Normandy D-Day Beaches Experience

Paris - Caen - Arromanches - American Cemetery - Omaha Beach - Pointe du Hoc - Bayeux. Pick‑up from your Paris hotel at 07:30 and departure for Caen in a comfortable, air conditioned Mercedes. The drive is around 3 hours – 240 km – with one rest stop.

From 10:30–12:00 you visit the Caen Memorial and Museum in the British Sword Beach sector, widely regarded as France’s leading Second World War museum, for a clear overview of the Battle of Normandy and a powerful 19 minute film using original footage.

At 12:00 you continue to Arromanches–les–Bains – about 30 minutes through countryside and villages. You have a lunch break from 12:30–13:30 and time to look around Arromanches. You can explore the site of the former Mulberry Harbour – central to the British Gold Beach landings – which by 12 June 1944 had enabled the arrival of 300,000 men, 54,000 vehicles and 104,000 tons of supplies.

You head up to the 360 Circular Cinema at 13:30, set on the hilltop with views over the bay, for an immersive documentary on 100 days of the Normandy campaign and Operation Overlord. At 14:30 you drive to the Normandy American Cemetery & Visitor Center – about 30 minutes.

From 15:00–16:10 you visit the cemetery at Colleville–sur–Mer overlooking Omaha Beach, final resting place of 9,387 US servicemen, with the Wall of the Missing listing 1,557 names. The cliffs still show elements of German defences, and the site includes the memorial colonnade with the Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves sculpture, large operational maps and a small museum in the Visitor Center.

At 16:10 take a short transfer to the nearby Overlord Museum to explore its extensive collection of Second World War artefacts – tanks, military vehicles, weapons, a V–1 missile and personal belongings. You continue to Omaha Beach at 16:45 – a 5–10 minute drive. From 16:50–17:20 you visit the beach where 34,000 men landed on D–Day.

You drive to Pointe du Hoc at 17:20 – about 15 minutes. From 17:30–18:30 you tour the cliff top gun battery between Utah and Omaha, a key position of the Atlantic Wall. Many original bunkers and casemates remain open to the public, including the fire control casemate with its monument to the 2nd Ranger Battalion.

At 18:30 you depart for Bayeux – around 30 minutes. Upon arrival in Bayeux you check in to your hotel.

Bayeux - Angoville-au-Plain - Utah Beach - Sainte-Mère-Église - Paris. At 08:00 you depart Bayeux for the Church of Saint‑Côme‑et‑Saint‑Damien in Angoville‑au‑Plain – about 40 minutes for 50 km.

From 08:40–09:00 you make a short visit to this small church where two 101st Airborne medics, Robert Wright and Kenneth Moore, set up a field hospital on D‑Day and treated around 80 wounded from both sides and a child.

At 09:00 you continue to Utah Beach – about 10 minutes for 10 km. You have free time to explore the westernmost of the five D‑Day beaches, where 23,000 American troops landed on 6 June 1944 to push towards Cherbourg’s deep‑water port. You can stroll the wide sands and take in the nearby monuments and memorials until 10:00.

You visit the Utah Beach Landing Museum from 10:00-12:00, built on a former German bunker, with a substantial collection of artefacts and vehicles, including an original B–26 bomber – one of only six remaining.

You journey to Sainte‑Mère‑Église and the Airborne Museum at 12:00 – about 20 minutes for 13 km. From 12:20–12:50 you pause by the museum in a town that was among the first to be liberated on D‑Day by elements of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. We’ll share the story of paratrooper John Steele of the 505th PIR, whose entanglement on the church steeple inspired scenes in The Longest Day – a mannequin still marks the spot. Lunch break in Sainte‑Mère‑Église opposite the Airborne Museum from 12:50–13:50.

After lunch, from 14:00–15:30, you visit the Airborne Museum, dedicated to US paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st. Spread across five buildings – two shaped like open parachutes – it features interactive exhibits and significant aircraft. We explore the WACO building, home to the only Waco glider on display in France. In the C–47 building, the original aircraft is presented within a striking display of deployed parachutes and suspended figures.

From 15:30–16:00 you experience the D‑Day night jumps exhibit, joining the nighttime embarkation of a C–47 in England, the drop into Sainte‑Mère‑Église amid the fighting and the subsequent operations. You’ll also see an American Piper Cub reconnaissance plane.

At 16:00 you depart for Paris – a 3.5–4 hour drive for 320 km with one rest stop. Around 20:00 you arrive in Paris, depending on traffic and your hotel location, with drop‑off at your hotel.