LeHavre to Normandy Beaches

[Deer230]

Can anyone give advice -- after getting off cruise ship - best way to get to Normandy Beaches

 

Taxi, bus, tour ? If a tour- any company that is best?

 

How long does it take to get there?

 

Thanks

[agabbymama]

I was also interested in this type of a tour. They are expensive. I found one company that was $1250 for 1-2 people. I found another one at $1230 for 1-6 people. Both using small vans. The tour states 9-10 hours probably allowing for traffic.

 

You would have to check you port time and plan carefully for that length of a tour. Just do a Yahoo search for "day trips from La Havre France". Lots of info out there.

 

Good Luck and Have a Great trip!

[John Bull]

Can anyone give advice -- after getting off cruise ship - best way to get to Normandy Beaches

 

Taxi, bus, tour ? If a tour- any company that is best?

 

How long does it take to get there?

 

Thanks

 

Can't be done by public transport - way too limited, complicated & time-consuming.

Tours are excellent (eg Overlord), but the prices quoted by Agabbymama are fairly typical.

Don't simply hire a taxi on arrival, the cost will be horrendous & the service/local knowledge/language-barrier a real lottery.

I've seen threads where folk have pre-booked a car/driver rather than a guided tour, & that seems to have worked out. Sorry, don't have any recommendations/contacts.

Ships' tours usually cover just American beaches/sights, and like most ships' tours they'll be over-priced.

For doing it by rented car, IMHO the best compromise, see my reply to your post on the Britain & Western Europe forum.

 

JB :)

[ell52]

Can anyone give advice -- after getting off cruise ship - best way to get to Normandy Beaches

 

Taxi, bus, tour ? If a tour- any company that is best?

 

How long does it take to get there?

 

Thanks

 

I noticed on another thread that you were asking about a tour to the Juno Beach area of Normandy. A group from our roll call have booked a tour with Normandy Sightseeing Tours. The person who contacted them asked specifically to go to the Canadian beaches and museum. There will be 8 of us for 700 Euros.

[jwds]

Check out:

 

http://www.taxis-le-havre.com

 

They show a tour to Omaha Beach but since the British/Canadian beaches are closer to Le Havre, I suspect that they would modify.

 

We have used them before, not to the landing sites, and were very pleased.

[Green Recruit]

I saw your posts here and in the Britain forum and having been to Normandy 4 times, here is my experience and some recommendations.

 

Personally I would opt to rent a vehicle but, most important, do your homework as to what you want to see.

 

I am not Canadian, but have studied Canada's participation in WWII and can recommend some good resources to study up on what can be seen. First of all, I would recommend finding a copy of " A Canadians Guide to the Battlefields of Normandy" by Terry Copp, ISBN 0-9697955-0-5. Although the book is dated from 1994 it still has some great background history and tour guide recommendations. It breaks down Canada's experience from Juno Beach to the closing battles of the Falaise Pocket. It gives a broad overview of the Canadian battlefields and provides recommended tour maps to allow you to choose what and where you can experience.

 

An overall good history of the first weeks of the Canadian experience is Mark Zuelke's "Holding Juno", 2005, ISBN 1-55365-102-2. I recommend these books since there is so much to see beyond just Juno Beach if you are aware of Canada's historical experience. Learning more may help you define your tour expectations.

 

I have never used a guided tour as what I want to see or how long I want to stay is not in my control. If you go to the Juno Beach Center on your own, you stay as long as you wish, or you travel to some other out of the way area to visit a place you find interesting. For example, I learned early in my reading of Canadian history of the murders of Canadian PoWs at the Abbaye d'Ardenne and wanted to visit that spot. On my first trip, the site was not open to the public, but ten years later it had been restored and I now had the opportunity to visit the memorial to those who died there.

 

As to car rental, I rented once from LeHavre back in 1996, having most of my trips beginning in Paris. But I have traveled from LeHavre and Paris to Normandy and the road is a main highway and easily traversed. It is about 1 hour from Le Havre to Caen and you cross the Pont Normandie just outside LeHavre, which I believe is a toll crossing. once in Caen, you have to take local roads to get to the beaches and your travel time will slow down, especially dependant on day and time of year. The beaches will be more crowded in the summer months. I have always enjoyed driving in Normandy but you need some good maps to help navigate through the small villages. Check with Michelin and get those with the best details.

 

There are many historical sites in Normandy from the various countries which fought there. Others have recommended the American beaches, Pegasus Bridge, Arromanches and others. Your time is limited for a one day trip, again do some research and decide what you want to see. We are visiting LeHavre in 2013 aboard the Independance of the Seas and noted that we are in port from 7am to 9pm. We are deciding what to do and thought about going to Normandy, but based on my experience the furthest I would venture would be to Bayeux. I would allow at least 3-4 hours just go get there and back, not even considering how early I could obtain a car and when it needed to be returned. At best, I would allow myself 6-8 hours to see the sites leaving a margin of 2-3 hours for safety.

 

In the triangle Caen-Juno-Bayeux there is much to see. There a lots of museums and historical spots as well as the off the beaten path spots that only a historian would want to visit. Juno Beach Center and the WWII museum at Caen will suck up a lot of time. (There used to be another WWII museum in Bayeux but it closed down years ago and I dont know its current status.) There is a large German gun battery at Longues as well as Pegasus Bridge and the Cafe Gondree. In addition to the Abbaye d'Ardenne there is a Canadian Cemetary near Beny-sur-Mer as well as another south of Caen.

 

South of Caen on the road to Falaise are other Canadian memorials, the furthest of these is near Chambois at St Lambert sur Dives where Major David Currie won the Victoria Cross and the Poles, who fought under Canadian command, stood against the routing Germans at Mt Ormel. These spots are very much off the beaten track, but the Norman scenery is wonderful.

 

I hope you are able to set up a memorable, though short, experience when you visit. Remember to plan beforehand and select what is important to you.

 

Dion Osika

[Chairsin]

If you are very interested in maximizing your time visiting the D-day sites and have never been there before I would suggest you definitely take a tour or hire a car and driver. Our first time in Normandy we hired a Brit by the name of Oliver Warman for a very long day ( we drove from our hotel in Honfleur to meet him in Bayeaux). We managed to fit quite a bit into one day --Pont du Hoc, many of the beaches, the American cemetary, Peagasus bridge , etc. My husband ( former military) had read just about every book on WWII and he was blown away by how much he learned. We stood on beaches with Oliver and he drew battle plans in the sand. We trooped through hedgerows and scrambled over the remains of fortifications. We felt as if we were living history.

[Cornishpastyman1]

.........you should be able to get to the places in the videos I made from my time there. They were not done on a cruise day but I would say that including travel time between the sites (but not to and from Le Havre) I spent 4 hours in all just walking around and thinking.

I have put a bit of history info in them but you'll get some idea of the geography. This first one shows the background to the invasion, Arromanches/Gold Beach and the Mulberry Harbour, Omaha Beach. If you are lucky enough to be at Arromanches when the tide is out you can walk around and even get inside the remains of Churchill's Mulberry Harbour.

 

And this shows the German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer, Pointe du Hoc, Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer

 

That battery at Longues-sur-Mer is the only such emplacement to have kept its guns and you can get inside a casemate, stand behind the barrel and imagine what it must have been like on 6 June 1944.

 

Pointe du Hoc is where the US 2nd Rangers scaled the cliffs under heavy gunfire. Their efforts remain a thing of wonder. And the Normandy American Cemetery is a fitting memorial to the nearly 11,000 Americans it honours for their ultimate sacrifice in the cause of freedom.

 

If you go to the beaches I hope you find the experience as inspiring as I did.

 

All the best, Tony

[stanjj111]

Can anyone give advice -- after getting off cruise ship - best way to get to Normandy Beaches

 

Taxi, bus, tour ? If a tour- any company that is best?

 

How long does it take to get there?

 

Thanks

 

In France for 1 day Sept 1. Looking into auto. Can rent from pier and return by 7pm. Only standard cars.

Ship tours are $200 pp.

Private tours can run up from $125 if organized by cruise critic members.

Plan on a full day.

[Chairsin]

I have rented a car to pick up at the ferry terminal for two days under $250.

[Chairsin]

One more note -- that car does have automatic transmission.

[Jackie52]

4 years ago we were all set to experience our do it yourself shore excursion in Le Havre to the beaches of Normandy. Off the ship early and walked 2 minutes to the main building which housed the car rental agency. We had prebooked an automatic for the day but when we arrived there were none available. They tried to convince me that "I could drive a manual" no problem! Well we were left in the lurch, no plans, ship excursions already left etc. We finally found a taxi and spent the time left on a tour to Honfluer. We really felt bad about missing this!

Well this fall we are off again to Normandy, on our own, not a ship's tour. We will be renting an automatic from Paris airport so we should be ok.

 

If possible call the car rental place a few days ahead and stress that you really need an automatic!

 

Take care and have fun!

 

Jackie

[Green Recruit]

4 years ago we were all set to experience our do it yourself shore excursion in Le Havre to the beaches of Normandy. We had prebooked an automatic for the day but when we arrived there were none available. Well this fall we are off again to Normandy, on our own, not a ship's tour. We will be renting an automatic from Paris airport so we should be ok.

 

I had the opposite problem on my first time driving in France. We took the ferry from Portsmouth and then rented a car at the train station. It was a standard, which I always have driven (never did drive autos till about 10 years ago). Unfortunately the shifting pattern was not one I was used to, and I missed the turnoff to Normandy and got off the highway to get back. We ended up in a small area which was downhill and ended at the river. In spite of every move I made, I couldn't get it in reverse. We were running out of room as we reached the riverbank and almost in tears. We tried to read the car manual, but it was in French and with few pictures. Finally we discovered the button on the shift handle that allowed us to put it in reverse! Our friend recently had a rental due to his car in for repairs and it was a new Jaguar. Now they have a shifting DIAL and you just turn that to select your gear.... I still like my stick shift!!!

 

OK, back to a few tips...

 

Get yourself some good maps to make your trip less hectic. If you are going to travel to the out of the way locations in France, check out maps by Michelin or better yet, the IGN (Institute Geographique National) maps.

 

Get the smallest scale that you are comfortable with. Michelin has 1/200,000 (1cm:2km) map no 231 of Normandy which is bounded by Cherbourg-Mt St Michel-Chartes-Rouen-Dieppe. Michelin No 237 is centered on Paris-Rouen-Reims-Orleans.

 

IGN maps can be obtained in smaller scale, 1/100,000 (1cm:1km). This series Green - No 6 Caen-Cherbourg is in greater detail but since in a smaller scale requires a patchwork of 3-4 other maps to cover the drive from Paris.

 

IGN also has a minutely detailed 1/25000 (1cm:250m) Series Blue maps which cover literally every farm road and building. We traveled the backroads extensively in Normandy to seek out WWII photo sites and thoroughly relied on these excellent maps. Of course, we had a small carry bag to keep them all and were constantly moving off one map to another.

 

You may find both Michelin and IGN maps on line but if you are in Paris before you begin your driving, stop in at the IGN store just 1 block off the Champs d'Elysees at 107 rue LaBoetie. This is about 5 blocks east of the Arc d'Triumphe. It is an excellent store for maps, especially for those of us who haven't begun to 'talk' to our car GPS systems.

 

Enjoy your time in Normandy....

 

Dion

[Chairsin]

Oh dear Jackie, I am starting to say my prayers that this won't happen to me! Good idea to check with them a few days prior.

[Jackie52]

Chairsin, I would also advise you to have the names and phone numbers of any nearby rental places just in case your automatic falls through.

 

When are you going?

 

Jackie

[Deer230]

Thanks everyone for your comments--appreciate your help.

[Chairsin]

Jackie,

We are going in May.