We are going to Paris in April and plan on taking a train to Caen.
We will spend a day and a half then take the train back to Paris.
Looking for the best tour but also thinking of renting a car in Caen
and driving to as many sights as possible.
Has anyone rented a car and drove in Normandy?
I have done WW II reenactments in College Station and
Austin (German) so I would like to see as much as possible.
Thanks for any advice.

I went and found tour with one of the high rated ones from TripAdvisor. Was a moving expense

Experience

It's been like 15-20 years, but we got a guide who drive us from Paris, to a museum, then Normandy.

Was an amazing experience and one of the things I remember the most about that trip

Hire a a private guide.

We did Dale Booth.

https://dboothnormandytours.com/

I don't remember the name of the company, but avoid any tour that takes you to a winery or a brewery. We went to some sort of orchard for a cider tasting and it took up a couple of hours that could have spent doing something more worthwhile.

I second a private guide. We took the train to Bayeux and met our guide at the train station. Bayeux is a bit closer to the D-Day beaches, etc. and is a neat little town.

2nd the private guide. I have found they are handy and informative in historical places. Typically there is a license and testing process set-up by the government to ensure the best experience is had by tourists. They typically go through rigorous examination on details, dates, events, etc. prior to getting certified. We used one in Jerusalem and it was worth its weight in gold. Would suspect it would be the same for Normandy.

I fifth the private guide out of Bayeux. Was able to show me the exact fields/streets where my father jumped/landed and fought with the 505th PIR of the 82md. Toured by myself for the 50th anniversary in '94. Hired the guide in 2014 for 70th……had my wife and kids with me on that one. Having private guide is well worth the $$$. They book up pretty fast.

Whether you take the train to Caen, or on to Bayeux, depends upon whether or not you want to rent a car. If you are renting a car, do so in Caen (better selection, offices at the train station). Unless you opt for a self-guided tour, you will probably want to stay in Bayeux.

You've got thee options to see the invasion sites: (1) self-guided; (2) hire a private guide for just you and your group; or (3) use one of the group tour companies like Overlord. I would not recommend self-guided for such a brief window. A private tour guide or group tour will be more efficient, and allow you to see more in your limited time. As between a group tour and a private guide, that mostly comes down to money -- private guides are more expensive. However, if you have some particular interest, good private guides will tailor their tour to fit that; say you had a relative that served in the invasion, and know (more or less) their path--a private guide will take you to those places.

You are cutting it a little bit close to get your pick of private guides for that specific date you want to tour, so get on with selecting one if that is the way you want to go.

We're going to be in Brittany in June. I've been to Normandy and appreciate everything that it is. We've got a 10 year old daughter and thinking it would be good to spend a day there on our way back to Paris. Any ideas about books or movies appropriate for 10yr olds to familiarize them with D-Day? Thinking it's to soon for Saving Private Ryan...

The Longest Day

We hired a guide, it was awesome! Communicated with him before trip to tell him we wanted emphasis on pont du hoc and band of brothers locations. It was great!

I studied abroad there with Dr. Bradford for a month, have been with my family with a private guide and rented a car in Paris and made a day trip of it. For your time window the private guide is the best option. If you can extend it to 3 days doing it yourself would work. Normandy is really easy to navigate and driving there is easy.

Definitely hire a private guide in your rental car. We thought Chris at http://www.visitdday.com was fantastic. He's a retired British Marine who lives with his wife and kids in Normandy.

Thanks for the info.
We will definitely hire a private guide.

Spent a week in Normandy with 15 others studying D-Day plus 7 with Ed Bearss... If you have to ask, look him up.... One night in Caen and the rest out of Bayeux.
Stay in Bayeux and do private guide for anything 3 days or less.
Get on the beaches, walk out and look back up. Gives you a slight perspective of what they faced geographically. Then throw all hell at them... Unbelievable

So, I am very sorry I cannot remember the name of the tour we took, but funny story. Was a small bus with about 12 seats. We were approaching Pont du Hoc when the guide stated in his broken English, "and Ruddder later became president of the Texas University." Well up my hand went and open my mouth went, correcting him to Texas A&M. The guy sitting behind me said, "Boy, I grew up in Chicago and even I know not to make that mistake!" The driver was really apologetic and wrote it down stating he would make sure all knew the correction. I do recommend the visitor center movie. Amazing side by side footage of American and German film of the landing.

Thanks I will check out the visitor's center and as many museums as I can.