Hi,
I will be in Paris for 5 days before traveling to Morocco. I have a few days before my Morocco tour and was thinking about possibly going to Normandy. My father was there during DDay and it might be nice to connect to his past. Is Normandy worth a visit and if so, what is the best method of transportation? I assume it would be best to stay overnight.
Thank you,
Janet P.
Yes, you should plan on spending the night (at least one). You will need a car in that area—either your own, or a guided tour. Best is to take a train from Paris to Caen if picking up a car, or Bayeux if meeting a tour guide. What country and unit was your dad in?
Absolutely worth it especially considering your fathers connection. You can train to Bayeau, stay overnight and take a full day tour the next day and you might be able to take an evening train back to Paris or the next morning. We did this last year and my son just did this a couple of weeks ago. Highly recommend watching The Longest Day before hand well worth it.
We did this and brought copies of our my father’s descriptive letters that he wrote from Normandy. I bet this will be a highlight of your trip since your father had been there for D-Day. It made a strong and impression on me.
You will have to be very specific as to what you intend to see if you only have one day in Normandy. The invasion beaches are a 50 mile long stretch of shoreline. Plus you're looking at several hours travel to and from the area. Last, without a car you're going to be limited to spotty public transport (remember that 50 miles) and/or an organized tour.
Normandy is definitely worth a visit. We trained from Paris to Caen and picked up our rental car and then drove to Bayeux where we spent two nights. We were originally supposed to do an Overlord tour, but they canceled on us so we had to see the beaches by ourselves. It was still very worth it, but I would like to go back and do the tour someday.
Normandy is so worthy of a visit. We took the train to Bayeux and spent several nights there and did two different full day tours with Overlord tours. Highly recommend their tours. We saw areas we would have probably missed and learned so much more than we would have from just a guidebook. Plus we didn’t want to rent a car so their minivan tours worked well. They have several different tours to choose from. Rick’s guidebook lists other tour operators and private guides as well.
