Normandy, Mont St Michel area
We are planning a trip to the Normandy area, 3 days. A day and a half in Normandy and then travel Mont St Michel, Honfleur. We'd love to hear your recommendations for hotels in Normandy, Mont St Michel, and Honfleur. We have the D Day sights lined up but would like to hear about other things to do in these areas and hotels that you have enjoyed. We will be traveling in early June, 2013. Thanks very much! Sue Dicke at bdicke@swbell.net
Sue
Austin, TX USA 12/31/12
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In Mont St Michel we stayed at LaJacotiere, a B&B recommended by RS. It's a mile or less to MSM parking lot. While not in MSM it is close enough to visit and offers a friendly, family run b&b with a home cooked breakfast and great atmosphere.
We also stayed in Bayeux at Le Tardif, Noble Guesthouse, a b&b in an 18th century private mansion.
Both had parking and breakfast. Le Tardif was also within walking distance to the Bayeux Tapestry and the Cathedral. You can check them both at tripadvisor.com. For reservations we emailed LaJacotiere but Le Tardif is on booking.com where you can also read some reviews.
We can recommend both of these hotels for their cleanliness, friendliness, and location.
Just so you have your sequence correct, you know that MSM and Honfleur are about a hundred and twenty-five miles apart on opposite shoulders of the Contentin Peninsula, right? Also, you know that Normandy's two dimensions are a couple hundred miles, right? Also, that all of the places you mentioned are within Normandy, right?
One of my wife's favorite hotels is the Cheval Blanc in Honfleur. It's right by the tidal gate to the old port. I'm indifferent about where I sleep.
Other stuff:
the walled port of St Malo (Brittany, but close)
the whopper of a menhir at Dol-de-Bretagne (also Brittany, obviously)
the semi-William the Conqueror castle at Falaise
the walled city of Fougeres
the St Stephens abbey church in Caen where William exploded (or go over to Rouen if you believe the other version of the tale)
if you head to Rouen, Lionheart's heart is buried in the cathedral (the rest is elsewhere) and Joan was burned just down the pedestrian street.
Bayeux makes a good base for D Day sites, and there's a very good hotel there called Hotel d'Argouges which we love, where we've stayed many times. The owner, Mme Ropartz, and her staff are wonderful. It's a beautiful manor house in the heart of town but set back from the main square down a driveway. It has lovely gardens, wonderful breakfast, large rooms with good beds, large bathrooms, very clean, parking and low rates.
Hope you'll have time to visit the WWII museum in Bayeux, it's the best one imo.
Will you have a car? If so, I've stayed here in March 2012 and recommend it:
Bayeux - http://naomath.monsite-orange.fr/
Honfleur - http://www.motel-les-bleuets.com/
Mont St. Michel - http://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/la-fontaine-trans-la-foret.en.html
Ditto Hotel d'Argouges. Love, love, love Bayeux.