Hello friends. My wife and I are planning a trip to the Normandy area for spring 2025. Our current thoughts are to fly into Paris, then on to Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeax, and then to Mont St. Michel. Her father was in the D-Day landings, so the WWII sites are of great interest to us. Realizing that there are a lot of wonderful places to visit, would you suggest any possible substitutions or additions to our itinerary?

Thanks so much!

so a bunch of things, how long are you coming for?
I might consider a guide for part of it unless you are very well read
Please don't drive the day of your arrival, if you want to move on from Paris on the first day then train to Rouen might be most sensible.

I think we would be better positioned to offer comments if we know more, especially how long you have for the trip and how many nights you are planning to spend in each location.

I highly recommend the Caen Memorial (museum), preferably before you tour the D-Day sights unless you are very well read on the invasion. You could easily spend a few hours there.

Welcome to Fodors. Ditto all of the above -- we really do need to know how many days you plan for and any other details you might share.

We went by car. There are a ton of sites to explore.

My favorite sites in Normandy regarding D-Day are the Museum of the Atlantic Wall in Ouistreham, Arromanches, Pointe du Hoc, and the American Cemetery at Collevillet sur Mer.

Other sites that are superb include Honfleur, the Chateau at St Germain de Livet, Chateau Musee Crevecoeur-en-Auge, and the village of Beuvron en Auge. That last one should not missed if you are in the area.

I did a trip to Normandy in 2022 that might give you some ideas. Normandy trip report

We spent 8 nights in the region and barely scratched the surface.

We spent two weeks in Normandy - based in Carentan - and still didn't see it all. If at all possible, start with the incredible museum in Caen:

https://www.memorial-caen.com/

It will give you the perfect background for everything you will see at the WW2 sites.

The reason we picked Carentan as a base is that all the other sights - Bayeux, Caen, Mont St. Michel, Cherbourg, etc are within reasonable driving distance. It's also only 2 1/2 hours from Rouen. Fly into Paris, train to Rouen, spend the night, rental car to Carentan. If there are just 2 of you, the more limited choice of rental vehicles in Rouen would not be a problem for you. We had to rent at the Paris airport because we needed 2 SUV's,

We were 10 people, so we rented a country house. Cheap when divided by 10, and we saved so much on meals by shopping the markets in every town we passed.

On my last trip to France in 2019, I spent about a week in Normandy. I had previously been to other locations such as Rouen, Honfleur, etc. I did a pictorial TR that may be of some help, I hope.

Western France - A TR in Pictures

Thank you for your reply! We are planning for 12 days, with a travel day on either end, so a total of 14 days.

What a trip! Lovely photos, thanks for sharing!

12 days should give you time for a lovely trip. I strongly recommend the Michelin Green guide to the region -- it has a wealth of information.

Some options you might consider in addition to those already mentioned: Giverney. Les Andelys has an interesting ruined castle and the ruined abbey in Jumieges is quite lovely IMO. I thought Dinan charming.