Question: Planning a trip May/June 2024. Will fly into London, and spend a few days then Eurostar to Paris - the goal is to see Normandy. Seems there are many tours from Paris - but if we wished to do it alone, do you recommend or are the tours just as good?
If we wish to spend the night Normandy area - any suggestions?
Also, any resources on Normandy you would share a link - appreciate it.
diane
I would highly recommend spending nights actually in Normandy. If you are only interested in the Normandy D Day sites, then take the train to Bayeux, stay there, and book an organized day tour. If you do a search on this forum you'll find numerous previous threads with tour recommendations.
If your goal is to explore more of Normandy, then you will want a rental car. Train to Caen and pick up (and drop off) the car there. You could spend several nights and not see all there is to see (of course, dependant on what your interests are)
Thank you!
diane
Definitely spend at least one night in Normandy proper (preferably 2–3). Otherwise you will spend most of your time simply getting there and back. Bayeux is an excellent base. Because you mention "tours," I am assuming your interest lies in the battle of Normandy in WWII. As far as tour versus no tour, it depends on your level of knowledge and your ability to get around. I have never taken a tour, but reports from those who have are every favorable. If you go sans tour, you absolutely must have a car. It is a large area and practically no public transportation.
Whether you take a tour or not, do everything you can to learn the history of this area before going (essential if you go on your own, but also very valuable if you take a tour). How much time, money and mental energy are you spending on your vacation? Invest just a few hours in a couple/few good books and movies to learn the basics of the lay of the land, the combatants, and their overall strategy and your investment will pay off in spades.
Can highly recommend a B&B in Bayeau and a tour company we just used if you want that info. Be aware that this June is 80th anniversary of D-Day so if you are planning a 2024 visit either go early to mid May or mid June to end of month. We just were there last month and after week in London took Eurostar to Paris then train to Bayeau super easy to do. We did not rent a car. Also recommend seeing the movie Longest Day for history of that day. Enjoy.
Bayeux has an attractive historic center and a number of sights of its own: the Bayeux Tapestry, the cathedral and a good invasion museum on the edge of town. That museum is a manageable size and quite modern. In 2017 the local tourist office offered at least one English-language tour of the historic area every day.
@Gail - definitely interested in your tour company, if you enjoyed them, and where you stayed in Bayeux. I'm planning three nights in Normandy and thinking Bayeux is a better home base than Honfleur.
Travel.mom: B and B in Bayeau is Villa Aggarthi about one block from.the tapestry..she makes eggs and omelets from.the eggs she collects every morning from.her chickens in the back yard. It was a super place and already booked for end of April. Tour is HQCompanytour.com. guide we had was Yanni S. booked a private tour for just the two of us. They do larger tours as well but we splurged on the private tour and it was one of the best things we have ever done. Was somewhat costly but would do it again. Eight hours of undivided attention. Wow was it great. Good luck. We took train from Paris about two hours and taxi from train station, they had taxi stand there.
