Beaches & pastoral countryside of Normandy are rife with powerful memories. A visit to the D-Day landing beaches can be an emotional experience, as you look across the expanse of sand remembering the 150,000 Allied soldiers who invaded France on June 6, 1944 and started the beginning of the end of World War II. These D-Day tours get you back to Paris the same day.
A great aspect of this one-day, small-group tour is that you are transported to and from your Paris address. In between, you walk the Normandy battlefields and landing beaches of World War II. You see famous wartime sites as well as the American and Canadian cemeteries, listening to the poignant stories of the Allied soldiers and the eventual liberation of France.
A drive through the rolling Normandy countryside brings you to the Caen Memorial. You also visit Pointe du Hoc, an important German defence position captured by American soldiers. There is free time to walk along Omaha Beach and reflect on the site's history. Afterwards you stop at the Omaha Beach Visitor Center, and before returning to Paris, you visit the Canadian Memorial at Juno Beach. This is also available as a private tour.
Our guide was everything we could have asked for. The tour itself was absolutely perfect and not too long or tiring. It was an absolute delight and a must-see if you are in Paris. We went to lunch at the most exquisite chateau and it alone was worth the price! The memorials are astonishing, moving and beautiful. By far one of the most spectacular places we've ever visited!"
– 5-Star Review
Because it's a long-day trip to the coast of Normandy, you might like the idea of travelling in a luxury coach, where you can move around a bit. You head to the shores of northern France where you visit the Utah Beach D-Day Museum, housed in an original German bunker and built on the beach where the first US troops landed. You also get a chance to see the only six remaining B-26 fighter planes that were used during the invasion.
Afterwards comes the unique portion of this tour — you drive to a nearby apple orchard for a tasting of cider and calvados, the two beverages Normandy is most famous for. Following a traditional Normandy lunch, continue to Pointe du Hoc, a German defense on the cliffs seized by US troops. Travel to Colleville-sur-Mer where you pay your respects at the American Cemetery.
…Well worth the effort and time investment. Our guides… provided interesting and detailed information regarding all of the stops on the tour… Near the end of the day, the American Flag was lowered and Taps played…quite a moving experience. I recommend this trip for anyone who is interested in the D-Day beaches and the history of the Allied landing."
– 5-Star Review
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This two-day tour from Paris visits the highlights of Normandy, including the D-Day Beaches. In an action-packed couple of days your driver/guide conducts you to the cathedral at Rouen and a tour of that city's medieval passageways; the charming port of Honfleur, shown above; and the D-Day sights and monuments, including the beaches and American cemetery.
That's just day one! After spending the night in another cathedral city, Caen, you drive to the medieval Saint-Malo in Brittany. The rest of the day is spent visiting the magical island of Mont Saint-Michel. Everything is included — hotels, most meals, attraction entries, the services of a driver/guide, and even pick up from your Paris hotel.
For a more personalized experience, we like this private tour of the American landing beaches. Your driver meets you at your Paris address and whisks you to the English Channel to see Omaha Beach and other importnat World War II sites. You learn all about what happened on that fateful day in June. You may even get a chance to visit the only German coastal batteries still in place at Longues sur Mer. It's eerie to stand where the Wehrmacht fired on the landing Allied forces.
Of course, you'll also visit the American Cemetery and the Pointe du Hoc, the 90-foot-high cliff where US Rangers landed to take on one of the strongest points of the German fortifications.
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1. D-Day was originally set for June 5 but had to be postponed for 24 hours due to bad weather.
2. The naval part of the operation, codenamed Operation Neptune, involved 6,939 vessels and 4,126 landing craft — the largest single-day amphibious invasion ever. On June 5 they assembled off the Isle of Wight.
3. Allied troops faced formidable obstacles on Hitler's Atlantic Wall, built along the Normandy coast using 100,000 workers, many of them forced labourers.
5. German defences on the beaches included concrete gun emplacements, wooden stakes, mines, anti-tank obstacles, barbed wire, booby traps and 50,000 German troops.
4. A phantom army of dummy camps, planes and tanks was built in Kent and Essex to deceive Germans into thinking the invasion would be farther north at Calais.
5. On the eve of battle General Eisenhower told the troops: "You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you."
6. US troops landed on the beaches at 6:31 AM. An hour later the British and Canadians landed. There were 61,715 British troops, 73,000 Americans and 21,400 Canadian soldiers.
7. On the morning of D-Day, J.D. Salinger landed on Omaha Beach with six chapters of his unfinished novel, Catcher in the Rye, in his backpack.
8. The heaviest losses were on Omaha beach where US forces suffered 2,000 casualties. In the first hour the chance of becoming a casualty was one in two.
9. Condoms were issued to soldiers — most were used for covering the end of their rifles to keep them dry.
10. Despite setbacks, the Allies establish a beachhead to continue the invasion into France. By the evening of June 6, more than 150,000 soldiers and 20,000 vehicles had landed in Normandy.
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Day Trips From Paris• Visiting Versailles…• Day Trips to Champagne…• Loire Valley Castles & Wines…• Monet's Gardens…• The D-Day Beaches…• 6 Summertime Day Trips…• Explore More in France… |
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