Normandy D-Day Beaches

You cannot walk to the beach from Bayeux. It is way too far away. You might want to pull up a map online and take a look. Do please reconsider taking one of the D-Day tours, even if it is just a half day, as you will get so much more out of your visit, especially since you are short on time. The museum in Bayeux is outstanding and the town itself is lovely to walk around in.

Jackson, As Jo indicated, it's a LONG walk from Bayeux to Omaha Beach (about 5-6 miles each way). If you're completely against taking a tour, your only option is to rent a car (there's a rental agency in Bayeux, but last time I was there none of the staff spoke English) or take a Taxi. While in Bayeux, be sure to visit the excellent WW-2 Museum there, and of course the Bayeux Tapestry that describes a much earlier battle. If you decide to rent a car, you could also consider visiting the Gun Batteries at Longues sur Mer, which are about a 15-minute drive outside Bayeux (they were used in the filming of the movie The Longest Day). Happy travels!

I don't think you realize have massive or extensive the beaches are - over 50 miles from the east end to the west end. That is a lot to take in. Plus your have a huge area behind the beaches. You might try using a bike but you need some form of transportation.

Thanks for the help with this- it does help to clear things up for me. BTW Frank- I do have an idea of how long the beaches are and certainly have no illusions about walking all of it- I just want to see a bit of it in person. Thanks again! J

Bayeux is a great village to base your trip to Normandy. I highly encourage you to go the the American Cemetery, it will be something you'll never forget and you'll be glad you did, in a way it's a way of saying thank you to all of the men and women buried here.

Bayeux is a really nice town and makes a good base, as others have said. I recommend Hotel D'Argouges for your stay. I agree with Barry about visiting the American Cemetery. And I agree with Jo about the WWII museum there, it's the best one. But I understand if all you really want to do is go to Omaha Beach and walk and take it in. We've done the sites on our own many times and did a one day tour once. I also agree about renting a car, that's your best bet. The problem with taking a taxi there is that it will be very difficult to get one to get back to town.

I think there's a rental car agency advertised in Bayeux (in the Rick Steves' book last time I looked), but we ended up finding out that Hertz had a rental car agency there. We stayed at the Hotel D'Argouges and walked about 3 blocks to pick up the car. The man in the agency did speak English.

We stayed in Bayeux as a base for DDay exploring as well. We did a tour by Overlord Tours and were really glad we did. There is so much to see that you might miss without someone to point it out. However, if you just want to walk along the beach, I believe there is a bus that goes from Bayeux to near the beaches, but I don't know much about where it leaves from.

@ Sharon, "we ended up finding out that Hertz had a rental car agency there" I believe it was Hertz that I rented from. Regarding the "language issue", it's possible that they do have English-speaking staff, but none were on duty the day I was there. The owner of the Hotel set everything up for me, so all I had to do was sign the papers.

hello - we are about to do this same trip so I thought I'd post here vs. starting a new thread. Several of you have recommended the WWII museum in Bayeux. We are staying in Bayeux two nights but given a later arrival on day one we really only have one full day. Aside from DDay beaches (we have kids so we're thinking half day on beaches) what is your next recommendation among: Caen museum Bayeux WWII museum
Bayeux tapestry I think we need to choose and then see what we can fit in one day as well as on the AM of our departure day. Thanks for any recommendations!

Lisa, do the tapestries!!! They "read" like a comic book. The museum with it is excellent. Our kids loved it when we were there.

Lisa - I would cross the Caen WWII museum off the list. The one in Bayeux is 100x better imo, plus it saves you 2+ hrs of driving r/t. Hard to recommend whether you should choose the museum in Bayeux or the tapestry without knowing more about you and your family and what you want to get out of your time there. If your focus is WWII, and because your time is so short, I would choose the museum. Both are equally worthwhile though.