Visiting D-Day Beaches with a rental car

Although I can't speak from experience, I'd be surprised if the Bayeux Tourist Office didn't have maps of the beaches. This page from the tourist office site lists area D-Day museums.

I've driven the beaches and used my own guidebooks. Here's my advice. Price not being an issue, a well-organized tour will be more efficient and let you focus on seeing the sights rather than struggling with unfamiliar signage.

Remember that the Germans' best defense was Normandy's thick hedgerows and narrow roads. It's a hard area to navigate and it's really not clear where the entrances to the beaches are. We did just fine, but I really would have enjoyed having a guide.

One of the best decisions we have ever made was to NOT try to do the D-Day sites by ourselves. I have read about and studied the battles for the better part of 45 years, and I learned more in a day with Paul and his Battlebus American Highlights tour than I ever would have imagined was possible. He took us to places we NEVER would have found on our own, then filled us in with an AMAZING narrative of what happened at the location and why it was a critical part of the overall story. That summer (2006) we also took the Band of Brothers Tour, and last summer the British Highlights Tour. I cannot recommend them highly enough. For my wife and my two kids, 22 and 24, it was the highlight of our trip. We still talk about it. You can easily visit the British and Canadian beaches and even Pegasus Bridge on the half day you have left.

I highly recommend the tour. The beaches are spread out and take time to get back and forth to. We did a full day tour with Battlebus last Sept. from 8:30 to 5:00, it departs from Bayeux, which included a lot of driving, and the guide provided amazing stories with photos that we never would have heard on our own. It includes museums and the American cemetery. Well worth every Euro.

Hi Sharon, We have toured the D-Day area with a car several times. You might order the "Michelin Historical Map 102: : Battle of Normandy" or "Michelin France Normandie Map #513" in advance to have a good reference. Amazon has

"A Traveler's Guide to D-Day and the Battle for Normandy by Carl Shilleto and Mike Tolhurst" and

"D-Day Landings: The Story of the Allied Invasion: by Richard Platt" for about $11 or less. I haven't used these booklets. And there are probably more like it.

My boyfriend and I took a D-Day tour last year and I thought it was great but my boyfriend thought it was only okay. He has studied and read alot on WW2 so the stories did not impress him that much. There were a few places the tour did not go where we wanted to see so we did miss out. Depending on how many people you have the tour may be a little pricey. If I had to do it all over again, I would find a do-it-yourself tour (I am sure they are out there, somewhere) and rent a car. The tours do give personal stories, which is good for some, it really depends on what you like.

Sharon, it depends if you wish to "splurge" on the tour. I'm going next month and I couldn't budget the tour, so we're renting a car, and driving ourselves.

I'm using sixti.com which offers a "Smart" type car rental for 9 euros. There's various rental locations in Paris, but its best to book online. They have strict rules on cancelation and Unfortunately there's no unlimited kilometers (only up to 1000 km) but its cheaper than paying for the tours.

I am thinking of finding a tour once I am in the D-day area.

We did the Battlebus American Highlights tour a couple of weeks ago, and it was great. Even though we had read a great deal and studied maps, etc. about the D-Day invasion, we learned more from our tour guide than we would ever have discovered on our own. I would highly recommend it.

We toured ourselves using Rick's book and the "Traveller's guide to D-day and Normandy" mentioned above. This book details every battle, monument, and graveyard! Very detailed. My Husband drove, I navigated and we had little problem finding our way. We went to Arramanches, Omaha Beach, Pon-du-hoc. All the signage was a good explanation. I'd also recommend watching "The longest Day." For a good overview of D-Day. I'm sure the tours are great, but we were travelling with a 10 and 12 year old, so what we did worked for us. My Son (then age 10) loved Pont-du-Hoc and climbing over the German gun emplacements.

Renting a car is a good option but you must do your research on where you want to go at pick your routes to be efficient. Buy a good map, Michelin, and have a good navigator. Doing reading on your own and then visiting the sites will put it all into perspective. We didn't have a car so took the Normandy Tour Company, office located near the train station. We were too late to book a Battlebus tours. Tours are expensive yes, so figure out what you want to do. In Bayeux, visit the memorial museum and the tapestry Anyway, have fun.