Two Week France Itinerary
The first day into any destination is usually rife with jet lag. We used our first day in Paris to walk off the jet lag and to visit sites that were either free or not covered by the Paris Museum Pass. After arriving in Paris at roughly 12:00 pm, we picked up a Paris Metro Carnet, two tickets on the RER into the city center, and our 4-day Paris Museum Pass at the Tourist information Desk in CDG Terminal 1. Our hotel was located in the 7th arrondissement and we saw the following:
- Picnic in Parc du Champs de Mars
- Advance ticket (bought 90 days in advance before departure) to go up the Eiffel Tower
- Jardins du Trocadero
- Montmartre (18th arrondissement)
- Basilica of the Sacré Cœur
- Moulin Rouge
- Night stroll around the Eiffel Tower and our hotel
We activated our Paris Museum Pass and visited the following attractions.
- The Louvre Museum
- Jardin des Tuileries
- Avenue des Champs Elysees
- Grand Palais/ Petit Palais
- Arc de Triomphe
- Place de La Madeleine
- Opéra national de Paris
- Galeries Lafayette
- The Palace of Versailles (Musée national des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon Château de Vincennes)
- Army Museum (Musée de l’Armée)
- Les Invalides (L’Hôtel national des Invalides)
- Napoleon’s Tomb (Le tombeau de Napoléon Ier)
- Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération
- Rodin Museum (Musée Rodin)
- Musée de l’Orangerie
- Musée d’Orsay (close late on Thursdays)
- Night stroll by La Seine and visits some bridges.
- Notre-Dame
- Jewish Memorial (Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation)
- Île Saint-Louis
- Sainte-Chapelle
- Conciergerie
- Lover’s Bridge
- Latin Quarter
- Musée de Cluny
- Panthéon
- Jardin du Luxembourg
- Saint-Sulpice
- Museum of Decorative Arts (Musée des Arts Décoratifs)
- Palais Royal
- Louvre des Antiquaires
- Les Halles
- Pompidou Centre (Centre Georges Pompidou)
- Batobus around the Seine River
We took an early train to Rouen and picked up a rental car at the train station. Before we started driving, we spent a few hours in the beautiful town of Rouen to see:
- Joan of Arc Tower
- Rue du Gros-Horloge
- Church of St. Joan of Arc
- Place du Vieux-Marche
- Rue Saint-Romain
- Rue Eau de Robec
- Church of St. Ouen
- Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Rouen
Around 1:00 pm, we started driving towards Bayeux, and arrived at Bayeux around 4:00 pm. After we checked in to our hotel, we visited:
- The Bayeux Tapestry Museum (Tapisserie de Bayeux)
- Walked around the town of Bayeux
- Museum of the Battle of Normandy
- British War Cemetery
D-Day Beach self-guided tour begins.
- Arromanches 360° Cinema & Mulberry Harbour Museum
- German Gun Battery at Longues-sur-Mer
- American Cemetery, Omaha Beach
- Point du Hoc
- Grandcamp-Maisy
- Dead Man’s Corner
- German Military Cemetery, La Cambe
We continued our journey towards Mont St-Michel and arrived around 6:00 pm and checked into our hotel on the islet.
- Watched the tide
- The Abbey night tour
- Explore the island
We left Mont Saint-Michel before other tour buses arrived at 10:00 am and began our drive towards Loire Valley with a pit stop for lunch at Fougères. We arrived in Onzain around 3:30 pm and checked into our hotel.
- Château de Fougères
- Château de Chaumont
- Château de Chenonceau
- Château de Chambord
- Château de Cheverny
- Chateau de Blois
- Château de Villandry
- Château de Langeais
- Château d’Ussé
- Château d’Amboise
- Château du Clos-Lucé
We dropped off the rental car at Blois and took a train to Avignon/Arles.
- Pont d’Avignon
- Palais des Papes
- The Roman amphitheatre (les Arènes d’Arles)
- Van Gogh Cafe
We spent our morning in Arles, then took a train towards Nice with a stop over at Marseilles. We arrived at Nice around 7:00 pm.
- Eglise St-Trophime
- Espace Van Gogh
- Place de la République
- Notre Dame de la Garde
- Palais Longchamp
- Old Nice
We spent the morning in Monaco, the afternoon in Èze and our night back in Nice.
- Old Èze
- Eglise Notre Dame de l’Assomption
- Prince’s Palace of Monaco
- Oceanography Museum (Musée océanographique de Monaco)
- Old Monaco
- Monaco Cathedral (Cathedrale de Monaco)
- Jardin Exotique de Monaco
- Casino of Monte-Carlo
- Colline du chateau
After a few hours relaxing at the beach near Nice (Villefranche-sur-Mer), we said goodbye to France.
Pages from our planning journal.
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