Normandy 2-day private tour from Paris: D-Day to the Falaise Pocket

About this tour

There is no better way to understand the scale of the Allied sacrifice in Normandy than to follow it from beginning to end. This tour concentrates on the American advance, from the D-Day beaches through the bitter fighting in the hedgerows, the bocage, to the Falaise Pocket, where the German army in Normandy was destroyed.

You see the beaches, but also the inland battlefields most visitors never reach, where the campaign was really decided in July and August 1944.

Itinerary

A typical programme. As the tour is private, every stop can be changed.

Day one – the landings

The D-Day landings and the airborne operations, from the drop zones inland to the beaches and the American Cemetery.

1. 6:30 am
   Pickup in Paris At your hotel or apartment, with a coffee and croissant stop on the way.
2. Airborne sector
   82nd and 101st Airborne drop zones Angoville-au-Plain, where two US medics set up an aid station in the church; Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, objective of the 101st; and Sainte-Mère-Église, objective of the 82nd.
3. Atlantic Wall
   German coastal defences Remains of the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall.
4. Utah Beach
   The 4th Infantry Division Landing zone of the 4th Division under Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
5. Lunch
   Norman lunch In a local restaurant or sandwiches in the van.
6. Pointe du Hoc
   The Rangers’ cliffs Bunkers and bomb craters where 225 Rangers scaled the cliffs. About 1 hour.
7. Omaha Beach
   Dog Green and Charlie sectors The bloodiest American beach, on the sand when the tide allows. About 1 hour.
8. American Cemetery
   Colleville-sur-Mer 9,387 American servicemen rest above the eastern end of Omaha Beach. About 1 hour.
9. 5 pm
   Bayeux Check in for the night in medieval Bayeux. We suggest hotels when you book.

Day two – the hedgerows to the Falaise Pocket

The US Army’s hard progress inland and the encirclement of the German armies.

1. Morning
   The hedgerow battlefields How the dense bocage of Norman fields and banks slowed the American advance for weeks.
2. Saint-Lô
   The “capital of ruins” The town destroyed by the bombing and fighting of July 1944.
3. Mortain
   The stand of the US 30th Division Where the 30th Division held Hill 314 for six days against the German counter-attack of August 1944.
4. Falaise Pocket
   The encirclement The roads and fields where the German armies were trapped between the Americans and the French 2nd Armored Division to the south and the Canadians, Poles and British to the north.
5. Mont-Ormel
   Memorial and museum The visitor centre and museum on the hill where Polish troops closed the pocket.
6. Vimoutiers
   The Tiger tank One of the few German Tiger I tanks still in existence, outdoors.
7. 7–8 pm
   Back in Paris Drop-off at your hotel or airport, depending on traffic.

What’s included

Practical information

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