We will be visiting Paris from 3/17 to 3/23. My husband and sons would like to visit Normandy. Any suggestions for a good day tour group?<BR>TIA

Normandy is such a great place - - a day trip has to choose just one or two highlights, but that doesn't mean it is necessarily a terrible idea. Still it might be worth your while to consider an overnight excursion. Less tiring, and with lodging cheaper outSIDE Paris, you can dollar-cost-average down to get away for a 36 hour trip instead of a day trip.<BR><BR>Do you mean the Normandy (D-Day landing) beaches? Bayeux? or the more fun-n-sun beaches of Deauville, etc (March is actually rather early there).<BR><BR>Take a look at www.normandy-tourism.org - - you can click on tours there and find a lot of choices.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

topping, for Shar...<BR>

Rex, Thank you for your reply. They guys are wanting to tour the D-Day sites.

We were very pleased with the Paris Vision and Cityrama tours which we booked when we got to Paris. Our day tour to Normandy (a long day, not "the Longest Day) stopped for a visit to the Caen Memorial, American Cemetery, Several DDay beaches, including Arromanche (sp), the British beach with the "mulberries". Tour guide was quite knowlegeable and answered all questions. If you only have a day, this is the easy, educational way.

We were very pleased with the Paris Vision and Cityrama tours which we booked when we got to Paris. Our day tour to Normandy (a long day, not "the Longest Day) stopped for a visit to the Caen Memorial, American Cemetery, Several DDay beaches, including Arromanche (sp?), the British beach with the "mulberries". Tour guide was quite knowlegeable and answered all questions. If you only have a day, this is the easy, educational way.

to the top<BR>

Okay, now that I know that this is your focus (not all that surprising), here is the page of tour leaders from the website listed above:<BR><BR>http://www.normandy-tourism.org/gb/16tours/indext.html<BR><BR>You might want to jump right to this excerpt from one of the tour guides listed there:<BR><BR>==================================== <BR><BR>Don't be fooled by services offered by some other companies - they are in fact no more than a driving service - with Ray you not only visit the beaches, but you experience them as well! If you are considering taking a standard day-trip tour from Paris by bus, please remember that it is four hours each way to drive from Paris to the invasion beaches, so you will be spending at least 8 hours just driving on the highway.<BR><BR>================================== =<BR><BR>Sales promo talk, to be sure - - but it sounds like good advice to me.<BR><BR>I seemed to recall another well-publicized outfit previously mentioned on this site - - but not finding on Yahoo. Maybe no longer operating?<BR><BR>mentioned on this previous thread:<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1347482<BR>============== ==============<BR><BR>Author: Betty ([email protected])<BR>Date: 02/18/2002, 10:56 am<BR>Message: This is not based on personal experience, but lots of people on this forum have recommended Colonel Chilcott, operating out of Bayeux. <BR>Excerpt from a previous post from Elaine Lavine:<BR><BR>May 2000 Fodor's Forum: "Colonel Chilcott, is a retired British Lieutenant Colonel. He and his wife retired to a manor house in Bayeux where he rents out rooms, and also conducts private tours of the battle areas. He is very knowledgeable about all eras of history. [email protected] <BR>www.vrbo.com/vrbo/352.htm<BR>phone 33 2 31 22 39 09."<BR><BR>Perhaps others can give you personal recommendatons for him or another guide for Normandy. At least this will bring your question to the top. Good luck.<BR><BR>===================================<B R><BR>No mention now of Colonel Chilcott at this URL.<BR>

topping again, for Shar<BR>

We visited Normandy on a day trip from Paris back in October. We took the train from Paris to Bayeux (about 2 1/2 hours) and had a 4-5 hour tour reserved at Hotel du Gare in Bayeux. We visited Arrmonches (sp?), the beaches, Pont du Hoc, and the American Cemetary. <BR><BR>Do a search for Hotel du Gare in Bayeux or Jean-Marc Bacon on this BB and you'll find the phone and fax numbers. Beware --- if you're like us ---this will only whet your appetite for WWII sites in Normandy. There's so much to see! We're planning on going back soon and spending a few days in the "Invasion" area. <BR><BR>Our tour guide made sure we were back in time for the appropriate train and we took the train back to Paris that night.