Caen Trip Overview
Half a day visit to Normandy D-Day battle sites and British landing beaches from Caen
Travel with your own group (3/6 travellers) aboard a comfortable and air-conditioning Minivan for a more personalized atmosphere
Step back in time on a history tour, and learn about the events of June 6, 1944
Stop at the exact location where the original « Pegasus Bridge » used to stand and first spot where the british paratroopers landed aboard gliders on D-day .
Pay your respects to the fallen British soldiers visiting the British Normandy Memorial overlooking Gold Beach.
Be amazed to see the German artillery battery of Longues-sur-Mer.
The battery is the only one in Normandy to retain all its original 150mm guns in site .
Discover the pretty little town of Arromanche and the vestiges of the artificial port (Mulberry B Harbour) laid within few days by british engineers in June 1944.
Dive into the D-day landing and the Battle of Normandy inside the 360 Circular cinema in Arromanches
Additional Info
Duration: 6 hours
Starts: Caen, France
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Cultural Tours
Explore Caen Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Caen, Normandie, France
Half a day visit to Normandy D-Day battle sites and British landing beaches from Caen
Travel with your own group (3/6 travellers) aboard a comfortable and air-conditioning Minivan for a more personalized atmosphere
Step back in time on a history tour, and learn about the events of June 6, 1944
Stop at the exact location where the original « Pegasus Bridge » used to stand and first spot where the british paratroopers landed aboard gliders on D-day .
Pay your respects to the fallen British soldiers visiting the British Normandy Memorial overlooking Gold Beach.
Be amazed to see the German artillery battery of Longues-sur-Mer.
The battery is the only one in Normandy to retain all its original 150mm guns in site .
Discover the pretty little town of Arromanche and the vestiges of the artificial port (Mulberry B Harbour) laid within few days by british engineers in June 1944.
Dive into the D-day landing and the Battle of Normandy inside the 360 Circular cinema in Arromanches
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Pegasus Bridge, avenue Major John Howard, 14860 Ranville France
After meeting With your driver-guide “Régis” you will travel to the Normandy beaches aboard an air-conditioned minivan.
Pegasus Bridge is a bascule bridge, that was built in 1934, that crossed the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham, in Normandy, France.
Also known as the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, it was, with the nearby Ranville Bridge over the river Orne, a major objective of the British airborne troops during Operation Deadstick, part of Operation Tonga in the opening minutes of the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War.
A unit of glider infantry of the 2nd Battalion, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, British 6th Airborne Division, commanded by Major John Howard, was to land, take the bridges intact and hold them until relieved.
The successful taking of the bridges played an important role in limiting the effectiveness of a German counter-attack in the days and weeks following the Normandy invasion.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Sword Beach, Ouistreham Calvados, Bassa Normandia, 14150 France
The Kieffer Monument is in tribute to the commandos who landed on June 6th 1944 and was opened on June 6th 1984 by Francois Mitterrand the French President and Andre LEDTAN Mayor of Ouistreham.
The memorial “La Flamme” is large metal flame housed on top of a German bunker. The pathway leading to the memorial is lined with stones with the names of the French commando’s who were killed on June 6th, 1944.
There is also a statue of Brigadier Lord Lovat who ordered his personal piper Bill Millin to play Highland Laddie as he led British Commandos ashore on D-Day as portrayed in the film The Longest Day.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: British Normandy Memorial, Rue Des Roquettes, 14114 Ver-sur-Mer France
The British Normandy Memorial stands just outside the village of Ver-sur-Mer overlooking Gold Beach, one of the two beaches where British forces landed on 6 June 1944 (D-Day). It records the names of all those under British command who lost their lives in Normandy between 6 June and 31 August 1944. On the columns of the memorial are the names of more than 22,000 men and women. The majority of these names are those of the British soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who lost their lives on D-Day and in the weeks that followed.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Batterie Allemande de Longues-Sure-Mer, West of Arromanches-les-Bains, Longues-sur-Mer France
The Longues-sur-Mer battery was a World War II German artillery battery constructed near the French village of Longues-sur-Mer in Normandy. The battery was sited on a 60 m (200 ft) cliff overlooking the sea and formed a part of Germany’s Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications. It was located between the Allied landing beaches of Gold and Omaha and shelled both beaches on D-Day (6 June 1944). The battery was captured on June 7 and played no further part in the Normandy campaign.
The battery is the only one in Normandy to retain all its original guns in situ and was listed an historical monument in October 2001. It remains in a good state of conservation.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Arromanches 360 Circular Cinema, Chemin du Calvaire, 14117 Arromanches-les-Bains France
Located on the Arromanches clifftops, the Arromanches 360 Circular cinema dominates the remnants of one of the two artificial Mulberry harbours set up by the Allies.
This is how the Arromanches 360 cinema’s new film starts. On both sides of the channel, people were preparing for this very expected moment.
The Battle of Normandy thus began; the paratroopers on the night of the 5th to the 6th of June, then the landings on the five world’s best known sandy beaches, in the Manche and Calvados departments. The Normans were to experience a three-month long battle on their own soil which would not be completed on the day Paris was liberated.
The images chosen for this film and its nine screens are exceptional. English, Canadian, German, American and French archives.
A film of pure historical intensity.
Duration : 19 minutes
Duration: 40 minutes
Stop At: Remains Mulberry Harbour, Harbor of Arromanches les Bains Place du Groupe Ile de France Plage d’Arromanches, 14117 Arromanches-les-Bains France
Arromanches is remembered as a historic place of the Normandy landings and in particular as the place where a Mulberry harbour artificial port was installed. This artificial port allowed the disembarkation of 9,000 tons of material per day.
It was on the beach of Arromanches that, during the Invasion of Normandy immediately after D-Day, the Allies established an artificial temporary harbour to allow the unloading of heavy equipment without waiting for the conquest of deep water ports such as Le Havre or Cherbourg.The port was commissioned on 14 June 1944.
The British built huge floating concrete caissons which, after being towed from England, then had to be assembled to form walls and piers forming and defining the artificial port called the Mulberry harbour. These comprised pontoons linked to the land by floating roadways.
Today sections of the Mulberry harbour still remain with huge concrete blocks sitting on the sand and more can be seen further out at sea.
Duration: 30 minutes
