sightseeing ww2 in france

abceeire1

i m toying with idea of going to france for few days to do some sightseeing of ww2 related stuff, any ideas, thoughts or help?thats as far as my planning has gone so far, just the idea

Morlar

There are specialist packages and tours (can be expensive) but with a GPS and google maps you can work out your own route though.

There is lots there to see regarding WW2 and it's spread over a wide area, (La Rochelle U-boat bases, Metz etc etc).

The highest concentration of ww2 related locations is in Normandy. Here are some pics showing some of what's on offer there ;

http://www.militaria-archive.com/normandy/index.html

& down around the Nantes region

http://www.militaria-archive.com/France-Memorials/index.html

ollaetta

There are plenty specialist packages available but they are really for people who have a relatively limited knowledge of the war or who don't want to drive around themselves.

If you already have an interest and a car you can't beat doing it yourself. As Morlar says there's a hell of a lot to see and how much you do depends on how much time you have and what port you plan to start and finish from.

I've been over many times and still haven't got around to everything. Having said that, I can disappear down an old bunker for an hour or two!

chem

Id also love to tour old WWI and WWII battle sites in France. Never had the money to do it Still will make it one day (I hope!) Id love to relic hunt there. Dig up some spent shells etc. Be great to hold some of europes history in my hand

Wish you good luck, on your trip. Hope I can follow some day

kowloon

The Normandy trail is the best laid out of any of them, easiest to navigate and generally more stuff in a smaller area than anywhere else.
Other areas involve a bit more driving between sites/museums etc.

abceeire1

i like the idea of seeing old bunkers and actual places, i went to lots of museums when ilived in finland, saw tanks and guns etc , i like seeing you know the beach a certain army landed on, the bridge from a bridge to far , rather then just museums, i like being in the place history actually happened

FiSe

You wouldn't see 'a bridge too far' in Normandy as this was during operation Market Garden and you want to go to see France not Holland
But Pegasus bridge is still there, although on different spot, just a couple of hundred yards from where it was originally.

source

I did a trip to Normandy last August. Flew into Rennes and rented a car, drove to Dieppe, and worked our way back down the coast camping along the way. Did a number of museums, went to the pegasus bridge museum and did the German and American cemeteries. Visited most of the beaches, (gold, omaha, Juno and sword) and did one or two other things along the way, Mont St. Michel for one, Bayeux tapestry. Almost every town had some sort of war memorial, it was a very strange sensation standing in places where so many died. When we were finished we drove back to Rennes for the flight back home.

Camp sites are fantastic over there and are relatively cheap, if you bring cooking gear (or buy it over) then eating is pretty cheap too. we ate out a few times but mainly cooked ourselves.

It was a fantastic holiday and if you have an interest, one that is well worth doing.

itinerary: Rennes-Dieppe-St Valery en caux-Fecamp-Trouville-Deauville-Pegasus bridge-Ouistreham-Arromanches-Bayeux-La Cambe (German war cemetery)-Pointe du hoc- Grandcamp maisy-Mont St Michel-Rennes

We did a bit of internet work to see where we wanted to go and bought the Rough Guides book of Brittany and Normandy (great to have, really helped with finding camp sites and addresses for places to visit) also GPS was brilliant.