Normandy

Look about a dozen threads down in the France Forum under 'Normandy Tours'. Probably all you want to know.

vj,

This may provide the information you're looking for....

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/normandy-tour

You can't tour Normandy in a day but you could go do one thing, like visit the landing beaches or the Bayeux Tapestry. I personally think it is too far for day tripping from Paris unless you are talking about close in parts of Normandy like Giverny or Rouen, either of which is easily done in a day trip by train from Paris. for the landing beaches you probably need a half day tour arranged in Bayeux.

Thank you for your replies. Sounds like a lot for 1 day. Does anyone know what that would cost for a round trip ticket plus the price of the tour?

We are planning on doing the D-Day tours next spring (after our 21 Best of Europe RS tour). We will be going to Bayeux after the tour ends in Paris and stay for two nights. We plan on doing an all day tour with overlord tours. It looks the best for us since we love the Band of Brothers. The all day tour is 95 Euros, hours are 8:30 to 6:00. Here is the website for them. I know there are others but this one fits us best.

http://www.overlordtour.com/

We just returned from our 21 day Best of Europe tour. We stayed on in Paris after the tour ended so we would have the opportunity to day trip. Normandy is best done in more than a day but that isn't always possible. We did day trip from Paris to Bayeux and toured the some of the D-day sites. It was do it this way or not at all and we really wanted to pay our respects in this anniversary year. We took the metro to St. Lazare and a train from there to Bayeux. We pre-purchased train tickets prior to leaving on our trip. We used Normandy sightseeing tours (www.normandy-sightseeing-tours.com) and booked their afternoon package. Again we did this all before leaving. They pick you up from the Bayeux train station at 1:00 and bring you back at 6:00 PM to catch the train back to Paris. It was a very busy day but well worthwhile. We had an excellent guide Gwen (a gentleman FYI) who was passionate and knowledgeable about the history. Being Canadian we wanted to do the tour to Juno Beach but it wasn't going that day so we did the American tour to Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary. I can't describe the emotion of actually visiting these sites. If you have time please stay a night or two in Bayeux and spend more time visiting the sites. If not you might want to plan something similar to our day trip. I am happy to answer any other questions.

Its possible. Tour companies offer day trips from Paris to Normandy. They are all day bus trips. Or the museum in Caen offers 1/2 day tours. You could train to Caen from Paris. Takes 2 hours and the a bus from the station to the museum. Then visit the museum in Caen before doing their 1/2 day tour that leaves at 1pm. That would give you time to train back to Paris. Or the museum offers an all day D-Day tour package. Its designed for day trippers and includes pick up at the Caen train station and return to the station. It gives you a tour of the museum, lunch and a five hour tour in English of the American sector. Look at on the Caen Museum website for the details.