Subject says it all...thank you in advance for your htoughts/input. My wife and are are spending a couple of weeks in France and Paris late June-early July. We%26#39;re spending the last week in Paris, where we%26#39;ve been before and know what we want to do. We%26#39;re thinking of spending the first half of the trip seeing the countryside by car. Here%26#39;s what we%26#39;re thinking: CDG up the Seine through Rouen to the coastal area; down the coast to the Mont Sr. Michel area; down the coast from them to the Loire Valley; up the LV to around Orleans; then back to Paris for the rest of our stay. Reactions/additional ideas? Highlights along the way? Things to miss? Are we missing something better (which is a tough question since there%26#39;s so much to see in France)? Thank you.
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There are so many area in France and everybody could prefer one or one other (as far as I am concerned I prefer dordogne valley and gorges du tarn area-and britanny but I am from there!-) ; but the itinerary you have chosen would certainly be the one which allow you to see the maximum of things in a minimum of time spent on the road. Nevertheless you don’t have to be too lazy as one week for normandy and loire valley could be ok but you need to plan things and not to spend all your afternoon dreaming on the beaches
Here is a quick (and personal) suggestion
day 1(1 full day) from paris to rouen (or honfleur) : giverny (but you can skip if you are not interested in Monet or impresionism paintings), and then follow the seine river to the sea les andelys, rouen old city, jumieges (or not) caudebec, honfleur
day 2 for the coast from rouen (or honfleur deauville) , cabourg, caen
day 3: d day area + bayeux
day 4 mont st michel cancale st malo dinard
day 5 skip rennes go directly to angers, saumur, fontevraud l’abbaye (lovely), villandry and select between ussé azay le rideau and langeais
day 6 chenonceaux and chambord and select between amboise cheverny and blois
day 7 back to paris (skip orleans). I you have time (and even if you have not time) make a stop in Chartres to see the most beautifull cathedral windows in France (let%26#39;s say in the world..lol)
of course it also depends if you prefer to visit casttle or seaside area then you can manage to stay more or less time in such area
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We spent 3 months in France last year and went everywhere from St. Tropez to Brussels to Normandy but I think one of my favourite places was the walled town of St. Malo on the North coast. You should be able to find lots of info about it on the web but if you can%26#39;t find a decent photo that sums it all up, contact me and I%26#39;ll email you one.
Best regards and have fun!
androiduk@rogers.com
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I think grosbill%26#39;s suggested itinerary is about as good as you can do if you are going to try to visit both areas in a week. However I do think it is trying to do too much. My suggestion would be that you pick one area or the other. Even grosbill%26#39;s itinerary (that leaves a lot out IMO) is crowded. Just to give you one example I think trying to see the D-day beaches in less than a full day is really short-changing this enormously important and meaningful area. Actually I think two days is really a minimum visit to the area and one of these should be spent with a professional guide if you are really going to get the most out of the visit.. There are sixty miles of beaches. dozens of cemeteries and other sites, and at least a dozen museums. At an absolute minimum I think a visit to the Peace Memorial at Caen is a must.
The other thing is that I STRONGLY urge you NOT to drive at all immediately after you land at CDG. Jet-lag and fatigue will negatively affect both your reaction times and perception. Someone close to me was lucky to survive a serious accident under just these circumstances within a few km of the airport and he was in this own car and driving on roads he was thoroughly familiar with. You will be driving a strange car on roads you do not know with traffic and signage conventions you are unused to after crossing nine time zones on an overnight flight. To me this is a recipe for disaster.
Would you let a surgeon operate if s/he were the one who had just stepped off the same flight you will be taking?
Spend a relaxing day in Paris and leave the next day after a good night%26#39;s sleep in a pleasant hotel. If you must get part way along your route, take the train to Rouen (or Rennes or Tours) and begin your trip from there the next day.
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I admit that IrishRovr is right, it is not a good adviceto tell you to take the road the day you will arrive in Paris, the best thing would be to stay before 1 week in Paris and then do your tour. As I am French and know the area I would not have any problem at all to do all of that in 7 days (or even less!) but you have to consider that you are foreigner so it could be more difficult and you have to plan really all your trip before, so one or two additional day for this tour would be great; in the other hand that could be done and it depends of the way of you want to spend your vacation and if you will have the opportunity to come again or not in France
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ther is a medium way: this is to skip the first day from paris to rouen and to go directly to deauville by the highway (2h30 from CDG airport), find an accomadation in the area and take some rest if you want, this will be better than paris which is not the ideal place to relax
concerning the idea of taking the train from rennes to tours there i no direct connection between this 2 town (you need to go via paris or nantes) and rennes is not very far from angers (2 hours) or tours (2 hours 30),
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