Recommendation for a private tour guide for the D Day beaches

Dear C.M.

We hired Chris Emery (visitdday.com) this August as a guide for one day. He was terrific. We are a family with two adult children (ages 21 and 24) - all history buffs and relatively high energy people. We met him at the train station in Bayeux and he rode with us in our rental car. He augments his tour with photos and videos on an IPAD so that you can see the "then and now" views. He is a British military vet who can give some personal perspective on both the tactics and experience.

We hired Sylvain Kast for our private tour and he was fabulous! Sylvain was knowledgeable, passionate, professional and he went above and beyond other tour guides that we have used. I also had a family member who served in Normandy. I had very little information about their service, but I emailed Sylvain what I did have. He conducted research and was able to locate the rather obscure monument that had been erected to our family member's unit. We never would have located it on our own, and we were so grateful for his efforts. He will communicate with you ahead of your tour to determine the things/places that you wish to see, as well as suggesting things you may not have considered. Our day with Sylvain was the highlight of our trip to Normandy. Highly recommended ! http://www.d-day-experience-tours.com/

I took a 2 day tour back in 2009 with Dale Booth when he worked for another company. I thought he was an outstanding guide. There was a family on my tour and I think he did a great job with their teenagers. He is a military enthusiast, but what stood out to me were all the stories of the great sacrifice of both the young soldiers and the French citizens.

He has branched out on his own and now and (unfortunately for me) only does private tours.

https://dboothnormandytours.com

We had Dale Booth back in the day when he worked for Battlebus Tours. We had young people, both male and female, with us and he did an excellent job reaching out to them. Everyone still remembers what a great time we had.

Bertrand Saundrais. Let him know your specific interests and he will tailor the day for you. He'll pick you up (and return you) to your lodging and pack the day with his commentary, photos, maps (not to mention charm, humor and occasional WWII trivia quizes). One of the best ever in our experience. Given your interests, you will definitely want a guide. Bonus features: no navigation issues, no parking issues, his very comfortable van, and even a quick stop for a carry-out lunch to be enjoyed between the beaches.

His website: http://www.executived-daytours.com/contact-us.html

Reviews: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187181-d1788361-r499507136-Executive_D_Day_Private_Tours-Bayeux_Calvados_Basse_Normandie_Normandy.html
(I think there may be several TripAdvisor pages on Bertrand: some under his name, others under his trade name: Executive D-Day tours. The link above contains representative comments).

The other guides/tours mentioned above also receive high grades from the Forum regulars, so do some research to find what will suit best the interests of you and your son. (Watching -- or rewatching -- Band of Brothers is highly recommended, especially if your son hasn't seen it.)

Bon Voyage!

Thanks everyone for all the great recommendations.

CM,

Which guide to choose will depend to some extent on your budget. Private guides will be expensive, but if you're able to handle the cost you could consider......

• Chris Emery - http://www.visitdday.com/ - Chris is a retired Royal Marine Commando, and extremely knowledgeable - you'll probably need a rental car, as I don't believe he provides transportation at this time.
• Dale Booth - https://dboothnormandytours.com/ - as mentioned previously, retired British Army as I recall. He also operates a B&B in Normandy.
• Paul Woodage - https://www.ddayhistorian.com/ - extremely knowledgeable and often used as a consultant by History Channel and others.

You could also contact Overlord Tour as you may find that one or more of their trips in a shared van will also work well for you - https://www.overlordtour.com/ .

Whichever option you choose, pre-booking well in advance is important, especially in the summer. Bayeux is the best "home base" to use for touring that area. There is a car rental agency in Bayeux as I recall.

Are you planning to be there near the 4 June (75th anniversary)? At that time of year it will be horribly crowded, hotels will be at a premium, and some of the guides may not be operating as they often attend the ceremonies.

Good luck!

" Can anyone recommend a guide and provide info. on what to expect from the tour provided by the guide?"

I recommend you read the descriptions on the guide's website to get a feel for what to expect. My family took a 2-day American Beaches tour with Dale Booth in 2013 and would like to go back and take his Canadian and British tours. Essentially you'll be in a van with large windows which will make frequent stops at sites and museums. There will be a brief lunch stop where you will be able to purchase a sandwich.

My husband and I did a day with Dale Booth in 2005. At that time, he rode in our rental car while my husband drove. It is still one of our most memorable travel days. Dale had so much information and was wonderful at explaining exactly what happened at the spots we were standing, using photos from the war to show us the area at that time. Since it was just the 2 of us, he tailored the tour to our interests, combining the American highlights with some Band of Brothers highlights as well. I wouldn't hesitate to book another tour with him. We also stayed 2 nights at the B and B that he and his wife own. It was a great place to stay and we had a lovely dinner with them as well (at an extra cost) the night of the tour.

If none of the above work out, we used normandy-44-tours and had a great tour from Olivier, who worked at Disney for a long time and whose father served for France in WW2.

Our Battlebus guide in 2010 was Sean Claxton. He now has his own guide business, but someone in your party will have to do the driving if you choose him.

http://www.normandyinsight.com/faqs/

Thanks again everyone. I'm sure with all these great suggestions, I should be able to find the perfect fit.

Way back in 2005, we did a full-day tour of the D Day beaches with Roel Klinkhamer of Victory Tours, and it was fabulous. I just looked to see if he is still in business, and he is. He describes his company as "one man-one van." Our group had just six people in it. Roel's van could get into places that large tour buses would not have been able to get into. We took the train from Paris to Bayeux, met Roel there, and had a fascinating day seeing so many sites, learning so much, all presented so well. Midway through the day we stopped at a sandwich shop and bought food for lunch, enjoying it at a quiet roadside picnic table. Hopefully Roel's tours today are just as great as they were 13 years ago.

Jumping into this because I had found Normandy D Day Tours recommended on Tripadvisor. Has anyone used them? The reviews were really good.

https://www.normandyddaytours.net/Prix-Rates.html

In case the others are booked on your dates, I'll add that Alan Bryson of www.firstnormandybattlefieldtours.com is excellent. He also uses his own minivan. He's also recommended in Steves' current France book.