Driving From Paris To Normandy and Brittany
There are many fun weekend trips worth making into Normandy or Brittany when you’re in Paris, and a trip to see the medieval wonder of Le Mont Saint-Michel is the foundation of a March road trip I took in 2019. In three days, my family and a friend saw three unique places:
Saint Céneri-le-Gérei
Mont Saint-Michel
My husband and I discovered Saint Céneri-le-Gérai on our first visit to Normandy in 2013. A little over two and a half hours’ drive from Paris, it’s on the official list of France’s “most beautiful villages,” and it is one of the most peaceful places I have ever been. It’s easy to see why this quiet village is beloved by landscape painters. Find a place to park and walk up the road past the quaintest of houses to an 11th century church overlooking the River Sarthe and a stone bridge—it’s a fairy-tale view. Read about the bees that defend the church, and then make your way down to the chapel completed toward the end of the 14th century near the spot where a miraculous fountain appeared to refresh Saint Céneri himself.
After a leisurely walk, we drove from Saint Céneri-le-Gérei to our Airbnb for the night, a sheep farm within biking distance of Mont Saint-Michel. The renovated cottage was clean and comfortable for our group of 5, and the owners had bikes we were able to borrow. We had the added benefit of visiting in March during lambing season, and my kids were able to bottle-feed two lambs. It was refreshing to get out of the city, and the night sky was amazing! After becoming accustomed to a lot of light pollution we could not believe how bright the stars were.
The next day we rode up a bike path directly to Mont Saint-Michel and toured the abbey at the top. There is something pretty incredible about approaching it slowly like ancient pilgrims would have, though our bicycles were probably faster than their weary feet.
The last morning of our trip we packed up the car and drove an hour down the coast to Saint-Malo. Perhaps like many of you, I learned about Saint-Malo for the first time from Anthony Doerr’s book, All the Light We Cannot See. It's such a romantic and beautiful city with its stone walls, castle, forts, and gorgeous water. There are lots of shops and cafés, and of course beautiful beaches. I’m sure the beaches are extremely crowded in the summer, but in March we had them mostly to ourselves.
And there you have it, three locations in three days, a perfect little city getaway. As always, find more pictures of Normandy and Brittany in the Picture Gallery.