Loire Valley v Normandy dilemma. Help please!!!

Dear fellow trippers, We are leaving Paris on 26 August. We are booked into London accommodation on 30 August so we have 4 days up our sleeve + the 5th day to get to London.

The dilemma is to try and squeeze in some of the DDay beaches of Normandy and some of the Loire Valley. (I have posted a similar question a long while ago but have now added an extra day or so.)

This was my thoughts on an itinery if we include the Loire Valley. Would this itinery work?

26 August: Leave Paris and catch an early train to Tours and hire a car near the station, book into a hotel and spend the rest of the day exploring Tours.

27 August: Spend the day exploring a couple of chateaux to get at least a taste of the Loire Valley

28 August: Get ourselves to Bayeaux

29 August: DDay tour of Normandy

30 August: Get ourselves to London

We are seeing the Chateau at Versaille before we leave Paris so having said that, would that satisfy our Chateaux needs or is the Loire Valley distinctly different enough to warrant shortening a trip to the Normandy DDay beaches? i.e. if we do the Loire Valley, we would only have time to spend one full day on a DD tour and really have not much time for anything else while there.

An alternative itinery suggested to me was to leave the Loire Valley until another trip and get ourselves to Rennes from Paris and then drive up to Normandy from there, seeing Mont St Michael as well.

Any suggestions/thoughts please?

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I would:

day 1 catch a train to Blois, drive from there to your hotel (probably not in Tours, it%26#39;s a hassle) via a chateau

Day 2 Visit another chateau the next morning, have lunch, drive to Bayeux (about 3 hours from Tours) and see the tapestry.

Day 3 the D-Day beaches (at least half a day, but probably not really much more), especially in August when they will be packed with people doing beach things

Day 4 leave for London

The Loire Valley is sufficiently different to Versailles - and the chateaus of the Loire are not the best reason for visiting it - that%26#39;s kind of like visiting Sydney to see the Olympic stadiumt.........

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Thanks Wiz. I see what you mean about the Olympic Stadium and Sydney. I really thought the Loire Valley was all about castles but not so it seems.

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Jane

Lots of people think that............. and I can sort of understand why - It%26#39;s and easy trap to fall in to.

I am in the Loire Valley about 1/2 the year, and the things I value most are the small villages and restaurants, the wines and cheese and the peace and quiet once you leave Amboise........

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Is there a car rental agency close to the station in Blois?

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I did a similar trip last fall. Your schedule works if you don%26#39;t mind rushing a bit. I visited 4 or 5 chateaus, and the better ones I saw were Chateau de Chambord and Chateau de Chenonceau. For Normandy, you probably won%26#39;t spend more than 30 minutes at Omaha Beach. The American Cemetery is a good place to go and will require anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. There is an assortment of museums there as well worth visiting if you have the time. One of the places I wish I had gone to was the German Cemetery.

Finally, I am not sure how you are going to London on August 30. If you are driving into Paris on August 30, be sure to allow plenty of time in case there is any traffic. I drove into Paris on a Sunday around lunch time and was still stuck in traffic for one hour. You don%26#39;t want to miss your plane or train.

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I think just a Normandy trip including MSM would be preferable given the short amount of time and the amount of transportation involved.

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You can work out fairly decent train scheduling from Bayeux to Gare St Lazare in Paris, then by Metro, taxi or the 26 bus to Gare du Nord and the Eurostar to London.

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Hi Jane

Avis are at Blois station-

avis.co.uk/CarHire/…Blois-Train-Station

or for others companies in Blois-

travel-library.com/carrental/…

If you are only going to see a couple of Chateau then I would recommend seeing Blois and Chambord- both have lots of history and will give you a good taste of Loire Valley Chateaux.

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thanks everyone. No matter what we decide we will be needing to leave from Bayeaux. Would the majority of people vote for training it from there and change to the Eurostar in Paris or is it worthwhile driving some of the way and maybe joining the Eurostar somewhere else. We would be first time drivers in Europe so definitely don%26#39;t want to drive into Paris.

Also how is luggage managed on both types of trains?

Merci beaucoup!

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I%26#39;d change in Paris. Train schedules here:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en