[Closed] D-Day beaches - Where to visit?

The Musee de la Paix in Caen is a must see. It's very, very good indeed.

Caen itself is a nice little city as well. I used to live there. Will try and remember to write more detail when I'm not so jetlagged! 🙂

There's a big museum at Arromanches; from memory there may also be something at Port-en_Bessin, overlooking Omaha Beach, but it was a long time ago (my visit, not the invasion, we all know when that was)

Bayeux also is not very far away, worth visiting to see the "tapestry". US Paras also landed in Sainte-Mere-Eglise near Utah beach on the Cherbourg penninsula, but I don't know if there's anything particular there to commemorate(sp) it.

And of course Caen is also worth a visit. Most of it was flattened during the battle for the city but IIRC the original castle is still there, where William Duke of Normandy (and later William I of England) came from

I'd say Caen, I guess the museum we went to was the one mentioned by Flashy. The cemetaries were quite something. The whole area has it's own history, we went to pick up a medal for my stepfather's father who was one of the [url= http://untoldvalor.blogspot.com/2007/08/world-war-two-glider-pilots-rare-breed.html ]glider pilots[/url], AWESOME in the true sense.

I was gonna say Normandy, but then I realised what you meant 🙂

Arromanches also has the remains of the Mulberry Harbour just offshore.

US Paras also landed in Sainte-Mere-Eglise near Utah beach on the Cherbourg penninsula, but I don't know if there's anything particular there to commemorate(sp) it.

there's a dummy parachutist hanging from the church tower.

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awesome

Plenty of websites with loads of tourist info + do a Google Earth and you'll be able to see some of the stuff you might fancy looking at (and naturally mapping a route together as a result).

Went there years ago and it was very emotive. Want to go back for sure.

German, American and British cemeteries are all worth a visit; the atmosphere quite different in each & designed to appeal to the respective nations. Quite sobering.

The geography of Omaha compared with some of the others and the shear scale of what happened there make that worth seeing.

American Museum at Omaha Beach, its where they started the film Saving PRivate Ryan, very interesting and when walking up from the beach made me very glad I wasnt trying to fight up it

[url= http://www.imnotthealien.com/gallery/omaha/ ]Pics here[/url]

The bridge that was taken by the Glider landings did a light and sound show in the evenings i seem to remember from 20 years back, there are still floating harbors on the main beaches.

I don't recall all the museums etc we went to, but a long weekend visiting various war sites in Normandy 6 years ago is still one of the best trips I've ever done. Can definitely recommend a visit to Pegasus Bridge and the big cemetery, which in particular is an extremely humbling experience.

I wish I could remember some of the places that I visited with my stepdad as a kid.. we found quite a few old sites that were overgrown and uncared for.. forgotten about almost..
we actually went into some of these old gun emplacements and pillboxes etc and found german relics a few inches under the mud and slime inside the buildings.. headed notepads.. buttons

very haunting for a 13 year old

The pick of the museums is undoubtedly the one at Bayeux - by far. If you only get to do one, it has to be that one. The American cemetery above Omaha is quite moving. The beach at Arromanches is probably the most interesting of the beaches because of the remnants of Mulberry. The Pont du Hoc is an incredible relic.

To be honest, where ever you are in Normandy the evidence of battle is to be seen. It took me a while to figure out why it all felt so familiar, until I figured that like the Brum that I'd grown up in, Normandy towns have nearly all been rebuilt after the war.

Every now and then you'll see a ruined building in the middle of a field and the implications of that will hit you. It's a really fascinating place for all historians.

Sainte-Mere-Eglise is worth a visit, first town liberated and all that thanks to the 82nd Airbone.

The dummy parachutist hanging from the church tower is there in commemoration of Private John Steele who landed there and got tangled up. He lived through it though. Great pub over the road named for him, Auberge John Steele.

Incredible saucisse-frites in the marketplace too.

mikewsmith - Member
The bridge that was taken by the Glider landings did a light and sound show in the evenings i seem to remember from 20 years back, there are still floating harbors on the main beaches.

Pegasus Bridge.

Utter heroics from 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, later reinforced by 7 Para.