Some journeys from Paris are excursions. This one is a pilgrimage. The beaches where the Allied landings began on 6 June 1944 — Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, Sword — draw visitors from across the world, and especially Americans tracing where fathers, grandfathers and great-uncles came ashore. It is a long day from Paris, and one worth doing properly: unhurried, door to door, on your own schedule.
The honest logistics first
The heart of the American sector sits about 270 km west of Paris — roughly 3 hours each way by car. There is no practical rail option: Bayeux station is 2h15 from Paris and the sites stretch along 80 km of coastline with nothing connecting them but the road. That leaves two real choices: a group coach on a fixed clock, or a private chauffeur on yours. A full private day runs 12 to 13 hours door to door, typically leaving Paris at 7:00–7:30 and returning for a late dinner.
The day at a glance
Distance: ~270 km each way · Drive: ~3h per leg · On site: 5–6 hours across the main sites · Total: a full day (12–13 h) · Included with your chauffeur: hotel-door pickup, fixed price agreed at booking, the vehicle and driver at your disposal all day, water on board, and an itinerary built around what matters to you.
The essential circuit
Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer. Start here at opening (9:00 in summer). Nine thousand three hundred and eighty-seven headstones above Omaha Beach; the visitor centre gives the day its context, and the morning quiet gives it its weight. Most visitors want more time here than any tour allows — with your own driver, take it.
Omaha Beach. Down at the shore, the scale becomes physical: the width of sand the first waves crossed, the bluffs above. The Les Braves sculpture at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer marks the spot simply.
Pointe du Hoc. The cliff the Rangers scaled under fire, still cratered exactly as the bombardment left it. The most viscerally preserved site on the coast.
Arromanches. The remains of the Mulberry artificial harbour still stand in the bay — engineering that supplied the entire invasion. A natural late-afternoon stop, with the museum on the seafront.
With an early start, the western sites — Utah Beach and Sainte-Mère-Église, where the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st landed — can be added; tell us when booking and we plan the timing accordingly.
Lunch in Bayeux — and a detour worth knowing
Bayeux, miraculously spared in 1944, makes the ideal lunch stop: a medieval centre, its cathedral, and — if your schedule allows 45 minutes — the 950-year-old Bayeux Tapestry, itself the story of another cross-Channel invasion, in the opposite direction. On the return to Paris, a stop in Honfleur's painted harbour softens the road home beautifully.
A note on guides
Your chauffeur drives; he is not a licensed battlefield guide. Many visitors find the visitor centres and site museums give all the depth they need. If you want expert interpretation, we can coordinate a licensed local guide to join you for the core sites — ask when you book and we will arrange the day around it.
Practical notes
The cemetery is open daily (9:00–18:00 in season); entry to the beaches and Pointe du Hoc is free. Weather on the Channel coast turns quickly — bring a layer even in July. Comfortable shoes for Pointe du Hoc's uneven ground. For families or groups, our V-Class and Sprinter make the long day genuinely comfortable for up to eight passengers.
A full day in Normandy, planned around what matters to you — fixed price, door to door.
Plan My Normandy Day