Hello:
We are looking at a 3 or 4 day trip to Paris next October 2023. We have been to Paris several times so feel this is enough time there. We are then interested in going to the Normandy Beach area. Can anyone suggest best itinerary by train and how many days we would need in that area. WE would like to see as much as we can in that area without a vehicle. Our trip will be in /out of Paris airport but length of trip is flexible. THank you.
Janet
There are direct trains from Paris St Lazare to Bayeux (2h 30m) and sleep there. To visit the D-Day Beaches i.e., Port Winston Artificial Harbor and the WWII Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial are must-sees. You can take a taxi from Bayeux to Port Winston and a taxi from Port Winston (Mulberry harbour) to the cemetery that will take 30m but is well worth it. Bayeux is another 30m away.
Normandy is a region, with various DDay beaches quite spread out. It will be challenging to see them without a car. You will need to use buses or taxis, or you could take a guided tour.
To get to the area, take a train from Paris. I recommend staying in Bayeux for at least 3 nights. This gives you two full days to tour the sites. We saw the following during two full days (with a car): 360 Cinema at Arromanche les Bains, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach & museum, Pointe du Hoc, Overlord Museum, Ste Mere Eglise and the Airborne museum, the Longues sur Mere battery.
Bayeux is a very cute town and worth exploring, plus the famous tapestry is there.
We used a rental car to explore Normandy. We stayed in Honfleur and Bayeux and fell a car is necessary. . We also took a tour to the WWII beaches. We spent a day at Mt. St-Michel too, drove from Bayeux.
...see as much as we can in that area without a vehicle.
For Normandy, this is an oxymoron. The D-day beaches are 45 miles apart as the crow flies, and you won't be flying. To get between them, you need to go well inland to reach the main auto route (the N13). And there are a thousand sites to see not on the beaches. There is minimal (i.e., practically non-existent) public transportation in the area.
I'm not sure why you hesitate to rent a car, but if I were you, I would reconsider. Driving in that area is easy, and seeing much without a car is very difficult. For what it is worth, I have visited Normandy nine times—seven of which during the D-day anniversary. I always rent a car, and most times I take a train to get there from Paris.
Unless your travel party includes an expert on the Normandy invasion, I highly recommend taking at least a one-day small-group tour of some of the key invasion sites. Most if not all the tour companies based in Bayeux use vans rather than large buses, so the driver/guide will move you around a lot more efficiently than you would do yourself. The guide will provide context to what you are seeing; with the exception of the museums in the area, there's not a lot of signage to help you understand the importance of the remnants of the war that remain in place. I was happy with my Overlord Tour, but there are other options; Rick mentions some in his guidebook, I believe.
If you have an extra day available (Bayeux itself can keep you busy for about a day; it has a good invasion museum as well as the cathedral, tapestry, and small historic center), a rental car would allow you to see some additional sites or return to places where you wanted more time. It's true that public transportation is quite limited, so you'd need to check bus routes very carefully before relying on that form of transportation. However, if you are flexible about what you see during you free time and are OK with choosing from among the limited places to which bus service is available, you can manage without a car. I didn't have a car myself. While staying in Bayeux I took the tour and tacked the loca sights, including the invasion museum.
Prior to settling down in Bayeux, I had spent several nights in the larger city of Caen, which offers better transit connections heading east. While staying in Caen I visited the large/costly Memorial de Caen museum (which I liked a lot but many others, preferring to focus just on the invasion, find overwhelming) and the museum covering civilian life (including the Resistance) located in Falaise. I also visited the coastal towns of Honfleur, Cabourg and Deauville. However, that itinerary--while possible by train and bus--is only suitable for those with a fair amount of time to spend in that part of Normandy. I'm a slow traveler and had nine nights to split between Caen and Bayeux.
I agree with Acraven; a full day guided tour not only provides transport but will add invaluable context around what's being seen. Tours are not confined to the American sector beaches; some will include the British Commonwealth battlefields and maybe the intense tank battles towards Caen.
Caen itself also offers a much older warrior, William the Conqueror. His palace-fort in the middle of the city is worth a gentle visit.
Organize your trip so you finish in Paris. Use that first jet lag day to get to Normandy -- maybe Caen (and pick up the car the next day). Drop the car on your way into Paris and finish there and be there for the flight home. That way you are not wasting prime vacation time, your second to last day, on the logistics of rushing back to Paris for the flight home.
We did this in 2019 without a car. After spending 3 nights in Paris, we took a train to Bayeux. We then spent 5 nights in Bayeux. Our 4 full days in Bayeux were spent as follows: American sector tour (full day version), British / Canadian sector tour (full day version), trip to Mont St Michel, and for the final day spent entire day walking around Bayeux. The first 3 days were with done with tours from Bayeux Shuttle, who were very good. They also offer half day tours. On the last day we took the train back to Paris and spent the night at a hotel within walking distance of CDG.
This itinerary worked very well for us on our first trip to France. If we ever go back to Normandy, I would probably rent a car in Caen. There were some sights where we were rushed and did not get to spend enough time there.
