Please sign in to post.

Normandy Beaches tomorrow

Hi All

I know it’s not enough, but we have one full day to tour the beaches and know we can’t do it all. Can anyone propose what we could do realistically? We would like to be independent as we have a car. I know we could do a tour but from what I can understand it might be rushed? We spent a whole day at the Caen Museum and now have full brains! TIA

Posted by
11056 posts

We visited the American, English and Canadian beaches in our rental car and all were clearly marked with direction signs. We visited the museums too, all in one day independently. It was easy to do on our own.
In the US section we also visited St- Mere Eglise and the American Cemetery.

Posted by
187 posts

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Thinking we might just do American side as it might be too much in one day. Must have been a great experience for you ;)

Posted by
427 posts

At least you'll have decent weather, more or less. We had a b-i-g windstorm /rainstorm in the Cotentin Saturday night as low pressure broke the back of last week's high-pressure heat wave. Weather was clearing today and tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of around 22°C (it'll be cooler on the beaches -- probably 18° to 20°).

As far as advice, I guess I'd suggest spending some time this evening listing the things you're interested in seeing, pull out a map to see a logical progression, and plan to visit sights in a sequence that makes sense. If you're interested, there are two American cemeteries in Normandy: one (the larger and more famous one that you've probably seen in movies) in Colleville-sur-Mer near Omaha Beach, and the other, smaller but still impressive one (confusingly named the Brittany-American Cemetary although it's located in Normandy) in Saint-James, east of Pontorson and southeast of Mont St. Michel.

Posted by
8378 posts

The flag-lowering ceremony at the American cemetery is the most important part.