How Soon to Reserve D-Day tour, Normandy Lodging

Once we have our plane tickets nailed down we start with reservations. Some places won't take reservations for next year until maybe January 2015. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and reserve something now if a hotel or the D Day tour operator will take them. We also always buy trip insurance just in case we have to purchase anything in advance of travel, like theater tickets or some city tours. I don't know if the D Day tours require advance payment. Ours did not a couple years ago. We had Dale Booth when he worked for another company and unless you request a private tour, your van will have maybe 6-8 others along on the tour. If you have a car, and it's best in Normandy, we returned the day following the D Day tour and spent the entire day at several places we barely touched, including the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach. You can also get on www.tripadvisor.com, Normandy forum, for lots of specific tips about Normandy lodging and places of interest.

We are doing the D-Day tour the day after our RS tour ends. We have already made our room reservations in Bayeux and reserved our seats for a full day tour with Overlord tours. We just sent the tour company an email. We had to send them our credit card number just in case we do not show up. We have not been charged. The place we wanted to stay out only had three rooms and we got the last one for two nights. We tried for a third night but it was not available. Our dates are at the beginning of May 2015. The B&B did not need a deposit but only will accept cash but we are excited about where we are staying.

Thank you, so far. In case anyone else wants to add:

We already bought our air tix, and the front and back ends of this are reserved as Captain Bligh has only one room we can use (we can't sleep in standard double bed) and Boogaard's is now only two units. We know our moves, which is why we know when we will be in Normandy. We are not renting a car, which means we need to keep walkable distances to trains in mind, and of course as of yet cannot make train reservations - we can't even get schedules for April, which is annoying since our travel day out across to Flanders area is a Sunday and I really would like to see some times! We have no issue leaving credit card info as a deposit, I am certain these small places are not targets (pun intended) like Home Depot.

The train schedules don't change much if at all, maybe a few minutes or maybe an additional train, from the current schedules. Take a look on a Sunday about 90 days or less from today and you will get a very good idea what times are available for your Sunday journey and the cheaper prices if booked at 90 days prior to travel for TGV trains. For local trains, you can buy at the station since the price remains constant and there is no advantage to booking in advance. Local trains never fill up except on maybe holidays but you can always get aboard, but not always get a place to sit if the train if full, not likely in your case.

I would reserve hotel and tour about 5 months out. Check out the Hotel le Bayeux. We loved it this past June. Bayeux is a wonderful town!

I would reserve sooner than later, especially with the tours. When we did them, there was a maximum of 8 people, which is why they book so quickly. They use small vans, so you really get personal attention. Most of the small tours left from the center of Bayeux, and it was an easy walk from the hotel.The trick for us was getting from the train station to the hotel - at that there wasn't an abundance of taxis. Hopefully, things have changed.

We stayed at Hotel D'Argouges.

Patty

We went to Normandy in May of 13 and booked our hotel in October of 12,we stayed in Bayeux at the Hotel Churchill which has WW II memorbilia and pictures,we liked it and is 200 yards from the pickup point for the Normandy tours and another 150 yards to the Tapistry Museum.We used Overlord tours for the American tour and it was terrific,you should book at least four months up.
Mike

I agree with booking as soon as a place will take your reservations. Some hotels will allow you to cancel a few days before the arrival date with no penalties. We also like Hotel Churchill and love Hotel Villa Lara, right next door the Hotel Churchill. It is a bit pricey but so lovely.

We have used Overlord Tours and Dale Booth. While Overlord is good, Dale was outstanding! I would book this asap. I would call or email him to ask about adding others to the tour.

How do you book with Dale Booth for the Normandy tour?

Dboothnormandytours.com