pkerr

We'd like to do a Normandy Tour. Any suggestions on companies? We'll need to make a one long day trip instead of a 2 dayer. We'd prefer a hotel pickup but that is not a must. And we'd also like to avoid taking the train on our own and meeting "them" there.

Thanks

jschutz

Try Paris Visions, or: http://private-guides.com/guide-in-france/index.php

Good luck!

pkerr

Thanks!

EasternTraveler

We are leaving in the morning for Frankfurt and will be driving over to Normandy via Luxembourg. Would appreciate any links or advice. We are using to doing driving trips. We are on a MR. We are traveling with a family of 5. My sons like history. No the driving is not going to bother us and the whirlwind tours are the way we like it. See as much as possible as quick as possible and then fly away.

benzguy80

hi EasternTraveler. not sure how this vacation gets labelled a MR but here are some tips based on personal experience with our own family a few years back

Visit the American cemetery adjacent to the "Omaha" beach. it's a good thing in my view to help children visualize the cost of freedom.

Spend a few hours touring the abbey and the town of Mont St Michel. if the weather is nice enough you can eat lunch outside on a patio looking out over the coastal plains. We enjoyed a creperie where I was introduced to Nutella. It's quite a drive across the peninsula, but this stop got the top votes from the four of us when we compared notes during the trip back.

We did not go through Rouen, but I'm told it is more interesting than Caen. If you do go to Caen (we spent a night there), check out the medieval fortress Chateau de Caen built by William the Conquerer a few years before his successful cross-Channel invasion.

If you're headed toward Paris it's worth a detour to Giverny to see the preserved home and garden of Claude Monet. The garden does indeed have a pond partly covered in lily pads (imagine that).


bon voyage
benzguy80

EasternTraveler

Where is the best place to stay within three hours of the American Cememtary at Normandy. We are coming from Luxembourg and going back to Brussells.

benzguy80

I'd guess Rouen, but it's just that, a guess. Caen is the closest city of real size near the D-Day beaches. I don't recollect a whole lot on the way to Mont-St-Michel, either.

figure about 2 hr drive from Rouen (depending on which part, of course), from Caen the drive is about 40 min

bruceba

Honfleur!!!

ILuvParis

A couple other great things to do in Normandy are the Bayeaux Tapestry and Abbaye de Jumiege. The ruins of this Benedictine Abbey are among the oldest and most beautiful in France. You are transported back in time. It reminds me of the beaches of Normandy to a certain extent in that all you can hear is the wind whispering through the trees. Just wonderful for anyone interested in history and some quiet reflection.

Hawk Circle

A truly excellent D-Day tour from Bayeux is offered by Alain Chesnel and Overlord Tours.

www.overlordtour.com

Comments from other patrons are here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic..._Normandy.html

newgroundhogbrit

Agree completely: Honfleur on the way back to Brussels.

Easterntraveler: I don't want to burden you with choices but given the WW2 slant have you thought of cutting up to Bastogne on the way through Luxembourg. Given the Airborne links it has always struck me as another point of reference for US visitors.

When driving back through the north of France then there are some very good preserved battlefields from WW1 in the area around Thiepval. The Canadian government pays for student guides to give free of charge tours in English of the battlefield preserved as a memorial to the Newfoundland Division. The trenches and no mans land are still intact.

The last post is played every evening at the Menin gate near Ypres - a tradition unbroken since the end of WW1and even respected during WW2. Timing will be on the web somewhere.

Enjoy may be the wrong word for a battlefield type tour, but please be assured that most Europeans never fail to recognise the sacrifice that those of the Omaha generation paid so far from home whatever the cynicism of modern times.

stevens397

We did Paris and Normandy three years ago and had a truly magnificent time. In Normandy we had the services of a private guide, John Flaherty. He is an ex-pat Brit who had an amazing knowledge of the area and was a pleasure to spend two days with. Lots of information prior to the trip. He was happy to customize it any way we wanted but, of course, we had never been there and chose to rely on his expertise. I learned about him on this board and could not praise him more highly.

His company is called Hand Maid Tours and his email address is [email protected].

BTW, we stayed at the Chateau d'Audrieu, a Relais/Chateaux property. It was lovely and the restaurant was the finest we have ever been to in the entire world - really!

NYBanker

I did a search...

I was able to land four low-miles J awards to Paris on an AF flight using my so-called SkyPesos for later this quarter. After touring Pearl Harbor over Christmas, I'd like to include a day trip during our visit to Paris to go out to Normandy.

Overlord Tours looks good from the feedback in this thread, and consistently good in the T/A reviews.

Has anyone used Overlord more recently? Anything to report? Other tour providers to consider?

Mike Jacoubowsky

Wondering how the D-Day tours are from the Caen Memorial. Interestingly, you don't find TripAdvisor breaking down reviews from the museum itself vs the tours. The advantage to the Caen tours is accessibility from Paris; you can get an early train in time for their tours, while the Bayeux connections run too late (at least for the Overlord tour company, which would be my preference, but would require additional time in Normandy that we simply do not have).

HawaiiTrvlr

Mike, I did the tour through the Caen Memorial about 20 months ago. It was from 8-1:30 or so. It was on a small van (though they had 2 small vans). The tour guide was extremely informative. We started out at the Sword beach and worked our way down to Omaha/Utah Beaches. We made a stop at the American Military Cemetery. We actually got to walk on Omaha Beach. If I remember correctly, I paid 90 euros or so. My only suggestion is bring along a small snack and drink unless you don't mind waiting until the tour is over. We at in the cafeteria afterwards but some of the group wished they had brought a snack during our tour.

I took the train from Paris to Caen and stayed at a 3-star hotel near the center of town. I got in early enough to walk around the town and the citidel. The next day was my tour with the memorial. I left the following day, returning to Paris (this time to CDG). There is an easy tram that goes through the town of Caen and is easily accessible at the train station. However, I took a bus to the memorial. I bought a 2-day pass for a few Euros that allowed unlimited access to buses/trams.