For cabs and uber-type services, there are no UBER or equivalent services in Normandy. We call an uber service in France, VTC which means passenger vehicle with driver. The cost of a VTC is about the same for cabs but you will know the price in advance and you will be sure to be expected at your arrival at the train station or airport. Indeed, cabs can be very busy during rush hours.
If there is a tramway in a Normandy city, it runs every day from 6:30 am to 11:00 pm from Monday to Sunday including public holidays. Normandy is rather poorly served by bus and the frequency is often about 1 bus per hour. There are practically no buses on Sundays and public holidays. The Normandy side to access the landing beaches is practically non-existent including Mont-St-Michel. The best way to see the landing beaches, the Mont-St-Michel, the seaside resorts such as Honfleur, Etretat, Deauville .... and the Normandy countryside such as the Pays d'Auge is a minibus excursion which departures are mainly from Bayeux or Caen.
In France, supermarkets are open continuously from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm and sometimes 9:00 pm from Monday to Saturday. Some stores are open on Sunday morning from 9:00 am to noon. The most famous national supermarkets are Carrefour, Leclerc and Super U. These are stores equivalent to the Wallmart brand. In the city center, you have the Monoprix brand with exclusive or gourmet products. There are very few night grocery stores in Normandy except in Caen, Rouen, Le Havre.
Restaurants are open from noon to 11:30 pm and in the evening from 7pm to 9:30 pm. Few restaurants apart from brasseries offer continuous service. Many restaurants unfortunately do not offer written menus in English. But avoid restaurants that offer a multitude of meals such as pizza, pasta, grill, seafood. This is often a sign of frozen food prepared in the microwave. The smaller the menu, the more the products will give you a guarantee of quality and freshness and especially prepared on demand. It takes about 1h30 between order taking and payment to eat quietly.
If you wish to eat faster, go to a bakery to eat a sandwich, a salad, quiches-lorraine, croque-monsieurs and other specialties. Don't hesitate to buy a baguette, preferably a Festival baguette, a traditional, soft baguette to be eaten with a good local cheese at a local cheese shop. Opt for livarot, camembert or pavé d'auge cheeses. Most bakeries offer gluten-free or special breads with seeds, nuts, dried fruits ... Every city has its very good baker, but Paul's bakeries often offer you a place to eat. Most bakeries sell cold drinks to take away but no hot drinks except at Paul's. Most bakeries close in the city center on Mondays, and on Saturdays and Sundays in the business districts.
Concerning accomodation, it all depends on what you are looking for. The hotel for business events is not very present in Normandy. Some establishments are located in medium-sized towns or in the countryside. These establishments have of course a restaurant often gastronomic. For a comfortable establishment, you should aim for at least a 3-star hotel. Be careful because a good number of hotels offer very few ice fridges. In addition, check if your room will be equipped with an air conditioner.
Some old buildings cannot offer this comfort. In the same way that some establishments such as castles often do not have elevators for aesthetic reasons. It is still common not to find a boudoir for a hot snack. We recommend French or international hotel chains such as Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Holiday Inn or Best Western for an international standard level. If you wish to live in the French way, we recommend guesthouses called gîtes in French. Gîte de France and Cléavacances are the most famous brands in France for a guarantee of seriousness. You also have the apparthotel formula but very little developed outside the big cities.
Generally, breakfast time starts at 7:00/7:30 am until 10:00 am. Most three star hotels offer a French breakfast with bread, butter and jam. From 4 stars, continental breakfast is possible with eggs, sausages, ham, cheese ...
The check-in at the hotel or other accomodation is not before 1 pm and the check-out is 11 am or noon at the most.
We also have an exclusive list of luxury houses that we can provide you on request: mills, farms, castles, estate, golf course with accommodation on site, thalassotherapy.
Concerning pharmacies, they are open from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. But in small towns of less than 50,000 inhabitants, they are closed from 12:00 to 14:30. The same opening days are also applicable for post offices.
If you need to see a doctor, you should pay like any french people around 20€ for a normal consultation but you won’t get any refund.
Banks are either open from Monday to Friday or from Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with a break between 12:00 and 2:00 pm. There is no exchange office except in Caen at certain opening hours.
For laundries, the operation is 7 days a week between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm.
Concerning the police located in the city, the station is open 7 days a week but in the countryside, you will be connected by phone to a central station in a bigger city.