Normandy Itinerary- Advice/Comments
 

We will be in Normandy for 7 days in the middle of May. We are staying in Bayeux for 5 nights visiting the WWII sights....we have a full day tour and then plan to venture out by ourselves! We will also rent a car (arrive Friday evening) on Sunday morning.

What other towns should we visit while we are there? We depart for Paris on the 24th by train from??

May 18th- Bayeux
May 19th- Full day D Day tour
May 20th- Rent car and drive to Caen...museum!
May 21st- Drive to Honfleur for the day?
May 22 - Drive to Roen for the day?
May 23- Drive to Mont- St Michel then go to Remmes (drop off car and spend the evening)
May 24th- Train to Paris from Remmes

Does anyone have a comment or advice as to what would be a worthwhile itinerary while in Normandy? We can spend less nights in Bayeux?

Thanks in advance!!

I wouldn't drive from Bayeux to Rouen and back as a day trip, when you could easily just drive to Rouen on the way to Normandy. Spend a night there if you like.

Once you're in Normandy, it's not a long trip to le MSM. You could get to le MSM fairly early in the day, visit, then go on to Rennes via Fougères. Spend a night in Rennes, start driving back to Paris via Vitré and Alençon. You could take a little side trip to Chartres, drop off the car, and take the train back to Paris from there.

BTW, you can do more than the Mémorial Museum on the 20th, and more than Honfleur on the 21st.

Thanks StCirq-

We are taking the train to Bayeux and picking the car up from there....I guess we will save Rouen for another trip! Can't we take the train back to Paris via Rennes?

Well, you could take the train to Rouen and pick up the car there instead. But up to you of course. I just think you have too many days in Bayeux as it is, and you asked about other places to visit.

Yes, you can take the train back from Rennes. It just seems as though you could do a bit more driving and get to see more places. As it is, you're visiting pretty minimal sites given the time you've got to allot. Not a big problem - most people try to cram TOO much in.

StCirq- good point....I thought so as well. I was making that our base but I think we will stay 3 nights and move on towards Mt....thx!

Any other experiences/comments?

I agree with St Cirq - you should be able to visit a lot more places.

I'm not a big fan of Bayeux itself as a town to explore. It may be then nicest village in the area, but the others were wiped out in the War. Compared to other similar-sized cities in France, it is way down on my list.

We've visited the WWII stuff several times. Last time was with my FIL who was a part of the Normandy invasion - so naturally we wanted to hit all the sites. We started with the Caen museum for 3 hrs, then all the bridges, beaches, museums, batteries, key cities, etc. It took us 1 1/2 days.

We were in Normandy for a little over 2 weeks this past June. We didn't visit the WWII stuff then - that was on a prior trip. We've also spent over 5 weeks in Brittany (which we prefer over Normandy). Just recently, I wrote an itinerary for Normandy & Burgundy that describes our favorite cities, sites, castles, scenic drives, and restaurants. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach a copy to the reply e-mail. I've sent my various itineraries (I have others) to over 3,000 people on Fodors & AOL.

Stu Dudley

I don't see the Tapestry mentioned in mention of Bayeux. That is worthwhile along with the marvelous cathedral next door. We walked through the tapestry display twice.

D Day landing sites are moving as well as American cemetery. We did love to wander in Honfleur and saw the Peace Museum at Caen. This was a Seine River cruise.

Stu, will hope to remember getting your descriptions as needed someday.

By all means, visit the Tapestry in Bayeux. Rent a head-set - the tour will take about 1 hr, plus some time outside the Tapestry display room.

Stu Dudley

Have a look at the thread below that discusses some other things you can do in Normandy. You could vist the Pays d'Auge and do the cheese and cidre trail south of Honfleur. You might also visit the Suisse Normande region south of Caen, among other things in that area. Click on the tourist office website links in the below thread and you'll get loads of ideas.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#39058384

Below is a link to a trip report I wrote about spending time near Dinan/Saint-Malo/Mont Saint-Michel and might give you some ideas for that area if you decide to split your time between Normandy and eastern Brittany.

http://tinyurl.com/82azcyh

FrenchMystique tours- Thx.....wonderful pictures! We are going to make some adjustments to our intinerary so that we can take in more of the area...

Thanks Stu!

Why not rent your car at CDG (if that is where you are originating) and drive to Rouen, Honfleur, on the way to Bayeux, staying for a night in one--Honfleur? I like Bayeux as a base for the tours of the beaches. You can also do a tour of the beaches yourself in a couple of days, and have the opportunity to have a pleasant lunch somewhere en route. The Michelin Green Guide gives wonderful directions for tours. And as others have said do not miss the Tapestry.
I think you are rethinking your idea of these day trips--at least I hope so. You will spend a lot of time on the road, and there is a lot more to be enjoyed in Normandy--cider and cheese, in particular.