Are there any good day tours to the Normandy sites from Paris? It looks like many require you to be in Bayeux early in the morning, which would require an overnight stay, and I'd rather not do that. I understand that the trade-off is longer transportation time.
Posted by
Washington DC
27120 posts
Overlord Tours has a full-day tour designed for people staying in Paris. You have to take the early train from Paris to Bayeux. The tour picks you up right at the train station and returns you there at the end of the day so you can get the train back to Paris. You're responsible for buying your train tickets.
Posted by
OP
271 posts
Thanks--I thought I saw comments that even the early trains didn't get to Bayeux in time. I was hoping for something that didn't need the train--if that's possible.
Posted by
Washington DC
27120 posts
If you don't take a train, you're stuck with a bus.
The current schedule shows a 6:12 AM train that takes just 2 hr. 30 min. to reach Bayeux. ViaMichelin.com estimates the driving time from Paris to Bayeux at 2 hr. 56 min. in a private car. I wouldn't expect a bus to do that well, so traveling by bus would cost at least an extra hour over the course of the day.
There are other interesting things to see do in Normandy, even just in Bayeux. It's a shame to take a whole day away from Paris and get just a few hours seeing some of the invasion sites. I'd seriously consider whether that is a good use of what I assume is limited time in Paris. You might be happier holding off on Normandy this time and allowing several days there (or longer) on your next trip to France.
Posted by
Southeast US
3851 posts
If you google "tour of normandy from paris," you can find many offerings, like this one: https://citywonders.com/paris-tours/normandy-tour-from-paris
Posted by
midwest
60 posts
I second Overlord Tours, the guides are wonderful! Ours (pre-Covid) was based in Caen so we took the train from Paris to Caen and back. It's an easy train trip and we didn't leave Paris all that early. Of course more days in Normandy would be great, but if you only have a day for this, I suggest going for it. It's a full day, but well worth it, and you might fall in love with Normandy like we did and go back!
Posted by
118 posts
It's been a few years, but my son and I were in Paris and booked a full-day tour of Normandy. The 10-passenger van picked us up at our hotel, and then we headed west, toured all the landing beaches and museum, had lunch in a small village (whose name I don't recall), and then returned us late in the afternoon to our hotel.
I just went to http://www.tripadvisor.com and found some right away; if you're not familiar with that site, it's a great jumping-off place for ideas of things to do in a destination, for seeing reviews, and of course for finding the right excursion.