How to Spend Two Days in Historical Lower Normandy

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This is an itinerary for two days in historical Lower Normandy, France. You may also be interested in visiting our Upper Normandy blogpost as well.

Visiting Lower Normandy can be a very emotional and personal experience, so we hope these tips help you to make the most of your trip. Hopefully our two day trip will give you insight into how much time you may need if you are planning a trip to Normandy.

This itinerary includes visiting Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, and Juno Beach. It also includes visiting Bayeux, Pont du Huc, and Saint Mere Eglise.

There are a lot of D-Day Museums throughout the area. If you plan to see all of them, you will definitely need more time. * If you are visiting now, you are required to wear a mask in every museum, so make sure you have one with you.

Where To Stay: Lower Normandy

We chose to stay in Bayeux, France at Tour Louise B&B. It is located right beside of the Cathedral and walking distance to some phenomenal restaurants! The owner of the B&B is French and knows the area well. She also knows fine dining as she was a food journalist in Paris for many years. She will help you to make reservations or get you into the best places in town even if they are busy.

Don’t forget your travel insurance! We recommend World Nomads. Make sure to have coverage that includes medical expenses, trip cancellations, and coverage for your belongings from theft or damage. If needed, you may also want to include car rental insurance as well.

How to get from Paris to Lower Normandy:

From Paris, you can rent a car or drive to Bayeux. You can also take a train, but the times are limited so check to make sure that your train time aligns with your check-in time at you hotel or B&B of choice.

If you do not have a car, there are private driving services available with Viator.com. They also can provide private tours to the D-Day Beaches and D-Day Sites.

Day One: Lower Normandy

We spent the first day exploring Omaha Beach. There are several museums, memorials, and the beach. It’s also really close to The American Cemetery, so we also viewed the Cemetery on day one.

We visited the Musee de Omaha Beach where they had a lot of old artifacts, a souvenir shop, and a short film about the war. There are several museums all around Omaha Beach, big and small.

2. American Cemetery

If you are American and you don’t have time to see all of the historical sites and museums in Lower Normandy. Just visit this one. 💜

The American Cemetery has 20 minute guided talks daily.

3. Visit Bayeux

You will want to have some time exploring Bayeux to see the Bayeux Cathedral. We have seen many cathedrals while living in France and the Bayeux Cathedral is definitely one of the most impressive ones that I have ever seen. A few other things to look for in Bayeux are the old stone buildings, the famous tapestry, and the local cider and calvados tasting spots.

Day Two: Lower Normandy

1. Utah Beach

On day two, we started our tour of Lower Normandy at Utah Beach. My friend described it best as,”beautiful but morbid.”

There was a museum, a few horses on the beach, and many memorials. The museum at Utah Beach was one that we didn’t visit. There are several memorials to view outside of the museum.

My tip here would be to make sure to stop in the cafe and souvenir shop to see the old radios that were used during the war.

2. Visit Saint Mere Eglise

Saint Mere Eglise is the community where the famous Saint Mere Eglise Chapel is located. There are also souvenir shops, restaurants, and museums.

You will see the paratrooper on top of the chapel, some really special stained glass windows, and places where you can still see artillery damage from the war. There were also these army vehicles driving around the area on the day that we visited in June.

3. Pont du Hoc

I highly recommend seeing the Pont du Hoc site if you have the time. It’s the highest point of the battlefield and it’s still filled with bunkers and bomb divets. You will need about 45 minutes to 1 hour here.

4. Revisit Omaha Beach

If you have time, you can stop to explore Omaha Beach a bit more. You will pass right though Omaha Beach on your way to Arromanches, so you can further explore the beach and more of the D-Day Museums that you may have not seen the day before.

5. Arromanches

This is an area that I wish we would have had more time to explore. There were lots of shops, restaurants, hotels, and sites to see in Arromanches. The Arromanches Musee du Debarquement was a museum that I would have liked to have seen, but it was time for us to begin our drive back to Paris.

The port at Arromanches provided the space where the equipment was delivered during 1944. The remains of the artificial port can still be seen.

6. Juno Beach

This was our last stop of the day. Juno Beach was one of the five invaded beaches in German-occupied France. This was where the Canadian troops landed in 1944.

The beach had many windsurfers, memorials, and had a bit more relaxed feeling to it.

If you ever get a chance to visit Lower Normandy, I think it’s truly a gift.

The website www.bayeux-bessin-tourisme.com is filled with more details!

I hope that this itinerary for two days in historical Lower Normandy will help you with your travel planning. If you have more time to explore Normandy, you may want to stop by my Upper Normandy blogpost. I also have several blogposts about visiting Paris.

As always, thanks for stopping by and leave a comment if you can. A bientot!

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