Normandy Beaches

If you mean drive onto the beaches, no. If you mean drive to a parking lot that is right beside the beaches, yes. But there is lot more to the Normandy invasion area that some empty beaches. You need a little more research so you can plan a productive day or two visiting museums, cemeteries, battle sites, abandoned gun emplacements, liberated villages, remnants of equipment in the water.

Are you going to Bayeux for the Tapestry? Are you going to Mont St. Michel?

Yes, I meant to drive to a parking lot at the beaches. I have done some research but not enough. I wanted to do my own tour so I could arrive and leave at my convenience. I would like to see Bayeaux (spelling). Any suggestions you may have would be appreciated.

Thank you.

My suggestion is to sign up for one of the small-group van tours, most of which depart from Bayeux. Those driver/guides will be a lot more efficient that you will be so they can cover a great deal more ground in a day. You will learn a lot more, and the day will be more enjoyable. If I hadn't taken a tour, I would have had enough sand and chunks of concrete after an hour.

The minimum time I would want to devote to this would be one day for the tour. You'd need extra time to see the sights in Bayeux itself: the tapestry, the cathedral, the excellent Battle of Normandy Museum, the historic district.

There is nothing wrong with doing your own tour of the area. But any experience there (organized tour or not) benefits from knowledge ahead of time as to what transpired there, the lay of the land, and what you are seeing. I highly recommend reading several books, or seeing a few movies about the battle of Normandy ahead of time. And studying maps of those sights of interest before you get there. This will make your time in Normandy much more beneficial and informative, and this homework can be done easily without wasting precious vacation days.

Keep in mind that what is referred to as Normandy Beaches is an area about 50 miles long - east to west - and about 25 miles deep. With many, many sites within that area. A car is useful but you need a good map and a plan.

young,

As you'll have a car, the best option (IMO) would be to contact Chris Emery at - http://www.visitdday.com/ . He will travel with you in the rental car and you'll essentially have your own private guide. As he knows the area well, he will be able to direct you to the sites you're most interested in by the most efficient routes, and can provide commentary during the drive. You'll learn far more with an expert guide than by just driving about on your own, so it will be a more interesting and rewarding experience.

One other point to mention..... it's highly recommended for each driver listed on the rental form to have an International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are easily obtained at any AAA / CAA office for a small fee and are valid for one year.

Unless it's a Sunday or there are 3+ of you, I would take the train to Caen and rent there. A bit faster than driving, and the A13 out of Paris is a very boring drive.
You could drive back to Paris, if you want full flexibility, but Caen trains are frequent enough.

We used Rick Steve's "France" and another paperback of short walks in France. We didn't miss having a guide at all. Your second post made it clear that you prefer to do it on your own, and since you'll have a car, you can. Because you're in shoulder to off-season, you may not have as much trouble with traffic on small roads and parking space shortages.

Thank you. I will purchase a map. I already have Rick Steve's book and guidelines but I know I will need more.

We drove to Bayeux from Honfleur, stayed at Hotel Churchill and took a day tour with Overlord of the DDay beaches. Since the tour was on a time schedule you had to move through the American cemetery and other sites faster than we wanted....so we drove back the next day on our own to linger a little longer where we wanted.....pulled right up to a parking lot close to Omaha beach and walked that beach for a while....so glad we had taken the tour the day before so we knew what we wanted to go back and see. There was a parking lot right behind Hotel Churchill where our car stayed as we walked the town of Bayeux to see the cathedral and the tapestry and the British cemetery.
Hope this helps......what an amazing place!