Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Parisian native here.
This year? The Olympics are driving up prices for July and August, so make sure you avoid those months like the plague.
If it were me, I'd travel before the schools close for summer vacation (ostensibly early July, but some families take out the kids in late June). That's when all the hotels and rentals increase their prices. So play around with the calendars on their websites, but plan to leave by mid-June. Bonus - it won't be so hot!
My 73 year old parents would NOT enjoy a lightning vacation like this, but if your mother is sprightly, you could perhaps do Paris and Normandy in one week. Jet lag is brutal the older you get. Maybe get her some melatonin.
Be sure to plan everything in advance and allow plenty of downtime for rest. Museums rotate closure days. The Musee du Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, for example. The Eiffel Tower is supposedly open all year, but had a recent closure for a dispute about maintenance. Anything can close at the drop of a hat if there's a specific terrorist threat. If there's a Holiday, then things might be closed too.
What does she want to see in Normandy? Please don't do the Jeep tour of the landing beaches, it's very shaky! But you can visit la Pointe du Hoc and other American landing sites, they're very interesting and the coast is lovely.
If I were to make an itinerary for a first time visitor, I would include:
1. Paris - small boutique hotel. Take a day off to recover from the flight and drive around major monuments, by night for illuminations. Then four days to visit Louvre, Tour Eiffel, Catacombes, walk around Notre Dame (you can't go inside yet, but next year maybe), stroll around Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint Louis, eat ice cream at Berthillon on Ile Saint Louis, maybe get a bateau mouche trip on the Seine.
2. Possible day trip to Versailles.
3. Leave for Normandy, stop at Giverny, Monet's house and garden. Maybe overnight there.
4. Stay in Normandy. If you can get a hotel room ON the Mont St Michel, please don't pass that up. It's my favorite place in France, and so worth it. Visit the abbey, take in the views, eat nice food. Much more funto stay on the Mont, but due to very limited space, hotel rooms are often booked a year or months in advance. It's less expensive to book accommodations near the Mont on the mainland.
5. Drive to the landing beaches, without missing Pointe du Hoc, on a cliff, where the American Rangers lost so many, and for nothing, because the batteries that were supposed to be installed at the top to repel the Allies had not been installed yet. D-Day Anniversary is on June 6th, you might run into higher prices around that time, but also find yourself in a commemorative event. That area also has Utah and Omaha beaches and the American cemetery. The Memorial de Caen, in the city of the same name, is a museum about D-Day, WWII and has a very graphic section about the Holocaust. It's very good.
6. Return to Paris.
Thanks so much! This is incredibly helpful and sounds like a lovely itinerary. We aren't planning to go until April/May 2025, which hopefully leaves us time to make some good reservations. She would love to be there for the commemorative events, so I'll ask her if she'd rather go in early June.