Normandy
 

Hello all. I'm new to Fodors and fairly new to travel. My fiance and I will be going to Europe in August for our honeymoon and one of the cities we will be visiting is Paris. We (mostly I) want to do a day trip to Normandy. I realize there are a lot of things to see and that really at least two days should be given but one is all we have.

Our itinerary is as follows

Train to Caen
Arrive in Caen, rent car
Caen Memorial
Pegasus Bridge
Bayeaux Tapestry
Other Bayeaux sights
Omaha Beach
Utah Beach
St-Laurent-sur-Mer
Point Du Hoc

So given the above, I have several questions if anyone would care to comment:

1. Is the above itinerary manageable? Suggestions are welcome.

2. Is the Caen memorial worth going to? I've read conflicting reviews but basically I want to know if it's a good use of time to go there? Or is it better to skip it and see the Arromanches 360º theater and devote more time to other sites?

3. I'm somewhat of a history buff and I enjoy all things WWII but also appreciate other historical and cultural sights. Does anyone have any other suggestions to add to my itinerary?

4. Right now the plan is to rent a car in Caen and drive to the different sights from there. Can anyone comment on whether this is a good idea or not?

Thanks in advance to any responses.

I don't see how you could do all that in one day except as "hit and run". I, personally, would omit the Bayeux Tapestry for starters.

How wonderful to be going to Europe on your honeymoon!

Agree with renting car in Caen; lots of agencies are right across the street from the train station.

I don't see how you can do all of that in one day.
The Caen Memorial was interesting, but takes at least two hours to see.
Remember you are on unfamiliar roads and need to drive to these places.
IMHO you are cramming too much into one day.
Are you intending to return to Paris or going on from there?

Yeah, JonRose...you guys can do it in one heckuva long, tiring day..but, if you insist, I suggest getting the earliest possible train out of Paris to Caen....skip the Memorial and head straight for the coast..The Pegasus Bridge (which is really now a replica behind the new bridge) and go quickly on to the D-Day beaches via Arromanches (the Mulberry bridges)stopping at Omaha and Utah, with a stop at Pointe du Hoc in between. By 3 pm, you can begin heading back to Caen, stopping at the Bayeux War memorial Museum on Bayeux's ring road..and then get back to Caen for a late train back to Paris. Whew! I'm worn out just writing this. Please, please, reconsider...save it for another trip...(and yes, many of the beach roads are very slow and two-laned).
Stu T.

Way too much for one day. We spent 4 hours at the Caen Mémorial musuem without even realizing it. Spend a night in Normandy - preferably in Bayeux - and take your time. My last trip to the region we spent 5 vry full days and felt we could have spent more.

St. Cirq. We spent five days, also and still didn't see everything.

I'd take one day in Normandy over no day at all. It's such a lovely and moving place, and it's only a 2-hour train ride from Gare St. Lazare in Paris. You'll never forget it.

Because of the short amount of time available, however, I'd skip the Bayeaux Tapestry this time and omit Utah Beach, which is some distance away from Omaha and Point du Hoc, and I'd pass on the museum at Caen unless you have time at the end of the day before you catch your train back to Paris.

I just found all of the D-Day site area stunning! The countryside is beautiful - with the sea and cliffs and hedgerows and the charming gray stone cottages with red geraniums filling window boxes; and then there are the frequent moving monuments to the soldiers who served there, overlooking the sea they crossed that June day in 1944.

Point du Hoc is simply amazing. If I had it to do over, I'd have planned our trip so that we could be at the American Cemetery for the playing of taps at sundown. Whatever you do, don't be too ambitious about hitting all the sites: Take time to soak in the ambience of the place and to look and remember and imagine.

When you leave for Paris, you will likely regret not having had more time available, but you won't regret the fact that you saw at least some of the area, because it's really special.

I agree with much that Mary says especially eliminating the Caen museum.If its the landings you ae interested in the museum at Arromanches is more to the point than Caen. Alot of Caen is interesting but so much seems to be there to fill space rather than a memorial to the war. Your trip should be doable.

You are trying to do a lot in one day. You might want to consider hiring a private guide (with car) to take you around. That way you can stay focused. We did just that for our one day tour. We started out at Utah Beach, followed by a visit to Pointe Du Hoc (an awe inspiring site), then on to Omaha Beach (with a stop for a nice lunch), after which we visited the American Cemetary at Colleville (DO NOT GO TO NORMANDY WITHOUT STOPPING HERE - IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO SENSE THE TRUE SACRIFICE OTHERS MADE FOR THE FREEDOMS WE ENJOY TODAY), we followed that up by a stop at one of the small military museums, we did tours of two German costal gun batteries, had a brief stop at Arromanches (the Mulberry Harbour) and we finished the day at Pegasus Bridge - the original bridge has, indeed, been moved next to the museum a few hundred yards across the road but the landing sites of Major Howard's glider force are well marked as are some gun emplacements around the "new" bridge. We were exhausted be covered a lot of ground. One thing all my reading did not prepare me for was how large an area the invasion covered.

You won't have time for much else.

Jonrose...
My husband and I will be in Paris in April and we are planning on spending a day in Normandy as well. Here is what we are planning.
AM train to Caen from Paris.
Morning at Caen museum.
Afternoon tour of D-day beaches (D-Day Landing Beaches. From Arromanches harbour to the Pointe du Hoc via Omaha Beach) through the Caen museum.
Train back to Paris around 7pm.

Of course we would like to spend more time but we only have 7 days in Paris and really wanted to go to the d-day sites as well.

Thank you all for your advise thus far.

For the whole honeymoon we have 14 days. Five days in London, Paris and Rome each (I will expand on the other cities in another thread but focusing on Paris/Normandy for now). We have devoted three to Paris itself and one day to Versailles. So the only way to spend more time in Normandy is at the expense of time in Paris.

Ok so time to re-evaluate.

Based on some (most) of the responses I believe I will eliminate Utah Beach and the Caen Memorial (unless there is extra time at the end of the day). I'm still thinking about the Bayeaux Tapestry...

I'm thinking I would still like to rent a car. Does it make sense then to rent a car in Caen or would taking the train to either Bayeaux or Arromanches be a better idea?

Once again thank you for everyone's advice.

Correction to my above post. 15 days. I can add, really...

Lots of helpful advice.

A_Traveller

Would you be willing to share the info on your private guide for the day in Normandy?

jonrose - Best wishes and enjoy your honeymoon!

Another option would be to use one of the Paris tour companies. I did one in a minivan (skip the big coaches), and it wasn't bad. Someone else drove, and you didn't get lost. We saw the Caen memorial museum, then visited a couple villages, Omaha beach, the American cemetary and Point du Hoc. I enjoyed it though the time was way too short.
If you still want to go on your own, I'd suggest skipping Versailles, and doing an overnight in Normandy. (I don't have a map in front of me, wonder if you could stop quickly at Versailles on the way to Normandy, and accomplish both, and get two days?)

Re: taking the train to Bayeux or Arromanches; I *think* you would have to change trains in Caen, and if that is true, I definitely would rent the car in Caen.

We took the standard hotel brochure tour from Paris,(brochure rack in the hotel,) paid about 100 euro's to the desk clerk. A 6 passenger van picked us up very early, maybe 6:30 AM, that day there were 3 of us, but could have been 6 had 6 registered. So, 3 of us were driven, in the 6 passenger mini-van, lunch was included, and, off we went for the Normandy Invasion Tour. The guide was great. We saw the beautiful countryside, Point Du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Caen Museum, the American Cemetary (as beautiful and impressive as Arlington,)and some side trips we suggested like a small German Military Cemetary.
The guide dropped my friend and me at a terrific restaurant just a short walk from our hotel (2 star, near the Opera.)
Normandy was a high point of that trip.

This is far too much to try to accomplish in one day, even if you weren't trying to do it from Paris. You will also find that navigating from site to site will be time consuming, and you will be bound to take the wrong turn from time to time.

To put this gently, if as you say it's mostly you that wants to do this day trip, I can see a distinct possibility for marital conflict if you find yourself hurtling through unfamiliar territory in a rental car with an unwilling partner.

As others have mentioned, Utah Beach is way too far west to include in your itinerary, and the Bayeux Tapestry, while fascinating, will take up too much of your time.

If you have only one day to devote to Normandy, book a tour from Paris which will hit some of the places you'd like to see.

Another alternative would be to take the train to Caen, and take a one-day tour arranged by the Mémorial. They will pick you up and return you to the station, and will cover highlights of the Mémorial and some of the beaches. You can get more information at:

http://www.memorial-caen.fr/portail/resa/en/jj.asp

I think that the Mémorial should not be missed, as it really helps to put the battle sites in context.

KatelP and artteacher, what tour lines did you use out of Paris? Did you request a particular tour? How long were you gone and about how much if you don't mind me getting specific. We are looking to book something just like your tours with English speaking tour guide in a small van, not a huge bus, so any info would be helpful. Thanks.

Another vote for trying to see too much in one day. We took a tour with Col. Chilcott to see Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach, British cemetery in Bayeux and a German cemetery outside town, gun implacements on the coast and of course the American cemetery above Omaha Beach. I am a history buff as well and the Col. did a masterful job with the tour. It took an entire day to cover the areas I mentioned. The next day we drove ourselves to Pegasus bridge which was interesting but given your schedule, skip it and concentrate on the areas around Omaha Beach. Take a tour with someone who can add color and information. If you do a drill down search on this site on Col Chilcott, you will find his email address but there are many tours to chose from. Honestly, I could have spent a week in Bayeux instead of the three days we alloted. We did see the tapestry and cathedral in Bayeux and toured the town but that was a full day in itself. I intend to return one day and spend the week I will need to see the rest of the beaches, etc. Be sure to read Stephen Ambrose's D-Day book before you go.