Normandy From Paris
 

My mom and I have planned a trip to London (3 days/nights), Paris (4 days/nights), and Bruges/Brussels (3 days nights) this summer. My mom is extremely interested in seeing Normandy and this is now going to be a 'must do' (unfortunately this was a revelation that came about after we booked flights and decided on the 10 days). I've looked into the possibility of going from London, to Paris for 2 days (we've both been before so we're ok cutting it down, but 3 would be preferable), then to Bayeux by train, then Brussels by train from Bayeux, but the last leg of the train just seems too long and complicated.

So my question is do we take a train to Caen or Bayeux in the morning, pick up a day trip there, and then take a train back to Paris that evening? And if that's the case what are the best tours to take, preferably less than 200 Euro. This would be ideal as we wouldn't have to book another hotel and worry about or bags, but if option B is unanimously the way to go, we're comfortable with that as well.

OR do we take a train to Bayeux, explore the city, then pick up an early morning day trip and head back to Paris that night, for a quick one night stay, before carrying on to Brussels.


** This is a must do, we're well aware that it is a tight time crunch, but we're going to make it happen.

I was not clear with 'option B'- we would be spending the night in Bayeux making it a 2 day, 1 night trip

Have you checked the times that the tour you want to do leaves Bayeux? There is a LOG to see in Normandy and I'm not sure a half day tour would give you what you want.

Since you have already been to Paris before I might just go straight to Normandy and see more there and just spend one night in paris before heading to Bruges. I would never go to Bayeux without seeing the tapestry for one thing.

If your mom's interest in Normandy is primarily World War II / D-Day stuff, then I wouldn't hesitate to skip the tapestry myself; pick up a D-Day day tour there and have a long day. That wouldn't be my preference, but on a tight schedule it would probably work. I visited Normandy over three nights (two nights in Bayeux, one in Caen) and rented a car there, after taking the train to Caen. I'd do it that way again. Normandy is beautiful country and I found driving there very easy, and I liked being able to dwell at the various sites as long as I wanted to.

It's a shame you can't really go from Normandy directly up to Belgium without going back to Paris, but I think you have to (or detour somewhere else if not Paris).

If you really want to cut a night from somewhere else to spend it in Normandy, you might cut Brussels. Although Brussels has a few passionate fans, most people seem to find it pretty ordinary (though the Grand Place is a beautiful square all lit up at night). I don't think many travelers come back from Belgium remembering Brussels as the highlight, though the city as a European capitol does have things to see. You could perhaps spend just a few hours there (leave bags at the train station) instead of a night.

Bruges, while very touristy, is also really beautiful. I loved it.

What is your mother's reason to want to visit Normandy? I think that would make a difference in planning....

I would take a car and not take a tour in Normandy.

Pretty easy to organize oneself there.
Plus I don't find the tours so grand in general. If your mother is a history buff she'll be disappointed by what most guides say, if she isn't she'll be bored.

There is much more than the Grand-Place in Bxl but the advice to cut the night is not bad in your case !

Mvg

There are one day tours to Normandy from Paris. It is a LONG day but is possible.
Brussels might could be cut back.

We took the train and rented a car in Caen and toured ourselves staying in Bayeux.
http://www.overlordtour.com/ they seem to get the best reviews and we were going to use them but decided to do ourselves. We spent a lot of time at the American cemetery and the beaches. We also went to St Eglise for the paratrooper museum. The German cemetery was also eye opening. Just babies buried three to a grave.

I would cut a night from Brussels.

We took a half day afternoon tour with Normandy Sightseeing
http://www.normandy-sightseeing-tour...day-tours.html

5 hours was plenty and we had a wonderful young woman guide (Kate). We stayed just outside of Bayeux and she picked us up at our hotel in a van and there were 7 of us. I would not do a larger tour. It was extremely interesting and informative and I highly recommend you take this one. A full day tour would have been way too long for me.

That area of Normandy is indeed beautiful.

We toured for two days and we loved it. Bayeux was a great base and loved this village for the evening. Good places to eat and nice hotels or B&Bs. A five hour tour is very short, we spent three hours at the American cemetery.

If you decide to stay a night (and train to Caen or Bayeux would work well and then rent the car), the Hotel Bayeux is VERY inexpensive, largish rooms, squeaky clean, near the cathedral and tapestry and easy access to the autoroute out of town. A secure car park also.

The German cemetery was also eye opening. Just babies buried three to a grave

That unit of German troops are the ones who carried out the massacre at Odour-sur-Glane. They were called to Normandy from there.

thank you everyone, this is very helpful!

Oradour sur Glane.

Unit involved was SS 2 Pz Division Das Reich.
Coming from down south. Didn't paticipate in the first phase of the battle, came more into the frontline during counter-attack on Falaise.

They were not young either. You probably mistake them with 12 SS Pz Division HitlerJugend. Which fought heavily around Caen and consisted of conscripts coming from the Hitlerjugend. And didn't commit those crimes.

Not that it makes a big difference.

The bulk of the german soldiers in Normandy were Wehrmacht - with some eastern soldiers (Russians, Ukrainians etc).

One out of every three soldiers in the 3rd Company of "der Führer" regiment, the perpetrators of the Oradour massacre, was a Frenchman from Alsace and most of them were under 18 years of age. Except for one man

The sign in front of the cemetery reads as follows:

“The German Cemetery at La Cambe: In the Same Soil of France
Until 1947, this was an American cemetery. The remains were exhumed and shipped to the United States. It has been German since 1948, and contains over 21,000 graves. With its melancholy rigour, it is a graveyard for soldiers not all of whom had chosen either the cause or the fight. They too have found rest in our soil of France."


<The majority of the German war dead buried at La Cambe fell between June 6 and August 20, 1944. They died during the Allied landings and the ensuing combat. Casualties of the war in Normandy are still being found after some 70 years, although formal burial ceremonies are less frequent these days. In total, as of July 2008, there are the remains of 21,222 German soldiers, sailors and airmen buried at La Cambe. The buried include:

Generalmajor Sigismund-Helmut von Dawans, killed in the RAF raid on the Panzergruppe West's GHQ.
SS-Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann: the most senior officer at the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane on 10 June 1944. Ordered to be court martialled, he was killed in battle in Normandy on 29 June.[3]
SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann: Tiger tank ace, who along with his tank crew was informally buried in an unmarked site following their deaths on 8 August 1944. Rediscovered in 1983, the crew was re-interred at La Cambe.>


My husband was looking for Michael Wittmann and his crew. The huge mound in the center was for the unknown. I just saw many 15 and 16 year old boys. Many of the graves had veggies growing around them planted by their families. I have German friend's that lived in Germany during the war and they did not want to fight, hated Hitler but you fought or else. My Dad was a paratrooper but they invaded France from the south. They had been in Italy and entered that way. We also did the Battle of the Bulge historic sights as that is where my Dad fought. Just something everyone should see. It is all very moving.

You may want to consider whether you'd rather skip Bruges and, perhaps, Brussels, unless you have seriously compelling reasons otherwise, in favor on Normandy, particularly for more than one day.

Though we enjoyed Bruges, it's not a place I would necessarily recommend. Though I am loathe to designate any place "too touristy", Bruges was mobbed on a sweltering day in June and mostly chock full of souvenir, chocolate, lace, shops. There were too many tour buses to take any unobstructed photos, and all the dining options could not have been more, well, "touristy".

All in all, I would recommend several days in the Normandy area versus Bruges/Brussels.

Obviously, with only ten days for all that, you'll have to make choices.

As Bruges was probably the highlight of my trip to Belgium in 2013, I'm certainly glad I didn't skip it! But I was there in mid-May, not in the summer. The first Sunday was a bit touristy but Monday was slower. I imagine it is busier in the summer and more touristy, though. It's probably another place that's best in the morning and at night when the day trippers aren't there - an ideal time to visit a museum or day trip to Ghent (which many consider the "non-touristy" alternative to Bruges, a beautiful city in is own right).

flpab --

Your father fought in the Battle of the Bulge?? Man, I am silent in awe and respect. And gratitude. Your father and his comrades did a superhuman feat there.

Please pass on my enormous thanks and respect to your father.

=D>

s

swandav, yes he did. I just added that in because I understood the loss but also the Germans lost many and not all believed in the cause or fight that died. My Dad was awarded the silver metal/purple heart there and paid dearly his whole life for the injuries he suffered in low altitude suicide jumps. He was the first to jump in North Africa. They lost so many due to some planes off loading into the water instead of land.He never ever uttered a bad word against the soldiers he fought, he had much more anger towards his leaders. He always felt like a gallon of gas was worth more in the General's eyes than a soldier. Anyway, living in Germany you understand. It is history and we should see it all.

I agree, flpab! I haven't seen any Germans avoid the truth of the past, and in fact I've seen the younger generation take the lessons about how Fascism rises and guard against it. And as a 20-year veteran of the US Army, I know how soldiers count on their officers to provide the basics so that they can do their jobs.

s