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Free Day from Bayeux - ideas

Surprisingly we have covered our spots and end up with one free day.
It is wonderful to have the time if we need it for our original itinerary - but want back up.
Looking for suggestion west or south of Bayeux. We have a car but need to return to Bayeux by 5.
Love history museums, outdoors, charming towns and food.
We have visited Giverny, Rouen, Fecamp, Entreat, Honfleur, Cote de Grace, Ouistraham, Caen, Bayeux, Arromanches, Point de Hoc, German Cemetary, Ste. Mere Eglise, Utah and Omaha , and St. Lo. We will be headed to St. Malo and St. Michel

Thank you for any suggestions

Posted by
3938 posts

When will you be there? There may be a nearby festival or event that we could help you discover.

Posted by
1117 posts

You say you've visited Sainte-Mère-Église, but make sure you drive out of town to the La Fiére causeway. Further North is the dirigible hanger that dates from WWI. And a little to the West is the German cemetery at Orglandes. I prefer it to the one in La Cambe. Also, the little town of Saint-Marie-du-Mont between SME and Utah. And 5 minutes from there is the small church in Angoville-au-Plain, where two U.S. medics cared for combatants of both sides and civilians while the battle was waged back and forth right outside of the church.

Likewise you say you have visited Utah Beach, and I hope that included the museum there (the best in the area IMHO). A drive North from there along the coast for 10 minutes is nice too, with several pieces of the Atlantic Wall that you can walk in and around. Head back inland a little and you can see the Azeville Battery. There's a great audio guide is available there as you walk through the tunnels and rooms connecting the large German gun emplacements. Azeville is much better to see than than the nearby Crisbiq battery.

Grandcamp Maissey is a wonderful little French port town with lots of places to eat within view of the water. And the coastal road between there and the Beaches to the East hold many small, family-run Calvados distilleries if you're into that. To the East of Bayeux is the wonderful little Canadian cemetery—very contemplative, and a "must stop at" sight for me each time I go to Normandy. Further East is an interesting museum of German radar in the area.

Posted by
93 posts

Have you seen the tapestry in Bayeux? If no, you should!

Posted by
26831 posts

In the town of Falaise there's a relatively new (and English-accessible) museum focusing on civilian life during WWII. The museum covers the activities of the Resistance as well. I found it very interesting.

I enjoyed the towns of Fougeres and Vitre in eastern Brittany, roughly south of Mont-St.-Michel. Both were surprisingly uncrowded for such picturesque places. Obviously, neuther would be a day-trip destination from Bayeux.