D-Day Beaches Over Two Days

Also, if it's possible to rent a bike once I'm up there that would be ideal.

You may want to consider a battlebus tour that so many people recommend. If you do all the beaches by foot you would be in for a lot of walking as the beaches from Sword to Utah are a long way from one another. I have only done them by car so I cannot help with the walking tour. If you walk from Sword to Juno to Gold you would be in the right order but Utah is the western most of the beaches. If you want to see all the beaches and finish at the American cemetery at Omaha you would be back tracking as Omaha and Point du Hoc are between Gold and Utah. From what I have read you can rent bicycles and do a tour that way. Taking a train from Paris would be your best bet to get to one of the towns close to the D-Day beaches.

Take the train from Paris to Bayeux. Trains to Bayeux depart from Gare Saint-Lazare. Take the RER A from Marne-la-Vallee Chessy to Gare de Lyon. Transfer to metro line 14 and take it to Saint-Lazare.

The beaches cover a very large area. Even with a bike it will take you a fair amount of time to cover all the beaches you wish to see. For information on bike rental see this page on the Bayeux tourist office site.

Even though it's not cheap, I suggest that you take the Battlebus Canadian Juno tour one day and their American Highlights tour the other day. Those tours include the beaches on your list.

Battlebus requires that participants stay in Bayeux or close by the night before a tour. There is only one hostel in Bayeux. It's the Family Home Hostel.

You can easily return to Marne-la-Vallee by train in the evening after your second day tour.

Tim's info is very accurate. I sense you do not understand the scope of the invasion. The beach stretch east/west over 50 miles plus the territory behind which is equally significant. It would be long walk. If on your own you would need a bike at a min. How about a Vespa?

A few years back, we used Cityrama Tours for the Normandy beaches and American Cemetery. It is a full day tour with a lunch stop at the Caen Memorial museum. Their office is at Rue de Rivoli near the Joan of Arch statue next to the Hotel Regina (I reserved the ticket at their website and picked them up at their office). Tour bus left from their office and dropped us there too. It was just the right thing to do for us since we also had a few days in Paris. It covered all the beaches and had enough time in the major stops. 'Twas the most memorable trip my husband and I had in Paris.

Kevin,

The information provided by Tim is about the same that I was going to recommend. The beaches and battle sites are spread out over a large area, so walking is not really the most practical way to see them.

I would also highly recommend a BattleBus Tour. I've taken both the Canadian and U.S. highlights tour, and they were both outstanding! As previously mentioned, if you're planning to tour with BattleBus, you WILL have to stay in Bayeux on the nights prior to the tours. Bayeux is a great "home base" location for touring the important sites. One point to note is that BattleBus is very popular, so pre-booking would be a really good idea!

Some other locations that you might consider are the Gun Batteries at Longues sur Mer, which is only about 15-20 minutes from Bayeux, which were used in the filming of The Longest Day. I used a car rented in Bayeux to visit, but you might be able to arrange a Taxi or something as an alternative?

There's also the Pegasus Bridge sites which are closer to Caen, but unfortunately those aren't covered on the two BattleBus tours mentioned above. You could arrange another tour if you'd like to visit there, as I believe BattleBus does stop there on some of their tours.

As you're a "WWII buff", my suggestion would be to forget the idea of walking, and try to maximize the number of places that you see in the two days you have. You'll learn far more than just having a look on your own.

Of course, if you're staying in Bayeux, be sure to stop and see the famous Tapestry which depicts a much earlier battle.

Happy travels!

Thanks, y'all. Yeah, I figured the area was a bit large but thought I would at least ask about walking/riding a bike. I have a few weeks to nail it down but I appreciate the advice, as it will give me a direction to go toward.

Thanks!