Normandy D-Day Tours- which one?

Rachel, Some of the other D-Day tours you could consider are: D-Day Historian Dale Booth Elwood von Seibold I've travelled with the first two and they were OUTSTANDING! It would be a really good idea to book as soon as you have your travel dates finalized. It would also be a good idea to stay in Bayeux, as some of the tours depart from there. Happy travels!

Serious question: What do the tours offer that one couldn't do on their own? I'm considering renting a car from Paris to go on my own. Would go to Bayeux to see the museum and then to Colleville-Sur-Mer.

@Chadrock, The D-Day sites cover a front of about 50-miles and extend some distance inland, so unless you do some detailed research you could easily drive right past significant locations. The Guides know where all the important sites are located, and are able to get travellers around very efficiently in a one day tour. The Guides are also VERY well educated and passionate about the history, and are able to provide an extremely interesting and detailed account of the events. In many cases, they've travelled with Veterans so can relate some "first hand" facts that just aren't in the Guidebooks. Although the tours are a bit "pricey", I felt they were great value and provided a much more interesting and rewarding look at the history. Cheers!

We took the tour with Dale Booth when he was part of Battlebus. I would have never guessed this tour could be so outstanding. The indepth information provided made it come alive. It would have never had the impact on me that it did if I had just read about it in a book. This tour was one of the best parts of our trip.

Sharon, I most definitely agree! I took the American Highlights tour with Dale when he was with BattleBus and it WAS an incredible day. One of the locations he stopped at wasn't even on the Itinerary, and for me that was one of the most memorable and moving sites of the day. The location was the small Church at Angoville Au Plain, where elements from the 101st Airborne ("Band of Brothers") fought, and where two Medics provided distinguished service. Here's a brief description of the events. I also found the visit to St. Mere Eglise VERY interesting, especially the fact that Pvt. Steele actually landed on the OTHER side of the Church Steeple. Cheers!

Chadrock asks, What do the tours offer that one couldn't do on their own? Nothing, for those with a comprehensive knowledge of the campaigns, units, battles, geography and personal stories, with good personal transport and good maps, both current and historic. Like me, for example. I've been studying WWII for 45 years and have rellies who fought both in Normandy and elsewhere in theatre. I'm a natural with maps, have the ones I need, and I am used to driving in France. I knew exactly which scenes I wanted to visit and what had happened at each, and how they inter-related. My last trip there my wife and I spent a week going over those specific things. On the other hand, If anybody doesn't have those qualities an exceptional guide such as suggested here can speed up the experience to a day or two, show you more of an overview and explain as you go so you don't have to stop and look at the books (it never fits in one) when you could be looking at the scene and interacting with it. Oh, and I bet that if I did go on a tour with Dale or Elwood I would learn loads. Heck, I might even teach them one or two things. Human interaction is wonderful.

Nigel's words "exceptional guide" are very important. These guides, as well as the Overlord guides specialize in WWII. They live and breathe it. We saw large groups at the sites with generalist guides, some of whom were not very good English speakers. The recommendations on this website are good.