Will be in Paris this coming April for 7 days and would like to take a day trip to Normandy. Can anyone give me some idea of how we can do this in one day?

Many thanks.

Hi,

It would be hard to visit Normandy in 1 day and really do it right. I would recommend taking the train from Paris to allow you to see the scenery and then, take a formal tour of the WWII beaches over a couple of days. There are excellent tour companies in the area. You can take the train back to Paris after your side trip. France's high-speed rail system is making travel within the country very quick and convenient.

Best Regards,
Julia

There are a few options. You could take the earliest train out and then do a tour with a company, and returning on the train that evening. Or take the train out the night before, to give you a bit more time. Or take a tour from Paris. Or hire a private guide in Paris to take you.

You will hear that one day is not enough. True. But if that is all you have then definitely take it and just realize you will want to return.

On our first trip to Paris, a side trip to Normandy was a must. Our hotel arranged for a private driver for us for the day. He was fantastic! He picked us up early in the morning at the hotel, drove us to various sites, we had lunch with him which we really enjoyed, saw more sites and then returned to Paris late that evening.

On our trip this summer we took the train out to Bayeux and stayed there for a few nights. We took the full day tour with Battlebus and it was excellent! We were kicking ourselves for not doing the 2 day tour.

As I said earlier, you might want to take the train out the night before, then do the Battlebus tour, and then return to Paris that night. That would be my choice of how to do this.

If you take the train, buy your tickets 90 days out and get the PREM fares. Ours were 15 euro per person each way. But they sell out fast, so you need to buy them when they appear, which is the 90 days out.

I agree with the other postings. The beaches do not lend themselves well to a day trip. Until I went the first time did not realize how massive the beach area is. I think it is over 50 miles from one end to the other with a lot of interesting stops. And there are several very significant inland sites. If you are doing it in a day, you just have to focus on one or two specific sites. See the others when you come back. Also, I have seen ads for companies that do a long, one day trip from Paris. That would probably be the most efficient way for a one day hit.

We did it in a day trip with a rental car. Like everything else in travel, if you have more time it would be better, but it can be done in a day. We basically had time to go the Omaha Beach area, and also to see the Bayeaux Tapestry. It was a nice trip and I would do it again. In April, there might be some 1 day tours out of Paris by bus.