gowhereuwannago

I will be spending a couple of days in London and a couple of days in Kent (probably in June). DH wants to see the D-Day sites and we would both like to view the Bayeaux tapestry.

Now, the question is how to get there: We could stay in London and fly to Caen (although not finding many carriers there) or we could cross from Dover to Calais and go by train.

I'm hoping someone has some input on the best way to make this trip to & from the UK logistically, from either Kent or London. I don't want to eat up a whole day with travel because I've chosen the wrong travel method.

Thanks in advance for any constructive input!

StCirq

I can't think of any way you can make this trip in a single day, if that's what you're contemplating, especially without renting a car. You can't get to the D-Day beaches on a train.

If you can get an early morning flight from London to Caen, I suppose you could join up with one of the D-Day beach tours that run from the Mémorial museum there, but I don't know how you'd fit in Bayeux, too. Conversely, you could fly to Caen, take the train to Bayeux, but by the time you'd done that and seen the tapestry you'd be too late for D-Day tours running out of Bayeux.

Maybe someone else has a clever idea, but I see this as impossible as a day trip.

GeoffHamer

Dover-Calais would be of no use because Calais is nowhere near Caen - it's at least four and a half hours by train.
The most direct route from London is by train to Portsmouth then on Brittany Ferries' overnight ship to Caen (www.brittany-ferries.com).

MrNuke

What is your timetable? Like StCirq, I get the impression you were hoping to do a day trip. And like St.Cirq, I feel that is nearly impossible.

There does appear to be flight service from Shoreham to Caen, although the time table isn't very conducive for a day trip. That is the only viable aviation option. The only other airline serving Caen is AirFrance's regional partner BritAir serving Lyon.

As for the ferry how were you planning on getting from Calais to Bayeux? From what I can tell you have to connect in Paris. At that point you are better of skipping the ferry and taking the Eurostar. Calais is nowhere near Caen/Bayeux.

There is however a closer ferry that runs overnight from Portsmouth to Caen. That may be doable even for a day trip.

Big_Red

I agree with the previous posts. This is too complicated to do in a single day.

The recommendation for an overnight ferry is a good one. I think the ferries disembark in Ouistreham/ Caen and Cherbourg.

This is one of those situations where adding another day to your itinerary is almost priceless.

You might want to e-mail some of the better Invasion Beach tour guides for their input.

G, this is worth doing and, I say that from first hand experience.

JKMELT

You should try and contact Eric at Normandy Town & Country. My cousin says that he is a great D Day guide and used him last year.
I've just googled them and found their website. They do tailor made tours and pick ups.

PalenQ

There are catamarans that do the Cherbourg crossing from perhaps Portsmouth or perhaps some other port in 2.5 hours so the Dover-Calais way would not even be considered

why not either take the overnight ferry to Oustreham, a few miles from Caen or stay a night in lovely Bayeux

I took the Oustreham-Portsmouth ferry recently and it costs an arm and a leg - the day catamarans were as little as 29 euros however

GeoffHamer

I think PalenQ's trip was several years ago, not "recently".
Fares on all the ferries vary greatly according to the time of year, etc. You can check fares on Brittany Ferries' website, but travelling overnight, sleeping in a cabin, is the only practical way to do this journey if you have only a short time. The fare is certainly not "an arm and a leg".

PalenQ

It was in 2004 i took this overnight boat

i showed up in Caen planning on taking the night boat

so i went to an agency in Caen early in the day and they said the minimum cost would be 70 euros or about - at that time i figured about $90

I was expecting a much cheaper fare and i even had to pay extra for a reclining chair that did not really recline and i ended up sleeping on the floor

they told me the day boats from Cherbourg would cost 29 euros but i did not want to get to Portsmouth late at night sans hotel.

So things may have changed since 2004 or maybe it was because i just showed up at the dock - maybe there were online discounts or advance purchases

but for what i got it to me was an arm and a leg

I do not know about current fares

elaine

Here's a one-day tour by private plane, and priced accordingly

http://www.britishtours.com/normandy.html

gowhereuwannago

Wow - thank you everyone for your wonderful recommendations. To clarify, we planned on spending a couple of days in France rather than trying to fit the Bayeaux Tapestry and D-Day beaches into one day.

I am looking at all the options you have posted for the time frame we are looking at. When I find the most successful method, I'll post again. Thanks to all of you!

Big_Red

G,

Good plan.
We stayed in Bayeaux. We did a bus tour that we picked up at the tourists info office in Bayeaux. We also had a car and we used that to drive out Arromanche. (We also spend a day doing non D-day, touristy stuff with the car.)
We picked up the car in Caen. A rental car is advised but not absolutely necessary if you have a good tour guide.

Bayeaux is a great town to visit. There is/was very little bomb damage from WWII in Bayeaux.