Northern coast of France: Mt St Michel (Normany) & Brittany?

[HarlemSong]

Hello, I just posted a question about Paris (about 10 day stay) and we plan on spending about 7-10 days in the northern coast of France. (This is due to people advising us to stick to cooler places in July). From Paris, I assume that renting a car would be the only way to see the different towns. Is this correct? How would you divide the time between Normandy and Brittany area? Are there must sees in the area or are we allotting too much time for those 2 areas?
Any suggestions/thoughts would be great. We have never been to the area. Since we would have seen all the city stuff in Paris, we wanted to experience something different for the remainder of time.
Thank you!

 

[chachalaca]

Welcome, HarlemSong.
I'm sure you'll get great answers and suggestions here. We've mostly visited Paris and many points in all southerly directions, so I can't help. One day I want to visit MSM as well, so I'll be checking back to see the replies!

Laura

 

[Eleanor]

We spent three weeks in Brittany back in 2011 (it doesn't seem that long ago!) stopping in three different locations and loved the area. There was so much to see and enjoy. I wrote a general introduction to the trip here with my impressions, some information and lots of pictures. This links to the three more detailed trip report for the three separate areas we stopped at.

7-10 days will give time to get a feel for the area and you could easily spend a lot longer there. We didn't visit Normandy so I can't comment on that but there's loads to do in Brittany with the coast, the Parish Closes (with their wonderful churches and attractive small villages), or the south with its standing stones and dolmens and some really attractive and unspoilt villages and small towns.

 

[NoSpin]

I assume that renting a car would be the only way to see the different towns. Is this correct? How would you divide the time between Normandy and Brittany area? Are there must sees in the area or are we allotting too much time for those 2 areas?

I have never been to Brittany, but I have spent several weeks in Normandy during both the 75th and 80th anniversaries of D-Day. If you have any interest in that period, you can easily spend a week there, and there are other attractions such as the Bayeux Tapestries and Mont Saint Michel.

Whether you need a car or not is a difficult question. I had a car both times, but I love driving and I've driven the narrow and curving roads of Italy, so the narrow roads of Normandy were a piece of cake. If yu are not comfortable driving on narrow roads (sometimes there are pull outs where you or the oncoming driver has to pull over to let the other car pass), then driving may not be for you.

An alternative is get to Bayeux, use that as your base, and use a tour company to take you each day to your sights. Even though we had a car, we used this company for tours - https://bayeuxshuttle.com/. We used them in 2019 and 2024 and they were excellent. They have planned tours where you will be with other guests. We used them as a private tour. Of course that is more expensive, but the positive side is they will take you where you want to go and stay, or not stay, as long as you want at any site.

Even though we had a car, we used them to take us from Audrieau to Mont Saint Michel. Just the information that the tour guide gives is worth the price.

If you have any questions,please let me know.