We are 2 30-something females and we're wondering, if you could only do a side trip from Paris to either Normandy or Giverny, which would you choose? Thanks for your help!

Well, Giverney is a tiny little venue with a museum and a garden, and Normandy is an entire province (two, actually) of France, so the question is kind of absurd. It's like saying should we visit the Washington Monument or take a trip to Virginia.

How much time do you have and what are you interested in visiting/seeing?

How long a side trip? If only one day, I'd go to Giverny -- assuming you're in Paris during the April - October growing season.

Normandy requires more time -- and maybe even a car. Research exactly where you'd want to go in Normandy. Then it would be easier to answer your question.

Sorry -- meant the D-Day tour -- not the entire area of Normandy. Just want to do a day trip. It can be the whole day, but we don't want to spend the night.

I wouldn't recommend a day trip to the D-Day beaches from Paris. It's way more time traveling than actually seeing the sights. If you want to visit the WWII sights of Normandy, IMO you need a bare minimum of 2 days.

I agree with the other posters that the D-Day sites certainly require more time than a day. Giverny was beautiful to walk around, see the gardens and museum. Another option is Rouen. You can take the train there and spend the day looking at the sites. We really enjoyed this town.

I think the D-Day beaches can be done as a day trip (and people do it) but it would be a long tiring day...It's a couple hours by train to Normandy or a 4 hour or so car ride.

I've not been to Giverny but it sounds like a better choice if you don't want to stay overnight.

gruezi

FYI, Giverny is actually IN Normandy; so you can get two in one visit. But there's much else to see in Normandy, depending on your interests.

Battlebus (often recommended here) starts their tours early morning, for a full day. So if you went down the night before, did tour, you could possibly get back that night, depending on train schedule.

The real questions are:

How interested are you in Monet?

Were you planning to visit the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris? It's kind of pointless to go to Giverny if your level of interest in Monet isn't that strong. The flowers are of course pretty, but there are beautiful gardens right in Paris of equal beauty and artistic significance, and Giverny is not a joy to get to.

And how interested are you in D-Day?

There are many day trips one can take from Paris. Have you considered others?

I used to live in Paris and several times we did day trips to Normandy. If all goes well it is about 3 hours by car. Once we did Giverny in the morning and then stopped at the museum (and lunch) in Arromanches and also had time for the American cemetary before heading back. It is a long day , and there is a lot more to see in Normandy but it is doable, especially with a car. It all depends what you really want to see.

Thanks, all. We are doing day trips to Versailles and Reims as well. I think we'll shoot for the D-Day tour.

You can get a one day tour of the Beaches from Paris through Cityrama or such. It is a LONG day, but possible.

Have you been to Paris before? Or are you staying more than a week? If not, I think 3 daytrips from Paris means you'll miss a lot of Paris. Your 3 daytrips are to interesting places but not as interesting as the many sights of Paris.

Well, don't commit ahead of time. Leave yourself open to changing your plans according to the weather and your feelings of the moment.

Ditto Mimar's comments.

We'll be there for 10 days. Will probably wait to book the D-day tour until we get there --thanks for the advice!