[Peter W. Kessler]

Has anyone taken a Normandy Battlefield Tour? There are a few dozen commercial enterprises that host tours. Is this the way to go?

I'd like to do this in the next year or so.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[DooDahhhh]

Yep, I would probably compare the commercial tours; The motorcoach approach gives you more info than creating it yourself and the cost is about the same in the long run.

[TADSLOS]

Battlebus.

Battlebus Tours

[GnL]

I’ve read good things about http://www.battlebus.fr though I have no personal experience with them.

I went to Normandy last October but just did a one day quickie bus tour out of Paris so I can’t help you much with what you want to do. I would definitely go with an organized tour if you want the most out of it though, unless you really know your way around France and Germany and have a way of finding significant sites.

[rotstan]

If you aren’t comfortably familiar with the history of the landings, then a battlefield tour might be worth it. However, if you feel knowledgeable about the invasion, then definitely rent a car and drive around. You can do all the main sights in a day or two, though spending three or four will let you hit some very cool sites not on the tour bus path.

I am sure you will have a wonderful time, no matter what you decide.

[Robe]

Have a look HERE:
Matterhorn Tours
D-DAY and the Battle of Normandy

Visiting
Omaha Beach - Utah Beach - Pointe du Hoc
Pegasus Bridge - Ste. Mère Eglise - St. Lô
Bastogne - Battle of the Bulge - Hürtgen Forest
Siegfried Line - Remagen - Berlin
May, June, July, September, 2009

[cyclotic]

I think the best way would be to charter a boat in England, get within a mile of the coast and change to a raft or dinghy. Have that take you to near the beach and swim in the rest of the way.

Seriously, I envy you. Whatever tour you take will probably be a lifelong memory of a hallowed moment of the history of our nation.

[Mr. Lucky]

My dad took the tour some time ago. To the best of my recollection, his advice was to get across the beach and into heavy cover as quickly as possible.

[Lx]

I have. Make sure you stop at the American cemetery. I can’t remember what it’s near. For all his liberal holier than thow posturing, Rick Steves has a good chapter on visiting Normandy. I’ll try to dig it up tonight.

[BluH2o]

ping for later ... something I plan to do, possibly this fall.

[Petronski]

Read up on the subject (Stephen Ambrose, Cornelius Ryan, Time-Life, etc.), then rent a car and stay in one of the Normandy villages near the coast. I highly recommend Arromanches-les-bains, and the wonderful Hotel de la Marine.

Buy your Michelin guide and maps and explore Normandy yourself.

Please don’t try to absorb this experience through the window of a coach bus, and for heaven’s sake, remember the first rule of travel: if you try to see it all, you’ll enjoy none of it.

Don’t be a tourist, be a traveler.

[Petronski]

Get this fine book:

ISBN 10: 0816031371

[alarm rider]

What a great trip you will have.

Also remember, that some of the WWII battlefields in France were almost the same or near WWI battlefields.

I can imagine that many sons fought on or near where their fathers fought.

Have fun.

Regards,
AR

[ncfool]

Wow! Great Thread.

My 84 year old Father wants to make the trip this summer to see Normandy Beach. He has been to France since WW2. But in WW2 he got the the area a couple of months later. His unit was the The 20th Armored Division, Combat Command R
and he was in the 70th Armored Infantry Battalion. The Got to Germany in 1945 and helped liberate some of the death camps. Over the years he has not said much about his experience and I guess its like most WW2 vets that the did what they had to do.

Last Fall we went to DC to the WW2 veteran’s Memorial and he opened up a little more to me about the time spent in the service. His unit help got to the Dachau Concentration Camp and he said the stench was horible and the conditions of the Jews there even more horible.

My Father in the 50 years I have lived never mentioned the situation of seeing Dachau with his own eyes to any of his kids. He and my Mother had traveled to Germany a few years back and revisited the area.

So I hope that this summer I can travel with my Father to view Normandy and then on to Germany to see for myself what made the WW2 Veterans the GREATEST GENERATION in AMERICAN HISTORY!

[Peter W. Kessler]

This is an old thread I started last summer. I have some very good news to report!

I’m headed to England, France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany next September!!!

I scoured the web for battlefield tours, and I think I hit the jackpot:

http://www.stephenambrosetours.com/tours/bandofb-over.html

I’ll have quite a few photos, and many memories of my trip. I’ll do my best to post ‘em here.

Thanks again, everyone, for your input. This, for me, is the trip of a lifetime.