Full-Day American Battlefields and Sites of Normandy Tour from Bayeux

After pickup in central Bayeux, settle inside your air-conditioned minivan with your guide and small group of eight or fewer. Then, begin your 8- to 8.5-hour tour of the battlefields involved in the American troop landings of D-Day in June 1944.

As you travel between the sites, hear about the American military action on that long-ago day, together with background on the wider war, including tales of the German occupation of France and French Resistance, and the stories of individual soldiers.

Make your way to Utah Beach, where the US 4th Infantry Division made their assault. Hear about the events that unfolded here, and call at Sainte-Mère-Église, the small nearby town where paratroopers landed in the early hours of D-Day.

Visit the town’s Airborne Museum to chart the assault before continuing to Pointe du Hoc, a prominent cliff that was the highest point between the Utah and Omaha Beaches. See the bunkers, craters, and German casements and gun pits here, and learn how US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs to seize the battery.

View the monument honoring the rangers and visit Omaha, dubbed ‘Bloody Omaha,’ for being the most intensely fought after of all the landing beaches. Hear why the landings were difficult, and contemplate the vastness of the 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) beach.

After lunch (own expense) at a local restaurant, pay a visit to the US cemetery on the cliffs overlooking Omaha. Explore this heart-rending place with its impressive memorial, and take in the beach from the different vantage point of the cliffs. Before leaving, enjoy time to stroll around independently, perhaps visiting the graves or exploring the Visitor Center to learn about the landings and 9,387 Americans buried here.

Your tour concludes with an early-evening drop-off at Bayeux’s station or Place de Quebec.