Want to surprise boyfriend with trip to Normandy

gagiteebo

Hi all

My boyfriend is extremely interested in WWII and has always wanted to go to Normandy to see the beaches, museums etc but has never gotten around to it. I really want to surprise him with a trip there. I've been to France many times but not this area with this particular idea in mind.

Has anyone ever been there or surprised anyone with a trip there? Where would I fly to? How long should we stay? Any recommendations on what to see or do would be great too! I'm sure he knows what he'd like to see himself but seeing as it's a surprise I really can't ask him :P

Thank you

mikedragon32

I'm going to move this to the WWII forum, purely because you are bound to get good information from folk who've done trips like this.

Sounds like a great trip, I'm sure you'll find it fascinating too, even if it's not something you thought you mightn't have an interest in.

citizen_p

Havn't been myself but a few on here have.

here are a few similar threads that have been posted
thread 1
thread 2

might give you ani dea of what to visit...

tricky D

Do a search for keywords like omaha or normandy with a filter for the military forum. There's loads of info there including lots from leincar who has been there at least 44 times.

I've been there once myself, helluva place. The war cemetaries are unforgetable.

alanmcqueen

I went with group; Ryanair to Beauvais and then onto Caen. We were based there and travelled to the various sites by bus.

I want to go again with my wife but I plan to base ourselves at one of the beach areas - Arromanches for example - and travel from there to each site of interest. Caen was ok but we would prefer to be near the sea.

In short, we plan to fly cheap, hire a car and base ourselves in one area and have rough plan of where we'd like to visit. I passed so many places in the bus that I wanted to get out and look at - very frustrating - so I don't plan to restrict any future tour.

I hope this helps. It's a great area to visit so I hope you enjoy it; I'm quite sure your partner will.

rock22

I have been there a couple of times. Mostly on way somewhere else but I have taken in the beaches and museums.

I would suggest thinking of hiring a car. The beaches and museums ( Caen, arromanches , Bayeux to mention a few) are a fair distance apart and if you want to see it all having your own transport would be a big plus.

I would suggest 4 days but if you can stretch to a week, then I would suggest finishing up in Paris!

Either way I hope you enjoy your break

Ardennes1944

i was there this year for the d day anniversary so hopefully i can be of some help.
we flew into paris and drove to bayeux which is about a 2 and a half hour drive on the motorway. we thought it would be a nightmare making it out of paris but a simple printout from google maps directions was enough and we didnt get lost once.
the town of bayeux really is amazing. its largely untouched since the second world war as it did not suffer destruction unlike Caen. we spent 4 days in Normandy and made the most of it and the 3 full days we had were full without being tiring.
in that time i got to see everything i wanted to see. we saw all the coastline from arromanches all the way to st mere eglise to the west.
even if you have no interest in wwII , the area itself is beautiful and the town of port en bessin just up the road from bayeux is one that stood out for me. tell your boyfriend not to expect much at omaha as large parts of many bunkers etc have been covered over but there is still much to see.
pointe du hoc is very nice and has lots to see and one recommendation i would make (which if forgot) is bring a good led torch for the bunkers!
carentan really isnt worth the trip, its not a great place at all and my only draw there was just to say id been.
st marie du mont is nice, with a nice church in the middle of the town and a very good museum opposite the front door.
st mere eglise is nice and although the proposed drop of 700 parachutists was cancelled this year due to cloud :mad: , it was still worth going to see as much of the town is as it was. the confession boxes in the church are riddled with bullets and the odd bullet marks are in the stone walls too.

although it will be busy during the start of june i would still recommend going then ( i hate crowds ) as there was many willy jeeps and troop transporters randomly driving around with hundreds of fully dressed up ww2 look-a-likes. its amazing walking through the towns and seeing them full of army dressed folk, really gives some impression of what it may have looked like.

all in all, a great trip and i will be going back again next june to see it all again in more detail. its a very nice surprise



PS. book your accommodation in plenty of time! i can half recommend la maupassaunt in bayeux, its cheap and more importantly, clean. the owner is a bit rude but it is fine. dont be put off by reviews on tripadvisor.
i can fully recommend hotel astrid in Caen. we stayed there on our last night so we would be closer to the airport as the flight back is around 1pm.

feel free to pm me if you need more info. apologies for lack of CAPS!

colblimp

Whatever you decide, I hope your boyfriend isn't a member of Boards lol...