A Day's Touring...
There is no such thing as an average day's
touring...
The tours generally start at 9am and should finish at 5pm but normally ends up being sometime between 5pm and 6pm at your hotel (if your hotel is within ten miles (15km) of Bayeux) or at the most convenient train stations to suit the end point of your tour. The difference in time (between 5pm and 6pm) for the end of the tour is to take into account traffic conditions on the day, the weather, the number of people on the various sites, etc. Normally, one museum is visited during the tour and the entrance fee generally costs from 4 to 6 euros per person. Lunch is as you like, bring or buy sandwiches, light cooked lunch in a cafe or 4 course lavish 5 star restaurant, you just need to say on the day. The start and end times for the tour are something that can be changed to suit if desired.
'No, no, we're not lost. We're in Normandy...'
Question: What can I see in my day on tour in Normandy?
Reply: Where do you want to go and what do you want to look at?
A few things to bear in mind when you book your tour:
Bayeux is the place to base yourself if you are here to take a D-Day Tour or a tour to some of the sites of the Later Battles in Normandy
Normandy is big. It looks really small on a map, but it's really big. To drive across Normandy from east to west takes over three hours. Although there was fighting all over Lower Normandy, the D-Day landings took place right out in the west of Lower Normandy, so if you already have accommodations booked you need to find out how far away your hotel is from Bayeux. Most tours start from here in Bayeux as it is the most central town to the entire D-Day landing area and is situated only 6 miles (10km) south of the coast. Bayeux also has a main-line railway station with regular trains to Paris, is on the main Paris-Cherbourg highway/motorway and has a good selection of hotels and amenities.
Bear in mind that it can take a long time to get to where you want to go.
The D-Day Landings took place along about 62 miles (100km) of coastline. This coastline was divided into five landing sectors called (from West to East) Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword and these sectors are between 5 and 18 miles (8 to 30km) apart. Normandy is a very quiet, sleepy, rural area of France with narrow roads and a very indirect road network to go with that. It takes a long time to drive between the various different landings sectors. Non-stop, it takes an hour and a half to drive from Sword (in the east) to Utah (in the west) even when travelling on the main road. The areas of Normandy covered here in the Battle of Normandy section of the website (St Lô, the Falaise Pocket, etc) can be up to an hour and a half drive away from the landing zones themselves.
Click Here for Local Travel Information
Click Here for Local Travel Information
For D-Day Tours...
On average, allow 4/5 hours (a half-day touring) to get an overview of one sector/battle, or allow 8/9 hours (a full-day touring) to get an in-depth look.
To visit any one battle sector of the five D-Day Landing Sectors listed (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword sectors) on the "D-Day Tours" page generally speaking takes most people about 4 to 5 hours (a half-day tour) to get an overview and general understanding as well as visiting the most important battlesites in that sector.
Different Landing Sectors can be combined to make a full day tour such as for the British sectors Gold and Sword beach could be combined into one day, although with the amount of driving involved between the sites, the tour would be rather rushed.
However, while it is possible to do a Utah and Omaha sector tour in one day the tour is so rushed it is something that I no longer offer anymore. I would suggest that it is a tour better covered over a one and a half or two days. However in a single day a tour can be taken that covers the Omaha sector. This incorporates Omaha Beach, the American and German Military Cemeteries and the Pointe du Hoc. And, if you are really quick, maybe the Longues sur Mer Gun Battery or the Mulberry Artificial Harbour at Arromanches. It does mean, however, that you would not see the US paratrooper Landing areas or Utah beach.
For people interested in the Canadian Battle Sectors, a tour of the Juno Beach Landing sector and the Closure of the Falaise pocket (from the "Later Battles in Normandy" page) can also be combined into a full-day tour.
All of these tours can also be done over two or more days to get a much more detailed look at the sectors and battles that interest you.
Different Landing Sectors can be combined to make a full day tour such as for the British sectors Gold and Sword beach could be combined into one day, although with the amount of driving involved between the sites, the tour would be rather rushed.
However, while it is possible to do a Utah and Omaha sector tour in one day the tour is so rushed it is something that I no longer offer anymore. I would suggest that it is a tour better covered over a one and a half or two days. However in a single day a tour can be taken that covers the Omaha sector. This incorporates Omaha Beach, the American and German Military Cemeteries and the Pointe du Hoc. And, if you are really quick, maybe the Longues sur Mer Gun Battery or the Mulberry Artificial Harbour at Arromanches. It does mean, however, that you would not see the US paratrooper Landing areas or Utah beach.
For people interested in the Canadian Battle Sectors, a tour of the Juno Beach Landing sector and the Closure of the Falaise pocket (from the "Later Battles in Normandy" page) can also be combined into a full-day tour.
All of these tours can also be done over two or more days to get a much more detailed look at the sectors and battles that interest you.
For D-Day Tours from Cruise Ships in
Cherbourg or Le Havre
A D-Day Tour from Cruise ships in Cherbourg or Le Havre is no longer available.
For Tours to the sites of the
Later Battles in Normandy...
On average, allow 4/5 hours (a half-day touring) to get an overview of one battle, or allow 8/9 hours (a full-day touring) to get an in-depth look.
To look at the sites listed on the "Later Battles in Normandy" page would need about a half-day's touring to get an overview and understanding each site.
Two of these tours, like the D-Day Tours, can normally be combined in a full-day tour, but not all of them owing to the distance needing to be driven between certain sites.
Two of these tours, like the D-Day Tours, can normally be combined in a full-day tour, but not all of them owing to the distance needing to be driven between certain sites.
PricesHow you can PayAll tours are payable on the day in cash, or pre-pay up to ten days before the tour using the PayPal Link opposite. The prices quoted in your booking email are the total price to pay for the day and include everything on the day except museum entrance fees and lunch/coffee.
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Payment using PayPalIf you have booked you tour and wish to pre-pay or put down a deposit or part-payment, please click on the link below.
Payments made below can be made with an existing PayPal account or by Credit Card even if you do not have a PayPal account After you have made a payment please copy the PayPal transaction number and email it to us (above) along with the name the tour was booked under. A receipt of payment will then be emailed back to you after confirmation that the payment has been recieved. |
All of the tours given are private tours, so all prices are the price for the whole tour, not per person.
The cost per person is the total cost of the tour (below) divided by however many people you have in your group.
D-Day and Battle of Normandy Tour Prices with a pick-up within 10 miles of Bayeux
For any D-Day or Battle of Normandy tour for up to six passengers including a van and private guide will cost 600 Euros for a full-day tour (9 hour), or 450 Euros for a half-day tour (5 hour).
D-Day and Battle of Normandy Tour Prices from Cruise ship in Le Havre
D-Day Tours from Cruise ships are no longer available.
D-Day and Battle of Normandy Tour Prices from Cruise ship in Cherbourg
D-Day Tours from Cruise ships are no longer available.
Before you come, please tell me any areas of specific interest you may have.
If you have specific interests in any one area or profession (medical, engineering, aviation, maritime, armour, artillery, airborne, infantry, communications, etc) of the military, are interested in a specific unit (division, regiment, battalion, etc), or have a family relative fought in the War (see if you can find out what unit he was with, please), don't hesitate to tell me! I will do my best to tailor the tour to include the things that you are interested in or may do or have done in a similar job in civilian or military life.
The Weather in Normandy...
The tour can involve lots of action/walking about/exploring bunkers if you're into that and depending on how energetic you feel, but a little warning about the weather in Normandy- no matter winter or summer the weather here in Normandy is unpredictable. It could be really nice, sunny, warm, shorts and tee-shirts weather when you're here. It could equally be nastly, cold, windy, raining when you're here. (Eisenhower's comment in the middle of a rainstorm on June 2nd 1944- "Don't you guys get a summer over here?") The best advice is to pack for the worst and hope for the best. But bear in mind umbrellas are no use in the wind along the coast and battlefields tend to be muddy and wet, especially if it has rained during the previous week.
Finally
If you get a chance before you come over then watch the film "The Longest Day", if you can. Made back in 1962, it's an old Black and White film shot in Normandy about D-Day and is nice and squeaky clean so good for kids. The film is entirely factually based and you can still see today where most of these actions took place. You can also see the section of Omaha Beach where the landing scene in "Saving Private Ryan" actually happened.
I hope to see you soon in Normandy!
Edward Robinson