Northern France Trip Itinerary - Help
 

We are in the early stages of planning a driving tour of northern France - arriving by train (via chunnel) in Calais. We are thinking we would pick up the car in Calais and tour Normandy & Loire Valley and drop off the car before arriving in Paris (we did not want to drive in Paris). We are planning to go for two weeks and only spend a couple of days in Paris as we have been there before. We have now thought about adding the Champagne region into the itinerary but don't know how to do that with the best use of time -- after Paris on a tour? Any suggestions?

Since you'll be doing Normandy, add Brittany to the list before the Loire Valley. You'll have adequate time for all three regions before going on to Paris, and Brittany is lovely--also still relatively undiscovered by tourists.

www.mappy.com is a handy source for route planning and approximate driving times. You also may wish to solicit advice on the best place to return the car.

You might want to look at my trip report which covers Normandy and Brittany and ends in Angers:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34444403

Thanks for the responses. I REALLY like www.mappy.com !!! It is exactly what I need to have a clue how long it will take to drive from one location to another. I just bought a Michelin map and it is the size of my kitchen floor (well, not quite).

Thanks Michael for the link! Great trip report...and lots of great info!

Hi Deb, Did about same trip last summer. There are only two rent car booths at Calais. We used Eurocar and was fine, but cannot drop in all towns to train into Paris. We dropped in Evereaux after visiting Giverny. Make sure have some Euros when arrive Calais as no change booth and will shortly be on a tollroad.

I would suggest drive to Honfleur and eat, drink on old basin (wonderful!!). We stayed in Deauville for two nights to see D-Day beaches and Bayeaux (eat at Le Garage rest!!) Have been to Mont St Michel and u may want to see that.

Be careful on trains-commuter trains into Paris are often standing room only and tough with lot of luggage.

Keep in mind that mappy time estimates are going to be more reliable for the autoroutes then for the national highways and the departmental roads. The latter are ideal for leisurely travel. Time also needs to be allowed for getting through towns and finding hotels.

Credit cards are accepted for autoroute tolls, by the way.

If you want to read a longish trip report on Normandy in September 2004, head to the bonjourparis.com site and look under Trip Reports--Normandy/Underhill.

Honfleur is beautiful! DH and I were there in July and loved it - try to get there for a few days!!!

Honfleur is a delightful base to tour the coastal area of Normandy. Better to do Brittany and not the Champagne area on this trip.

Another suggestion: After having driven in France for nearly 2 weeks you should find it simple and easy to drive your rental car to Gare Montparnasse and return it there. This will save time and money and it's an easy drive up from the south.
Also, on the autoroute, Rheims is only an hour drive from Paris. The drive following the Marne river is slower but very beautiful.

Another vote for Honfleur. Nothing quite like a table with a view of the Old Harbor. But the best restaurants are not on the Old Harbor quays. We try to have breakfast or a very light lunch on those quays, usually at the Albatross, a friendly local spot, and then take serious meals at the Ancrage, an informal spot with great seafood, or the Grenouille, great for a LARGE lunch, or Le P'tit Mareyeur, a fabulous seafood restaurant. For a place to stay, it's hard to do better than the Cour St. Catherine, a bed and breakfast inn in the historic district, with very helpful and outgoing hosts, for 85 euros per night: gigalis.com

Here is a very pleasant drive starting from Honfleur and looping back around.
On the day we took it we stopped for lunch in Deauville.

Leave town on the D580, following the signs to the A13 and the Pont de Normandie. Continue past the bridge, turning left on to the D312 along the Siene estuary and through the village of Berville-sur-Mer.

Keep on the D312 and then left in Toutainville on the N175 to Pont-Audener.
Then return on the N175, past Toutainville and then Beuzeville to Pont-l-Eveque.

The next destination is Lisieux, but do not take the D579. Wait and turn left onto the D48, opposite the police station. This is a pretty counry lane following the River Touque.

Head west out of Lisieux on the N13 [direction Caen]. After passing the Chateau de Crevecouer-en-Ague, keep your eyes peeled for Carrefour-St-Jean, and turn right on to the D16 and then left on the D49 to Beuvron-en-Auge. Get the camera ready, because this town is so picturesque it looks like a movie set.

Follow the D49 to the N175, turn left and then immediately right on the D400 to Dives-sur-Mer. From here it’s east along the coast on the D513 past Houlgate, Deauville and Trouville on the way back to Honfleur.

Before you reach town, there will be a sign and a right turn to the Manoir du Butin. We stopped to check it out, and enamored with the lovely dining room, we returned that evening for one of the best dinners of our trip.