Normandy Tours

Posted by yoda_615 on 09/30/24 06:49 PM

I am looking for a group tour (don't want to pay private prices) to D-Day beaches. My challenge is we have Americans and Canadians traveling together and finding that tours go to one country's area of interest or the other but not both.

What or who would you recommend? We would like to only spend one day on the beaches (will be in Normandy area several more days - so could add a little bit more time) and will have a vehicle but we like tours for historical context and this area I think it will be especially helpful. Also willing to do a self-drive if anyone can recommend audio tours for download . . . . open to suggestions and recommendations.

Posted by Threadwear

Fort Myers, FL

09/30/24 07:33 PM

1849 posts

Put Normandy Tours in the search box and you will bring up plenty of responses for this subject all at once.

Posted by KD

09/30/24 10:11 PM

784 posts

Since you have different interests and don't want to go private tour, why not split up and each take the tour of your interest. Overlord Tours offers both American and Canadian tours. We took one of the American tours in April.

We met a lovely Canadian family in the laundromat while staying in Bayeux. We had a lot of time to chat! I also remember how much they appreciated the opportunity to visit the Vimy Ridge Memorial. It's about 4 hours from Bayuex, but I do remember them saying that it was very important to them to have seen it.

Posted by Estimated Prophet

09/30/24 10:45 PM

3416 posts

It will be hard to do justice to the American and Canadian sites in one day. If you could spare two days, I suggest booking two full day tours from Bayeux with Overlord:

A full day Omaha Beach/Utah Beach tour for the American sector:

https://www.overlordtour.com/product/tour-2-omaha-utah-full-day-tour/

And a full day British and Canadian Sectors tour:

https://www.overlordtour.com/product/tour-4-british-canadian-sectors-tour-fdt/

We did both of these tours in 2019, and it worked out great for us.

If I had to pick one tour, I would go with the British and Canadian sectors. As Americans, we know so much more about the landings at the "American" beaches, and I learned a lot on the British/Canadian tour.

Posted by Ken

Vernon, Canada

10/02/24 02:56 AM

32331 posts

With a group travelling together and everyone splitting the cost, a private tour might still be an option. That would provide the ability to tailor the tour to the specific interests of the group. It doesn't cost anything to contact the guide to get prices and further information, and one guide that I would strongly recommend is https://www.dboothnormandytours.com/ . He's an excellent guide! As I recall, he provides the transportation. How many in your group? Another guide you could contact for information is http://www.visitdday.com/about.html . I'm not sure if he provides transportation, but if you have a spare seat in the car, he would travel with you.

In addition to the tour, you could also take a day to visit the Pegasus Bridge sites. There's an excellent museum there, as well as the original bridge from the war (it was replaced by a larger model of the same design).

Be sure to allow some time to tour the Museum in Bayeux and also have a look at the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which describes a much earlier battle.