Normandy is high on my bucket list . Considering 2024 but since it's the 80th will probably wait to 2025.
I'm clueless on this one. How many days needed? Is it better to go with a tour? If so, would want a tour with a entertaining battlefield guide.
Thanks for your patience with an " Ol' Ag '85

I just put down a deposit on this tour. They do have tours over the 80th anniversary but they've jacked the prices up considerably. It'd be cool to be there on the 80th but IMO it's not worth the extra cost.

https://stephenambrosetours.com/tour/operation-overlord-d-day-tour/

If you search this board for "Normandy", there have been several good recommendations in the past for tour operators for this area. I liked SAHT b/c it's not just Normandy focused and begins in London. I plan on arriving early in London and staying a day later in Paris. They also have the "Victory in Europe" tour that covers Paris to Hitler's Eagle's Nest that I plan to do at a later time. They've basically cut their "D-Day to the Rhine" tour in half at Paris. It's more manageable with time off for me to do it in two parts.

Look at the traveling Aggies website. They have great trips snd some special guests you don't get with others.

I'd say if you are a real history buff like me, three full days is good enough, at minimum. I didn't use a guide, but I am very knowledgeable in general so I know all the basics. I just rented a car in Caen and drove around the region, and essentially parallel to the coast. Take the train from Paris to Caen. Car rental in Caen is right at the station. I loved driving there. Easy, no problem adapting. They drive on same side of road as us, just different signage of course, and lots of roundabouts, but a normal American driver will have no problem if you have good GPS.

Obviously a good guide would be golden and valuable. I'm just saying it's fine to do it without one if you are knowledgeable enough.

There are so many museums in the region, like 15-20. You could never do them all unless you had a couple weeks. It seems as if so many people/groups there decide to open a museum as a way of making money so they are all over the place, and usually with slightly different themes or focuses. So plan out which interest you. That's why you don't need a guide if you want to hit museums.

In 3.5 days I was able to hit: the American cemetery, Point Du Hoc, Pegasus Bridge, Caen museum and underground site, Arromanches (fantastic museum there...something dubarquement) with amazing scale models of the logistics of floating piers and such, and Arromanches 360 film experience), the German cemetery, all 5 beaches, including the Canadian museum and Canada House area on Juno, the Canadian cemetery in a different area, the Band of Brothers monument outside Brecourt (you can't go on property as it's private, the Dick Winters statue, Utah Beach museum (really good) and the best museum of all in my opinion, the airborne museum St. Mare Eglise, plus numerous coastal artillery and fortification remnants. So you can do a lot in 3 days, especially in Summer when the Sun doesn't go down there until about 10pm. I was there during May.

I second recomendations of the airborne museum at St. Mere Eglise and the museum at Arromonche about the mulberry harbor.

I've been several times and I think the location where the guide is most helpful is Point du Hoc. There's not a huge museum there, at least there wasn't when I was last there 9 years ago, and the guide really helped.

When I eventually take my family there I'll probably hire a guide for a couple of days and then explore a few more days on our own. Even outside of the WWII history the region has a lot to see. William the Conqueror's castle in Caen, the Bayeaux tapestry, Bayeux Cathedral, Mount St. Michel are all worth seeing.