Paris to Normandy
 

Going to Paris on Nov 18 for 1 week would like to take a side trip to Normandy. Any ideas on the best way to do this? Car Train ext. My 17 yr old son of course wants to see the beaches and the cemetary. would definately spend the night so need some great hotel info that would sleep 4. Is 2 days enough time?
Joan

Mini-bus tours leave from several Bayeux hotels - not too expensive and about the only way to do it on your own without car due to spotty Bus Verts local buses. Train gets you there in just over two hours and can be cheaper than paying the $6/gal for gas and extortionary freeway tolls, not to say car rental. Mini-bus tours like www.battlebus.com have got good reviews in Fodors in ones i've read. Bout a dozen different companies - no need to book ahead if you arrive the day before, just go to the tourist office in Bayeux - they book on sight or your hotel will no doubt have brochures displayed. Two days is perfect for most.

You can also take the train to Caen and pick up a rental car and tour on your own. Whether you use a car or an organized tour, I'd recommend you stay in Bayeux, which is IMO far more pleasant than Caen.

Getting around the WWII sites inNormandy by car is quite easy - you basically follow the shoreline. You'll want to see the Mémorial museum in Caen, as well as some of the beaches and probably the museum in Arromanches and the American cemetery. That's about all we managed to fit in on our last 2-day trip, but we weren't hurried.

We loved the Château de la Bellefontaine in Bayeux, but others here have other favorite accommodations in Bayeux as well.

If doing the rail and car route - a great suggestion from Saint-Cirq - ask at the station for French rail's 'Train + Auto' plan - train ticket and car waiting at Caen station.

While you could easily spend longer, I think that 2 full days is enough time.

Going to Normandy one day and back the next is a bit too short.

Keith

StCirq,

>>I'd recommend you stay in Bayeux, which is IMO far more pleasant than Caen. <<

You're not kidding!!! I am so grateful that I listened to all of you who steered me away from staying in Caen and to stay in Bayeux. I did however take the train from Paris to Caen and picked up the rental car right across the street from the train station, couldn't be easier!

Bayeux was very lovely - Caen was ....interesting from what I saw while leaving and coming back to the city, but not someplace I would have wanted to stay overnight.

Again thank you for pointing me in the right direction!

Les Ramparts B&B in Bayeux is a great place to stay!

lyb: My only experience in Caen was the 4 hours we were at the Mémorial museum plus another two hours or so that we wandeed around the shopping/pedestrian section, so I'm no expert, but it certainly had a scruffy hustle-bustle feel to it compared to Bayeux, which I found beautiful and rather serene, even the main little pedestrian drag. But I don't feel I really "explored" Caen, and as with all places maybe there are parts of it I would have loved (don't think so, though;))

I have recommended on this site Alain Chesnel and his www.overlordtours.com. We did it in a day trip from Paris on the train. The museum at Caen also offers mini bus tours of DDay sites.

Caen often gets a bad rap when compared to Bayeux, a much more attractive town. Caen was heavily bombed and shelled in the two months from 6 June 1944 until it was liberated, while Bayeux suffered little damage, and was liberated on 7 June 44.

Certainly, Bayeux is a better choice for those visiting this part of Normandy to stay, but visitors should not overlook some of Caen's attractions. The two abbeys founded by William the Conquerer and his Queen Matilda, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes and the Abbaye-aux-Dames are quite splendid and well worth a visit. While William's Castle in the heart of town was heavily damaged in 1944, quite a bit of restoration has been done, and there are a couple of interesting museums within the ramparts.

However, for those with little time to spare, the essential thing to see in Caen is the Mémorial (Peace Museum). Those visiting the Battle of Normandy sites, including the beaches, should not miss this fine attraction. The memorial gardens behind the museum (American, British and Canadian) are often overlooked, but are worth seeing.

My wife and I took the train from Paris to Bayeux and booked a night at the Hotel D'Argouges which is really nice and right in town and within walking distance of the Bayeux Tapistry (which you shouldn't miss). Nice town to walk around; nice restaurants, friendly people. Easy to arrange bus tour of beaches.

A truly wonderful little bistro in Caen is the Bouchon de Vaugueux, 12 rue Graindorge. We kind of hit upon it by accident then later saw it written up in a guidebook. It is NOT touristy, though; we were only ones not speaking French; it's more like a neighborhood place to have dinner. We waited 45 min. on the sidewalk to get in, and it was worth the wait.

Everyone has different tastes, but I had just the opposite experience of Caen vs. Bayeux. I stayed two nights in Bayeux and found it a dull place, nice to look at due to the age of the old buildings, but a place the locals abandoned after 5PM. At dinner time the only people left in town were the tourists.

Caen on the other hand was a real, thriving place where the locals came out after dark to socialize, and I happen to enjoy places like that. I wish I'd stayed more than one night in Caen. No, it doesn't have that same medieval "charming" feel Bayeux has, but I got the most of that experience just walking through Bayeux once - didn't need to sleep there.

Andrew