Bayeux : Place de Québec or Hotel Pick-Up / Drop-Off option

Place de Québec is situated just around the corner from The Bayeux Tourist Information Office. We can pick up here anytime Mon – Sat for a full-day D-Day Mix & Match Private Tour. There are toilet facilities here, as well as a cafe nearby – ‘La Garde Manger’ – perfect for passengers who wish a quick coffee prior to departure. Passengers can specify their tour start time and designated pick-up /drop-off location on our booking system. (Our Bayeux Train Station pick-up is at 09:20 Mon-Fri and we will always wait for you…). Private Tour clients also benefit from a free Bayeux Hotel pick-up / drop-off option. Flexible options are also available from *Caen (*supplement applies).

1. D-Day Experience (Optional)

Set in the heart of a historical place, The D-Day Experience site spans across 10,000 m2, thus inviting you to partake in an amazing D-Day experience that combines both education and entertainment. The popular tourist attraction is made up of two museums : One is a new (2018) immersive flight simulator, where, followinga ‘virtual’ debriefing, you take your seat in a glider that simulates the US Airborne Divisions’ real-life experience, upon approach to the Normandy Coastline, complete with the thud of shellfire, smoke, shuddering movement, accompanied by flashing images of enemy planes displayed all around on LCD monitors, and the other is a memorial and museum dedicated to the US Airborne troops. It is definitely an experience like no other, and we will begin our Tour here…

Here on D-Day, the men of the 6th German parachute infantry regiment (PIR), nicknamed the “Green Devils” fought fiercely for three days against the American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division. On June 8, as the Germans withdrew to Carentan, the American Colonel “Iron Mike” Michaelis of the 502nd PIR of the 101st Airborne, established the headquarters of his unit here…

2. Angoville-au-Plain: 101st Airborne

Angoville-au-Plain is home to a church that was used by two US Army Medics as an aide station during the Battle of Normandy. It was in this church that Robert Wright and Ken Moore of the 101st Airborne treated 80 injured American and German wounded Soldiers and a young child, Paul Langeard. During this visit you’ll find out more about the events of that day, you’ll see inside the beautiful church and you’ll learn about Robert and Ken’s heroism in the face of certain death – and of the poignant end to this rarely-told miraculous story.

La Fière (Optional)

The against-all-odds capture and defense of the vital La Fière Bridge over the Merderet River by the 82nd US Airborne Division during the first three days of the Normandy invasion is now captured in the movie “No Better Place to Die”. At La Fière you will learn of the gripping true story of human strength, self-sacrifice, and camaraderie which focuses on a handful of paratroopers who understood the importance of their mission and refused to let anything – not confusion, fog of war, nor intense pressure from the enemy – keep them from accomplishing a mission which seemed impossible. It was one of the bloodiest and most fiercely fought small unit battles in modern military history. It’s said that this pivotal battle essentially saved D-Day by barring enemy forces from counterattacking the beach landings.

3. Sainte-Mère-Eglise

This quintessential French Town played a significant part in the World War II Normandy landings. It stood right in the middle of route N13, which the Germans would have most likely used on any significant counterattack on the troops landing on Utah and Omaha Beaches. In the early morning of 6 June 1944, mixed units of 101st and 82nd US Airborne Divisions occupied the town in ‘Mission Boston’, giving it the claim to be one of the first towns liberated in the invasion. Come and find out about the events surrounding the largely botched landings and the paratrooper whose effigy still hangs off the church roof today.

Sainte-Mère-Eglise : Airborne Museum (Optional)

The Airborne Museum is dedicated to the memory of the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the United States Army who parachuted into Normandy on the night of June 5–6, 1944. Opened in 1964 with the help of donations from both residents and veterans, the museum houses an authentic Waco CG-4 glider (the only example in France) and a Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft, which was actually involved in D-Day air-drop operations. On our visit find out about the ill-fated drop; about the Robert Murphy ‘incident’ famously depicted in the movie ‘The longest Day’ and about paratrooper sergeant John P. Ray of the 505th P.I.R, who with his last breath saved the life of paratrooper John Steele, whose own parachute had snagged on the belfry of the church (and which – to help preserve the memory of the 101st & 82nd US paratrooper’s heroic parachute jump – remains there to this day.

4. Sainte-Marie-du-Mont: 101st Airborne

Paratroopers from largely dispersed 101st US Airborne were greeted in this village square on D-Day + 1 by a jubilant group of villagers. The village’s gothic bell tower was a key reference point for the 101st Airborne and its commander, General Maxwell Taylor, who had landed in the early hours of the Invasion and spent the night regrouping misdropped soldiers. At this stop you’ll find out about how German snipers hiding in French steeples posed an enormous threat to Allied soldiers everywhere in France.

Richard Winters Monument

Along the causeway to Utah Beach stands a monument to combat leadership. It was erected June 7th 2012 in memory of Maj. Richard Winters, who led paratroopers from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, during the D-Day landings. During this stop you’ll learn of the exploits & bravery of Easy Company’s servicemen, about their intensive training at Camp Toccoa and of ‘The Currahee’ Mountain in Stephens County which was so important to each and every one of them.

5. Utah Beach

Utah Beach is one of the two American landing zones in Normandy. Along with Sword Beach it was added to the Beaches of Omaha, Juno & Gold by British General Montgomery during the later stages in the planning of Operation Overlord. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. During this visit you’ll learn all about the successful Utah landing on D-Day, led by Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

At the end of the full day’s touring, we arrive back at Bayeux / Caen Station or at your designated Bayeux / Caen location at 18:00 (18:30).

If you are beginning your day with Tour Delta, then we will stop for lunch prior to departing for the second tour of the day. If this was your 2nd Tour of the day, then we will always depart our last stop on schedule at 17:30 to ensure that we arrive back in Bayeux / Caen in plenty of time for clients to catch the 18:35 / 18:53 Mon-Fri, Bayeux / Caen > Paris train. During our relaxing drive back to the station you will have 20 minutes to reflect on the day’s touring and have a casual chat with your Guide. We always appreciate feedback about your D-Day experience and welcome any last-minute questions. Please do not hesitate to let your driver know if we can be of any further assistance. Thank you for choosing NormandyONtour.