Omaha Beach Half-Day Trip from Bayeux

If time is tight and you'd like to tour the Normandy beaches, this quick morning tour from Bayeux will show you all the poignant highlights of these important World War II battle sites. Your minivan holds a maximum of eight passengers, and a small group tour is the perfect way to get to out-of-the-way places in one day.

From Bayeux you'll drive to Pointe du Hoc, where the infamous German gun position threatened the Allied ships all the way to Utah and Omaha. The site was attacked by the elite 2nd U.S. Rangers, commanded by Lt. Col. James Rudder, who scaled the cliffs to get there. With its huge fortifications blown to pieces, the site remains as it was when the Rangers left it and looks like a lunar landscape.

Next, you'll drive along the coast to Omaha Beach, where soldiers of the 29th and 1st Divisions landed, fought and died. This operation was the bloodiest of the five beaches and almost failed, but the bravery of those young men turned this operation into a victory. Overlooking the bluff is the American Military Cemetery, where 9,387 service men rest in peace (keep in mind the movie Saving Private Ryan).