Day-by-day programme of this 15-day itinerary across Normandy, Brittany and the Loire Valley.
Day 1 — Arrival in Paris
You land in Paris and leave the car for later: in the city you get around on foot and by metro. The first evening is for the classic sight, the Eiffel Tower lighting up at dusk, to step straight into the mood of the trip.
- ✈️ Paris Charles de Gaulle — Aeroporto di Parigi-Charles de Gaulle
- 📍 Eiffel Tower — The iron lady at sunset, when the lights come on and every hour brings the sparkle. The perfect view is from the Champ de Mars or, across the river, from the Trocadéro terrace. To go to the top, book online. Then you walk back to the hotel for your first Parisian night.
- 🏨 Hôtel le Royal Rive Gauche — Rive Gauche, 75006 Paris
Day 2 — Classic Paris
A full day in the heart of the city: you start at the world's most visited museum, drop down to the island where Paris was born, and end up high on Montmartre among the artists' cafés. Book Louvre tickets online to skip the queue.
- 📍 Louvre Museum — From the former royal palace, with the glass pyramid in the courtyard, to the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory: impossible to see it all, better to pick two or three wings. Entry is with a timed ticket. On the way out, a fifteen-minute stroll along the Seine leads to the Île de la Cité.
- 📍 Notre-Dame Cathedral — The Gothic masterpiece on the Île de la Cité, reopened after the restoration that followed the 2019 fire. Around it, the island where the city was born: the Sainte-Chapelle with its stained glass and the riverbanks to walk along. In the afternoon you take the metro and head north, up to the hill of Montmartre.
- 📍 Montmartre — The artists' hill, with the white Sacré-Cœur Basilica at the top and the view over all of Paris. Among the lanes, Place du Tertre with its painters, the windmills and the corners that inspired Picasso and Van Gogh. You stay up here for sunset, then head back to the hotel: tomorrow is the last day in the city, given over to Versailles.
Day 3 — The Palace of Versailles
A last day based in Paris, given over to the kings' palace half an hour from the centre. Go early to beat the crowds in the Hall of Mirrors and spend the afternoon in the gardens. In the evening, a farewell to the city along the Seine.
- 📍 Palace of Versailles — For two centuries the palace of the kings of France: the lavish apartments, the Hall of Mirrors and above all the gardens designed by Le Nôtre, with their great basins and the canal. Timed ticket, RER C train from the centre. In the late afternoon you take the train back to Paris for a last evening in the city.
- 📍 Latin Quarter — The last Parisian evening in the district of bookshops and bistros, between the Sorbonne and the Panthéon. A stroll to the riverbanks, perhaps with a crêpe. Tomorrow you pick up the car and set off west, towards Normandy: first stop, Monet's gardens at Giverny.
Day 4 — Towards Normandy: Giverny and Rouen
You pick up the car and leave Paris heading west. First stop at Giverny, where Monet painted the water lilies in his garden; then Rouen, Normandy's capital with the cathedral that Monet himself portrayed dozens of times. You sleep here.
- 📍 Claude Monet's Gardens, Giverny — The pink house and the garden where Monet lived and painted: the water-lily pond with the little Japanese bridge and the flowerbeds bursting with colour. Best seen in the morning, before the coaches. Open April to November. Then you get back in the car and in an hour you reach Rouen.
- 📍 Rouen Cathedral — The great Gothic cathedral with its lace-like façade, captured by Monet at every hour of light. Around it, Rouen's medieval centre with its half-timbered houses, the Gros-Horloge and the square where Joan of Arc was burned. You wander until evening and sleep in the centre.
- 🏨 Mercure Rouen Centre Champ de Mars — Centre historique, 76000 Rouen
Day 5 — The cliffs of Étretat and Honfleur
A day on the coast: the morning at the famous Étretat cliffs, the white rock arches plunging into the sea; in the afternoon you head down to Honfleur, the little harbour of narrow houses that inspired the Impressionists. You sleep here.
- 📍 Étretat Cliffs — The natural white-chalk arches, the Porte d'Aval and the Aiguille, jutting into the sea like ships' prows. You walk the clifftop paths for the best views: bring comfortable shoes and watch the wind. After lunch you get back in the car and follow the coast to Honfleur.
- 📍 Vieux Bassin, Honfleur — Honfleur's old port with its tall narrow houses mirrored in the water, the wooden church of Sainte-Catherine and the seafood restaurants. It's the village where Impressionism was born: the light here really is special. You dine on the harbour and sleep nearby: tomorrow is the most intense day, the one on the D-Day beaches.
- 🏨 Hôtel Honfleur Entre Terre et Mer — Centre, 14600 Honfleur
Day 6 — The D-Day beaches
A day of remembrance along Normandy's D-Day coast. From the cliff of Pointe du Hoc to the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, to the remains of the artificial harbour at Arromanches: places to take slowly. You sleep in Bayeux.
- 📍 Pointe du Hoc — The cliff scaled by the American Rangers on D-Day, still scarred by bomb craters and German bunkers. The wind and the silence make it a powerful place: the right spot to begin the day. A few minutes' drive brings you to the American cemetery at Colleville.
- 📍 Normandy American Cemetery — The endless rows of white crosses on the lawn above Omaha Beach: almost ten thousand American soldiers who fell in Normandy. The memorial and the overlook above the beach convey the scale of that morning. Free entry. You drive on along the coast to Arromanches.
- 📍 Arromanches-les-Bains — On the beach and in the sea at Arromanches stand the giant concrete caissons of the 'Mulberry' artificial harbour, built by the Allies to land men and vehicles. From the top of the hill the overall view is striking. At the end of the day, a short drive takes you to Bayeux, where you sleep.
- 🏨 Hôtel d'Argouges — Centre, 14400 Bayeux
Day 7 — Bayeux and Mont Saint-Michel
In the morning the Bayeux Tapestry, the seventy-metre medieval 'comic strip' telling the Norman conquest of England. Then you head for France's icon, Mont Saint-Michel, arriving in the afternoon to see it at high tide and sleeping at its feet.
- 📍 Bayeux Tapestry — The famous 11th-century embroidery telling, scene by scene, William the Conqueror's invasion of England. You follow it with an audio guide like a 70-metre comic strip. Nearby, the fine cathedral. At midday you set off west: an hour and a half by car to Mont Saint-Michel.
- 📍 Mont Saint-Michel — The island-monastery rising from the bay, with the Gothic abbey perched at the top and the lanes spiralling up. From outside it's a vision; check the tide times, because at high tide the water comes to embrace the walls. You arrive by shuttle from the car park and sleep at the foot of the Mount, to enjoy it by night and at dawn.
- 🏨 Mercure Mont Saint Michel — La Caserne, 50170 Le Mont-Saint-Michel
Day 8 — Cancale and Saint-Malo
You enter Brittany. The morning still at Mont Saint-Michel in different light, then a stop at Cancale for oysters eaten on the quay, and arrival in Saint-Malo, the fortified corsairs' city to walk along its ramparts. You sleep here.
- 🍽️ Oyster Market, Cancale — Cancale is Brittany's oyster capital: at the little market on the quay you buy them freshly shucked, with a slice of lemon, and eat them sitting on the rocks watching the oyster beds laid bare by the low tide. A simple, memorable experience. Full of the sea, you take the car for the half-hour of coast to Saint-Malo.
- 📍 Intra-Muros, Saint-Malo — Saint-Malo's old town, enclosed in its granite walls facing the ocean. You walk the full circuit of the ramparts, drop down to the beaches that the low tide stretches enormously, and reach the little forts on the rocks on foot. Pirates and Atlantic wind. You sleep within the walls: tomorrow Brittany's wild coast begins.
- 🏨 Hôtel des Marins — Intra-Muros, 35400 Saint-Malo
Day 9 — Emerald Coast and Pink Granite Coast
The most Breton day: the medieval town of Dinan, the cliff of Cap Fréhel with its lighthouse and Fort la Latte, and finally the Pink Granite Coast of Ploumanac'h, where rose-coloured boulders pile up by the sea. You sleep on the coast.
- 📍 Dinan — One of Brittany's best-preserved medieval towns: sloping lanes with half-timbered houses, intact walls and the old port on the river Rance reached down the steep Rue du Jerzual. Perfect for a morning stroll. Then by car towards the sea, to the headland of Cap Fréhel.
- 📍 Cap Fréhel — A heathland headland plunging into the sea, with its lighthouse and the view of nearby Fort la Latte perched on the rocks. A coastal path runs along the pink-orange cliffs among gorse and seabirds: wind guaranteed. You return to the car and carry on west, to the jewel of Ploumanac'h.
- 📍 Ploumanac'h — The heart of the Pink Granite Coast: huge rose-coloured boulders smoothed by the sea, the lighthouse and the customs officers' path that threads through them. At sunset the stone glows: for many travellers it's the loveliest stop in all of Brittany. You sleep nearby, in Perros-Guirec.
- 🏨 The Originals Les Costans — 22700 Perros-Guirec
Day 10 — Finistère: Locronan, Quimper and Pointe du Raz
You head into Finistère, the 'end of the land'. The stone village of Locronan, the city of Quimper with its cathedral and faience, and the far headland of Pointe du Raz, where the ocean crashes in fury. You sleep nearby.
- 📍 Locronan — One of France's most beautiful villages, frozen in time: a cobbled square ringed by the granite houses of the cloth merchants, with no overhead wires. Often used as a period-film set. A few minutes' drive takes you down to Quimper.
- 📍 Quimper — The historic capital of Breton Cornouaille, with its twin-spired Gothic cathedral, the half-timbered houses along the canals and the workshops of its famous painted pottery (faience). A good place for lunch and a buckwheat galette. In the afternoon you drive to the end of the land, the Pointe du Raz.
- 📍 Pointe du Raz — The far rocky headland where Brittany ends in the Atlantic: heathland paths, the ocean foaming on the rocks and, in the distance, the lighthouses out at sea. Mind the wind and the weather, which changes fast here. For the night you head back towards Douarnenez, on the way home.
- 🏨 Clos de Vallombreuse — 29100 Douarnenez
Day 11 — Quiberon and Carnac
You follow Brittany's south coast to the Quiberon peninsula, with its spectacular Côte Sauvage, and to the famous alignments of Carnac, thousands of standing stones planted in the meadows six thousand years ago. You sleep in Vannes.
- 📍 Côte Sauvage, Quiberon — The wild side of the Quiberon peninsula: jagged cliffs, caves and turquoise sea pounded by the waves, in contrast with the calm beaches on the other side. A scenic road runs along it all, with plenty of photo stops. Back on the mainland, a short drive takes you to the Carnac alignments.
- 📍 Carnac Alignments — Over three thousand standing stones set in orderly rows for kilometres, raised in the Neolithic for reasons still mysterious: the largest megalithic site in the world. You visit from the path or, in high season, on a guided tour that takes you among the stones. At day's end, half an hour by car to Vannes, where you sleep.
- 🏨 Kyriad Vannes Centre-Ville — Centre historique, 56000 Vannes
Day 12 — Vannes and Nantes
Morning in pretty Vannes, overlooking the Gulf of Morbihan, then you move to Nantes, the old capital of the dukes of Brittany, today a creative city with its astonishing Machines of the Isle. You sleep in Nantes, the last Breton stop before the Loire.
- 📍 Vannes Old Town — A walled town full of half-timbered houses, washhouses and the famous carved couple of 'Vannes and his wife'. It overlooks the Gulf of Morbihan, from which boats leave for the islands: a last Breton stroll with your feet near the water. Then an hour's drive south brings you to Nantes.
- 🎯 Les Machines de l'île, Nantes — In the old Nantes shipyards, a giant mechanical elephant of wood and steel walks carrying visitors on its back, among other fantastical machines inspired by Jules Verne, born here. Astonishing and family-friendly. You sleep in the city: tomorrow you leave the sea for the châteaux of the Loire.
- 🏨 Hôtel de la Cité Nantes — Centre, 44000 Nantes
Day 13 — The Loire Valley: Chenonceau and Amboise
You leave the ocean behind for the châteaux of the Loire. You start with the most scenic, Chenonceau, built on a bridge over the river Cher, and end at Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years. You sleep in Amboise.
- 📍 Château de Chenonceau — The 'ladies' château', with its arched gallery spanning the river Cher and mirrored in the water. Shaped and inhabited by powerful women such as Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici, it has Italian and French gardens. The Loire's best-loved. Half an hour's drive reaches Amboise, on the riverbanks.
- 📍 Amboise — The riverside town crowned by the royal château, where Leonardo da Vinci is buried. A short walk away, the Clos Lucé, the genius's last home, with models of his machines in the park. Lovely in the evening, with the lit-up riverbanks. You sleep here, among the châteaux, before the last Loire day.
- 🏨 Logis Hôtel Chaptal Amboise — Centre, 37400 Amboise
Day 14 — Chambord and Cheverny
The last day among the châteaux: Chambord, François I's huge hunting palace with the double-helix staircase attributed to Leonardo, and elegant Cheverny, still lived in, which inspired Marlinspike Hall in Tintin. You sleep towards Paris.
- 📍 Château de Chambord — The grandest of the Loire châteaux: a forest of towers, chimneys and terraces built as François I's hunting lodge. Inside, the famous double-helix staircase where those going up and those coming down never meet, inspired by Leonardo. Around it, a vast park. About twenty minutes by car and you reach elegant Cheverny.
- 📍 Château de Cheverny — A classical, harmonious château, lived in by the same family for centuries and so full of original furnishings and tapestries. It's the one that inspired Hergé for Tintin's castle. The pack of hunting hounds in the grounds is famous too. In the late afternoon you head east, drawing back towards Paris for the night.
- 🏨 ibis Orléans Centre Gare — Centre, 45000 Orléans
Day 15 — Chartres and return
On the way back to Paris you make a last stop at Chartres, the cathedral with the most beautiful blue stained glass in France. Then you return the car and take the flight home: the loop closes where it began.
- 📍 Chartres Cathedral — A Gothic masterpiece and UNESCO site, famous for the medieval stained glass in a blue so intense it has its own name, 'Chartres blue', and for the labyrinth set in the floor. An hour's stop before getting back in the car and heading to the Paris airport for the flight home.
- ✈️ Paris Charles de Gaulle — Aeroporto di Parigi-Charles de Gaulle
