Private Tour Company/Person for D-Day Beaches?

Im not sure which company would accommodate a group of 12 people. You could try contacting some of the guides below to see what they say. Rick's 2014 France guidebook will have more guides to consider:

D-Day Historian Tours are run by Paul Woodadge, a passionate historian and teacher who takes your learning seriously. He offers regularly scheduled tours in his minivan several days a week (€85/day) and also gives private tours. His “Band of Brothers Tour” is excellent (tel. 02 31 22 28 82, www.ddayhistorian.com, paul@ddayhistorian.com).

Normandy Sightseeing Tours delivers a French perspective through the voices of its small fleet of licensed guides. They take individual sign-ups and private groups (€45-morning tour, €60-afternoon tour, €90-all-day tour), and will pick you up anywhere you like (for a price). Because there are many guides, the quality of their teaching is less consistent--guides David, Olivier, and Karinne get the best reviews but only do private tours (tel. 02 31 51 70 52, www.normandy-sightseeing-tours.com, fredericguerin@wanadoo.fr).

Vanessa Letourneur and her colleague Sabrina are capable, likable French natives who can guide anywhere in Normandy. Vanessa, who worked at the Caen Memorial Museum for years, offers half-day tours from Bayeux or Caen for €60/person (mobile 06 98 95 89 45, www.normandypanorama.com).

The Caen Memorial Museum runs a busy program of half-day tours covering the American and Canadian sectors in combination with a visit to the museum. This option works well for those who have limited time (see museum listing on page *TK). The museum has many guides (some good, some mediocre) and is more likely to have availability when others don’t.

amy,

privates are usually expensive anywhere you go.

i had to use one in the Normandy are since Overlords were booked and the other guy decided to do 2 day+ only tours.

if you split the cost between the adults, the private tour isn't that bad.

to me, unless you're going back later, i would just op to "buy once, cry once"

happy trails.

amy,

I suspect that private tours are going to be "spendy" regardless of which ones you use. The limit of eight persons is likely due to the size of the Vans they're using. I'd highly recommend taking a tour, as the Guides are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the history, and you'll learn far more than just reading a book and visiting the sites on your own.

In addition to the tour firms that Abe mentioned, you could also have a look at http://www.dboothnormandytours.com/ or http://www.ddaybattletours.com/ellwood-von-seibold.html (unfortunately they have the same limitation on group size).

There are some alternatives that might be possible, although they're "long shots".....

• As you have two cars, one possibility might be to send the various tours an E-mail to find out whether you can set up a private tour, using your vehicles for transportation rather than the Van (the guide can ride in one of the cars). I don't know whether their guide licenses allow that sort of thing, but in the same situation I'd try it.
• You could also see whether eight of your group could be transported in the tour van, with the remaining two following in one of the cars.
• And the most expensive option - take the tours over two days, with four going one day and four the next day (of course this would mean finding a shared tour, so that others could share the cost).
• And the least desirable option - two of your group could stay behind in the hotel and read a good book while the other eight go on the tour.

Good luck!

We had Dale Booth, dboothnormandytours.com, lead our RS tour when we were in France in 2012. We had the full day American Tour and he was fantastic. Looking on his website he offers tours using your own vehicle. So as Ken mentioned you may be able to work something out with a guide and using both cars. He terms this type of tour as his 'Step On Tour' and they are less expensive than using his van. I can't imagine learning anywhere near what we did that day without using a guide.