One day trip to D-Day Beaches, Normandy, France

Yes, google Overlord Tours. They do a half day tour specifically timed for those who arrive from Paris that morning. If you search in the forum box you'll also find lots of other conversations with the same type of questions. At the end of the Overlord tour, they'll drop you back off at the train station.

Thank you for your response. I had looked at the other posts on the topic but they were closed for replies.

We took the Overlord Tour in April. We were staying in Bayeux and had planned for a full day tour, but a foot injury sidelined us, and Overlord accommodated us last minute on the half day tour. We were in a full van of 7 passengers + driver. All other passengers had arrived via train from Paris that morning. I'm not sure how everyone got from the train station to the Place de Quebec square tour van meet up area, so I can't speak on that. But the tour van didn't pick them up. We all met up at the designated van pick up area right in the center of town. Wonderful tour and tour guide.

The full day tours require that you arrive in Bayeux the night prior.

Thank you for your response. The half-day tour seems ideal for me.

Overlord has a tour (2FS) that is essentially a full day, because you take the early train up from Paris and the tour starts right at the Bayeux RR station. I recommend that rather than a half-day tour. The D-Day sites are not in Bayeux; there's considerable driving to get to them and between them. That means a half-day tour doesn't yield a lot of time actually at D-Day sites. Having to travel up from Paris and back to that city aggravates the situation, making for an awful lot of transportation time and not much sightseeing time.

I took the tour this past October 2024. It was a hectic day with the early travel but it was worth it. Thanks for the advice on Overlord.

You're asking a lot to do all five beaches in one day. We started very early in Paris and were in our rental car in Caen by 9:00 am, and could only visit Sword, Juno and Gold. If you start from Bayeux, you'll have the problem of reversing on yourself as you go west to Utah and then east to the British / Canadian beaches.

FWIW we did it self-guided in a rental car, which saves you a lot of time waiting for other people on your tour. But I had done a lot of research and knew where I was going and what I was seeing. If you want to do a tour, I'd be interested to see what could be included in a one-day tour of all five beaches.

I'd be interested to see what could be included in a one-day tour of
all five beaches.

Sadly not much other than a drive-by and maybe a selfie to say you were there. The Normandy battle area is a large and significant site (45 miles as the crow flies from Utah to Sword, and you can't fly like a crow–you must drive significantly inland to get to the major auto route). It deserves much more than a whole day, and if you try to do a "day trip" from Paris, you won't even get one full day in Normandy. Dedicate the time this area requires, or severely scale back your plan and pick maybe two major sights (with a plan to return). Keep in mind there is much more to see than simply beaches. I suspect those who said they just did a day trip from Paris have no frame of reference to see how much more the could have enjoyed or appreciated their trip had they spent more time.