Paris and Normandy for three generations: the D-Day Beaches and Mont-Saint-Michel

1. Day 1: Arrive in Paris

   Paris Charles de Gaulle or Orly airport to your hotel in central Paris

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Early welcome dinner
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY), and a driver meets your family in the arrivals hall for the transfer into the city, about 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. Rooms are usually ready from mid-afternoon; if you land early, leave the bags at the hotel and let the children stretch their legs by the Seine, a short walk away. We ask the hotel for family rooms or connecting rooms for each party, so grandparents can be next door rather than down the corridor. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets everyone in the lobby for a short briefing: how the week is paced, what goes in the small bag for the Mont night and how the D-Day days work for children. Then we walk to a neighbourhood bistro for an early welcome dinner at about 6:30 pm, with a children's menu, so the youngest are in bed in good time after the flight.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Early welcome dinner at a Paris bistro

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel until the briefing; the dinner is a short walk or taxi away.

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

2. Day 2: The Eiffel Tower, the river and the Luxembourg Garden

   The Eiffel Tower, the Batobus to Notre-Dame, then the Luxembourg Garden

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 2 details

   We start at the Eiffel Tower on the first lift slot of the morning, before the queues build, and ride up to the second floor, where the whole city is laid out below and children can pick out Notre-Dame and the Sacré-Cœur. Back on the ground we board the Batobus, the hop-on river boat, at the foot of the tower and sit down for the ride along the Seine, past the Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre, to the stop for Notre-Dame. The cathedral reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire; inside, the cleaned stone is pale and bright. Lunch is at a sit-down bistro nearby. In the afternoon we walk or take a short taxi ride to the Luxembourg Garden, where children push wooden sailboats across the Grand Bassin with a stick, as Parisian children have for a century, and there are chairs in the shade for everyone else. The late afternoon and evening are free.

   Included

   • The Eiffel Tower by lift to the second floor, first slot of the morning
   • Batobus river boat day pass, from the Eiffel Tower to Notre-Dame
   • Notre-Dame de Paris
   • Sit-down lunch in a Paris bistro
   • The Luxembourg Garden with sailboat hire on the Grand Bassin

   Optional experiences

   • The Eiffel Tower summit (extra cost, timed tickets booked ahead on request)
   • The puppet theatre in the Luxembourg Garden, on the days it plays
   • An evening Seine cruise

   Easier option: Stay on the Batobus for a full loop of the river and rejoin the group at the Luxembourg Garden by taxi, or rest at the hotel after lunch.

   More active option: Walk from Notre-Dame across the Île de la Cité and through the Latin Quarter to the Luxembourg Garden, about 2 km.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 4 to 6 km on foot, with plenty of sitting on the boat. The Eiffel Tower lifts carry everyone; there are security checks at the entrance, so bring as little as possible.

3. Day 3: Monet's garden, Honfleur, on to Bayeux

   Paris to Giverny, then Honfleur and Bayeux

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bayeux
   Day 3 details

   This is the trip's longest road day, about 3 hours 50 in all, so we split it into three legs of no more than an hour and a half, each ending somewhere worth getting out. We leave Paris at about 8:15 am and drive an hour and a quarter west along the Seine to Giverny for the 9:30 first entry. Monet lived here from 1883 until his death in 1926, and children recognise the green Japanese bridge and the lily pond from his paintings before the day's crowds arrive. After an early lunch in the village we drive about an hour and a half to Honfleur, the harbour town at the mouth of the Seine. Walk around the Vieux Bassin, lined with tall slate-hung houses, have an ice cream on the quay and look into Sainte-Catherine, a church built of timber by the town's shipwrights. Samuel de Champlain sailed from here in 1608 on the voyage that founded Quebec. About an hour more brings us to Bayeux, our base for three nights, by about 5 pm.

   Included

   • Monet's house and gardens at Giverny, first timed entry
   • Sit-down lunch in Giverny
   • Honfleur with your guide: the Vieux Bassin and the wooden church of Sainte-Catherine

   Easier option: Stay on the garden paths at Giverny and skip the house's narrow stairs, then wait for the group at a café on the Vieux Bassin in Honfleur.

   More active option: Walk the Honfleur quays out to the jetty at the river mouth while the group has an ice cream, about 2 km there and back.

   Free time: Evening free in Bayeux

   Activity: About 4 to 5 km on foot, on gravel at Giverny and cobbles in Honfleur. Giverny is open from about 1 April to 1 November, which sets this trip's season.

   

4. Day 4: Juno Beach and the sand at Arromanches

   Bayeux to Juno Beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer, then Arromanches and back to Bayeux

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bayeux
   Day 4 details

   We drive twenty minutes to Courseulles-sur-Mer and the Juno Beach Centre at opening. It is the museum of the Canadians who came ashore here on 6 June 1944, about 14,000 on the first day, and it tells the story through the lives of young soldiers, which children follow easily. A centre guide takes us out to the beach and the German bunkers in front of it. Lunch is at a sit-down restaurant by the harbour. In the early afternoon we drive fifteen minutes west to Arromanches. On the clifftop, Arromanches 360 shows a short film on screens all around you; then we walk down to the town, where the concrete caissons of the Mulberry harbour, towed across the Channel after D-Day, still sit in the bay. When the tide is out the sand is wide, and the children can dig while the grown-ups look out at the harbour. We are back in Bayeux by about 4 pm, with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • The Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, with a guided walk to the beach and bunkers
   • Sit-down lunch in Courseulles
   • Arromanches 360, the circular cinema on the cliff
   • Arromanches beach and the Mulberry harbour

   Easier option: See the Juno Beach Centre without the beach walk, and watch the Mulberry harbour from a seafront café in Arromanches while the others are on the sand.

   More active option: Walk the Juno beach front east to the Maison des Canadiens at Bernières-sur-Mer, about 3 km, and the van collects you.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Bayeux

   Activity: About 4 to 6 km on foot, on sand and paved promenades. Beach time follows the tide; bring swimwear and a towel in summer. The cinema has stairs or a ramp; ask us about access.

   

5. Day 5: Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery

   Bayeux to the Longues-sur-Mer battery and Pointe du Hoc, then Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery and back to Bayeux

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bayeux
   Day 5 details

   Today a specialist local D-Day guide who leads families joins your See Sight Tours guide for the American sector, and the day runs from about 9 am to mid-afternoon. We start at the Longues-sur-Mer battery, where four German guns still sit in their concrete casemates on the cliff; children can look into one and see how far it looked out to sea. At Pointe du Hoc you walk among the bomb craters on the clifftop that the US Rangers climbed on 6 June, on paths that stay back from the edge. After a sit-down lunch on the coast we go down onto Omaha Beach by the Les Braves sculpture, and then to the Normandy American Cemetery above it, where more than 9,000 Americans lie. Your guides prepare the children before the visit, and the visitor centre tells the story through letters and photographs. We are back in Bayeux by about 4:30 pm, in time for a rest before a free early dinner.

   Included

   • A specialist local D-Day guide for the day
   • The Longues-sur-Mer battery
   • Pointe du Hoc
   • Sit-down lunch on the coast
   • Omaha Beach and the Les Braves sculpture
   • The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, with its visitor centre

   Easier option: Stay on the paved paths at Pointe du Hoc and the cemetery and skip the sand at Omaha; the van is parked close by at every stop.

   More active option: Walk a stretch of Omaha Beach from the Vierville exit towards the Les Braves sculpture, about 2 to 3 km on firm sand at low tide.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Bayeux

   Activity: About 5 to 7 km on foot, on grass, sand and the uneven ground at Pointe du Hoc. The clifftops are exposed, so bring a windproof layer for everyone. The flag-lowering at the cemetery is late in the afternoon and varies by season; we stay for it when the time on your date fits the day.

   

6. Day 6: The Airborne Museum and an evening at the Mont

   Bayeux to Sainte-Mère-Église, then Mont-Saint-Michel

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Mont-Saint-Michel
   Day 6 details

   A slow morning in Bayeux, a town that came through 1944 almost undamaged. Walk to the cathedral, consecrated in 1077, or have a long breakfast. At about 10:30 we drive forty minutes west to Sainte-Mère-Église, where American paratroopers came down in the dark before dawn on 6 June; a figure hangs from the church tower in memory of the one whose parachute caught there. At the Airborne Museum across the square you stand under a C-47 transport plane and a wooden glider, the kind children rarely see up close. After a sit-down lunch in the village we drive about an hour and three quarters south to Mont-Saint-Michel, checking in at a hotel on the mainland by the shuttle stop by about 4 pm, with time to rest. At about 5:30 pm the free shuttle and a short walk take us across to the island as the day visitors leave. Walk part of the ramparts, then sit down to an early dinner together and see the abbey floodlit on the way back.

   Included

   • Bayeux Cathedral
   • Sainte-Mère-Église and its church
   • The Airborne Museum
   • Sit-down lunch in Sainte-Mère-Église
   • The shuttle across to Mont-Saint-Michel
   • Early dinner on or beside the island

   Optional experiences

   • A walk across the bay sands with a licensed bay guide, where the tide times on your date allow (never cross the bay without one)

   Easier option: Rest at the mainland hotel and join the group for dinner, riding the shuttle both ways and staying in the lower village.

   More active option: Walk the full circuit of the Mont's ramparts at dusk, and walk back across the bridge instead of taking the shuttle.

   Free time: Early morning free in Bayeux; late afternoon to rest

   Activity: About 3 to 5 km on foot. The Grande Rue on the island is steep and cobbled. Pack a small bag for the night; main bags stay in the vehicle.

   

7. Day 7: The abbey at opening, Saint-Malo's beach and the TGV

   Mont-Saint-Michel to Saint-Malo, then the TGV to Paris Montparnasse

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 7 details

   We take the first shuttle across and climb to the abbey at opening (9 or 9:30 am depending on the month), ahead of the day visitors. Your guide takes you through the abbey church on the summit, the cloister that hangs over the bay, and the giant wooden wheel that prisoners walked, when the abbey was a jail, to haul supplies up the rock. Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1979. At about 11 am we drive fifty minutes to Saint-Malo, the walled port on the Brittany coast, for a long farewell lunch together in the old town. In the afternoon, the beach: just below the walls, the Bon-Secours seawater pool fills with each tide, and there is sand for digging and a promenade for grandparents. Our vehicle drives the main bags back to Paris, so in the late afternoon you board the TGV with a day bag for the ride of about two and a half hours to Paris Montparnasse, where a van meets you. The evening is free.

   Included

   • The abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel at opening with your guide
   • Farewell lunch in Saint-Malo
   • An afternoon on the beach and the ramparts at Saint-Malo
   • TGV from Saint-Malo to Paris Montparnasse, standard class
   • Your main bags carried to Paris by road in our vehicle
   • Transfer from the station to your hotel

   Easier option: Skip the climb to the abbey and spend the morning in the lower village and the garden below it, then sit on the promenade in Saint-Malo.

   More active option: Walk the whole circuit of Saint-Malo's ramparts, about 2 km, with the sea on one side and the old town on the other.

   Free time: Evening free in Paris

   Activity: A few hundred steps up through the village and the abbey. The Bon-Secours pool and beach depend on the tide and the weather; outside summer we walk the ramparts and the beach instead of swimming.

8. Day 8: Depart Paris

   Your hotel in central Paris to Charles de Gaulle or Orly airport

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   The trip ends after breakfast. A driver takes your family from the hotel to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY) at a time set by your flight, about 45 minutes to an hour by road; allow more in the weekday morning rush. Your guide checks every party's transfer time on day 7, so there is nothing to arrange on the day. If your flight leaves in the evening, the hotel can hold the bags while you spend a last few hours in the city: the Tuileries garden with its summer funfair, the Jardin des Plantes and its small zoo, or a last walk by the Seine. Many families add a night or two before or after the trip. Ask us when you book and we can add extra nights at the same hotel, or quote a day at Versailles or Disneyland Paris for the children.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY)

   Easier option: With a late flight, keep the day gentle: a café breakfast and a garden near the hotel, back in time for your transfer.

   Free time: Free until your transfer

   Activity: Any flight time works; for an international flight, plan to leave the hotel about three and a half hours before departure.

Wildlife and weather: Normandy weather changes fast in any month, so pack a rain layer even in July. June to early September brings the warmest sea and the best beach afternoons at Arromanches and Saint-Malo, along with the biggest crowds and the longest evenings. April, May, September and October are cooler and quieter; the beach afternoons become seafront walks and a café. The tides at Mont-Saint-Michel and Saint-Malo are among the largest in Europe, so beach time follows the tide table on your dates. The week around 6 June brings commemorations, closed roads and full hotels, and we plan departures around it.

• Paris2 nights
• Bayeux3 nights
• Mont-Saint-Michel1 night
• Paris1 night