Stand where history changed.
On 6 June 1944, Allied forces crossed the Channel to begin the Normandy landings. Today, the beaches are peaceful, the villages welcoming—but the landscape still holds the memory of the men and women whose lives were changed by D-Day.
Across two guided battlefield tours, follow that story from the airborne landings to the shores, bridges and memorials of Normandy. This is more than seeing the places you have read about. It is an opportunity to understand them, and to remember.
Utah to Omaha. The American story.
Your first guided route connects Utah Beach, Sainte-Mère-Église, Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach, continuing to the Normandy American Cemetery and the Overlord Museum. Each stop reveals a different part of the same immense undertaking: securing a foothold in occupied France.
The night before the beaches
At Sainte-Mère-Église, the story begins in the darkness with American paratroopers. The church tower is forever linked with John Steele, whose parachute caught on the building during the landings—a human story amid the scale of the operation.
Courage on the clifftops
At Pointe du Hoc, US Rangers scaled the cliffs to assault a German gun position. The scarred ground and surviving fortifications bring the terrain into sharp focus: this was a battle fought metre by metre.
The shoreline at Omaha
Omaha was one of D-Day’s hardest-fought landing beaches. Standing beside the coast, with your guide explaining what unfolded here, turns a familiar name from the history books into a place you can begin to understand.
A moment to remember.
Above Omaha Beach, the Normandy American Cemetery offers a deeply moving contrast to the battlefields. Rows of white headstones stand against lawns and sea views, each marking an individual life.
This is a place to pause. Beyond the strategy, equipment and dates are the people who served—and the families whose stories are part of Normandy’s enduring memory.
History, seen up close.
The Overlord Museum connects the landscape to the wider Battle of Normandy through military vehicles, equipment and personal objects. Life-size reconstructions help you picture the conditions in which people lived, worked and fought.
After seeing the sites themselves, these details add another layer to the story—bringing the scale of the campaign and the everyday realities of war into the same frame.
Gold, Juno & Sword. The Allied effort.
Your second guided route follows the British and Canadian landing beaches, then explores Arromanches and its Mulberry Harbour museum, alongside Pegasus Bridge and its museum. Together, these places show that D-Day depended on more than reaching the shore: bridges had to be secured, troops supplied and hard-won positions held.
A harbour built for liberation
At Arromanches, the remains of the artificial Mulberry Harbour tell an extraordinary engineering story. Built to bring supplies ashore after the landings, it helped sustain the Allied advance. The museum explains how this ambitious plan became a working lifeline.
Different beaches, a shared purpose
British forces landed at Gold and Sword, while Canadian forces led the assault at Juno. Following this coastline brings the combined effort into view, with memorials that honour those who fought on land and supported the operation at sea.
Pegasus Bridge: the opening hours.
Before the seaborne landings began, British airborne troops captured the vital bridge over the Caen Canal. At Pegasus Bridge and its museum, discover the daring glider-borne operation and the men of the 6th Airborne Division. The original bridge, preserved in the museum grounds, is a remarkable link with those first hours of D-Day.
Time to reflect. Room to unwind.
Your Normandy base is ibis Cherbourg La Glacerie, with three nights’ dinner, bed and breakfast. Return from each day of discovery to an evening meal and a comfortable room, with breakfast ready for the following morning.
En-suite, air-conditioned rooms and Wi-Fi keep the stay straightforward, while the hotel’s restaurant and bar offer somewhere to unwind and talk over the places you have seen.
The journey, thoughtfully arranged.
Travel by coach with reserved seating and cross the Channel with DFDS between Dover and Calais. An overnight stay in a select hotel on both the outward and return journeys breaks up the travelling.
That makes five hotel nights in total: one on the way there, three in Normandy and one on the way home, all on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis.
Walk the shores. Hear the stories. Remember the people.