Bayeux questions

I spent 3 nights/ 2 full days in Bayeux in 2019 and while more time would have been great, I had enough time to do and see what I went for.
One day I did a group tour of the beaches.
The other day I saw the tapestry, Cathedral, and Bayeux museum in the morning and went by train to the museum in Caen in the afternoon.
Restaurants in Bayeaux were good but busy. Booking ahead was useful/essential, even if to call in the morning to book that evening.
Enjoy your visit!

Accidental, sounds like a wonderful stay!

I’m glad - I’d always want more time, but it’s still something

Oh yeah - I never leave dinner reservations to chance.

Can I ask where you stayed?

Thank you!!!

Hi Betsy! I love your planning style - very practical and aimed at determining what will work best given interests and restraints due to transport, etc. I was in Bayeux and did the Overlord tour in October 2024. Here are my thoughts:

1) If there are track works, these are likely to occur on a Saturday or Sunday, confusing the train schedule. Also, June schedules aren't yet published and June 25 is a Wednesday (typo above?). All this makes advance planning hard!

2) Bayeux has a decent D Day Museum and the Bayeux Museum with the tapestry. You might find both worthwhile. The tapestry will be unavailable from Sept. 2025 for a couple years for renovation - last chance for a bit! Bayeux is a "cute" town with nice restaurants, shops, and some pleasant river strolls.

3) Overlord was terrific - I took the Utah/Omaha Beach tour. Very efficient, very well presented, interesting anecdotes, info specific to stops. Small group of 8. We were given 90 minutes as I recall for lunch in St Mere Eglise. There are several restaurants, bakeries, groceries. Enough to handle the tour groups in October, I don't know if June would have more numbers, but I would trust Overlord to be well experienced. I'm sure they would be responsive to a direct question. There is a fine D-Day Museum in St Mere Eglise. I choose to treat myself to a pastry for "lunch" and spend the extra time at the museum.

4) I think 1 1/2 days, 3 nights would be fine for your plans in Bayeux. The Overlord tours do try to get back to the station for folks to catch an early evening train to Paris. Not sure that would be my preference, however. Our guide asked if anyone needed that train as we were "running a bit late". No one did, we proceeded with the planned stops and standard times. Our guide did mention that he had had tours out on the June 6, 2024 Normandy anniversary. Traffic was so bad that no guarentee of getting to the station in time for earlier Paris trains.

5) No knowledge of Bayeux market hours.

In September we booked the Overlord Band of Brothers tour and thought it was outstanding - it was extremely comprehensive and well paced, and the guide was terrific too. Can't recommend it highly enough.
The stop for lunch was about 45 minutes - at a cute little food truck decked out as a WWII USO station. The food was simple fare (burgers, etc.) but really pretty good. It made for a nice break from the tour.
The pickup point for the tours is along Pl. du Quebec - about a block north of the tapestry museum (which is excellent). You might want to do a search on booking.com for accommodations within walking distance ... which most of the city is. The filters on the booking website will be very helpful in sorting thru the various options to find a place that fits your budget and particular requirements.
BTW, June 25th next year is a Wednesday. That said it's probably way too early to book anything on the SNCF website.

Can I ask where you stayed?

• Hotel Reine Mathilde

And I enjoyed meals at

• Le Pommier
• Le Volet Qui Penche
• L’Angle St Laurent

(But keep in mind this was 5 years ago so check current reviews of everything)

ORD, thanks! I’ve traveled solo often enough to know what works, lol. I feel sorry for the hotels I’ve booked at in Paris & London, because I keep changing dates, lol…

I’m not really worried about the train -and 8 am works for me anyway. Maybe the schedule is preliminary - I wasn’t going to yet anyway, but June isn’t bookable yet

Oh I’m so glad that I decided on Bayeux now! I explored the actual battlefield a few years ago, so seeing the Tapestry would be wonderful.

I’m so glad you loved the tour! They just told me the lunch is 45 minutes…which is better than the 15 minutes I’ve seen elsewhere, lol.

I don’t think I could hack taking a very early train from Paris & then having to take another back after I’m pretty tired, lol. I’m glad day trips from Paris are offered, but if I don’t know when I’m coming back, I’d rather not try and compress everything

Thank you!!!!

Hi Betsy - as regards your question about the market: just about any market will be best visited before noon. 2 pm is the very latest that there would be any stand there, but most of them will pack up well before that.

Robert, I’m so glad you had a great time…I’ve heard nothing but raves for Overlord

Simple, solid food is just fine - like you, I will need that break

I’m going to do a deep dive on accommodations today …!

Oh I know it’s too early to book - I was just curious about times. It’s not a concern at all…

Thank you so much!!!

Accidental, thanks! Oh I will - I love this part of planning a vacation!

Kim, makes sense. Well if 8 am is the earliest train from Paris, it gets in to Bayeux at 10:15 am. I could still have plenty of time at the market…but, if not, it will not be a big deal

Thank you both!

Bayeux is charming, and 3 nights is a nice option. We stayed this past April. A hotel like Hotel Mathilde is right in city center; steps from where the Overlord Tours pick up. There's a little brasserie at Hotel Mathilde where we ate on the outdoor patio, because the weather was perfect. Enjoy!

Overlord has several tours, and I assume lunch stops vary. On my tour the lunch break was in St-Mere-Eglise, which is also where the Airborne Museum is located. Our driver/guide pointed out the location of a creperie, but I felt I had to choose between a sit-down lunch and seeing the museum. I prioritized the museum, so I bought a pre-made sandwich at a bakery also pointed out by the guide, wolfed it down while sitting on a bench outdoors (I was lucky with the weather, which can be very wet in Normandy) and hotfooted it over to the museum. The Airborne Museum is quite old-fashioned; I much preferred the more modern museum in Bayeux, but I assume most would want to see the Airborne Museum. I don't remember how long the stop was in St-Mere-Eglise--I'd guess not more than 70 minutes, and possibly less than an hour--but it was just about long enough for a quick visit to the museum. A bit of time could be saved by taking a packed lunch with you so you don't have to stand in the (short, in my experience) line at the bakery. If I went back, I'd take a piece of fruit and a package of nuts so I didn't need to stop to buy food. Note that you cannot eat in the tour van.

acravan - I wonder when you visited the St Mere Eglise Airborne Museum? My visit was two months go - I suspect it has been updated since your visit. I did what you did - hot-footed it to the museum and ate "lunch" on the way. I spent at least an hour and wished for more time.

The museum is not old-fashioned to my mind. Many interactive exhibits with holograms, audio, life-sized dioramas, film clips, histopad, etc as well as English language info boards. Five different buildings (pavilions). In my experience, the Bayeux D-Day Museum is more "old-fashioned" without the updates of much new visual technology. (I still found the museum very worthwhile and informative.)

St Mere Eglise Museum: https://airborne-museum.org/en/homepage/

There are a number of museums in the various Normandy towns - all different.

If you have less than two full days, you should pick either visiting D-day sites, or spending time in Bayeux. Both are wonderful, and both will make you wish you had much more time (I usually spend 8–10 days). The drive from Bayeux to Sainte-Mère-Église is about 45 minutes, but well worth it (it is where I usually stay in my ten visits to the area so far). But there aren't nearly as many places to eat, etc. there. However, the church, the Airborne Museum and the town square are must-sees for D-day history visits. Also, don't miss the La Fiére Causeway on the outskirts of town, which SLA Marshal described as "probably the bloodiest small unit struggle in the history of American arms." The nearby museum at Utah Beach is in my opinion the very best D-day museum in Normandy. But the one in BAyeux is also wonderful. In late June there may still be events surrounding the battle of Normandy, but not nearly as many as earlier in the month (the Battle of Normandy, aka, "Operation Overlord" went from D-day on June 6th to the re-capture of Paris in September). I'd add Restaurant L'Assiente Normandie to your list (It is in the shadow of the Bayeux Cathedral) if you are making reservations in Bayeux, and the Auberge John-Steele in Sainte-Mère-Églsie.

As far as trains, it is possible you are too far out to see all the trains to Bayeux from Paris. Many train schedules don't open up unit a few months out. Also, there are more, and more direct, trains to Caen which is a short drive to Bayeux if you have a car (highly recommended, this is a very rural area with effectively NO public transportation)

It does sound as if the Airborne Museum has been considerably updated. I was there in 2017. But this may be a matter of different preferences; I'm really not very interested in looking at uniforms and war materiel. I like to read about the bigger picture of what was happening, which probably makes me atypical.

KD - I booked that hotel for 3 nights - so excited!

Acraven, I was asking about the Utah/Omaha Beach tour - so definitely 45 minutes per the owners. I’m absolutely going to need all that time to eat if we can’t eat at all in the van, lol

Phil, I’ll catch a fairly early train from Paris on the Friday, so I’ll have the rest of that day, all day Saturday, and part of Monday (when I return to Paris). I’m doing this tour

https://www.overlordtour.com/product/tour-2-omaha-utah-full-day-tour/

I had to. I just could not pass this up, especially since I’m not going to be making any big trips for awhile

No I doubt I was too early, so I plugged in dates for March - and on a weekday, not Saturday. There actually were a few earlier trains!

Thank you for the links - sadly, L’Assiette Normande is permanently closed

I’m not going to have a car - I’m not planning on straying beyond Bayeux. I did read that there’s a
ciderie about 10 minutes away, so maybe I’ll rage a taxi there..

I wish I had more time (I still wouldn’t have a car), but I’ll have spent almost 3 months in the UK before this, so I don’t…

Thank you!!!