Hello.. Wife and I are excited to visit Normandy in sept. What is the best way to see Normandy? I want to see St Mere Eglise, Point Du Hoc , Omaha Beach and Pegasus Bridge..
Do we go to a private tour with with people ? On our own? General tour group? Your help is really needed..
Thank you so much
Paul Bowers
Will you have a car? How many days will you be in the area?
If you have a car, you can do all these things on your own. Without a car, a tour is necessary. Public transportation isn’t great in the area. The sites are spread out and will take a lot of time to get to.
A guided one-day or two-day beaches and battles visit with a reputable company guide will immeasurably enhance your experience. Several posts here discuss favored companies / guides, as does Rick's book.
You can get to Bayeux by train from Paris , and Bayeux makes an excellent base (most if not all guide companies will pick up at your hotel in Bayeux).
No car. 3 days in Paris. Normandy is a bucket list for my wife and I. I want to maximize the one day we have in Normandy
Overlord Tours is a great company for D-Day tours. In September 2019, we took the British & Canadian beaches tour, which included Pegasus Bridge, and an "American" tour that covered the other sites you mention. Both were full day tours. On our first trip to Bayeux in 2010, we took a 2 day "American Experience" tour and a 1 day "Band of Brothers" tour.
Small-group or private would depend on how much you are willing to spend. Our Band of Brothers tour turned out to be private because everyone else had to cancel because of the Iceland volcanic cloud.
If you only have 1 day for Normandy, Overlord has a tour for people taking the train to Bayeux from Paris. They will you pick up at the Bayeux train station (if you take the first train of the day) and then drop you off at the station. You will not be able to see everything you mention.
Thank you so much for this information
Normandy was definitely a bucket list place for my husband and sons. We wound up postponing Paris to spend five nights in Bayeux. We booked a Dale Booth two-day private American tour which was absolutely fabulous (it's spend-y but worth every penny), also saw the Tapestry and rented a car for a day trip to Honfleur. Dale does have a one-day American tour which checks off most of your list. It starts pretty early in the morning though, so you may want to spend the night before in Bayeux. We booked Dale first, then planned our flights and hotels around his availability.
Deciding which is the "best way" for you will involve some compromises. You have a limited amount of time so maybe an Overlord tour will tick enough boxes to be do-able. Unfortunately five hours of your day will be spent on trains or buses.
Dale Booth offers a similar tour for people coming from Paris.
I would also suggest booking a tour or two with https://www.overlordtour.com/ , and it would be a good idea to pre-book as far in advance as possible. They have a variety of tours you can choose from, depending on your specific interests. Many of the tours pick up in the vicinity of the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux so it would be prudent to book lodgings in that area.
If you have a "generous budget" you could contac Dale Booth ( https://www.dboothnormandytours.com/ ) or Chris Emery ( http://www.visitdday.com/ ).
There's also an excellent WW2 Museum in Bayeux that you can visit on your own.
There's a more manageably sized museum right in Bayeux. It focuses on the invasion. It's modern and very well done. The Caen museum is a monster that basically takes a full day to see if you want to cover all the exhibits. It isn't limited to the invasion or even to WWII. It starts with the lead-up period to the war and goes on to cover the Cold War. I liked the Caen museum, but I wasn't pressed for time. A lot of folks find it too expensive, crowded and time-consuming.
If I only had one day, and I was willing to spend the money for a totally private tour, then that would be my choice. We toured with Sylvain Kast and he was fabulous. Great communication beforehand; extremely knowledgeable and tailored the tour to our wishes. His services were worth every penny. Highly recommend! https://www.d-day-experience-tours.com/about-me/
I suggest reassessing your schedule. As another responder mentioned, you have a lot to see and a half-day tour isn't going to cut it for you.
Maybe take a day away from Paris, if possible, to spend a night in Bayeux so you are able to take a full day tour.
I took Overlord "Band of Brothers" tour which was A LOT of stops in one day and some were not long enough (American Cemetery was just 45 minutes).
They picked us up at 8am. If that's still the time, you can't get there in time travelling from Paris on the same day.
It was a wonderful tour. The guide even asked as we embarked if anybody had pressing plans for the evening. Nobody did so the tour went long with a couple extra stops and lingering in places that might have otherwise been rushed.
I took an afternoon train the day before my tour was scheduled and morning train back to Paris the day after (followed by a trip across Paris to catch Eurostar back to London... A LOT of train travel in one day)
