D-Day Beaches, Normandy

Fly from Rome to Paris on either Vueling or easyJet. These are budget airlines and fares can be very low if booked well in advance. Take the train from Paris to Bayeux. Stay overnight in Bayeux and take an all-day guided tour. Either take the last train back to Paris on the same day or spend another night in Bayeux so you can visit the WWII museum and see the Bayeux tapestry.

As a side note to this, and information that has also been given in other posts: If you can afford it I would check into hiring a guide. I find I get so much more out of sites when I have someone explaining them to me. We toured this area last year as a group and had Dale Booth for the day. What an outstanding person and this made a big difference in the experience. From reading posts I know he is not the only good guide there but he is who I am familiar with. It is something that may prove worthwhile looking into.

We used Overlord tours a 2 weeks ago. Check them out on trip advisor, they get fabulous reviews. We had a great experience with them.

Carrie, My suggestion would be exactly the same as Tim provided in the first reply. The quickest and most efficient travel method from Rome to Paris will be via budget air. Regarding the airports you'll using, in Rome you'll be be departing from FCO T2, especially if you use EasyJet (not sure which terminal Vueling uses?). In Paris you'll be arriving at ORY, and you'll need to get from there to Gare St. Lazare for the train ride to Normandy. The easiest way (IMO) to get from ORY into Paris is to use the OrlyVal train to Antony station, and then connect with the RER (direction CDG) to Chatelet station. Transfer to Metro line 14 (direction St. Lazare) which will take you to St. Lazare. Note that Chatelet is a large transfer station, so some walking will be required. Under ideal conditions the trip from Antony should take about 35 minutes, but in reality it will probably be a bit longer. When you arrive at St. Lazare, you'll have to take the Escalators upstairs, as the Metro station is different than the rail station. Bayeux is a wonderful smaller town and a perfect "home base" location for exploring the D-Day sites. Many of the excellent guided tours depart from there. If you need names of some of the tour firms in that area, post another note. Again as Tim mentioned, you might want to see the historic Bayeux Tapestry while there, which depicts a much earlier battle as well as the excellent WW-II Museum. Happy travels!

Thanks everyone !!