Normandy Tours

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This Tour consists of:

2 days/ weekend guided visits to key D Day sites in Normandy. 1 nights at a 3* Hotel in Caen.

                                      Lunch stop in Honfleur on outward journey

Honfleur is a beautiful, old port, characterized by tall, narrow picturesque houses. It has been painted many times by artists, including Courbet and Monet. The Honfleur School contributed to the development of the Impressionist movement in art. The Church of St Catherine is the largest church made out of wood in France, with a roof that was designed to look like an upturned boat on the inside. Originally a fishing and trading port, it is, today, one of the prettiest coastal towns in France.

Saturday   (Sample Itinerary)

 7:30    Depart for Channel Tunnel.
10:30   Crossing. 
12:00   Drive to Honfleur 
2:30     Late lunch in Honfleur.
5:30     Start the D Day sightseeing at Pegasus Bridge, Ranville Cemetery and Sword Beach.
7:00     Arrive at Hotel
8:00     Go for dinner in Caen as a group.

The Pegasus Bridge area is where the British Airborne troops landed to take control of the Eastern flank of the invasion beaches. It was vital they succeeded, so that the Germans could not so easily batter the exposed seaborne troops. See where the first Allied soldier, Den Brotheridge, was killed, and find out more about his story. Have a drink at Café Gronde (same accent as on cafe), the first building to be liberated and possibly meet a veteran or two!

Sword Beach was a British landing site on the eastern flank of the invasion force. The attack on Sword Beach began at about 03:00 with the aerial bombing of German defences and artillery sites, followed by a naval bombardment a few hours later. At 07:30, the first units reached the beach.

                         Abbaye aux Hommes                           Caen Castle

The city of Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy, was full of historical buildings, many built during the reign of William the Conqueror who is buried here, although most of his bones have long since been scattered. However, about three quarters of the city was destroyed in the Battle of Normandy in 1944, by the heavy fighting and bombing that took place in order to flush out the Germans. Today, Caen is a modern town with few large old building, such as the Castle, which was built around 1060 and is one of the largest medieval fortresses of Western Europe and the Abbeys. The Abbaye aux Hommes (1063) and the Abbaye aux Dames (1060) were both built by William to repent marriage to his cousin Mathlida. The church of St Peter, dating from the early 13th Century, and bearing the bullet marks and other scars of more recent battles, stands in the city centre. In 1988, the Memorial for Peace was built to remember the events of the war and D Day as well as presenting ideas about peace today.

                                                Abbaye aux Dames

Sunday   (Sample Itinerary)

 7:30     Breakfast.
 9:00     Drive to La Cambe German cemetery. 
10:00    Drive to Ste Mere Eglise. Visit Airborne Museum and town 
12:00    On to Pointe du Hoc and Maisie Battery
 1:00     Tour of Omaha Beach and Colleville Cemetery..
 2:30     Snack Lunch at Arromanches.
 4:00     Depart for Channel Tunnel.
 8 :30    Channel Crossing. 

              Pointe du Hoc                    Mulberry Harbour, Arromanches

Anyone who has seen Saving Private Ryan has a good idea of what happened to the American troops who had the misfortune to try and land on Omaha Beach, facing strong German defences, part of the Atlantic Wall and high cliffs. Stand on the actual site and visit Colleville Cemetery where many of those who died that day are buried.

The grave of Theodore Roosevelt Junior, son of President ‘Teddy' Roosevelt, and a distant cousin to the then current President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR.

See the remains of the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches and find out exactly how it was created, transported and used.

American paratroopers - 101st Airborne

Monument to the paratroopers of the 82 US Airborne who landed in the area, and to John Steele whose parachute was caught on the church spire.

At 1 am, American paratroopers of 82nd and 101st Airborne jumped onto the Cherbourg Peninsula at the western end of the landing beaches. The low cloud caused difficulties and some missed their target drowning in flooded swamps while others were unfortunate to encounter Germans in the town of Sainte Mere Eglise.

Following the Invasion, Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated. General De Gaulle came here 10 days after D Day and gave a speech. The buildings in Bayeux were fortunately more or less undamaged during the Battle of Normandy as the German occupiers had to go and help defend Caen. As well as being home to the famous Bayeux Tapestry, the town contains the largest British war cemetery in Normandy.

 Bayeux Cathedral

Tours are planned for;
various weekends in 2010
See Tour Dates page for further information

The cost of the tour is £189. BB per person sharing, the 'study' booklet designed to go with our itineraryand full guiding.
Single supplement is £35.
The overall group will be 9 persons.

Our Company Insurance is included. However, you need your own holiday insurance, as well as your EHIC - European Health Insurance Card (formerly E111) in case of personal injury requiring hospital treatment (or adequate insurance cover). See booking terms and conditions.