Overnight in Normandy with the Mont-Saint-Michel

Today we will take you for a guided tour of the Landing Beaches including Arromanches where can be seen the remains of a Mulberry harbor. Built thanks to Churchill's vision within a few days after D-Day. This "temporary" port was used to disembark an army with all the men and supplies necessary to liberate Europe. It is one of the most extraordinary industrial and maritime achievement of the war.
On the way to Omaha beach, visit the site of the powerful German battery at Longues-sur-mer. In spite of the heavy bombing on the night before, the German ‘pill boxes’ and their 150 mm guns were still operational on the morning of 6 June and they began firing at the allied battleships.

Continue with Omaha Beach and the moving Normandy American cemetery where 9385 Carrara marble crosses stand aligned. A memorial, inscribed with a map of the operations stands in the central alley.
The name ‘Omaha Beach’ which until 6 June 1944 existed only as an operational code name, has continued to jointly designate the beaches of three villages, Colleville, Saint-Laurent and Vierville, in memory of the soldiers of the 1st American division who landed there and suffered the heaviest casualties on D-Day. Drive and stop along the beach where your guide will show you some of the German bunkers and machine-gun nests.

One of the most impressive site in Normandy, is perhaps Pointe du Hoc where the 2nd battalions of specially trained Rangers under the command of colonel James Earl Rudder captured the position by assault at dawn on 6 June, scaling the cliffs with ropes and extendible ladders but not without heavy losses – 135 rangers out of 225, key action for the success of D-Day.

Sainte-Mère-Eglise
A dummy hangs from the church steeple as a reminder of Private Steele’s alarming experience, dropped over the area during the night of June 6th 1944, he was caught hanging from the steeple of the church by his parachute.

A parachute-shaped building houses the Airborne museum which contains mementoes of the first fighting on D.Day and a ‘Waco glider’.

Dinner and accommodation near Bayeux.

See the Tapestry of Queen Mathilda in Bayeux, actually a 70 meters (230 feet) long work of embroidery retracing the epic of William the Conqueror's expedition to England in 1066 (battle of Hastings).
The work is the most accurate and lively document to survive from the Middle Ages and provides detailed information of the clothes, ships, arms and general lifestyle of the period.

Mont-Saint-Michel.
Situated in the borderlands between Normandy and Brittany, the abbey of Saint-Michel was one of the most legendary construction sites of the Middle Ages. This feat of monastic architecture rises up on three main levels around the Mount’s granite rock. The Romanesque crypts and nave, the Gothic choir and the Merveille staircase form a vast religious and artistic ensemble whose beauty is the measure of the importance it held throughout Christendom. At the foot of the abbey, the village of half-timbered houses is crowded inside a fortified wall, highly unusual in that it is built on sand. Emerging out of the watery bay, the monumental and picturesque Mont-Saint-Michel ranks amongst the most exceptional world heritage sites.

Guided tour of the abbey.

Return to Paris, end of our services.

- Pick-up from your hotel with a deluxe car or van
- Expert guide in English (other languages available upon request)
- All the entrance fees to the museums and monuments mentioned in the program
- 1 overnight stay in a charming 4-star hotel near Bayeux, in Junior suite, based on double occupancy
- 1 breakfast buffet