandy - it's just beautiful, as is Brittany. I did the same kind of trip to Brittany the following year, and trained there before picking up car.

Your question re Honfleur, Trouville or Deauville: Honfleur, most definitely! I wasn't impressed with Trouville or Deauville, but adored Honfleur. It is a beautiful, charming little town. I also liked Bayeux a lot, even though I stayed at a place in the countryside near the beaches.

For Brittany, I much preferred Dinan to St. Malo. The parking was very difficult in St. Malo, and it just didn't have the charm of Dinan. As other have said, the Cote de Granit Rose is gorgeous. I'm sure you'll love both Normandy and Brittany, and will want to go back to spend more time in both areas.

This is what I would do. Pick up car rental at CDG and drive to Giverny. Tour Monet's garden getting plenty of sun(jet lag) and lite lunch across the rode at cafe. Drive to Honfleur and spend the night, have Dinner on the Quay, relax and enjoy the city with a light walk. In morning drive to Caen and visit the Peace Memorial(a must for D-Day visits), then on to Bayeux.

BTW driving to Versailles on the 1st day is not a good idea

Update: How 'bout drive to Versailles, this will keep us up and walking, then drive to Giverny, spend the nite? Next morn drive to Honfleur, spend the nite. Then on to Caen for morning at the museum, to Bayeux for the afternoon and one or two days? What do you all think?

If you do go to Versailles, stop before visiting Giverny. Visit the Money garden the next morning and then drive on to Honfleur, possibly going via the <i>route des chaumes</i>.

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

I believe that the pictures are geo-tagged so that you can find them on a map.

Monet, not Money.

Michael your pictures are so beautiful! I didn't go to Honfleur. Now I must return to Normandy.

Dinan absolutely
Any of the castle towns in Britany
Falaise
Trouville and Deuville nah a bit of a waste of time unless you like casino
St Mere Elgise is of interest if you want a different slant on WW2

Picking a car up at the airport does cost a bit more due to airport pickup charges. Good point, Michael. To us, it's worth it to start out on an easy expressway with (usually) clearly marked signs.

I personally would not rent a car after flying all night, as we are just too tired, but I know lots of people do it without problems.

I don't argue with picking up a car upon landing if the travelers do not intend to stay in Paris. But I think it is a waste of time and money do go back to the airport just to pick up a car, especially if the airport is on the far side of Paris.

Driving to Versailles IS folly. Giverny is at least on the same side of Paris as CDG, approximately.
As far as renting a car out of Paris, I would try to rent it on the outskirts on the Peripherique just to not drive out of Paris. It may not be difficult, but it does add a degree of uncertainty.

sAnd You are using a LOT of days up just getting to Bayeux. Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeux, then MSM although it is a good little way out there.

I am truly taking everyone's advise: Revision 2: Drive from CDG straight to Giverny, nix Versailles. Go to the Monet Gardens, stay at Le (Au) Bon Marchechal for the first nite (per Aprillilacs). Next morn, drive to Honfluer for the entire day.

Gretchen, we are using no days for the drive, our longest drive is 1 and half hours. Most drives are between 30 to 60 mins each. Your suggestion of renting a car outside would be great, will look into that.

Altho I have been to nearly 50 nations and Bob as been to at least 20 more than I, I appreciate everyone's input. This will be my third trip to France and Bob's upteenth time, however we have never been to Normandy or Brittany...can't wait!

Any more suggestions?

YOu might check to see if you will be in Normandy for the annual cidre festival in Beavron sur Auge, one of the beautiful villages of Normandy. Quimper is alo a lovely town

This statement looks like 2-3 days just to get to Bayeux.
'Update: How 'bout drive to Versailles, this will keep us up and walking, then drive to Giverny, spend the nite? Next morn drive to Honfleur, spend the nite. Then on to Caen for morning at the museum, to Bayeux "
You did revise AFTER I posted.
We have done this trip, and actually didn't have/take time to do MSM from Bayeux.

As for most of your drives being 1-1.5 hours, Idon't know what map you are looking at!!
I really suggest you get a good Normandy Michelin map and "connect some dots"--I do not mean this to be "snarky" at all--just realistic.

Gretchen, I appreciate your input, I used Google maps. Guess I should ck out others. And yes, I have revised twice now and according to Google, our longest drive is 1 and half hrs from Bayeux to Mont St Michel. Can anyone tell me how long this should take? We plan to do it early morn.

Good catch, Bridget, on my bad spelling of Au Bon Marechal. Sometimes I go too fast. We stayed in the pink room and my brother and his wife stayed in the blue room. Both were quite charming, with a few quirks related to the visibility of the showers. The pink room was very sweet with a small terrace overlooking Giverny's main street (empty at night). The blue room was bigger, with a small sofa and a big window overlooking the B&B's garden, and an enclosed shower in the room. We liked them both, and they were very inexpensive! The owners don't speak English, but we were able to understand each other perfectly even with our seriously fractured French. (For example, I introduced my brother's wife as his husband, but they got the idea and just smiled.)

As for the drive from Bayeaux to Mont St Michel took less than 90 minutes. Here are my notes from the drive:

After chatting with the owners of Le Petit Matin (Bayeux) at breakfast, we drove toward the Mount through lovely Norman countryside, sort of via the back way, on a small country road where we saw signs for a German WWII cemetery with 10,000 or so soldiers interred in a mausoleum-type construction. Serendipity is one of the best parts of travelling—put yourself there and you will have experiences. Not as moving as the white crosses of the American cemetery, but a peaceful place that made us think about the losses incurred by needless war.

Our first glimpse of Mont St. Michele was from a distance, but it was impressive nonetheless. And it only got better, the closer we got. We stopped for lunch at one of the many restaurants that line the road up to the causeway, but ours was farther from the Mount (no view) so the price was reasonable and the food (more galettes) was good. Then we drove up to the nearest parking lot—walking distance to the entrance—where many cars were already parked. Many! The Mount is really impressive, no matter how many people are there. Entrance to the town at the base is free, so we pushed our way through the crowded lane heading up toward the top, amid souvenir shops and restaurants on both sides, and the crowd started to thin as we headed up and up. According to the girl who later guided us through the abbey (for free) once we arrived at the abbey itself, only about a third of the people who come to the Mount actually go up to the abbey.

The views from the top were spectacular, and the abbey itself is a massive building, on two levels. We lucked out on the tour—only two a day in English, and the 2:00 tour was starting five minutes after we arrived. We learned about the long history of the abbey on the 90-minute tour—very interesting, with lots of information about the history of the rooms, chapels and cloisters on both levels.

We then drove on to lovely Dinan for our week's rental there, arriving about 5 p.m.

bridgetS - If you are unaware of the website viamichelin.com you can use it to get info on drive times and distances, cost of tolls and gas and suggested routes. It does not consider stops nor can it predict traffic delays. I would also suggest you get Michelin maps of the scale 1/200,000 for any region you plan to visit. They are full of icons marking all kinds of historic/touristic attractions such as châteux, churches, ruins etc. The roads highlighted in green are designated scenic roads. Use these roads to plan some "get lost" driving and try to pass through lots of small towns and villages with some châteaux on the route. You'll discover all kinds of hidden surprises not in the guidebooks.

To give you some idea of a timeline for Bayeux and MSM this is what we did in 2004 and it worked out very well. We stayed the night in Bayeux after spending a full day visiting the D-Day beaches. In the morning we went to the Bayeux Tapestry right when it opened and spent about 2 hrs there. After that we got supplies for a picnic lunch in town and drove to MSN with a stop for our picnic at a roadside overlook with a view of the Mont. We got to MSM around 2:30 when the crowds were thinning(tour buses were leaving) and took the last english tour of the Abbey. We had booked a room on the Mont and it's true you have the place pretty much to yourself at night. It was fun walking the walls, watching the tide roll in and having Dinner on the Mont in very uncrowded conditions. While we stayed on the Mont staying on the mainland should be considered, then you have a view of MSM and at night it will take your breath away. This may seem like a lot in one day but we were not rushed in the least and was one of our best days in France.

I am so enjoying reading everyone's post. Does anyone remember how long it took to drive from Bayeux to MSM? Google says 1 and half hrs.

I will ck out the Michelin website, just when I think I have travel via the internet down...I always learn something new from this forum. I suppose I was unaware as I never do the driving when in Europe. This time I'm doing all the research even if I'm not going to be doing the actual driving...I get to look!

An hour and a half is just about right. Longer, of course, if you stop and ogle every time you catch a view of the Mount in the distance!

I was unaware you had already used google. You can also use mappy.com. Everyone has their favorite. The drive times given on these sites usually don't consider stops or traffic delays but for this drive 1-1/2 hours is a fairly reasonable estimate.

We stayed on Mont St. Michele and it was very nice to be there in the evening/morning. The drive from Bayeux was short, as I recall, although I can't specifically remember the time.

However, we ate at La Mere Poulard and it was by far our least favorite meal of the trip, although one of the most expensive.

bridget - We drove a while, then stopped at Giverny and then returned our car at CDG. It was the perfect amount for one day.

Aprillilacs, I see you agreed w/ 90 minutes, just went back and re-read. We difinitely plan to go to the top, I can't imagine going that far and not doing this. What are those 2/3 thinking???
Funny Michel and Maria not speaking English. All my emails to them have been typed then translated by the internet so I suppose they thought I was fluent in French. She did use two words that would not translate into English and when I asked if she could for me, she actually tried to translate her entire email. It is quite humorus but she did ok. Maybe they have learned a bit more English since your visit. Thanks for the suggestion.

As suggested in previous posts, looks like we will stay at Aggarthi in Bayeux & Hotel Vert, just outside MSM (walking distance). And now, we are looking at Dinan for one nite instead of St Malo. When this is finished I will post another itinerary to get final approval from all you experts!

Sorry, we drove from Mont St. Michel to Giverny to CDG in one day. But, it was at the end of the trip, not after a long flight.

P.S. And I see that I have lied. Looking back at my notes from that trip, we picked the car up at Orly airport, not CDG.

My last post... staying in Paris, picked up the car from Orly, drove to Normandy/Bayeux/Mont St. Michel, returned car to CDG for flight home.