Paris and Normandy
 

Does anyone have any suggestions for a visiting Paris and Normandy
on a 7 day rip? Best way to get to Normandy from Paris. Thanks?

We need more information.

Would you concentrate on the WWII sights in Normandy?
If so, how high is your interest in going to museums?
If not WWII sights, what's your focus in this region?
Are you willing to drive, or do you want to use public trans only, or perhaps join a tour?
What time of year?
Have you been to Paris before?
Do you love art, or would you only make quick stops at a couple of museums to see the most famous pieces?

Primarily interested in WWII sites in Normandy
Plan to travel in April or May 2017. Would use
public trans. Would definitely go to Louvre and
Versailles. I have been to Paris before but my
wife has not. She will enjoy just walking around
the city. Interested in restaurants and a good
hotel. Thanks for your input.

Seven entire days or will two be taken up with settling into and leaving your Paris hotel? That doesn't leave much time for Normandy, which requires a two-day trip from Paris in order to visit the landing beaches. Versailles takes an entire day as well.

Could extend trip to 9 days.

Definitely extend the trip.
I would fly to CDG, rent a car and go to Bayeux. See the beaches--use the Michelin Green Guide and devise a tour loop for 2 days.
Drive to Orly for car return, perhaps stopping at Chartres.
Spend remaining days in Paris.

I agree with Gretchen. There nights in someplace like Bayeux will give you 2 full days in Normandy. Would use one day for WW2 sights and another day for Mt St Michel and elsewhere in Normandy.

I agree with Gretchen, too, but I wouldn't drive to Normandy after an all-night flight from the USA, if that's what's involved. I'd take the train to Caen and pick up a car there and drive to Normandy. You can sleep on the train, catch up a little, then have a 20-minute drive to Bayeux.

I don't understand your question about how to get to Normandy when you say you are going to use public transportation. You take the train to Bayeux (or Caen if you want to stay there, Bayeux is better for many day tours). What other method are you thinking about that would be public transportation? Maybe you just wanted to know where to go.

Well, it isn't true that you must have two days to visit the landing beaches. I did it in one day, there isn't any reason you can't. No you may want to spend more time there but it isn't true that you can't visit them unless you spend two days. You can take the train early in the morning, spend the rest of the day there and get a train back to Paris around 6 pm (probably later, also, I just came back around 6). there are companies that do half day tours that meet you in Bayeux and spend about 4 hrs going around to some of the sites, including the landing beach, Am cemetery, etc. I used Normandy Landing Tours, they were excellent. Another company is Overlord which also has both half and full day tours and is out of Bayeux, I think.

With only 7 days, it's up to you how much time you want to spend in Normandy. But it does complicated things if you do want to stay overnight because the only practical way to do this is either at the beginning or end of your trip due to the airport issue. Either really is inconvenient, but if you had to choose, I'd go there first because I don't know how you'd get from there to the airport. Upon arrival, if you arrive very early in the morning like a lot of us do, you can take a train, but you can't get there directly from the airport, you have to go into Paris to Gare St Lazare.

From there, you can get a direct train to Bayeux (at least some days, you'll have to check yours) at 10:10 am and 12:10 pm and 15:05 pm. With the noon one, you get there around 2:20 pm. If you arrive at 7 am or so, that would be very do-able.

On our first visit to Normandy, we spent 3 full days (4 nights) exploring the WWII sights. There's so much more than the landing beaches and cemetery, and we didn't see everything, so we returned a couple of years later and spent another 2 days. On both trips, we especially enjoyed wandering on smaller, secondary roads, and seeing the topography, hedgerows, etc., the soldiers had to contend with as they advanced south.

Depending on your level of interest, you might want to buy this reprint of the Battle of Normandy map of 1944 (originally issued in 1947). Available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Michelin-Battl...in+map+no.+102

Were you planning to visit the Peace Memorial (Museum) in Caen?

I have been to Normandy at least a half-dozen times. Never spent less than 4 days there, as there is so much to see, LOTS beyond the WWII sights, so it depends on what you want to do. If you're combining it with Paris in 7 or even 9 days, there are still a lot of choices. Suggest you get the Green Michelin Guide to Normandy and start studying and see what interests you. If you're ot going to rent a car, you'll be limited.

Thanks to all of you. After reading the comments
I may want to extend the trip by 2 days. Arrive at CDG
on a Tuesday and take a train to Bayeux and spend the night
to recover jet lag. Do a tour on Wednesday and either
spend another night in Bayeux or try to go back to Paris
for 6 nights. Is there a rail service that is better
for getting from Paris to Bayeux?

is there a rail service that is better. No

have you read up seat61.com to understand the train system? You may find that the prices are better bought via capitain than sncf, but the trains are all the same.

Don't forget that people have been fighting all over this area for at least 200 years so there are plenty of castles, ancient sites as well as the odd German bunker and banks of crosses from WW2. You'll also find the butter/cream/calvados cuisine of interest. I'd stay in Normandy and do a bit more, for instance have you seen Honfleur or drifting into Brittany, Mont St Michel or Dinan.

In order to take the train to Bayeux or Caen you will need to come into Paris and get it there fyi. It will make a full day of travel.

There's only one "rail service," the SNCF, French national railway. You have no choices. If you are using an American credit/debit card, use www.capitainetrain.com, a legitimate SNCF partner, to buy your tickets online. The SNCF website itself doesn't like American ccs. Or give yourself plenty of time (4 hours from landing at CDG) and buy your tickets at the station. IMO it's much better to buy your tickets online in advance. Still give yourself 4 hours.

Just completed this type of trip the end of May. We landed at CDG at around 8:30. Planned on taking the train to Gare St. Lazare, but the strikes were in full force and the lines were huge. There were four of us, so we just took a cab to Gare St. Lazare. Alot of this will depend upon the amount of luggage you bring. We did two full weeks in a carryon.

Once at GSL, you catch your train in the grand lignes area. I downloaded the Captain Train App for my phone, and purchased tickets directly from the app, and it also kept the electronic tickets on the phone as well. You can print out the tickets if you prefer.

If you do not want to rent a car and only use public transport, train to Bayeux on day one. If you arrive in CDG in the morning, you should be in Bayeux around 2:30 pm. You can see various places in Bayeux, and I recommend the Bayeux Tapestry in any event. For the WWII stuff, I'd recommend using a tour company. We used Overlord for our tour and I cannot recommend them higher. They were absolutely wonderful to deal with, but we used them on a private tour for four. We saw some of the regular tours as well at some of the sites. They pick you up at your hotel in the morning, deliver you to it again in the evening.

If you want, you could catch a late train from Bayeux back to Paris in the evening, I think the last train leaves Bayeux at 8:45 or so, arriving in Paris around 11:15. Otherwise, catch the early train at 6:45 the next morning and you'll be in Paris before 10.

Thanks to all for much appreciated info. I think
these suggestions will get me what i want.

Here are some listings of visits and current exhibitions for your stay in Paris:

http://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-...-1-2-or-3-days

https://paris.sightbag.com/en

http://quefaire.paris.fr/articles/236

http://en.visitparisregion.com