D-Day Beaches & Mt. St Michel

rocio, IMHO, you'll learn far more and have a much more rewarding experience by using one of the excellent local tours. They take care of transportation and know where all the best sites are located, so there's no "wasted time". The Guides are excellent and are able to provide a unique perspective on the history, as well as some interesting facts that aren't listed in Guidebooks (which they've learned from touring with Veterans). I'd strongly recommend booking a tour WELL in advance, especially at that time of year. You can take either a half-day or full-day tour, depending on which tour firm you choose. If you need the names of some of the tour firms, post another note. For visiting Mt. St. Michel, you could use the Bus from the Churchill Hotel, although it only provides a couple of hours at the site. Happy travels!

Thank you for your reply. I will check on the tours.

Highly recommend a tour. We toured with Paul Woodadge of ddayhistorian.com
EXCELLENT.

Bruce, I hear what you're saying, but what you won't get by watching a film and visiting the museum before driving to the sites on your own and mostly looking are the incredible stories and anecdotes about individual people that a really great guide can deliver. I'm not a war history buff by any stretch, but the exceptional guides I was lucky to have both in Normandy and Ypres (Belgium) brought those places alive in a way I could never have done on my own. In both cases, they were guides who had made the study of their area their life work. I wanted to hear more the 'human' story (not so much the blow-by-blow logistical details, dates, strategy, etc. of the battles). I communicated that and the guides were able to provide that focus - both narratively and with photos - in a powerful way. In Ypres the guide also shared a few stories of things he had experienced while guiding other visitors around the Ypres Salient from around the world. He also revealed significant information about the terrain - and how it factored in to the overall picture - that would not have occured to me by standing there looking and walking around.

We toured with Battlebus tours and loved it. I think you will learn more from a tour than doing it on your own. Our guide was Dale Booth, I think he may have his own company now. There is so much to see and learn in Normandy. We spent 5 days and it was not enough. We will return again someday. Enjoy

Rocio, I am not the voice of experience, as I'm in the planning phase for our first trip to Europe. We'll also be staying 2 nights in Bayeux on our trip (in July) plus a night on Mt. St. Michel. I also was trying to decide about renting a car and exploring the D-Day sites on our own vs. taking a tour. I've heard lots of recommendations for the tours, as you've received from a number of the other posters. In our case we had reason to rent the car anyway even if we did opt for the tour for the D-Day beaches. That helped push me to touring on our own, but further push came from looking at the cost of the tours. They are really quite expensive. I can believe they are good, but wow! The Rick Steves' France book lays out what looks to me to be a good touring plan for the D-Day beaches, so I don't think I'll end up with wasted motion from going on my own. I'll also be able to linger where I want to linger, and move quickly through sites that don't hold my interest as much. In looking at some of the website sites for the recommended tour operators, it appears some of them are teachers who want to teach you the in-depth history of what happened where. I happen to love history, and read a lot on my own. Concerning the D-Day sites, I'm ively interested in part of the history, but for parts of it the broad overview I'll get from the film and museum in Arromanches will be sufficient. From there I'll want to sample as wide a variety of the sites as will fit instead of picking just one beach and hitting it in depth, which appears to be the preferred approach for most tour operators. Again, I'm not the voice of experience, so you may want to give more weight to the other opinions from those who have actually been there.

Darla, Thank you for your information I will check Dale Booth.

Bruce, Thanks for your reply. We are still checking on the tours....but yes, they are somewhat pricey. My husband loves history and will enjoy detailed tours. I thing I rather do the exploring on our own with a rental car. Will see.