In Ricks book the only tours listed are one price for a group of 6-8. There will only be 2 of us going so looking for an option with single price tickets. Thanks!
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7327 posts
Month of year? Can you avoid D-Day anniversary weeks?
There is a huge market for D-Day Beach Tours, even though a same-day runout from Paris is not the best way to do this. It's quite a distance, so you have a lot of train time and lose a lot of daylight. You also need (for 2) a private car, which is easily available, but kind of a luxury-price. You may be unaware of the going rate for this specific PRODUCT. It's pricey.
Many of the tours are conducted by highly prepared specialists who do no other tour work. They are loaded down with enrichment materials, laminated in binders and so forth, and ready to answer any question. For the kind of money they charge, you can customize a tour if you describe (for example, where a grandfather landed, etc.) what your needs are. But we're talking hundreds of dollars for the day.
Many posts here recommend Overlord, in the most positive terms. (We had a car, and did book research, so we didn't hire a guide.) I personally did not care for the "Sergeant Rock" affect of the guided tours we heard around us, but that's a matter of personal taste. I know my [i.e. expensive!} eye doctor treasured his experience with a private family D-Day tour. These tours book up in advance, and I imagine they have to be paid in advance.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Hi. Going the last two weeks of this coming October. Wanted to to a day trip as we have the hotel in Paris for the full two weeks and didn’t want to add another hotel on top of that. But it sound like it might be actually less expensive.
Thanks!
Posted by
Kansas, United States
1078 posts
If you google "Viator Normandy tours" you will get a whole list of the tours with different costs length of time, etc. I've used Viator in the past and had good luck with their recommendations.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks! I saw those and wondered if they were good or not. Much appreciated!
Posted by
Middletown, RI
1140 posts
Highly recommend spending at least one night in Normandy—if not three (which only give you only two full days). There is so much to see, and all of it is both very spread out and a very long way from Paris. Trying to go out an back in one day does the area and your trip a huge disservice. You will not regret spending more time there.
Posted by
Washington DC
27163 posts
The D-Day invasion sites are really not a day-trip from Paris. There's an awful lot of travel time involved if you start and end the day in Paris. There are many better destinations for day trips. In addition, there are additional things to see in Normandy beyond invasion-related sights. For that matter, there are some very good museums that supplement the information you'd get on a tour.
Most of the small-group D-Day tours depart from Bayeux, which is a very attractive town to use as a base. The tour timing makes it difficult to manage with just one night in Bayeux. Would the tour end early enough for you to retrieve your luggage (presumably stored at the hotel you stayed at) and get to the train station in time to catch the last train back to Paris? That seems risky to me.
The one Bayeux-based, full-day tour I'm aware of that is designed for people staying in Paris is this one:
It means taking a very early train from Paris, so it makes for a long day. But you get a full-day tour. Note that you are responsible for buying your own train tickets.