World War II History Tour

Private Tour of the WWII Battle Sites and places of interest

Our preferred private guides in Normandy know the region very well and are experts in WWII history. One day is normally enough to visit the landing beaches.

Then you’ll need a day to visit the places of interest that are further inland, and a day for Bayeux and Caen (key cities in the region).

We also include a day in Paris so that you can enjoy a walking tour of key places in the city during the Liberation of Paris and a visit to the war museum. This tour gives travelers an excellent overview of the great military operation of Operation Overlord.

Day 1: Bayeux - Caen area

• From Paris or a Paris airport, we will organize the car rental pick up at the most convenient location.
• You will begin your tour in the lovely town of Bayeux, which was not damaged by the WWII bombing. You will visit the Battle of Normandy Museum to gain some insight into the events of the war and learn about the places you will be visiting on your private tour.
• Your Bayeux itinerary will include a self-guided walking tour through the town so you will learn more about what happened during the liberation of Bayeux. We’ll also recommend some very nice shops and restaurants. Even if not part of the WWII history, you will also enjoy visiting Bayeux Cathedral and famous Tapestry. 
• In the afternoon, you will visit Caen, a city that suffered serious damage during the bombing of WWII. You will see the Caen Memorial and experience the 360° movie theater, where you will feel how it was to be in Caen during the bombing.

Accommodation near Bayeux

• Your first B&B for 3 nights is a peaceful countryside house, conveniently located between Bayeux's old town and the Landing Beaches. From here, you are within reach of all the D-Day sites and museums: between Sainte Mère Eglise and Ouistreham, Isigny, Pointe du Hoc, the artificial port of Arromanches or the Caen Memorial. 

Day 2: Landing Beaches & War Cemeteries

• The second day will be entirely on the Landing beaches of Normandy. 
• Your expert private guide will meet you at your accommodation, and together you will drive to the Normandy landings beaches. If we have researched your WWII family history, this is where the most personalized part of your tour begins. If not, you will visit beaches where your nation’s troops landed, or those that are of greatest interest to you.
• On the family history tour, you will travel to the beach where your relative landed with his battalion on June 6^th 1944 (or later) – Gold Beach, Sword Beach, Utah Beach or Omaha Beach. Your guide will explain everything you see, leaving you with a clear understanding of exactly what happened on the day of the Allied operation.
• You will also visit Arromanches-sur-Mer, where there is another 360° circular movie theater located on the remains of one of the two artificial Mulberry harbors set up by the Allies during the war. This short movie shows footage from around the world telling the story of the 100-day Battle of Normandy, and is a very moving experience.

• After the beaches, you’ll visit the military cemeteries, either to visit a relative’s grave if he died in battle, or to see where those who gave their lives now rest.

There will also be time to visit other places of interest along the coast. For example, Dieppe in Upper Normandy will be of particular interest to Canadian travellers due to the failed landing there, during which many Canadian troops lost their lives. Many soldiers were buried in the military cemeteries in Dieppe and Rouen. As some of these places are a few hours’ drive from the main landings beaches, we may suggest adding an extra day to your itinerary. This way you can enjoy visiting each place as a comfortable pace. 

Day 3: Battle of Normandy - inland

• The third day takes you inland to follow the progession of the Allied forces. You will following the route that your ancestor or a selected battalion took following their entry via the beaches of Normandy.
• If you are exploring your own family history, we will prepare an itinerary that includes visits to places your relative would have passed through, such as the Pegasus Bridge or the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, which was taken during the first days of the Allied invasion. Your ancestor might have told you some stories about places they remembered from their time in Normandy, such as farms or manors where they stayed with their battalions. In this case, we will also try to include these in your itinerary.
• Many of the buildings in these rural villages have changed very little since the war. You will move on to inland areas that were in key strategic positions as the Allied troops continued to push the German forces back. These may include Saint-Lô, where American bombardments destroyed 95% of the town during the Battle of Normandy, or Falaise, where two thirds of the town was destroyed, 10,000 German soldiers were killed and 50,000 taken as prisoners of war as the town was taken by Canadian and Polish troops in August 1944.

Last Day in Paris 

• You will finish your WWII history tour in Paris, which was liberated from the German occupiers on 25 August 1944. We include a privately guided walking tour for a half-day in Paris.
• This will include a walk along the Champs-Élysées avenue from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, following in the footsteps of the French 2nd Armored Division during their victory parade on 26 August 1944.
• You will then visit the Musée de l'Armée - Invalides, which has an interesting section about World War II. This concludes your WWII history tour of France.

• Spend you last night in a charming 4* boutique-hotel in the Latin Quarter, by the Luxembourg gardens & Sorbonne university, perfectly located to discover the French capital city.

This tour can also be incorporated into any of our itineraries that include Normandy and Northern France.