4-Days in Normandy, France

After 2+ long years of not being able to travel internationally, we finally were able to reschedule a trip to Europe that was originally planned for March 2020. One of the places both of us have always wanted to visit is Normandy, France. So, after a weekend visiting friends in Dublin, Ireland, we boarded a Ryanair flight to the Paris-Beauvais airport for a 4-day trip around the north western region of France.

Normandy is well-known for it’s part in WWII, home to the landing beaches of D-Day. This was one of the main reasons we wanted to travel here, as my grandpa was one of the rangers who climbed the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc.

Day 1

We took a 6AM flight out of Dublin, and were in France and on the road with our rental car by 10AM. Our plan was to drive from the airport to our Airbnb on Omaha Beach, making stops along the way. The first stop being Rouen, France for some lunch and exploring.

Wandering around the streets of Rouen, filled with medieval timbered houses, was like taking a walk in a fairy tale. First, we stopped for crepes at Crêperie Rouennaise before setting off to explore the streets. Rouen is also where Joan of Arc was brought to trial and the tower where she stood before the judges. Before we got back on the road, we swung by a viewpoint of the city that was once famously painted by Claude Monet (Rouen Panorama De La Côte Sainte Catherine).

After leaving Rouen, we planned on stopping at a few of the landing beaches: Sword Beach, Juno Beach and Gold Beach. It was already pretty late in the day by the time we passed through this area so we mostly just walked around and took in some of the monuments but if you have more time there are tons of museums in each of these areas.

Our last stop before checking into our Airbnb was the British Normandy memorial, which is a huge memorial site honoring the British command, overlooking Gold Beach.

We finally checked into our Airbnb around 6PM. We found the cutest place, hosted by a very nice family who greeted us upon arrival and stocked the fridge with some local cidre. Not only was the location ideal (walking distance to Omaha Beach) but it was also a historical landmark, previously the local post office dating back to the 1930’s.

Day 2

Our second day in Normandy was a full-on day of WWII history, starting with Utah Beach. At Utah Beach, we decided to visit the Utah Beach Landing Museum which was a really well done museum, had loads of information, and equipment. It’s also right on the beach itself, so you can take a walk along the water afterwards.

From here our next stop was Pointe Du Hoc. At Pointe du Hoc, you’re able to walk a short loop along the cliffs where you can really take in how massive they are, and how unimaginable a situation it must have been to be climbing these cliffs on D-Day. The trail leads you through bunkers and bomb-scarred terrain. This is also where you can see the Rangers monument right on the cliff, and the visitor center has a 10ish minute long video interviewing rangers and nurses who were there that day, that is definitely worth stopping in to watch.

After Pointe du Hoc, our final stop of the day was the American Cemetery, which is back near our Airbnb and Omaha Beach. The cemetery is massive, overlooking the beach itself. There is also a beautiful garden here, The Garden of the Missing, which honors the missing.

After a long day of sight seeing, we drove into Port-en-Bessin-Huppain for a seafood dinner at L'equipage before wrapping up the night on Omaha Beach with a bottle of local cider from La Ferme du Lavoir.

Day 3

After two days of taking in a lot of war related history, we packed up our things, said goodbye to our wonderful Airbnb in Omaha Beach, made a quick stop at the Memorial Museum of Omaha Beach and left for Mont Saint Michel, which was just under a 2 hour drive.

We made a few very short stops along the way, first in Carentan, which was another battle location during WWII. Here, we just did a short walk through the center of town but it was another moment where it felt like we were wandering through the past. We took another quick stop in Saint-Lô, which was where Conner’s great grandfather, who also was a part of the Battles at Normandy, died.

Our last stop was in Avranches for lunch, which is just about 20 minutes from Mont Saint Michel.

We arrived to our hotel, Hotel Gabriel, which was within the “island” area and was easily walkable to Mont Saint Michel, or had quick access to the free shuttle. We arrived with just enough time to spare that we could walk to meet our 5:15PM guided tour of the Abbey (with maybe a little bit of running up the very steep hill). I didn’t know much about Mont Saint Michel before we arrived, but I think the most surprising thing I learned was that not only was it all built on top of 3 pointed rocks, but the abbey we were walking through, was built on top of another church (which you cannot access).

Unfortunately, by the time our tour was over, a lot of the shops on the island were closed and many of the restaurants were already at capacity. We took the shuttle back towards our hotel and ate at the touristy restaurant across the street which was just fine.

Day 4

For our final day in France, we said goodbye to Mont Saint Michel. We took one last walk to the island in the morning, stopping for pictures along the way before we checked out of the hotel. We booked a 10PM flight out of BVA so we would have plenty of time to stop in Giverny to visit the beautiful home and gardens of Claude Monet.

Giverny was about a 3hr drive, so we booked our tickets to enter the gardens for 2:30pm to give us enough time to have lunch beforehand. The gardens were PACKED. I was most excited to see the water lily garden, but ended up being blown away more by the flower garden. While the water lily garden was still beautiful, we visited out of season for the water lilies, and unfortunately had bad timing with a massive school field trip that was overwhelming the paths and bridges. You are also able to visit the inside of Monet’s house, which is basically a mini-museum, filled with his artwork.

After we finished our afternoon in Giverny, it was time to make our way back to the airport and say goodbye to France. Normandy has definitely landed itself in our top 5 places we’ve visited. It was beautiful, had amazing food and drink, the people were nice, and there is so much to do and see.