Input on Normandy D Day Tours

Good for you starting early. I would encourage you to contact Dale Booth at dboothnormandytours.com
Check out his website and also his reviews on TripAdvisor.

My sister and I are taking a full-day tour with Overlord in about 5 weeks, the first half-day focuses on Omaha and the 2nd half-day goes to Band of Brother spots. 95 euros per person, in a small group. I booked 7-8 months ago. I took a tour with them years ago -- fabulous. Whatever you book I'd suggest doing it soon, especially since there are 4 of you.

We did a full-day tour (from Paris, meeting guide in Bayeux) with Overlord last July. No one else booked that day, so it was a private tour for me and my husband. We really enjoyed the day.

I did the tour with Overlord and we were picked up 300 ft from our hotel which was the Churchill with lots of WWII memoribilia,Hotel and tour were great and the Tapestry Museum is about a seven minute walk from the hotel.
Mike

We were staying in Bayeux and booked tour thru Viator.com.
They are a consolidator and they booked us with Normandy-sightseeing-tours.com
We had a van pick us up at our hotel and it was an all day tour to the beaches of Normandy and several small towns (nice stop for lunch), the cemeteries, etc.

Our guide was a young man named Adrian and he was fantastic !
(we also had a second 1 day tour to Mont St. Michel with the same guide)
We were a group of 8, but your group would also probably get your own "van tour".
Happy Travels

I wholeheartedly agree with the Dale Booth recommendation. I was on the Rick Steves Paris and Heart of France tour last fall and we toured with him. What I loved is that he was able to tailor some of the tour to particular interests. I had asked if he could point out the area of an Advanced Landing Ground my Dad's fighter group flew in to and he did so along with working in more information about ALGs. Another persons' Dad landed on DDay and he was able to point some things specifically out about that division.

He took us to every place on your wish list as well as pointing out what was accurate and what was inaccurate in the films Band of Brothers and The Longest Day.

I liked the way he strucured the tour starting with the geography of the landscape and building up from there. He talked about weather, tactics, defenses, the military experience or lack thereof on both sides and gave me a much better picture of the whole landing.

Last week we used Francis Paz as our tour guide. He did an outstanding job in all areas. He actually custom made the tour for us. Check out his website.

normandyguidedtours.com

NORMANDY GUIDED TOURS | Francis PAZ
151 Rue Saint-Pierre - 14000 Caen - France
T. +33 (0) 667 378 268
francispaz@normandyguidedtours.com

In June, we had a full day private tour with Chris from Visit D Day. If you have two or more people and are renting a car for the area, this is a more economical option than a group tour. Chris gets in your car with you and navigates the area, and will customize his tour for your interests. And he is a heck of a nice guy to boot, a retired Royal Marine, his wife is retired Royal Navy. They also run a B&B, Navy and Co. He has a passion for the history of this region that is just amazing. We enthusiastically recommend Chris.

I highly recommend anyone heading to Normandy with a focus on D-Day get a copy of Major & Mrs Holts Definitive Battlefield Guide to D-Day. This guide book is simply the best and has the most extraordinary amount of detailed information about both the numerous locations it covers as they exist today as well as the D-Day history related to each site.

You can use the book to either help your guide tailor a private tour to your interests, or enable you to select a group tour that best matches your interests. Plus it's a great read if you are a history buff. Excellent maps as well.

I noticed you are planning to be there in June. Great time to be there - busy of course but a great time - there are many special events you should look into across the area. We enjoyed the memorial drop near St Mere-Eglise, the re-enactors on the beaches/roads, and special events at the cemeteries.

Have fun!

Someone recommended a tour guide, I researched and found normandy-44 tours with good write-ups and a lower price than the one that was recommended. We booked it and had no regrets, one of the highlights of our trip.

Bertrand Saudrais (Executive D-Day Tours) offers an excellent all-day tour, customized to your particular interests. He picks you up at your hotel/accommodation, provides a top notch commentary supplemented with photos and maps, and is a charming, humorous and extremely well-informed guide.

Detailed reviews (ours is attributed to MandR818) at: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187181-d1788361-Reviews-Executive_D_Day_Private_Tours-Bayeux_Calvados_Basse_Normandie_Normandy.html

His website: http://www.executived-daytours.com/

"Bang for Buck?" It's not cheap, but when you factor in the quality of the tour; the advantages of not having to drive, navigate, park; and the overall convenience, we felt it was a worthwhile splurge.