I will be in Paris for one week, Nov 30 - Dec 9. I would like suggestions for either day trips or an overnight trip, and I%26#39;ve been fascinated by Mont St. Michelle since I was a kid. My husband will be working mostly evenings ( he%26#39;s a musician), and he will have only 2 days off during that time - unfortunately these are NOT 2 days consecutively.
I%26#39;d really like suggestions for an overnight trip Sun-Mon to Mont St. Michelle - can we take a train, a bus, should we rent a car? Places to stay? Will restaurants be open on Sunday night - can we see and enjoy the historical parts in one day? How about shops? What should I expect for weather? (we are mid-Atlantic coast U.S. - I imagine the weather is comparable).
Any other suggestions for day trips? Versailles? Rouen? Christmas markets?
Last - our French is limited ! I am fine in Spanish and of course English.
Many thanks for any suggestions.
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I highly recommend staying overnight on Mont St. Michel, I love it there. But one night - that is really tough! I%26#39;d not rent a car from Paris, the driving can be crazy. Maybe take a train to Bayeux and drive from there - remember though, it%26#39;s a few hours or so from Paris. As much as I recommend staying overnight, you might want to try a tour from Paris that goes for the day.
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I would definitely not recommend a car at that time of year. Daylight hours are short, and the chances of the weather being really good not high. It%26#39;s about a four hour drive in good weather if you avoid delays.
The best way to get to M-St-M by public transport is to take the TGV to Rennes and the bus from there. It should take about 3.5 hours. I wouldn%26#39;t recommend it in winter as a day trip.
There are many places that you can get to much more easily and quickly from Paris by train — Chartres, Tours, Rouen, Reims, Dijon, and a few more. Even Brussels is only 1.5 hours by Thalys high speed train. Versailles is only abourt a half hour from the center of Paris, and Chantilly, Écouen, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte and many other places are all only a short trip also.
In fact London would be an easier day trip than M-St-M, substantially less than 3 hours by Eurostar.
And in all honesty unless the weather is good M-St-M could be a bit of a bore in the depths of winter.
Don%26#39;t worry about your lack of French. Do learn a few simple basic phrases — bonjour madame/monsieur, bonsoir madame/monsieur, s%26#39;il vous plait, au revoir, parlez-vous anglis? and the like. Just making the effort will gain you huge points in the politemess stakes and the French take politeness seriously. Don%26#39;t just launch straight into English and DO greet whomever you are addressing with the approrpriate bonjour or bonsoir with the monsieur or madame attached whether you are talking to a server in a café or a store clerk or whomever.
Think New England coast rather than mid-Atlantic in terms of temperature etc. and probably a higher chance of rain or fog. Check myforecast.com or wunderground.com for some idea of the weather in December. I think wunderground even has a trip planner feature that will let you see the actual weather day-by-day for your trip dates for the last several years.
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We just got back from France yesterday, with MSM being our last stop. We drove from Paris to MSM, and also just stayed one night. To break up the relatively long drive, we passed by Bayeux in the morning, had lunch there, went by the Normandy beaches and got to MSM by around 6pm. Restaurants are open late on the island (not sure of Sunday).
We did pictures on the island both in the evening after arrival, as well as before 10am. Large groups start arriving shortly after so try to get your photos done and get into the Abbey by 10... 2 hours for that will be sufficient and you can work your way down while everybody%26#39;s just about working there way up!
We left MSM by around 2pm, drove back to Paris with side trip to Rouen.
From Paris, we also did day trips to Versailles (30 minute commuter train), and another day trip to the Loire Valley (Chenonceaux and Chartres). We elected to rent a car given our limited time and we wanted the flexibility to do side trips. And dont worry -- our French is very limited and we managed somehow.
On weather, we live in Boston and packed for cool weather for the past week. Paris and Normandy were much warmer than the US East coast while we were there. Might be different for winter.
On Christmas markets, there were none when we went. Unlike other places (like Spain) which had them in church plazas when we visited around the same time last year.
Good luck and have fun!!
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt; Paris and Normandy were much warmer than the US East coast while we were there. Might be different for winter. %26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
You were fortunate with your weather, and I%26#39;m happy to hear you had good weather for your trip to M-St-M. Normally Boston would be several degrees warmer than Paris in October, but of course you can get warm spells. You obviously did at the same time as the northeast US was having unusually cold weather.
Paris is about 15°F colder in December than in October, and generally wetter and foggier too, but again you CAN get unusually warm and sunny weather. By the same token you can get unusually cold and wet weather. And there is more than an hour longer daylight in late October than there is in December. That also makes a big difference.
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Just returned and went to Mont St. Michelle but did it by car and stayed the night. Don%26#39;t know what it would be like in De. I also went to Rouen and highly recommend it. Great sightseeing, eating and shopping. It is an easy train trip from paris and can be easily done in one day. Our French is limited but we had no problems
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I have just arrived home from France and I visited Mont-St-Michel on Dec 31st.We arrived early in the morning as we were staying in Rennes and it wasn%26#39;t a long drive to get there.It was reasonably quiet when we got there and we walked up to the abbey. The weather was good .It was dry and you could see quite a good distance.My 2 kids (aged 18 and 12) really enjoyed it and have said they would love to go back again.We had lunch in a little restaurant on the way back down which was fascinating as it was built into the rock.I would certainly reccomend a visit at any time of the year if it is at all possible for anyone visiting France.I have been there a few times over the last 10 years in different months and it never ceases to amaze how anyone could build such interesting buildings on a rock.
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Hi,
I will be going to Paris in April and also just have one day (overnight) to go to MSM. We are flying into Beauvais airport instead of CDG. Does anyone have any suggestion about renting a car (where, which company, etc.) or taking the train from there? We plan to drive straight to MSM and hit the D-Day beaches on the way back to Paris the next morning. Unfortunately, that%26#39;s all the time we have...can%26#39;t do any other side trips this time....
Thanks in advance!
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I think Avis have an office at Beauvais, possibly also Europcar. I%26#39;d check with autoeurope.com and kemwel.com or with the companies direct if the brokers can%26#39;t help. If it turns out that neither of the rental companies has an office at Beauvais give another holler and I%26#39;ll do an actual check instead of just a hopefully informed guess.. A two day rental may turn out to be a bit on the expensive side.
I would suggest you drive to MStM and visit there, then to Bayeux and spend the night there. Next day I suggest you take a tour of the D-day sites with one of the several good tour organizers in the area. There is so much to see and you will get a lot more out of a few hours with a knowledgeable guide than if you try to do it on your own. Battlebus www.battlebus.fr are well-thought of in these forums.
I would guess driving times to MStM would be about 4-4.5 hours, from there to Bayeux about 2 hours and from Bayeux to Paris about 3.5 hours. Depending on when you are travelling heavy holiday traffic could make these guesses too low by quite a bit. viamichelin.com will give you detailed routes and estimated driving times without stops.
Good luck!
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What about TGV Paris - Rennes then a rental car to MSM? Is this a reasonable idea?
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