Northern France - D-Day Landings Tour
Duration: 8 days
Highlights: Paris, Champs Elysées, Shoah Memorial, Les Invalides (Army Museum), Notre Dame Cathedral, Arromanches, Memorial Museum, Sword Beach, Sainte-Mère-Eglise, Omaha Beach, US Military Cemetery, Mont St Michel, Giverny
A remarkable and moving 8-day tour of Normandy and Northern France, encompassing the sights and landmarks of WWII and the famous D-Day Landings.
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Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrival Paris
Upon arrival at Paris airport, meet your Guardian Angel and transfer by private vehicle to your hotel in Paris, where you are assisted with check-in.
Overnight: Four Seasons George V
Day 2 - Paris
Spend a full day (8 hours) with your guide and private vehicle in Paris. Begin with a walk around the Champs-Elysées where your guide regales you with stories of daily life during the Occupation and explore subjects such as the invasion of France, the Resistance, the D-Day invasion and, of course, the Liberation itself.
Paris witnessed the deportation of thousands of Jews during WWII and the Shoah Memorial, in the Marais district (Jewish quarter), is dedicated to the memory of over 200,000 French citizens that were sent to Nazi concentration camps.
Complete your tour with a visit to Les Invalides, which houses the Army Museum. Created in 1905, the complex comprises a museum and two churches, housing some 500,000 classified objects spread out over 8,000 m². As such, this is the most important museum of military history in France and one of the leading collections in the world. The permanent collections are displayed chronologically from antiquity to the end of the Second World War.
Overnight: Four Seasons George V
Meal Plan: B
Day 3 - Transfer to Port-en-Bessin
Transfer to Port-En-Bessin with your private guide this morning, stopping at the medieval city of Rouen to visit the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral and see the giant Renaissance clock, Gros Horloge. In June 1944, the entire city was in flames, heavily bombarded and left in ruins.
Overnight: Chateau La Cheneviere
Meal Plan: B
Day 4 - Normandy - Operation Overlord
Begin your exploration of some of the momentous events that took place on D-Day June 1944, with a visit of Arromanches, one of the command centres of the whole Operation. Remains of the famous Mulberry harbours still float incongruously in the sea, part of the ½ million tons of concrete that was floated across the Channel at a speed of 4mph to supply a roadway from the supply ships to the shore. The memorial museum contains fascinating scale models and film footage of this great expedition, as well as a 360° circular cinema showing more dramatic footage in the film ‘The Price of Freedom’.
Continue to Juno Beach, where Canadian troops fought fierce opposition before pushing inland to link up with British troops. Also visit Sword Beach, the most easterly of the D-Day landing beaches and strategically important due to its proximity to Caen. Take time to reflect at the memorial at the famous Pegasus bridge where the first liberators to arrive in Normandy crash-landed by glider under the cover of dark and secured this vitally important bridgehead. A replica of the gliders used can be found here. Return to your hotel at the end of the afternoon.
Overnight: Chateau La Cheneviere
Meal Plan: B
Day 5 - D-Day landing Beaches
The numerous monuments and memorials in the Normandy coastal area bear witness to the fierce fighting that took place here, during and after the D-Day Landings. Join your driver guide on a full-day tour of the American Sector to visit some of the most important sites of this pivotal point in the war.
Your day begins inland at the strategically important Sainte-Mère-Église, where the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted in to help the village become one of the first in France to be liberated. Join the famous coastline at Pointe du Hoc, which the US Rangers scaled, demonstrating a triumph of planning, training, and execution by elite and well-led troops.
Further eastwards along the coast is the sector known as Omaha Beach, also captured by invading American forces. Examine several sites here from both the German and US perspective and hear about Operation Aquatint, a failed 1942 British Commando raid on the area. Your day ends with a poignant visit to the US Military Cemetery and Interpretation Centre at Colleville-sur- Mer, the final resting place of over 9,300 US soldiers located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach.
Overnight: Chateau La Cheneviere
Meal Plan: B
Day 6 - Mont St Michel
Venture to one of France's most recognisable landmarks today: Mont St Michel, a village perched on a tidal island, located in the mouth of the River Couesnon. Surrounded by water and sand flats, the granite outcrop is crowned by an abbey that took more than 500 years to construct. Legend has it that Archangel Michael appeared to the Bishop of Avranches in 708, inspiring him to build it here. Explore the steep, narrow, cobblestone streets and climb over 350 steps to reach the abbey, an outstanding architectural achievement whose spire is more than 500 feet high. You may also like to explore the narrow passageways, historic houses and little shops of the village.
Before returning to your hotel, dependent on time, you might like to visit another town in the area, such as St-Lô, Bayeux, Avranches or Villedieu-Les-Poêles.
(Please note that access to the Mont St Michel may require you to walk 900 metres/985 yards from the car park to the shuttle service, and the walking on the island is strenuous and requires a good level of fitness).
Overnight: Chateau La Cheneviere
Meal Plan: B
Day 7 - Transfer to Paris
Meet your driver-guide and private vehicle for your transfer to Paris this morning. Stop by in Giverny along the way to see the beautiful house and gardens that inspired Monet. The house is still decorated in the original colour schemes Monet admired and, in the gardens, the famous Japanese bridge and water lily pond create an iconic picture.
Upon arrival in Paris, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
Overnight: Four Seasons George V
Meal Plan: B
Day 8 - Depart Paris
Transfer privately to Roissy CDG airport with Guardian Angel assistance.
Meal Plan: B