Normandy

The Battlebus tours depart from Bayeux. I'd suggest that you stay in Bayeux. I don't think it will be possible to take the Battlebus tour if you stay in Caen as was suggested in the prior post.

I took the 2 day American Experience tour with Battlebus in October and thought it was outstanding. The guide was very passionate and it was one of the best tours that I have ever taken. The guide spends a lot of time retelling personal stories of veterans and locals. I'd really recommend the 2 day tour if you have time. They are full days (from 8:30 to 5:30), but they are really worth it. They also have one day tours. After the tour, you have enough time to take an evening train back to Paris or you could stay in Bayeux an extra night and take a train in the morning.

If you take the Battlebus tour, you won't need a car. You can take a train from Gare St Lazare station to Bayeux. Some routes are direct and others require a transfer in Caen.

I stayed at Hotel Churchill in Bayeux and was very happy with my stay there. It is a fairly basic hotel with extremely helpful managers. The battlebus tour departs from the car park which is directly behind the hotel.

Cecilia,

My recommendation would be to stay in Bayeux, which will be mandatory if you choose to take one or more BattleBus tours. While there you can also have a look at the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts a far earlier battle (1066).

The BattleBus tours are outstanding! They have a wide variety of tours to choose from, and the Guides are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about imparting the history. The tours last most of the day and IMHO they're well worth the cost.

You might have a look at the American Highlights tour, which covers not only some of the Airborne landing zones and beaches, but also the American Cemetery. There's also a Band of Brothers tour which covers some significant sites. For a slightly different perspective, you could have a look at one of the one-day Canadian or British tours (the Canadians endured some horrific conditions, especially against the 12th SS).

The Churchill Hotel is a good choice or you might check the Guidebook for other options.

Happy travels!

We stayed in the town of Arromanches, which would require a car, but Normandy is extremely easy to drive in.

We enjoyed being right on the water, and the town overlooks Port Winston, the artificial harbor set up to facilitate the invasion. It might mean you would need to drive back to Bayeaux to join the tour -- I don't know. We had done a lot of research and decided we wanted to be able to explore all the areas on our own schedule, so didn't use the tour, although I have no doubt it would be wonderful and extremely informative.

Either way, it is a great trip to make.

I recommend the lovely Hotel d'Argouges in Bayeux. Nice rooms, garden, breakfast, and across from the site of the weekly market. Another option for an excellent WWII site tour is D-Day Battle Tours.

Agree with Grier, Hotel D'Argouges is Wonderful! In addition to what Grier wrote, the owner and her staff are extremely nice and helpful.

I also recommend the WWII museum in Bayeux. We liked it the best of all of them.

we stayed at Hotel D'Argouges it was good except for the 6th floor room stairs uggggg.

easy to find and get to if you have a car too (and parking)

We stayed at the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux and also recommend it. Gave us the chance to see the Bayeux Tapestry and the WWII museum which we thought was excellent. We had a rental car and made our way to Arromanches and then to Omaha Beach, American Cemetery, and Pointe du Hoc. Would have liked to do more, but we had a whole list of things to do in the week long road trip and opted for just a small taste of Normandy.

We stayed in the B &B Rick suggests in his book just outside Reis near Arromanches. If you like rural, it is an excellent experience--clean rooms, good breakfast(milk fresh that morning), gracious hosts, and excellent locations. You will need to have a rental car to find it.

We took our kids to France last year to tour the WWII sites. I looked at every hotel there online. We wound up staying at a B&B called Le Tardif in Bayeux. It's a real "Danielle Steele" kind of place. We had been originally booked at a place called the hotel Churchill in Bayeux, but my son's French teacher, who was there last year's Spring Break, told us to cancel Churchill and re-book at Tardif. Glad we did! It's got a very cool private garden in back - tres Frence. Bayuex is kind of a bore. BUT - take the train from Paris, past Caen, to Bayeux. We walked from the train - five of us with our 7 bags and no one complained. Here is link - http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187181-d603119-Reviews-Hotel_Tardif-Bayeux_Basse_Normandie_Normandy.html Also - I can't say this enough - hire a private tour guide! I just posted here about doing just that. Best money we spent (even my husband agreed!)

I spent a few days in Bayuex in the fall. As I walked back up to the train station on a cold and wet morning to head back to Paris, a local pulled over and yelled something in French. My French being the equivalent of French 2 year old, I wasn't sure what he was saying.

He hopped out of his car and opened the trunk and said, "train?" I nodded yes, he moved some tools out of the way for my bag and off we went. I'd guess he was a carpenter or general contractor.

He asked if I was an American, I said thank you for the ride a few times and by then we had reached the station. It definitely left me with a warm feeling about Bayuex.