I'm sure this question has been posted here before, however... what is everyone's opinion on the best all day tour of the Normandy beaches, especially dwelling on the American beaches?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
504 posts
We went on the American Highlights Tour with Battlebus last July and loved it! One of the highlights of our month in Europe. My wife, who doesn't really like lots of WWII stuff, loved it! She too felt it was one of our highlights of the trip (the other being in Lauterbrunnen for 4 days!).
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
nancy,
As the others have mentioned, I'd also highly recommend the BattleBus Tours. They have a good variety of tours available, and I feel they provide incredible value for the tours they offer.
A few important points to note though. If you're planning to take a BattleBus tour, you'll need to stay in Bayeux at least one night. Their full-day tours depart fairly early (08:00?), so it would be difficult to get there in time to join the tour if you're staying in Paris or other places.
The other point is that I would highly recommend is to make reservations for the tour on the net, as they are VERY popular and the tours tend to book up quite quickly at certain times of the year. A few people here have mentioned that they've had difficulty accessing the Battlebus web site. Most of these seem to involve Comcast or Shaw Cable accounts?
There will be ceremonies this year marking the 65th Anniversary of the landings, so some of the tours may not operate during that time (the staff may want to attend the ceremonies also). Also, many of the Hotels and other accommodations in that area will be fully booked, so keep that in mind.
Happy travels!
Posted by
Boston
215 posts
Hi Nancy, We haven't done this yet.. but our family of four will be going to Normandy from Paris for a one day tour. (you didn't say where your starting point is) This was an after thought so to speak, and we are doing this to please my 12 year old. I wish we had more time to spend in the Normandy region. That being said.. I am quite excited to go and I know my son is happy. I found one tour that goes all day from Paris. It is with Gray line tours. We used them last year for NYC and everything went well, I didn't realize they had things all over until a TA friend of mine suggested it. Just put in the country France, City Paris and your dates.. scroll down to see it under all day tours or something like that. The tour describes what areas you will be seeing.
Someone on here did suggest a great one day company that looked wonderful and more personal but we couldn't do it since we had only one day and had to arrive from Paris and our arrival time would have been too late..
hope this helps.
Posted by
Grapevine, TX, USA
875 posts
I'd highly recommend the American Highlight Battlebus tour. It was an awesome and very moving experience.
Posted by
Ottawa, Ontario,, Canada
521 posts
Although I did not have a tour when I went, many people on these forums speak highly of the Battlebus tours.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8947 posts
We did the 2 day, American Experience tour and got soooo much out of this. We liked the fact that it was only 8 people in a van and we stopped at many places of interest, including the American cemetery and the German cemetery, several museums, the beaches of course, 2 different churches, several memorials, back in the hedgerows, to a sniper hide-out, and many more places.
Though it sounds a bit pricey, we felt like we got our moneys worth. Our guide, Sean, was extremely knowledgeable, and very passionate about passing all this information on to us. He had earlier worked at the War Museum in London.
Posted by
Boston
215 posts
that is the name! Battlebus.. it looks/sounds great! If we can go back to Normandy again that is the company I would like to book with.. it just didn't work with the only one day we have.
Posted by
Fort Myers, FL, USA
264 posts
The fantastic one-day tour that I went on was provided by the Memorial de Caen.
You can buy your tickets online at:
http://www.memorial-caen.fr/portail/index.php
or at:
Bon voyage!
Posted by
TX
515 posts
We took the two day American Experience tour last summer with Battlebus, with owner Paul Woodadge as our guide. Can't say enough about how wonderful those two days were. Memorable and unforgettable just doesn't cover it. If you can swing two days, you won't be sorry. We added a third day Band of Brothers tour with Allan. Also superb.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
504 posts
As Sharon pointed out, Allan is a great guide! He was our guide on the tour and thoroughly enjoyed them. Ken brings up good points. You should e-mail them early to get reservations as they do book up(you don't pay until the day of the tour). We had problems with the e-mail as we have Comcast as our provider. I ended up using my work e-mail to correspond with them. This was last spring, but I think someone as recently as this fall reported problems. We stayed at the Hotel D'Argouges in Bayeux. When you book, you have to notify them of what hotel your're staying in. If not in Bayeux (or really close by) you are not allowed to book the trip. I think 8:00 AM is the time our tour left.
Have a good trip!
Posted by
Lawrenceburg, Ky, USA
119 posts
I've booked the Battlebus American Highlights tour, 1 day in July and am really looking forward to it. We're staying at a hotel in Arramanches (sp?), and is on one of the beaches.
Posted by
San Clemente, Ca.
408 posts
Nancy,
I am looking forward to my Battlebus tour next month. We have booked two tours with them. The American experience two day tour and the Band of Brothers tour. I am happy to hear such good reviews of this company. We are staying in Bayeux for four nights, I would of liked to stayed 5 nights because their is so much to see and do. Happy travels.