All the D-Day landing beaches by bike: from Utah Beach and Ste Mère-Église to Caen

Your bike ride along the D-Day beaches:

Day 1 : Arrival in Carentan

Visit the centre of the medieval city of Carentan with its galleried covered arcades [unique in Normandy], its beautiful townhouses and the 11th – 15thC church of Notre Dame. Of course don’t forget to take the time to stroll round the beautiful marina whose origins date back to the Gallic period.

Day 2 : Excursion to Ste Mère Église and Utah Beach | 58 km

Leave the town and take the green way crossing the Cotentin marshes regional nature park [Marais de Cotentin]. The head towards St Mere-Eglise the ideal starting point to relive the very first hours of D-Day. Have a look at the famous church clock tower from which dangles a souvenir recalling the adventures of one of those first American parachutists who dropped onto French soil. Bike to Utah Beach with its beautiful white sands so evocative of D-Day and its D-Day Landings museum. Return to Carentan at the end of the day.

OptionVisit of the Airborne museum (Included in the "Visit Package")

Airborne-Museum

Get it the museum and take an HistoPad to take part to the striking events of the History. The museum, facing the bell tower where the parachutist John Steele kept hooked, will help you to understand how the D-Day landings took place from the preparation in England to France’s Freedom. The scenography, the sets, the animations make you leave these events, like transported in time.

Day 3 : Carentan – Omaha Beach – Port en Bessin | 59 km

Head for Isigny-sur-Mer, a small fishing village renowned for its butter and cheeses as well as its caramels. Carry on to La Pointe du Hoc and explore the fields still pitted and pockmarked by D-Day shells fired from allied ships in the Channel. Striking! Bike on towards Omaha Beach, dominated by the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer. The serried ranks of the 9,387 headstones set in immaculate green grass with, in the background, the ever present sea, project a feeling of serenity and peace. Continue on along the coast to the pretty fishing port of Port-en-Bessin.

OptionVisit of the Overlord Museum (Included in the "Visit Package")

musée overloard

The museum presents a unique collection of reconnaissance aircrafts, flying bombs, tanks, vehicles and canons, hundreds of personal belongings, posters and documents combats’ witnesses. The 6 armies who took parts into the Normandy battles are represented through full-size scenes, recreated with a breathtaking realism.

Day 4 : Port en Bessin – Courseulles sur Mer | 39 km

Ride towards the impressive German defensive battery of Longues-sur-Mer then continue on towards Gold Beach and, of course, Arromanches, Here you’ll be able to see the remains of the enormous artificial port constructed on the orders of Winston Churchill. Don’t forget to visit Arromanches 360°, a circular cinema which graphically illustrates the complete history of the Battle for Normandy. Continue your ride through the Normandy countryside, biking down little lanes between the pretty hedged fields – the “bocage”- until you reach Courseulles-sur-Mer. Take time to stroll round the picturesque fishing harbour.

OptionVisit of the Arromanches 360 circular cinema (Included in the "Visit Package")

arromanches360

The Arromanches 360 circular cinema presents a movie showing, in High Definition on 9 screens, amazing images from the archives, of the ‘100 days of the Normandie battle’. This movie honors the soldiers from different countries who took part into the Liberation and the thousands of civils killed during this battle. It gathers several unreleased images.

Day 5 : Courseulles sur Mer – Caen | 48 km

Head along to Juno Beach and then Sword Beach biking all the way to the port of Ouistreham. Visit the No. 4 Commando museum [linked to the Franco-British landings] or continue your ride taking the bike path along the Caen canal to Pegasus Bridge where the British army gained an important victory in 1944. Afterwards visit the unmissable Caen memorial, a museum dedicated to the battle for Normandy, 20th century history and peace.

OptionVisit of the Caen Memorial Museum (Included in the "Visit Package")

Memorial Caen

The Caen Memorial Museum is a memorial for Peace! Follow 2 museography displays covering from 1939 to 1989: from the origins of WW2 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Discover the war on a chronological way, explained, imaged, presenting numerous objects, witnesses from this period, French, but also Russians, Japanese, English, Germans, etc.

Day 6 : Departure during the day

The little extra with Biking France (optional):

Our “Visit package”, with entrance fees to

. Airborne museum
. Overlord Museum
. Arromanches 360 circular cinema
. Caen Memorial