We are travelling to Paris in July. I have a son who is very well versed in world war 2 and would like to see the d-day beaches etc. what are the best places to visit and what is the best mode of transportation?

Thanks in advance!

D Day beaches are a very long day trip frm Paris. You can google the tour companies to see what they offer - but I think it's about 15 hours. I know there used to be - and may still be local tours - that is yuo take a train to Bayeux or Rouen and pick up a van trip there. Also a very long day trip.

You other option is to rent a car and try to tour yoursself - but for that I would reco staying at least one night in Bayeux.

I don't know how much time you have, but I've always done it by car and allowed 2-3 days. Besides the beaches there is the Mémorial in Caen, the museum at Arromanches, all the cemeteries,Ste-Mère-Eglise, and many small spots in between. Then there's Bayeux, where I always base, with its tapestry and cathedral. There are tours, of course, but I prefer to be able to chart my own course.

We took a train from Paris to Rouen, picked up a car in Rouen, and drove to Honfleur, where we stayed the night. We went to the D-Day beaches the next day. We visited the sites mentioned by StCirq and spent one night in Bayeux, where we saw the Bayeux tapestries. Somewhere in there we had lunch at Falais, famous mostly for the "Falais Gap," also of WWII memory.

What a memorable trip that was! I was already cognizant of much history of the time, and my sister was reading Stephen Ambrose's book D-Day at the time.

Thanks for the suggestions. Are there any companies who offer day trips? Can you recommend any?

When we were touring Normandy we saw a number of tour buses from Paris. I think ParisVision maybe. It will be a 12=14 hour day. As someone else suggested, google for it.

I think the main ones are Parisvision and Cityrama (who are now part of the same company, anyway).
http://www.pariscityvision.com/en/ci...mber-the-d-day

I took one by Cityrama and it was very good, but it wasn't D-day. At least children are half price. It isn't cheap but if you want to do it all in one day, may be the best option.