Normandy

Go to the Normandy forum on tripadvisor.com for local knowledge. Also Bayeux forum, since most tours visiting the beaches and cemetery leave from Bayeux. Good luck.

Try to enjoy modern-day Normandie that extends beyond the wars. It's an amazing region full of life and beauty.

Jo, welcome to this newsboard with your very first post.

Normandy (and in this case, I simply mean "The U.S. Invasion sites, the only important thing that ever happened in France") is a vast collection of places. It is difficult to see much of it without either a tour that includes transportation, or a car. (Opinion.) But a single closure of an outdoor path is quite trivial on the scale of the area's offerings.

If you don't care to book an expensive tour by Sergeant Rock, with visual aids and encyclopedic knowledge (we did not ... ), I recommend at least two paperback guide books (there are dozens) to select locations you want to see. Our host, Rick, has some excellent hints, with special notes for Canadians interested in their country's contributions to the invastion.

I believe what you are referring to is the specific and permanent trail closure in 2016 between the cemetery and the beach. There are alternate ways to access the beach besides that one trail:

https://www.abmc.gov/normandy#:~:text=Access%20to%20Omaha%20Beach%3A,beach%20access%20is%20available%20nearby.

Lots of info on the local Calavados départment and other Normandy tourist office websites:

https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/discover/history/d-day-and-the-battle-of-normandy/d-day-landing-beaches/omaha-beach/

https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/memorial-museum-battle-of-normandy/historic-sites/normandy-ww2-cemeteries/

I've been several times since the path to the beach closed and it did not impact me at all. I did go down to Omaha Beach by the Memorial which is where the troops had to blow a hole thru the cement reinforcements (did you see The Longest Day?). There are a couple of memorials and some sculpture there that are poignant to me.

https://goo.gl/maps/djhkHkFCiJXdNdbu8

And to be clear, if you take Route du Capitaine Joe Dawson to one of the two parking lots for the Cemetery/Memorial complex located on that road then you simply walk downhill from the parking lot on the same road and you're on the beach. It's quite easy to see on the google map link that Pam provided.

As others have said, visiting the beach from another access point in no way lessens the experience. Also, a visit to Utah beach shows how much more challenging Omaha's geography was on D-Day.

I just thought I'd add a note that there's not one WW2 American cemetery in Normandy.

There are two: the better known one near Colleville-sur-Mer and Omaha Beach and the lesser known one near Saint-James in western Normandy (misleadingly named the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial).

If you do Normandy, don't miss seeing the 900 year old Bayeux Tapestry (tells the story of the Norman conquest of England).