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The Wife and I are looking at going to Normandy for about 5 days to a week in August to see the Beaches, the main sites, the cemeteries and maybe some exploring off the beaten track at Villiers Bocage, Vimountiers and its Tiger and maybe a forray down to Mont St Michel.

Have any of you done the trip? Any tips on places to stay at? UK members, whats the easiest way to get there? Any companies that organise tours and such?

Many thanks in advance [&o]

cantona2...I did the D-Day trip 10 years ago with my wife. If u are coming from the UK it would probably be easiest to take the ferry to Ouistreham... thats right next door to the eastern most invasion beach at Sword. From there u can just follow the coast road to the west and see Gold, Juno, Omaha and Utah Beaches. Its very easy to drive the D-Day beaches on your own....even for a 1st time American in a rental car. Ric Steves' tour book on France gives a lot of info for touring the invasion beaches on your own.

I highly recommend visiting....from east to west......Pegasus Bridge and the airborne museum oiutside of Ouistreham(where major Howard and his gliders captured the bridge over the Orne River, Arromanches...where there is the remains of a Mulberry harbor and a German radar museum, Pointe Du Hoc with its ruined bunkers and Ste. Mere Eglise where an airborne dummy still hangs off the steeple of the town church. Probably the best invasion beach to walk or ride a bike is at Omaha....there are some ruined German bunkers there and even the remains of some Higgins boasts can be seen at low tide. I will probably be going back for the 70th anniversary in 2014.

Hi,

I was there with my wife three years ago. We based ourself in Courselles-sur_Mer at Juno beach. Got a tip about Hotel de Paris from some Belgians I met a day before we arrived in Normandy.
There's a Canadian museum in Courselles which disappointed me a bit but we did travel up and down the coast to most of the places AdmSpruance mention.

Regarding hotels you might want to take a look at this site: Logis Hotels

Hotel de Paris belonged to them and we have been staying at several others too. Some of my friends have used them also. We were quite pleased with both the hotels and the food.

In case you have the time I found that there were some interesting sites outside Calais too. We were staying in Wissant (at that time Hotel Normandie belonged to this chain) and from there you could walk along the beach and check out some of the old bunkers towards Cap Gris Nez.

Not too far away there are the remains of the Batterie Todt (380 mm artillery) and in one of the bunkers there is the Musée du Mur de L'Atlantique.

Inland from Calais you can visit the intended V2 site La Coupole outside Wizernes and the V1 site at Eperlecques.

Have a nice trip
BPRE

Hi

Done the trip several times, great experience. Walk along the cliffs from Vierville-sur-mer (OMAHA BEACH) to Pointe du Hoc (~8km, must see) is superb (great views and many different types of sea birds).

Beach towns obviously touristy, but quaint, August should be really busy (especially Mont St. Michelle). American cemetery very impressive. Recommend visiting Bayeux. Don't have to get too far from the main tourist traps to have great food/experience.

Favorite place to stay, Ferme de la Ranconniere, a converted 12th century manor/abbey, near Bayeux - easy access to the main sites.

Enjoy

I am so jealous. [&o]

Hell I play to much mass effect atm reading the thread title here I imediatly thougt of this.

Mont St Michelle is a must. I stayed several time at Aromanch (pardon the spelling) at the Mulberry, small but period and clean. There are several places to see relics. If I get motivated I'll post some pics. The Jerrys had some nasty bunker placements which will cause you to wonder how anyone made it ashore at all. At almost every spot the fire was enfilade and very close.

Many thanks for the advice and replies. Arrangements are going ahead full steam

hi cantona2,

i envy you your planned trip to Normandy! i'd like to suggest a visit to Bayeaux, where the 'Bayeaux Tapestry' is on display (celebrating the Norman Conquest of England in 1066). i've just finished reading a book about the Allied efforts to preserve art & archive treasures during the liberation of Europe, and learned that after Paris was freed, the 1st exhibit at the Louvre museum was that Tapestry - one of the few times it's ever left Bayeaux.

i hope you enjoy your trip, don't neglect to over-indulge in the food (but be careful w/ the apple-liquor).

Hi,

I did this trip in Summer 2010 on a bicycle. I actually set off the day England got humiliated by Germany in the World Cup. Very poignant!

Took the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen (actually docks in Ouistreham). Definitely spend a few extra pennies and get a cabin. Arrived 7am feeling fresh as a daisy.

Day One - Sword Beach, Pegasus Bridge, Merville Battery, Caen for overnight.
Day Two - Juno Beach, Gold Beach ending up in Bayeaux.
Day Three - Omaha Beach (cemetery is a must), Pointe Du Hoc, staying overnight at Isigny Sur Mer (nice little town with great Calvados!)
Day Four - Carentan, Utah Beach, St Mere Eglise staying overnight.
Day Five - around St Mere Eglise 82nd and 101st drop zones. Cycled to Cherbourg getting the evening ferry to Portsmouth.

This was all very achievable on a bicycle so in a car you'll be able to fit more in.

Try and get 'Major and Mrs. Holt's Battle Map of Normandy Landing Beaches'. You'll find lots of gems that aren't necessarily signposted. Also Institut Geographique National green map number 106 (Caen, Cherbourg-Octeville) was a good road map for tourists.

You'll have a great time and feel very humbled. Helped we cycled in long sunny days of about 32C.

PM me if you want more details and I'll dig through my photos and try and remember specific places that caught my eye.

Bill

I recommend also to visit the Caen Museum call "Memorial of D Day", The Long battery almost intact between Omaha and Arromanche, the Saint Lo area to see what is really "bocage" and the museum near Villemoutier to see where the Germans have been pocketed near Falaise.

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

Hell I play to much mass effect atm reading the thread title here I imediatly thougt of this.

How I hate that security check after each misssion... [;)]

Cantona2

Have been several times and many of the recommendations above are good. I have not been to the UTAH or St Lo areas. Some ideas:

Start your trip in Portsmouth, as an earlier post says the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen is an excellent way to go. While in the UK you should visit the D-Day museum and especially Southwick House - http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/visitor_info.htm Southwick House is on a UK military camp still so you need to arrange in advance, info is at the bottom of the link.

When you arrive at Ouistreham, it will be too early for the museums but I find it interesting to walk through the town, the war memorial for instance includes WW1, and in WW2 they have a list of those fallen in 1940, Free French KIA, resistance fighters, deported Jews and civilians killed in the fighting - humbling.

Sword Beach is good and I would visit 'The Big Bunker' in Ouistreham, a good spot just South of Sward is 'Hillman' it is on the 'Major and Mrs. Holt's Battle Map of Normandy Landing Beaches' which was recommended earlier. This is an interesting tactical action which largely explains the delay 3 UK Div suffered, but you can look West to the 3 Cdn Div sector and see the area where 21 Pz Div drove to the sea and then pulled back. Its not marked on the maps but about 1500 Meters South of Hillman is the ridge line where the 8th Bde AT guns ambushed the 21st Pz and forced them East into the empty zones between the 3rd UK and 3rd Cdn Divs.

Pegasus Bridge and Merville Battery, are also good. If you continue East across the Orn bridge you get into the LZs and could travel further East to Verville to get a feel for the Brit and Cdn (Verville) Para area of operations.

Juno Beach is good but Gold Beach is probably low on the priority if your short on time. I agree with an earlier post that the Juno beach museum is disappointing - it seems to spend most of the effort on teaching Europeans about Canada as opposed to speaking about Juno Beach and the Canadian military effort. My tax dollars well waisted!

Omaha Beach, particularly the cemetery, Pointe Du Hoc, and Arromanches are excellent, the musium at Arromanches is well worth a stop and its a great place for lunch: http://www.musee-arromanches.fr/accueil/?lang=uk. Villiers Bocage is OK but a very confined area, hard to see what happened. Hill 112 is an excellent stop but you need to get out a book and walk through it, complicated. Also if you want to get inland a bit I would recommend Mt Ormel - the Polish Mace position and on the way a quick visit to Saint-Lambert sur Dives, worth a stop to understand the terrain around the Falaise pocket and is fitting to end you trip at the monumnet on The Mace.

There are many other spots to go but some are difficult to find and you need to spend some time researching the action as the signs are not up to the standard they are on the main sites.

Enjoy your trip.


B