Recommendations for guided tours of D-day sites

WE did Overlord from Bayeux for an all day tour of the AMerican beaches. It was excellent.

Hi George,

The following is a cut/paste from a post of ours on this topic earlier in the year. You'll get many others, all with countless positive reviews. Regardless of the guide, a tour is a good idea...you won't get lost; no parking hassles; and you'll likely learn and see far more than you would on your own. (A tour that ends with the flag lowering/taps ceremony at the American Cemetery will be memorable.)

"The Forum has several threads with recommendations/comments accessible thru the Search field above. We used [in 2016] Bertrand Saudrais (Executive D-Day Tours): excellent all-day tour, customized to your particular interests; picks you up/delivers you back to your hotel; running commentary supplemented with photos, maps, anecdotes; charming, humorous and thoughtful (suggested a carry-out lunch from cafe in Sainte-Mère-Église that we enjoyed while riding to the next stop -- not a wasted moment, all day). His website: http://www.executived-daytours.com/ (includes a button/link to TripAdvisor reviews.)"

George,

There are a lot of tour firms operating in the Normandy area so you'll have lots of choices. I'm assuming you're looking for a shared tour that provides transportation? Some of the firms are on the "high end" of the pricing scale, so you'll have to decide how much you want to pay. Whichever firm you choose, it's a really good idea to pre-book, especially at that time of year.

A few of the usual favourites.....
- http://dboothnormandytours.com/
- http://www.ddayhistorian.com/
- https://www.overlordtour.com/
- http://www.visitdday.com/

A tour is absolutely the best option as transportation between sites will be quick and efficient, and you'll learn far more than by touring on your own. Bayeux is a good town to use as a "home base" in that area, and while there you can also tour the WW-II Museum and see the famous Tapestry which describes a much earlier battle.

We did a private tour (just my husband and myself ) with Dale Booth about a decade ago. He's the first link that Ken posted above. Dale gave us a travel day that we still talk about. He combined Band of Brothers highlights with other D-Day sites to make it truly personal for us. We are both very interested in history (my husband more military than me) and Dale made that time truly come alive using photos from that time to show what the landscape we were looking at today was like in 1944 and painting pictures with his stories. He got us into Brecourt Manor, which is not usually part of tours because of his relationship with the owners. We also stayed at the B & B owned by Dale and his wife & I would totally recommend that as well. Our stay made it very convenient for our touring day. Enjoy your trip!

I've done 2 different D-Day tours, one with a Rick Steves tour and one with a Road Scholar tour.

The Rick Steves one was with Dale Booth and he was fabulous. He asked as we started if anyone had any ties to the landings or the area. One tour member had a Dad who landed on the beaches, I had an interest in one of the Advanced Landing Grounds in the Omaha Beach area. Dale added references and more information thru the day for both of us. I loved how he built up the story starting with the geography the Germans found when they arrived in 1940 to how things unfolded on DDay. Completely fascinating. Dale is SO energetic and knowledgeable.

The Road Scholar one was with a different guide and he was not nearly as good. I suspect if I had only gone with him I would have thought he was very good but he just didn't hold a candle to Dale. (He is not any of the ones listed above!)

I do like the tours a lot. They get you to the points efficiently and the guide can talk about the landscape as they go.

It might be helpful to mention that Dale Booth offers private tours only. A single person or small family group will pay considerably more in that situation than they would by taking one of the public van tours. Not saying DB isn't worth it; every review I've read has been strongly positive. But for two people touring between March and October, the €620 vs. €200 is a huge difference.

I did the tour with Overlord and was very impressed with the depth of information provided and the pickup point was 300 ft from our hotel.We started at 8:30 am and we got back at 6 pm,it was definitely worth it.
Mike

We did a full day tour in April with Bayeux Shuttle that was wonderful. Group size was small, and while we had a schedule to follow our guide never made us feel rushed as if we were dashing from one place to the next. Another plus is that they own the location where lunch is served (included in the price). Food is waiting for you when you arrive so no time is wasted placing orders.

http://www.bayeuxshuttle.com/