Hello, we originally planned to stay in Bayeux but would like to see Lisieux on our way back to Orly with a flight leaving at 3:10, so it would be good to be closer to Lisieux. A coastal town sounded great to avoid city driving and have it be cooler in August, but I noticed that the hotels are very expensive. Would anyone have suggestions of where to stay? The Pont l Eveque area looked perfect for our route, but there don%26#39;t seem to be many hotels in our price range either. We only have 2 nights and 1 full day of exploring the area. We arrive at CDG in the morning so plan to take a suggestion to visit Giverny by way of back roads to adjust to driving in France. Would there be any other suggestions for that? Thanks so much.
|||
The Etap Hotel in Honfleur is great value, and very very close to the old port and all the interesting bits of Honfleur - if you can book online NOW you should be able to secure a place.
Honfleur is not too far from Lisieux, and is a nice place to spend the evening having a %26#39;wander%26#39; anyway.
etaphotel.com/gb/…index.shtml
Rooms are E35 per night!!
|||
Thanks, you%26#39;ve been such a help. That certainly is reasonable. Do you think that we may be packing too much in and maybe just stay along the coast or would it be somewhat on the way to Orly to stop in Lisieux and more enjoyable to take smaller highways.
|||
Well, you don%26#39;t need to STAY in Lisieux and STAY in Honfleur as well, they really are pretty close to each other.
Considering that in our previous discussions, Lisieux seems to feature LARGE on your list of stuff you want to see, you might find with only one full day in Normandy that this would leave you little time for seeing much else, like D-Day beaches, and Bayeux. The area is quite spread out, after all!!
Perhaps you could PM me again, with your available time, and %26#39;wants%26#39; and I will try and make a little route for you!!
Regards
EW
|||
Hello EW, We%26#39;re hoping to tour the Abbey De Mondaye, the highlights of the Normandy beaches and stop in Lisieux on our way back to the Orly airport by way of the slower highway. Are you familiar with that route as far as it possibly taking too long? We decided to take Giverny and Honfleur out and just head straight to Bayeux. I wasn%26#39;t too excited about driving into Caen where the Kyriad is recommended, but liked the idea of being closer to Lisieux for a shorter drive back. We arrive at CDG at 8:30 AM so that gives us time. My husband was hoping to make vespers at the Abbey, usually around 5:00. It looks like you can approach Juaye Mondaye from the south which would%26#39;ve made the southern ring of Caen a good choice. I was originally concerned about air conditioning for my husband but remembered that A/C in Europe is different and we%26#39;d probably want to open the window anyway. So, any suggestions with that would be wonderful and I can%26#39;t tell you how much I appreciate your help, this has become such a huge project with so many unknowns. Best regards, Kathy
|||
We stayed in Honfleur at La Cour Ste Catherine, and it was a great location as well as the owners being very helpful and friendly. www.giaglis.com They have rooms as well as apartments; we stayed in a room in the B%26amp;B. Reasonable, large room.
|||
OK, so it seems that the best plan is for you to stay both %26#39;Normandy%26#39; nights in one place.
Bayeux would seem the favourite, considering you want to visit the Abbey there, and if you have time, the Bayeux Tapestry is well worth a look (skip all the %26#39;intro%26#39; stuff, and go straight for the real tapestry, that will save you TONS of time. It%26#39;s possible you might get an audio guide, but if you are able to understand written French, and Latin, then you will be able to read the tapestry and it%26#39;s notes with no problems).
Bayeux has lots of good Hotels, though I have never %26#39;afforded%26#39; to stay in any of them. Bayeux is also the %26#39;centre%26#39; for D-Day tours such as Battlebus, Overlord etc (and I think you CAN get half day tours).
An alternative would be, in fact, to stay on the coast at Arromanches - you would be right at one of the D-Day beaches, and the home of the Mulberry Harbour. Arromanches is a very short drive to Bayeux. There are a number of nice small Hotel %26amp; B %26amp; B or %26#39;Restaurant-with-Rooms%26#39; options. I am fond of the %26#39;Normandy Beach%26#39; which is run by an English nut case!! - Don%26#39;t panic, he is good value! Breakfasts are decent, and the rooms are lovely, with different D-Day themes and %26#39;stuff%26#39; to look at and plenty of books to flick through, all good fun!
http://www.normandybeach.co.uk/
That might %26#39;cover%26#39; both bases, putting you on the coast, but very near to both Bayeux and other D-Day beaches.
Depending on the time of your flight from Orly, you are going to need to get up early on your last morning, to make it to Lisieux in time to see St Theresa and her environs!!
|||
That is a great website, thanks! We were able to get a room at Hotel Rheine Mathilde downtown Bayeux by going directly to them, all the search engines said they were booked for those nights. It%26#39;s only 60 euros and gets excellent reviews. We%26#39;re excited, such a relief to be done with the details, now I can explore the fun stuff. Thanks again for all your help!!! From one fellow transatlantic GB%26#39;r to another, so to speak:)
|||
You don%26#39;t have to go into Caen to get to the Kyriad. It%26#39;s on the outskirts near the Memorial.
Is you plane at 3 in the morning. If you don%26#39;t take the motorway to Paris you have a 5 to 6 hour journey.
|||
Thanks, that%26#39;s interesting about the Kyriad since one of the reviews said that it was hard to find and it seems to have so many confusing one way streets plus the viamichelin directions seemed complicated but I did prefer to stay closer to our final destination of Orly which is an afternoon flight. It%26#39;s good to know that it takes that long on the back roads, we may have to rethink the Lisieux visit. Have you stayed at the Kyriad? My husband is worried about possible heat in August and I read that it has A/C but sometimes that%26#39;s not good if they don%26#39;t turn it up enough. Thanks again!!
|||
Rechecking, I see there are in fact three Kyriads at Caen. Apart from the one I mentioned there%26#39;s one in the town center which you were referring to and one to the south.
The town center one is on the Place de la republique which is easy enough to find.
It%26#39;s rare that it%26#39;s so hot that you need AC in Normandy. That%26#39;s where the traditional hotels have the advantage. They often have thick stone walls which make AC not necessary even when it%26#39;s hot.
No comments:
Post a Comment