D Day Beaches - guided tour or drive it ourselves?

I did the beaches on my own several years ago but I had an interest in the landings and had done advanced reading/research. If you are not that knowledgeable about the landings, a tour would be much more informative.

I would say yes - it is totally worth it. Unless one of your group is a world-class D-Day historian, and another one of your group is an excellent driver/navigator, you will see and understand so much more with a guide.

There are guides who will "ride along" in your vehicle. If there's enough room, that could be an option for you. Sean Claxton was our guide for a 2 day "American Experience" tour in 2010 with Battlebus. He was truly outstanding.

https://www.normandyinsight.com/

Another vote for yes! I know it’s expensive but if your daughter has an interest it will be truly fired with an excellent guide like Dale. He’ll describe the land forms, the flooded zones that impacted the paratroopers, everything.

I’m not sure if any comparisons would be of help to make you feel better or worse but a private tour with a wildlife guide in Yellowstone is in the $800-850 range, including booking thru the educational non-profit.

Thank you for your speedy replies. This is what my gut was telling me as well, but I wanted to make certain before dropping serious dosh on something we might regret. We have been amazed at the reasonable prices for lodging (compared to what we pay in the US), so this tour will be a worthwhile splurge for us.

You can use your second day to visit some of the museums not covered by the tour (they don't usually go to the invasion museum in Bayeux itself), have some extra time at the American cemetery (likely included on the tour, but rather briefly), go to the Cathedral in Bayeux, and see the Bayeux tapestry.

The public Overlord Tours often take their lunch breaks at St-Mere-Eglise, location of the Airborne Museum. In order to maximize time in the museum, it's smart to take a packed lunch along with you. You can't eat in the company van, but you'll save the time needed to obtain food during the tour.

What interest do the other four of you have in the DDay beaches? If your daughter has the keenest interest, let her guide the group. Both the American Cemetery and Pointe du Hoc are highly visual experiences and need little commentary. The small (compared to Caen) museum at Utah beach is worth a visit and Utah's geography gives a nice contrast to Omaha beach.

My wife had zero interest in WWII before we visited. I had studied DDay and WWII for many years (still do) and I saw what I wanted to see. My wife asked a few questions, but I didn't drone on about what I was seeing. She was moved by the American Cemetery and by the devastation of the German emplacements and the bravery of the Americans to climb to the top of Pointe du Hoc.

Please keep a morning open to see the Bayeux Tapestry and the cathedral.

In my experience, you'll have a far more interesting visit to the beaches and will learn far more with a guide, rather than just "seeing them" by yourself. Many of the guides have toured with D-Day veterans and they have many details that aren't in the history books. Hiring a local guide will also ensure that you see the sights that are of most interest to your teenager. This will also minimize wasted time getting around the area, as the guides are thoroughly familiar with the location of the sites and can get you there in the shortest time possible.

As you have a car, one option would be hiring a guide to travel in the vehicle with you. If that's an option, contact Chris Emery for a quote. However with five in the car, there may not be room in the car for all of you. Another option would be Overlord Tour as they offer tours in small vans, so you'd be able to include all your group. They offer a number of different all-day tours, so you could choose the one that best matches your interests. One note regarding the car rental, is that each driver will require an International Driver's Permit.

Bayeux makes a perfect home base for visiting the D-Day sites and there's also the famous Tapestry and an excellent WW-2 museum there.

We were in Bayeux for 3 nights, with two teens (one a huge WWII buff), and a car in Nov. 2019. After researching the tour options, I found the itineraries very rushed. You’ll want to look into that. I recall each stop was 45 minutes to 1.5 hours (including lunch). There’s no way that would be enough for us. I think we spent 3 hours in the Overlord museum (really fabulous). We also went to the Airborne museum in St. Mere Eglise and the museum at Utah beach, and spent a couple hours at each.

We split up the area geographically over the two days. The sites are quite spread out, so plan in advance what you want to see each day. In two days we went to 360 Cinema at Arromanches, the battery at Longues sur Mere, Pointe du Hoc, Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, St. Mere Eglise and the three museums I mentioned.

If you do a tour, I would do it the first day in case there are places you want to return to.

I would suggest a tour. Not only do you get a guide, but they also do the driving freeing who would be driving to look out the window.

I toured with Overlord.

We had Dale Booth on our RS tour several years ago. He’s excellent. Very good at describing what you are seeing and all the significant events of that day. I’m planning a future trip back with friends. We will definitely be getting a one or two day custom tour.

For our visit my friend and I had watched “Saving Private Ryan” the night before. It really helped to set the stage.

BTW next june will be the 80th anniversary of the invasion. You may want to book early.

Four of us hired Dale Booth for two days (husband and I, two 20-something children) and it was worth every penny. We asked to focus on the American sections. He did a great job of covering the basics for me and providing in-depth insight for the more knowledgeable members of our group.

You might have to schedule your flights and hotels around his availability, alas.

my daughter did the beaches with friends when she was studying in Belgium and one of her classmates was a WWII buff and planned and guided -- they all pitched in to rent the car and stayed in hostels and it was fabulous.

We did an all day Overlord Tour because it was a side trip that was kind of an afterthought and we had not done that kind of planning ahead. It was well done, and we were very happy letting someone schlep us about and talk about the landings.

You can EASILY do it on your own and there are many nice elements of that including going at your own pace and visiting little towns you might not see on a tour. The places looked to me to have ample parking. It all depends on whether you want to do the homework to plan it out, make sure you know when the museums and monuments are open etc etc.

Don’t forget that next year is the 80th Anniversary of the landings. Lots going on, crowds and traffic restrictions on 6 June and it’s probably already hard to book hotels in Bayeux, Caen, Arromanche and so on. Probably the last time vets might attend commemorations. Lots of activities from around 1 June onwards for perhaps two weeks.

Thanks so much for all of the input. Alas, Dale Booth is already booked for any day that could work for us, but Overlord is an option, as is letting my daughter do some guiding for us; she really knows her stuff!

We were fortunate to get great lodging right on Gold Beach in Arromanches, and all of us are excited about that.

One thing about the guides is that they usually have a lot of images in binders they carry around. A common trick is to take you to the spot where the photo was taken so you can compare the viewers and visualize the history. It's a neat addition that is hard to replicate without a ton of research.

We took a tour in 2015. Things are spread out and it's good to have someone who knows the routes. We have returned several times and created our own itineraries, but that really works better if you have multiple days to do it. I've done some really fun stuff that's not on the standard tours, trekking around looking for WNs and hitting lesser known sites. But if you only have a day you really need to hit the important stuff, which is what the tours do.

Nowadays when we have friends come that need an intro, their first day is generally quite close to the original tour we took. The prioritization is pretty clear. Come back with more time if you want to dig deep and plan yourself. Or if your daughter is a planner and wants the responsibility she can do it herself, but you're probably going the same places and won't get the extra info and visuals.

I have been to Normandy three times ('09, '011, and '23) and done tours with the old, no-longer-in-business Battlebus Tours, Overlord, and Viator.
Without a doubt the best was with Alan Bryson then with Battlebus and now he’s on his own: First Normandy Battlefield Tours but he just does small groups such as yours. The Viator guide was also excellent but he was contracted for our excursion.
Trust me. You won’t go wrong with Alan.

If your daughter "really knows her stuff," go with that. And encourage everyone else in your group to at least invest in a little cursory research (book or movie) so they now the basic lay of the land, combatants and the timelines. And I'd recommend that strongly even if you do do a paid tour. The more you know, the more you will get out of your trip.

Fully agree with PharmerPhil. Those two days are a serious investment in time and money and some preparation will make the experience more involving and so more memorable. Speaking from experience.

Spuds--I agree 100%! We went with him as well and it was such an engaging day. We did the one day tour, and were kicking ourselves for not doing the 2 day tour with him. This was myself, our daughter when she was 16, and my mother. Even my mom loved it, which surprised me.

We did a day tour in June of 2022 with William Jordan (williamjordanddayguide.com) who was outstanding. He prefers that you drive so that he can narrate throughout. We got so much more from our day with him than we would have on our own, and my husband considers himself a history buff (although not strictly about WWII). William has also written several books on this subject. Highly recommended.