Help Organizing Our visit to D-Day Beaches

charles,

Could you clarify one point - are you travelling to Brive-la-Gaillarde in France? If so, that will be about a four hour train trip from Paris.

In order to get from Brive to Bayeux, it's going to be a somewhat lengthy journey. The quickest trip is a departure at 08:00 and involves returning to Paris Austerlitz station, Metro to St. Lazare station and then train from there to Bayeux, which will be over a seven hour trip.

How were you planning to visit the beaches? The landing and other historic sites are spread out across a distance of about 50 miles and extend some distance inland. If you don't know your way around, it will take awhile in a rental car and you won't have a good idea of what you're looking at. The quickest and most efficient way to see the important sites is to take one of the excellent local tours. The Guides are exceptional and provide a lot of good information on the history. I'd recommend pre-booking the tour. You could have a look at Overlord Tours as they offer both full day and half day tours as I recall.

For the other half day in Bayeux, you could see the historic Bayeux Tapestry which details a much earlier battle or visit the excellent WW-II Museum there.

For the return trip, it's a short run from Bayeux to Paris, but as you'll be arriving at Gare St. Lazare you'll have to use Metro to get from there to the area of your hotel. Were you planning to spend one night in Paris prior to your flight home?

You've been given great advice above. A tour is the best way to see the area and the ones we recommend in our France guidebook really paint a picture of the events of D-Day. Below are tour companies and private guides we've found to be excellent. I personally used Dale Booth this year and he was absolutely incredible.

Scheduled Tours
The following services are designed for individual sign-ups (though all will do private groups as well).
Bayeux Shuttle works well for individuals who need to be picked up in Bayeux. They have well-trained guides and use GPS maps tied to audiovisual presentations as you drive between sights (€110/person for all-day tour, €60 for half-day, includes lunch, good website at www.bayeuxshuttle.com with easy sign-up calendar).
Normandy Sightseeing Tours delivers a French perspective through the voices of its small fleet of licensed guides (€50 for morning tour, €65 for afternoon tour, €95 for day tour), and will pick you up anywhere you like (for a price). Because there are many guides, the quality of their teaching is less consistent (tel. 02 31 51 70 52, www.normandy-sightseeing-tours.com).

Private Tours by Ex-Pats
Dale Booth is a fine historian and a riveting storyteller. He leads tours for up to eight people to the American, Canadian, and British sectors using your vehicle or his (tel. 02 33 71 53 76, www.dboothnormandytours.com, [email protected]).
Normandy Battle Tours are led by likable, easygoing Stuart Robertson, who is an effective teacher, D-Day author, and historian. He also owns a bed-and-breakfast near Ste-Mère Eglise and offers combo accommodation/tour packages (tel. 02 33 41 28 34, www.normandybattletours.com, [email protected]).
D-Day Historian Tours are run by Paul Woodadge, a passionate historian and author who takes your learning seriously. He offers private tours in his minivan. His “Band of Brothers Tour” is excellent (mobile 07 88 02 76 57, www.ddayhistorian.com, [email protected]).
Eric Le Doux Turnbull of Day Landing Tours is a fine guide with a Scottish background and thorough knowledge and the ability to convey it well (tel. 02 33 30 14 69, www.ddaylandingtours.com, [email protected]).
Allan Bryson is a calm, sincere guide who prefers picking up clients in Carentan (www.firstnormandybattlefieldtours.com).
Paul de Winter is clean-cut, serious about teaching, has a Ph.D. in military history, and has written a book titled Defeating Hitler. History buffs will be happy, but so will others as Paul’s delightful wife and driver, Fiona, helps balance the conversation (6-person maximum, www.dewintertours.com, [email protected]).
Edward Robinson, who is Irish, informal, and chatty (a national trait?), has previously guided for the Caen Memorial Museum and fires important information at you like a machine gun. Taking up to six passengers in his minivan, he tries to get off the beaten track (www.battleofnormandytours.com, [email protected]).
Victory Tours is run by friendly Dutchman Roel (pronounced “rule”), who gives half-day and all-day tours. His tours are informal and entertaining, but sufficiently informative for most (departs from Bayeux only and meets Paris trains, tel. 02 31 51 98 14, www.victorytours.com, [email protected]).
Michael Phillips brings a gentle, relaxed personal perspective to his tours (British mobile 0780-246-8599, from France dial 00-44/780-246-8599, www.d-daytours.com).

Private Tours by Locals
Sylvain Kast is a genuinely nice person with good overall knowledge and many French family connections to the war; she's strong in the American sector (mobile 06 17 44 04 46, www.d-day-experience-tours.com).
Vanessa Letourneur is a low-key and likeable person who can guide anywhere in Normandy. She worked at the Caen Memorial Museum and offers half-day tours from Bayeux or Caen (mobile 06 98 95 89 45, www.normandypanorama.com).