We are heading to Paris Nov 20-27 and want to see Normandy and the D-day beaches (and Mont St Michel if possible) but this is our first time in France and are not sure the best way to go about it...

Should we rent a car in Paris, drive to Normandy to see the beaches & war memorial, stay the night (where), and hit Mont St Michel the next day? If so--what are driving conditions like in November and how hard is it to rent a car and get in and out of Paris?

Should we forget about Mont St Michel all together and take a day tour from Paris? If so, can you recommend a good one?

Please help!

If you feel comfortable driving in and out of Paris;
1) Pick up a car and drive to Bayeux. Spend the afternoon at the Cathedral and Bayeux Tapestry Museum and the British Invasion beaches. Spend night at Bayeux
2) next day spend your Day at the US Invasion Beaches memorial and Cemetary- stay that night in Bayeux too.
3) Drive to Mont St Michel and spend a few hours(in November, I think 3 hours would be enough) and drive back to Paris

If you are not comfortable driving, you can substitute trains and Tours for any or all parts of my idea

Just my 2 cents

With only a week in Paris I think you have a very demanding schedule for "day trips". I don't think Mont St. Michel is in the mix at all. IF you must see the DDay beaches there are one day tours (VERY long but doable) for seeing them. Maybe I have misunderstood, and you are in Paris for a week and then want to go.
If that is the case, how long do you have.
Personally 7 days for Paris is even pretty marginal for us!

In 2002, I took the train from Paris to Caen, not Bayeux. One reason was that at that time, rental cars were cheaper in Caen (I rented one for three days); I also think there were better train options then between Paris and Caen vs. Bayeux (not sure about today). I spent three nights in Normandy but didn't drive to Mont St Michel at all - I spent all my time on D-Day stuff. The countryside in Normandy is very beautiful and the roads were easy to navigate (and I had no GPS), though by November it may be rainy. Unless there are floods, I'll bet you would have no trouble driving.

I had never driven in Europe before, but despite being nervous I found driving in Normandy to be very easy and fun. I spent two nights in Bayeux - a fairly quick drive from Caen (30 min?) and the last night in Caen (a town I enjoyed). With your single day, you could train to Caen, drive to the beaches, drive to Mont St Michel, back to Caen, drop the car, spend the night there (can drop keys if you arrive late and office is closed), then train back to Paris the next morning. You can consider that instead of Bayeux if for some reason Paris-Bayeux is too constraining.

Bayeux is closer to the beaches than Caen, but the Caen Memorial (a nice museum) is there anyway, though with just a short time you may not have time to see it.

The last time I went to Bayeux I drove from Paris. Never again! The traffic was terrible and I got lost driving out of the city.

Going to Bayeux in June, 2010 for 3 nights. This time we are taking the train from Paris.

We are only in Paris for 7 days. Very short, but that is all we can manage for vacation time. I think maybe we will just stick to a 1 day tour of Normandy (my husband really wants to see the D-day beaches) and save Mont St Michel for another time.

Can anyone recommend a good 1 day tour from Paris?

It makes a long day, but stops at several D-Day locations and Mont St Michel can be done as a day trip by renting a car in Paris (GPS highly recommended!). Of course, you can't do in-depth justice to this, but to give my grown kids a taste of the area, it worked for us last year. We did the same with a day trip that included Etretat and Honfleur. Details are in my phototravelogue at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

Semimike,
There should be some type of Fodorite award for that

I have taken family and friends on a day trip to Mont Saint Michel at least four times from Paris. That is farther than the D-Day beaches, for example. It makes for a very full day, and you can't stop and see everything, but it is totally do-able.

Between the beaches and MSM, the former is worth the day, IF you really want to do a day trip. I think Cityrama or Cityvision--whatever that name is--from Paris is good.

It's Cityrama and ParisVision...