Normandy tour
 

What's the best base for touring the D-Day beaches? Hotel suggestion? What should we absolutely not miss?

We're staying in Bayeux in a couple of weeks; don't know if it's "the best", but lots of folks seem to use it for a base. We're staying at Hotel d'Argouges, which gets good reviews for a reasonable, not-luxurious place to stay.

Ditto for Bayeux as base (it is close to most of the D-Day sites.

Here is a suggested itinerary: Utah Beach (small museum), St-Mer-Eglise (Paratroop museum), Pont-du-Hoc, Omaha Beach and American cemetary, Longues sur Mer (German coastal guns), Arromanches (museum), drive the British and Canadian landing beaches of Gold, Juno, and Sword, Pegasus Bridge at Benouville (museum), and the Caen museum.

You can see these sights in a couple of days. Read up on the invasion before you go. Stephen Ambrose has several excellent books.

Cheers,

Jinx Hoover

Caen (Peace) Museum not to be missed.
We stayed in Paris but took a day long trip in a standard big tourist city package, 6 passenger van. Cost was about 100-125 euro's per person. Well worth it. Left Paris early, got back about 9:30 PM. American Cemetary and whole tour unforgettable.

We stayed at the Lion D'Or in Bayeux. Used Col.Michael Chilcott as a guide for our family - would highly recommend him if you are willing to pay extra for very personalized service and time. We felt it was more than worth the $$. Do see the Caen Memorial as well. The Col's tour will visit the German Cemetery, American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, Arromanches, Longues Battery, Pointe Du Hoc etc. We asked for the "American" tour as he will also do ones that center more on the British or Canadian areas. The nice thing was that we were able to spend as much time as we wanted at the sites - the itinerary was ours alone. Since we spent too much time at the Longues Battery, the American Cemetery was closing as we arrived - he came back the next day and spent another half day with us at no additional charge. You should also see the Cathedral, Tapestry, various musuems in the area, Mont St Michel. We only had 5 days there and could easily go back for another week. I found Normandy to be warm, welcoming and emotional....

In Normandy~how do you reach Michael Chilcott guide?
chicagoan traveling to paris for first time in May....looking for suggestions :)

Sugarsail,

If you type in "Chilcott" in the search box, you'll get a whole bunch of info.since the Colonel has been reviewed many times on this board. Here's my 2 cents---we used him 2 years ago and it was one of the highlights of our many trips to Europe. I really recommend him. He's definitely knowledgable, and you'll never have another experience like it! He's also a hoot!

Here's some info. I got from another posting. I believe all is correct:

Le Manor des Doyens
St Loup Hors
Bayeux
14400 France
From US: 011 33 2 31 22 39 09
[email protected]
www.vrbo.com/vrbo/352.htm

LisaG

My wife and I also stayed at Hotel D'Argouges and loved it... you can walk right out onto the main street and are close to restaurants and the Cathedral and the Tapestry .... nice place.

For a base to operate out of, let me second Bayeaux. There are several tour operators. With planning some will pick you at your hotel (or the tourist center). When we were there we cut our time too short and missed the WWII museums at both Bayeaux and Caen.

Bayeaux is so close to the invasion beachs that there was very little bombing of the city during WWII which makes it quite a photo opportunity.

Just returned form Normandy with tears in my eyes and I'm not that old! If possibele don't try to do this in a one day trip from Paris. I would suggest 3-4 days that might allow a side trip to Monut St Michael also-beyond unfogettable. Found B&B very reasonable 50 Euros per couple was about the going rate. All the little towns and there are a lot of them have similar B&B. I had a car so it was very easy to get around. It is somewhat difficult to get around by public transportation. On the car front I found this a very reasonable way to travel this summer in France. Just a reminder that the American Cementary closes 1hour before dusk. Also very new is the Juno Beach Centre(Canadian) in Courselles sur Mer( we stayed for two night in this town)It was a never to be forgotten trip. A suggestion also is a good French phrase book.

I think this thread was sweet and to the point and from my point of view the way to do it( as I did some years ago). I thought that Jinx gave a great itinerary and noticed she put the Caen museum last. Although many list this as a place not to be missed I would say if time is short this would be one place to omit.
It was noted that Bayeux missed the bombing and retained its old buildings. Probably moreso because it was liberated on DDay and there was no street to street fighting. The only reasonably sized town that lucky.

There are so many different postings and threads here on Fodor for this same subject that are bound to be missed. It would be nice if the Webmaster could arrange the postings of the same subjects in a common thread instead of
just chronologically.

To MomKJC:
What is the name of the B & B you stayed in when you were in Normandy?
Hoping to get there next year after
we had to drop it from our Fall trip.

Please bear with me it will take a day or two as it is with some notes that I have at another location. I will remember to post it promise!

ttt

Took longer than a day sorry Here is the info about the B&B
web amareehotes.fr.st
email [email protected]
B&B is called A Maree Hotes
owner is Mme Beatrice Di Rosa
24 rue de l'Admiral Robert
Courselles sue mer
France 14470
Farm house bulit in 1837 beautifully kept all re done The lady who owns it was so nice with me. So gracious and understanding of my poor French! I had a car and there was good safe free parking near by. This is a very small town but the resturants were good. Don't forget to visit the Juno Beach Centre
Town is very easy to get to and easy to get to other places. I like staying outside of major towns. I have had good experiences
If you are not comfortable speaking in French then I would do any questions that you might have via the e-mail address.

Phone number for last post is
02.31.97.35.68

MomKJC: I have noted it & wwill be checking it out for the future.
Sounds peaceful & relaxing. Thanks for reply. Di