Fun For 13 Year Olds Near Bayeux

If you have a car, you could drive to the ocean - it's not that far away. Good bracing swim in the English Channel or looking for crabs on the beach might change things up. Lots of lovely seaside towns along the coast. Ice cream stands everywhere!

My guess is this is 2 weeks too late, but 10 years ago, we were in Bayeux in early July, and they were going to have their annual "Medieval Festival" the following weekend. We were on the move, so we missed it, but unlike "Renaissance Festivals" in the USA, which are a mix of King Arthur, County Fair, Star Wars Conventions, but not exactly Renaissance, this looked like it was going to be a genuine experience in an authentic location. Assuming they're still doing it, maybe a local could tell you if it just happened, or if it's coming up. Otherwise, the beach sounds great!

Grest plan Susan. Can you give me a specific beach destination so I can put it in my GPS?

Yikes -- Well, you could try Arromonches-les-Bains or Anselles for starters. The coastal road winds along the ocean beside cliffs and beach areas. You may find some beaches suit you better than others. We were on a WW1/WW2 tour last September and stopped in, or drove past a number of the towns. The beaches aren't normally like a nice sandy beach that you might dream of... they are often cobbly near land, and become sandy as the tide goes out. Lots of beach huts along the boardwalk area, so the beaches are obviously popular. Some where along there we walked out at low tide to dip our toes into the water - something we did years ago on the other side of the channel. I would do some google-mapping of towns and see what you find. Lots of WW 2 battlements along the cliffs, if your 13 yr olds are interested in that.

Omaha beach is our favorite.
You can also Google for things to do.

Arromanches is a lovely little town. Also, there is a great museum next to the beach. It is small and concentrates on the artificial harbor built for the D-Day museum. I would think your youngsters could beach while you go to the museum, or you could all go to the museum and the younger ones could "escape" when they are done with the museum.

Ditto for Arromanches and Omaha Beach. Both are sandy, wide, and extremely deep at low tide. At Arromanches there are remnants of an artificial harbor that was used after D-day to supply the troops. On the beach you can walk right up to these huge, once-floating sections of roadways that are now stranded on the beach. I know you said they are done with historic tours, but the museum right by the beach in Arromanches is small, and includes a scale model of the artificial harbor as it was in 1944. Heading East towards Ouistreham there are other sandy beaches.
You probably already saw the guns at Longues-sur-mer during a tour. But if not, it is an impressive 4-gun coastal emplacement with an observation bunker over the coast. It's a large area, and I'd think 13-year olds could burn off some energy there. If you're into horse-riding, there's an outfit NW of Utah Beach that offers rides along the beach. Probably others as well. Even closer, but not on the beach, there's a Calvados farm (Renaud Roger, no web site) that also sometimes offers horse riding set back just South of the large German cemetery in La Cambe (Ferme de Romilly, 14230 Saint-Germain-du-Pert, right off the highway, heading West from Bayeux).
They may be museum'd out, but the Overlord Museum just outside of the gates to the American Normandy Cemetery has an impressive collection of military tanks and vehicles.

Have you run into any of these free evening activities? Cathedral light show on Tuesday, fashion exhibit, late-night fireworks at Tour Vauban: http://bayeux-bessin-tourisme.com/en/alaune/#actualite-1

Bonjour, RS forum members - I wanted to post a belated 'thank you' to all who responded to my request for ideas to entertain the 13 year-old girls - We did, in fact, visit Arromanches at your recommendation. It was the only destination we hadn't originally toured. The girls went swimming in the English Channel and the four grown-ups enjoyed ice cream and beer while sitting on the beach watching them. It was a perfect end to our visit in Bayeux.

For anyone reading this thread I thought I'd give some additional feedback...

Our two families used the RS tour book and also had a local guide for 1 1/2 days - We chose a selection of D-Day sites to visit as we did not want to overwhelm the girls with the minutiae of WWII battle strategy, etc. I made the initial mistake of thinking all of the destinations were equally 'history heavy'. That was not the case for Arromanches (a very short drive from Bayeux). Of all the destinations in Normandy, it is indeed the most kid-friendly. Don't miss it if you have kids and/or teens. There's a wonderful 'boardwalk-like' area and a lovely beach.

We visited on a weekday and arrived very late in the afternoon (4pm) so it wasn't really crowded. I hear it is crazy busy on the weekends and midday. There is not much shade and there is a long walk to the water at low-tide.

Merci beaucoup!

I'm so glad your group enjoyed the beach! Sounds like a fabulous time. Lots of good memories. Mmmm - ice cream and beer. Num, num...!

Cynthia, thanks for the good info in return. Glad you all had fun!