Despite living in France for three years, I didn’t do much sight seeing. So when the opportunity arose to spend 2 days in Normandy, visiting Mont St. Michel and the D-Day Landing beaches in the north-west of the country, we leapt at it.
We didn’t have a great deal of time to play with as we were visiting my parents further south in France, but we gave ourselves a couple of days in Normandy, basing ourselves near Mont St. Michel, with the aim of exploring both that and the Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches.
Which was what we did. In this post, we’re going to share everything you need to know to spend two days in Normandy, including some tips on where to stay.
We’ve also put some tour options together in case you don’t want to do this all yourself. The closest tour to the itinerary we have described is this one, which departs from Paris, but we have a number of options including tours departing from Bayeux.
Now though, let’s get started with our guide to exploring the Normandy Landing beaches and Mont St. Michel over two days.
Table of Contents:
2 Days in Normandy
Day 1: Visit Mont St. Michel
When we visited Mont St. Michel and the D-Day beaches we were travelling from the UK. We took the overnight ferry with Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to St. Malo. This meant that we had a good night’s sleep, arriving into France at around 9am local time.
Our guest house was an hour’s drive from St. Malo, and they were fine with us arriving early, so we did just that. After dropping our belongings off and parking the car, our first day was largely spent exploring Mont St. Michel.
This was, very conveniently, within walking distance of our guest house. This is a handy tip – if you’re going to stay near Mont St. Michel, stay within walking distance.
There’s no way to drive to the island on your own, and if you park there’s a daily fee for doing so (unless you park in the evening when it becomes free). And I’m sure you’d prefer to spend that money on a nice bottle of local cider, or a few glasses of wine, like we did.
There is a causeway to the island, and a free shuttle bus runs from the car park to the island. However, I’d suggest that for your first visit, you walk all the way to the island. The views are gorgeous all the way, and you can really appreciate the magnificence of the island as you get closer to it. Then, you can get the shuttle bus on the way home!
The island itself had more on it than I was expecting. There’s a whole village, with shops, two ATM’s, a number of restaurants and of course, plenty of places to buy souvenirs from your visit. There are even hotels on the island, so you can stay over and enjoy Mont St. Michel when the crowds dissipate for the night.
Speaking of crowds, the streets are narrow, so it can get crowded. We visited on a less busy than average day, and it still got tight in places, so I imagine that in summer it must be very busy!
After stopping for lunch (many places do a menu of the day option for €17 – €20), we followed the street up to the Abbey which crowns the hill. This is the key point of pilgrimage for visitors, and the focal point of the island.
It’s not free to visit the Abbey, with opening hours varying depending on the season. Check the latest opening hours and prices here.
We suggest buying your ticket in advance online here to skip the queues. The online price is the same as buying it in person.
The good news is that entry includes an hour-long guided tour. Tours depart somewhat regularly and are offered in both French and English.
Obviously, we went for the English language option, and had a wonderful tour that taught us about the history of the abbey, the key events that led to its construction and look today, as well as the function of many of the rooms.
If you visit, I’d very much recommend taking the tour to learn a bit about the place. But if there is not a tour going during your visit, you can also purchase an audioguide or just do a self-guided tour with the free leaflet included.
Finally, once the tour was over, we headed out of the abbey and took the bus back to the mainland, where we had a spot of dinner accompanied by some excellent Normandy cider.
I then spent the evening capturing the sunset over the Mont, which was just gorgeous. So good in fact that I went the next night as well!
Day 2: Visit the D-Day Normandy Landing Beaches
Our second day in Normandy was a busy one. Having had a full day to explore Mont St. Michel at our leisure, we set ourselves the challenge of visiting some of the D-Day landing beaches in France.
There are quite a variety of sights, museums, memorials and attractions to visit, but we only had a day, so put together an itinerary that we felt was going to give us a good overview of the area and history. Here’s what we did, which we think makes for a good day of exploring the D-Day landing beaches and museums.
1. Utah Beach & Utah Beach D-Day Museum
We started by visiting Utah beach, where there is an excellent D-Day museum dedicated to the landings at Utah Beach.
From our research, this was indicated to be one of the best D-Day landing museums, and even though time meant we didn’t visit any of the others, it was certainly an excellent way to start our journey.
With a focus on the events at Utah Beach specifically, one of the US landing beaches, the museum went over the key highlights of 6th June 1944, including the planning leading up to it, and the story of the day itself.
There was an excellent video about the day, oral histories as well as objects and vehicles that were used.
Most impressive of these is an original B-26 bomber, one of six surviving in the world, and of the same type as those used during the bombing runs that happened in the moments before the men landed on the beach.
We then spent some time on the actual beach, and viewing the various memorials. It’s hard to really visualise what it must have been like here all those years ago, and I have to say that visiting the museum was a really worthwhile way to get a really good overview of how it was.
We then had a break for lunch in the wonderful Le Roosevelt Cafe, built around a bunker which housed a German communications center. Then, we headed on to:
2. Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
Found in Coleville-Sur-Mer, and managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the Normandy American Cemetry and Memorial is the final resting place of over 9,000 US military personnel, the majority of whom lost their lives either during the D-Day landings, or in the days and weeks following the landings.
It was the first US WW2 cemetery on European soil, and was established as a temporary location on the 8th of June – two days after the landings started – a necessity given the high casualty rates, particularly at nearby Omaha Beach, which was the most heavily defended of all the landing locations.
Today, there is a visitor center, a memorial, chapel, and of course, the cemetery itself, all of which are free to visitors.
The visitor center is excellent, telling the story of the landings with a focus on the personal stories and losses of the people involved, particularly at Omaha beach.
It’s very worth taking some time to fully explore this. Then, of course, the cemetery is a sombre reminder of quite how many people died in this conflict.
3. Omaha Beach Monument
From the War Cemetery we headed back down to Omaha Beach itself, and the monument to the D-Day landings.
There are actually two installations here – the huge monument itself, and a huge stainless steel art installation known as “The Braves”, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the landings.
Both are worth looking at, and of course, you’ll want to spend some time here on the beach as we did, casting your mind back across the decades, and just trying to get a tiny idea of the horrors that were witnessed here.
4. Pointe Du Hoc
Our last stop on our D-Day Landings Day was Pointe Du Hoc. This is a rocky cliff top area, the highest point of land between Utah and Omaha beaches, and during WW2, was a heavily defended German installation and lookout point.
It was thought that the destruction of this stronghold was going to be critical to the success of the D-Day landings, as the six 155mm guns that were believed to be installed here could have wreaked devastation on forces landing at both Omaha and Utah beaches.
To accomplish this mission, a 225 strong force of US Rangers was dispatched in the early hours of June 6th, with the mission of scaling the 100ft cliffs and destroying the 155mm guns.
As it turned out, the guns had all been moved to a nearby orchard to protect them from Allied bombardments, so whilst the rangers did find them and destroy them, the risk was not as great as first thought. The battle for Pointe Du Hoc was also costly, with 70 percent casualties, so even though deemed a success, it was with a brutal loss of life.
Today, Pointe Du Hoc serves as a monument to the Rangers who fought here. Other than the encroachment of nature, the site is not much different today to how it was when the Rangers landed.
Many of the original concrete bunkers, bomb craters and installations are still in place, and you can freely wander the area, and marvel at the challenges that must have faced the men landing here, from the rough seas to the 100ft cliffs to the barbed wire.
There is also a visitor centre, although it had just closed when we arrived. If it is something that interests you though, you can check the opening hours here to be sure that you schedule your day appropriately.
Pointe Du Hoc was the last stop on our tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches. It wasn’t the sort of day that fills you with joy, but I certainly learnt a great deal, and left with a heightened sense of admiration and respect for the many people who gave their lives so Europe and the world could be free.
Now, on to answering some questions you might have, as well as some practicalities.
Where we stayed in Normandy
There are lots of options for accommodation at Mont St. Michel. We found ourselves a little chambre d’hote, which is the French equivalent of a B&B.
This was excellent value, and within walking a half hour’s walk of Mont St. Michel – and more importantly, a ten-minute walk to where I was able to get photos like this:
We actually found that there are lots of these in the Mont St. Michel area, you can see Mont St Michel listings here on booking.com
There were three Chambres D’Hotes near each other, including the one we stayed at, with a price for two people, including breakfast, usually in the region of €70 – €120. Definitely an option worth investigating.
How To Get Around Normandy
Since we took the ferry, we were able to take our own car to France. This was very handy, and definitely meant we got to see everything we wanted to see at our pace.
I’d definitely recommend a car as the best option to get as much in as you can for your trip. If you’re coming from the UK, Brittany Ferries operates to a number of destinations in France, with Cherbourg, St. Malo and Caen likely to be your best options for a trip like the one we did.
If you’re looking to hire a car in France, we recommend searching for your car rental on Discover Cars here. They compare a range of providers so you can find the best deal for your trip.
Tours of Normandy and the D-Day Beaches
If you would rather not have the hassle of planning your car hire or hotels, it’s also possible to visit the D-Day beaches and Mont St. Michel on a guided tour. This will also carry the benefit that you will have someone on hand to explain the significance of what you are seeing.
It is possible to do this as a day trip from Paris, however the day trips will focus on either Mont St. Michel or the D-Day Beaches, as doing both would be challenging in a day from Paris. There are however two day (and longer) tours like this which cover both sights. Here are some options:
- A 1 day tour from Paris of Mont. St Michel, which includes transport and your entry ticket
- A 1 day tour from Paris of the Normandy D-Day landing beaches, which includes transport, museum entry and guide
- A 2-day tour of Normandy, Saint Malo and Mont St Michel from Paris, which includes transport, overnight 4* accommodation, some meals, a guide, and entrance fees. This would be our recommended option from Paris if you have the time as it covers many of the locations in our guide.
There are many more tours to choose from, you can see a selection on Viator here, and GetYourGuide here
These tours all run from Paris as this is the most popular departure point. However, there are also tours from Bayeux in Normandy, which you can reach by a 2.5 hour train from Paris. In this case, we’d suggest booking a 1 day tour of the D-Day beaches, and a 1 day tour of Mont. St Michel. Here are some options:
- A 1 day tour of Mont St. Michel, including transport and guide
- A private 1 day tour of Mont St. Michel, also including transport and guide. This is a similar tour with departure from either Caen or Bayeux.
- A 1 day small group tour of the D-Day beaches, with a particular focus on the beaches used by the American forces.
Getting To Normandy from the UK
As mentioned above, we took the ferry from Portsmouth to St. Malo (and back again!) with Brittany Ferries.
We had a four berth cabin on both crossings, which was particularly handy for the night crossing to France as it meant we could have a good night’s sleep. Each cabin also includes a sink, toilet, and shower so you can arrive feeling refreshed.
The boat was also well equipped, and we enjoyed an excellent dinner on board on our way to France, and a lovely lunch on the day crossing back. In the evening, after our dinner, we went and watched the cabaret show (and partook of the excellent bar!), with Jess having a huge cocktail and me going for a slightly simpler beer option.
Jess also got involved in the magic show (this seems to happen to her a lot!), as a man rather worryingly stuck a sword through her throat. This was a lot of fun, and overall, we’re happy to recommend the Brittany Ferries experience to anyone looking to travel to and from the UK by ferry with a car.
Further Reading for your Visit
We’ve written more about France to help you plan your visit to this lovely country. Here are some resources we think you’ll find useful:
- We have a 2 Day Paris Itinerary as well as a 3 Day Paris Itinerary
- We also have a guide to spending a day in Paris, if you’re on a really tight schedule and just want to focus on the highlights
- Our guide to the Best Photography Locations in Paris
- A full review of the Paris Pass, to help you save money on your visit, as well as a review of the Paris Museum Pass
- A guide to the best afternoon tea in Paris
- A guide to choosing the best Seine Boat River tour
- A guide to recognising and avoiding common Paris scams
And that pretty much wraps up our two days experience in Normandy! Have you ever visited the sights in the article? Have any tips or experiences to share? Let us know about them in the comments below!
So you know, we received complimentary tickets from Brittany Ferries to and from the UK for two people and a car. All other expenses, including meals and drinks on the boat, as well as our accommodation and activities in France, we covered ourselves. As always, you can read our code of ethics to find out how we choose to work with!
Claire says
This was an incredibly helpful post. Thank you!
Laurence Norah says
Glad to be able to help Claire! Have a good time visiting Normandy and do let me know if you have any questions 🙂
Laurence
Michael Giblin says
Hi Jessica
Thanks for the interesting article, especially the links to other information. We plan to go to France in Septembers, spend 6 nights in Paris then take the train to Bayeux rent a car and spend 3 days visiting the Normandy sites then spend 3 nights in Tours visiting the Loire Valley. Then take the train To Paris and head home. Your travel log is really helpful because after reading yours and many travel logs, we realize we can rent a car and do self-guided tours and go at our own pace. My wife speaks French so that will be a big help. Thank you.
Laurence Norah says
It’s our pleasure Michael, have a wonderful trip to France and do let us know if you have any questions!
Eileen Cowley says
I love all this wonderful and insiteful information about a 2 day Normandy visit. We will visit Mont St. Michel on the 1st day, and the beaches you recommended on the second. Should we stay 2 nights in the hotel close to St. Michel. or check out, visit the beaches and choose another location close to Point de Hoc? Thank you!
Laurence Norah says
Hi Eileen,
Thanks very much! So I would probably recommend checking out and moving on so you don’t have to drive backwards and forward so much. Of course, it will depend a bit on your overall itinerary, but personally I’d find somewhere closer to where you’ll be visiting on your second day.
Have a lovely time in France, let me know if you have any more questions!
Laurence
Linda Karol says
Hello! My so is in the Air Force and was recently involved in the DDay Reinactment. I will go onto your Facebook site and post some of his pictures for you.
Laurence Norah says
Thank you very much Linda 🙂
karen says
we are staying in Dol De Bretagne for a week ( arriving in st Malo) then driving up to normandy on the Friday so we can see the D Day beaches etc before getting the ferry on the Sunday from Caen back to the UK.
we will have 2 days and your itinerary has been big help , where do you think the best place to stay is please ? Caen ? Bayeux , or somewhere else. we need to be at Caen for 7.30 on the Sunday morning for the ferry so don’t want to have to travel too far to get there.
we are leaving Dol early fri morning so will have 2 full days .
thanks for your help
Laurence Norah says
Hi Karen,
I think either Caen or Bayeux would work. Caen would obviously be easier for your early morning ferry, so I might opt for that, and it’s not too far to the majority of beaches. There are also lots of accommodation options in Caen as you can see here.
Have a great trip and let me know if you have any more questions!
Laurence
Nicolas Mata says
Very educational. By the way, how did you create your own blog?
Laurence Norah says
Thanks Nicolas! I created it initially back in 2010 using Google’s free Blogger service. Then I migrated to a paid service using WordPress. We actually have a complete guide to starting a blog, which you might find interesting 🙂
Patricia says
Fantastic comments and beautiful photos. Thank you
Laurence Norah says
Thanks very much Patricia!
Stuart Robertson says
As the majority of troops to land on D-Day were British, it’s a shame you visited exclusively American sites. For information, Omaha was not the most heavily defended beach, Sword was.
Laurence Norah says
Hi Stuart,
Thanks for your comment! As my wife is American and had family members who took part in the landings, those were the beaches we chose to visit as they had the most personal connection to us. My grandfather was British, but I believe his war was primarily in Italy. Of course we are grateful for all their service, but don’t feel they would think any the less of us for which beach we visited. Hopefully we will be able to return soon and see more of the landing locations.
In terms of Omaha vs Sword, do you have a citation for that? The Imperial War Museum website here state that Omaha was the most heavily defended of the beaches, but I would add I am happy to change the information if there’s a more authoritative source.
Thanks again for your comment!
Laurence
Linda Hyers says
We are going to Paris mid July and want to go to Normandy & St Michel. Looks like most of the tours leave on Thurs. we need to tour on Tues-Friday. Any ideas?
Laurence Norah says
Hi Linda!
Hmm, that is a bit of a conundrum. I have a few options for you, depending on your budget.
First, there are a number of private tours you can take, where the day is less relevant. However, these are definitely more pricey. There are quite a few options listed on Viator, such as this one.
You might also try reaching out to Context Travel who do custom private tours of Normandy here. You get a 10% discount with our link too.
If the above options are out of budget, I have another idea.
You could take a 1 day tour of the Normandy Beach locations, like this one.
The advantage of the above tour is that is actually starts in Caen train station, not Paris, so you are not paying for a return trip to Paris as part of the tour. Instead, you would need to book your own train ticket to Caen. The fastest train takes around 2h – 2h30, so if you get an early train you can be in Caen by 9am.
You would then take the full day tour of the D-Day beaches and sights, which are harder to see without a tour or if you don’t have your own transport. You can then overnight in Caen, or head on to Mont St. Michel.
There’s a direct bus from Caen to Mont St. Michel, which takes around 3 hours. You can book this online. You can then spend the day exploring Mont St. Michel before heading back to Paris.
I appreciate this would be a bit more work on your end, but it would be much more cost effective than a private tour, and you would only need to book your train / coach tickets. You can book both of those in advance here.
Let me know if you need any further advice, I’m happy to help!
Laurence
Maria says
Hi !!! Love the way you write and off course your photografy! My soon to be 15 year old son wants a trip to the D day beaches. We will be in London for 6 days then Paris for two days then we plan to be in Normandy for two days and we want to make sure we see Mt St Michel and the D day beaches! (Great suggestions from you on the aviator tours for 1 day only on those- we most probably book that) Is any way we can go from there back to London (to depart to the US) with out going back to Paris? Somebody suggested the ferry but then is there a train to London ? We obviously won’t have a car.
Laurence Norah says
Thanks very much Maria!
So yes, you can definitely take a ferry from Normandy or Brittany to the UK. Ferries depart from Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre or Saint Malo and go to Portsmouth, and then it’s easy to take a train from Portsmouth directly to London, it takes around 2 hours. There’s also plenty to see in Portsmouth!
A couple of guides you might find useful:
This guide to getting from Paris to London, which actually has ferry information for all the major ports you should find helpful:
https://independenttravelcats.com/how-to-get-from-london-to-paris/
This guide to things to do in Portsmouth:
https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/things-to-do-in-portsmouth-uk/
Let me know if I can help any more, and have a great trip!
Laurence
Kristi says
This info is fantastic. We’re planning a trip in June from London into Paris, then Normandy. Frankly, Normandy is to be our highlight, as its my husband’s 50th and its a bucket list item. We are taking our three kids (8,12, 14) and all love history. I’m doing my homework and came across your site. Thank you for this info. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to see both MSM and the American beaches/cemetery/museum. should we have a hub in Caen? We do want to take our time in the Normandy region and not be too rushed. Thank you!!
Laurence Norah says
Hi Kristi,
Thanks very much! I would definitely recommend having a base somewhere so you can have at least two days to explore. You’ll need at least a full day for the D-Day sites, and at least half a day for MSM. We based ourselves near MSM, but that was purely because I love photography, so I wanted to be within walking distance of the Mount at sunset and sunrise! Caen would make a great base for both, easy for the beaches and other D-Day sites, and within easy driving distance of MSM. It’s also accessible by direct train from Paris in 2 hours, which is going to be the fastest way to get there, and then you can hire a car in Caen.
Let me know if you have any more questions, I hope you have a wonderful trip and happy birthday to your husband 😀
Laurence
Michelle says
We are traveling from Paris to Rennes by train. Renting a car and driving to Mont St Michel. I would love to see Dinan but it may possibly be to far “out of the way” and I don’t want to rush MSM but a few hours should be plenty there…? I would like to stay somewhere near MSM for one night. Then the next morning drive to Bayeux and DDay beaches staying in Caen to return car and hop on the train back to Paris. Any suggestions of towns to visit or see along the route from MSM to Bayeux? Also any suggestions of towns to stay in near MSM.
Laurence Norah says
Hi Michelle!
Sorry for the slow response! We’ve been moving house, which has been a bit time consuming, and left us without internet for a while.
Anyway, you are correct, a few hours at Mont St Michel would be more than enough. It’s around an hour from Mont St. Michel to Dinan, so that would be theoretically doable in the same day.
From MSM to Bayeux is only 1h 38 minutes. So I would suggest just heading up that way and straight to the coast and the beaches, which run for a fair distance along the coast north of Bayeux.
For accommodation near MSM, well, you can either stay on the Mont itself, or one of the nearby villages. If you look at the map on this page, you should get an idea of nearby accommodation options 🙂
Have a great trip!
Laurence
Susan Haydon says
Hi Laurence,
We are off to Normandy this coming weekend. Do you have an approximate cost of entry fees to museums etc. or can you point me in the right direction to find these? Also, I would love to print this article to take with us. Is there a way to print it without all the ads?
Thank you to you and Jess for the excellent coverage of this wonderful location.
Laurence Norah says
Hi Susan!
So we don’t have a print feature like that – the best option would be to temporarily install an ad blocking extension I think. Alternatively you could copy the text into a word document and delete the ads / images.
For the museums, the prices are quite well hidden, if you can even find the website 😉 They vary, but i would estimate between €8 and €12 euros on average. For example, here are the Utah Museum prices:
https://www.utah-beach.com/information/?lang=en
Have a wonderful trip, do let us know how you get on 🙂
Laurence
Susan Haydon says
Many thank, will do ????
Laurence Norah says
Hi Susan,
I hope you had a great trip. This is too late for your Normandy trip, but in case you use our site in the future, I just wanted to let you know that we finally figured out how to implement a print feature, so you can now print ad and image free versions of all our pages from the print button on the site.
Enjoy!
Laurence
stephane yao says
Hi Laurence,
we plan to take on 1 day trip from the mont st michelle to the destination deauville. During this day, is it possible to follow your 3 landing location in 1 day by a rented car?
sincerly
Stéphane
Laurence Norah says
Hi Stéphane,
This is definitely possible as Jess and I did exactly this 🙂 So you shouldn’t have any problems,
Best
Laurence
Mai says
Hi there im heading to st.malo at the end of this month with hubbie is there a tour bus r train that culd take us to utah beach and the ww11 memorial that u mentioned thankyou
Laurence Norah says
Hi Mai,
It’s around a 2.5 hour drive to the D-Day beaches from St. Malo, so most tour companies instead operate from nearer locations like Cherbourg. From St. Malo, most tours are focused instead on Mont St. Michel. So the best option is likely to rent a car and drive yourself as I have not been able to find a tour from St. Malo. It is of course possible that they exist, but you might have to contact the local tourism office in St. Malo for information.
Best
Laurence
Mai says
Thankyou Laurence
betseysheprow says
is it possible to get a group guided tour of normandy and is it worth it?
Laurence Norah says
Hi there,
It is certainly possible, here are two options, this one from Caen, and this one from Paris.
We have never done a tour like this so I can’t comment if it is worth it, but the reviews are positive, and we think that having a guide to help walk you through some of the history can only be a good thing 🙂
Have a great trip
Laurence
Stuart Robertson says
Do bear in mind its a 9 hour round trip drive from central Paris to Utah Beach. A day trip from Paris is doable but it’s much better to get an early train from St Laxare to Carentan (depart 7am & 2.5 hrs) and then get a tour commencing there (look up Allan Bryson – a great guide).
Laurence Norah says
This is absolutely true. We definitely feel the train is a better option and ideally folks should spend at least one night as well in the area if possible, if not more!