Normandy beaches from London

One can only hope for a day trip. One to two nights tops. My daughters and I just really want to see where it all happened. The significant landing sights.

Melanie: (Leaving your question about ferries for others to answer) These are the landing sights:The Canadians landed at what is called Juno Beach, northwest of Caen. The British landed at Sword and Gold Beaches; Sword Beach is northeast of Caen, Gold is west of June Beach and northeast of Bayeux. The Americans landed at Omaha and Utah Beaches, northwest of Bayeux and northeast of Carentan. The Canadian Cemeteries are at Beny-sur-Mer and Cintheaux. The main American Cemetery is above Omaha Beach. There are 16 British Cemeteries, the largest is at Bayeux.The two towns used as home bases by most travelers are Bayeux or Caen.Here are links to recent discussions with more information:http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/26823/question-about-normandy-from-my-son.htmlhttp://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/25646/weekend-in-normandy.htmlAnd here are websites where you can look at tours offered by professionals, these are the ones recommended by Rick (there are others, Google for those):www.battlebus.fr (from Bayeux only)www.victorytours.com (from Bayeux only)www.memorial-caen.fr (from Caen only)www.ddaybattletours.comwww.overlordtour.com (based in Bayeux)

You will definately need a tour. The beaches are not easy to get to otherwise in such a quick trip. ANy chance you could go another time and add Mont St Michel, I think you will get a lot more out of the WWII beaches and a fun spot like Mt St Michel to lighten the heavy emotion of D-day beaches.

Melanie,

As the others have mentioned, I'd also highly recommend taking the EuroStar from London St. Pancras to Paris (I believe it arrives at Gare du Nord). Take the Metro to Gare St. Lazare to board the trains for Normandy. I'd suggest using Bayeux as your home base. You indicated that you could spend "two nights tops", so that would be the best plan IMO.

Given the fact that the beaches cover a wide area, I'd highly recommend a BattleBus tour. They're a bit pricey but provide an incredible and memorable tour! It would be a REALLY good idea to make reservations on the net, as they tend to book up VERY heavily at times. They depart from Bayeux at about 08:00-08:30.

Depending on what parts you most want to see, you could choose either the one day American Highlights tour or the Canadian Juno tour. The American tour covers a lot of the places featured in movies, such as St. Mere Eglise where the 82nd Airborne landed (Pvt. Steele is still hanging from the Bell Tower), Point du Hoc, the American Cemetery (shown in Saving Private Ryan) and Omaha Beach. The Canadian tour covers places where Canadians fought including towns such as Authie and others on the outskirts of Caen including the area around the Carpiquet airfield, and includes a visit to the Abbaye d'Ardenne which is truly one of the most moving parts of the tour.

There's also a WW-II Museum in Bayeux and of course no visit there is complete without seeing the famous Bayeux Tapestry. At the end of your visit to Normandy, take the train back to Paris and return to London.

You didn't say when you were planning this visit, but keep in mind that this year is the 65th anniversary of the landings, so June will be VERY BUSY in Normandy so possibly no Hotel rooms will be available - reserve soon! Also, BattleBus (and probably other tour firms) take a holiday during events like that so that their Guides can also attend the ceremonies.

Happy travels!

Melanie; If you want to keep this side trip to 2 days at the most, then you should forget about a ferry. Take the Eurostar under the channel to Paris (2 hours & 15 minutes) and then a train to Bayeux or Caen. For Eurostar fares, the further ahead you can book, the cheaper the tickets. Rather than a tour, you could rent a car in Bayeux and see the Canadian landing beaches on your own, and the Cdn. cemetaries, but a tour may suit you better.

It can't be done as a day trip from London. It's a day's journey each way. Or at least overnight on a ferry each way, landing at one of the Normandy ports such as Ouistreham (Caen). That makes it a VERY expensive day trip - you'll need a cabin if hoping to sleep overnight (ferry docks early morning). I would forget it unless you're spending a few days in France.

If you take the Battlebus tour, you are required by the company to spend the night before the tour close to Bayeux. You could take the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, departing at 14:30 and arriving at 21:30. Take a short train ride to Bayeux and spend the night there. After the tour take the overnight ferry from Caen to Portsmouth, departing at 23:00 and arriving at 07:00. The last train leaves Bayeux at 20:42 and arrives in Caen at 20:58. For ferry timetables and fares go to www.directferries.co.uk.

If you want to do part of this by train, you could leave London on the Eurostar as late as 16:25, change stations and trains in Paris, arrive in Bayeux at 23:01, and spend the night there. The Battlebus tour ends at 17:30 and the latest you could leave Bayeux and still connect to the Eurostar in Paris is 17:20. So the train is not an option unless you wait until the next morning. Of course you could take the ferry overnight.

As Kent has shown, there are other tours. Their times and conditions may differ. I gave you the Battlebus details because it is the one most often recommended on this board.

If you book a tour that doesn't require you to spend the night before in vicinity of Bayeux or Caen, then you could take the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. You would have plenty of time to get from the ferry port to the pick up point for an all-day tour.