Salut

I'm planning a 7 night road trip in the Brittany/Normandy area. First stop planned is Chartes and with plans to stay the night at Mont St Michel the 3rd night into the trip and 2 nights in Honfleur on night 6 and 7.
I'm wondering where would be a good place to stay on night 2 to explore D Day sights and is Chartes worth an overright stay?
I was thinking about attending the Saturday market in Rennes? Has anyone been to it?
I would like to know if there are some interesting backroads or coastal I should take..Perhaps leaving out of Chartes to Rennes or anywhere leading to the coast near Mont St Michel.

Thoughts/Suggestions welcome!!

I'm an anti-tarheel(basketball speaking)...but nevertheless, I hope I can help one. Chartres is not an overnight IMO...it's more of a pass-through to ooh and ahhh over the beautiful, enormous cathedral. Basing in and around Bayeux would serve your goals of visiting nearby D-Day sites. To do so, I would further recommend lodging at the handsome Chateau de Sully just 2-3 kms north of town, on the road to several of the sites (Omaha, its not-to-miss cemetary and momunment, Utah, the hanging paratrooper, Pointe Du Hoc...and even within day-trip reach of the further eastern sites). 2 nights at the Chateau would do it. (If beyond your budget, there are many options within the town of Bayeux that Fodorites have recommended. Maybe they'll chime in here)

A few years ago we throughly enjoyed using Chateau de Sully for three nights which gave us a full day in Bayeux to take in the pleasant town, the tapestries, the small war museum, lunch, etc. It's however a longer drive heading east to Honfleur from MSM....with a stop in Caen to visit the meaningful memorial/museum therein.

stu

The roads are good from Bayeux to MSM and should get you there with plenty of the day left to explore.

http://www.chateau-de-sully.com/en.php

http://www.karenbrown.com/Hotel_Guid..._Sully/895.php

stu

Bayeux is a good place for seeing the D-Day sights. It's about halfway between the actual beaches and the excellent Peace Memorial Museum (all about WWII) on the edge of Caen. There are tours of the beaches that leave out of Bayeux.

Chartres we did as a daytrip from Paris. That would save time on your drive for more distant points.

What's the draw of Rennes? I think of the coast when I think of Brittany. St. Malo has a market Friday morning, Dinard, Dol de Bretagne and Fougeres have markets on Saturday. (Admittedly Fougeres is inland but it looks so interesting!)

For scenic routes I look at the Michelin maps; they have scenic stretches of road marked in green. You can see this at www.viamichelin.com if you zoom in.

I would not spend the night in ChartRes. I might spend a single night in Honfleur, because it's a beautiful spot, but not two. I'd base in Bayeux, as others have said, for visiting the D-Day spots. I also wouldn't spend a night on le MSM - just get there early to avoid the crowds, spend half a day there, and get out - there are no hotels or restaurants of any real merit there.

Rennes is a fabulous town. So are Fougères and Vitré. But inland Brittany is of course not the main attraction - it's the coastal towns that have the most allure.

Thank you all, including what I presume to be a dookie

Another vote for Bayeux. Don't forget about the Bayeux Tapestry and the WWII museum in Bayeux as well.

You might look through a trip report I did last year - various locations in Brittany, also a day close to (but not at) Mont Saint-Michel: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-movements.cfm

Photos: http://gardyloo.us/August%202010.htm