Northern coast of France: Mt St Michel (Normany) & Brittany?

[HarlemSong]

Hello, I just posted a question about Paris (about 10 day stay) and we plan on spending about 7-10 days in the northern coast of France. (This is due to people advising us to stick to cooler places in July). From Paris, I assume that renting a car would be the only way to see the different towns. Is this correct? How would you divide the time between Normandy and Brittany area? Are there must sees in the area or are we allotting too much time for those 2 areas?
Any suggestions/thoughts would be great. We have never been to the area. Since we would have seen all the city stuff in Paris, we wanted to experience something different for the remainder of time.
Thank you!

 

[chachalaca]

Welcome, HarlemSong.
I'm sure you'll get great answers and suggestions here. We've mostly visited Paris and many points in all southerly directions, so I can't help. One day I want to visit MSM as well, so I'll be checking back to see the replies!

Laura

 

[Eleanor]

We spent three weeks in Brittany back in 2011 (it doesn't seem that long ago!) stopping in three different locations and loved the area. There was so much to see and enjoy. I wrote a general introduction to the trip here with my impressions, some information and lots of pictures. This links to the three more detailed trip report for the three separate areas we stopped at.

7-10 days will give time to get a feel for the area and you could easily spend a lot longer there. We didn't visit Normandy so I can't comment on that but there's loads to do in Brittany with the coast, the Parish Closes (with their wonderful churches and attractive small villages), or the south with its standing stones and dolmens and some really attractive and unspoilt villages and small towns.