Normandy - (Fall 2025) - Day 2
Train to Caen & Rental Car
If I had to do the trip over again, we would take the train to Caen instead of Bayeux and gotten the rental car and drove to Bayeux. Instead we went to Bayeux and had to take a train to get to Caen to rent the car. There are just a lot more options to rent in Caen and the the rental agencies are more likely to be open at convenient times.
It was still relatively convenient as the car rental places are right next to the train station.
Wound up getting a pretty new Peugeot hybrid to get around Normandy.
Getting a car is a must to go where you want to go when you want to go. Things are spread out and you want to have the luxury of doing things on your own schedule.
Renting was a bit pricier here than in other cities I’ve rented in Europe.
Arromanches-les-Bains
The first stop outside of Bayeux while exploring D-Day history was the town of Arromanches-les-Bains. It was conveniently north of Caen and on the way back towards Bayeux after we got the car.
This small town also was relatively unscathed because the Allies did not bombard it pre-invasion knowing that they intended to use it as a base for the Mulberry Harbors.
The harbors were something that I learned about while here in Normandy. The Allies realized that they were not going to capture a deep water port intact so they planned to build two of these massive temporary harbors in order to get troops and supplies onto land after the invasion.
These harbors were on the British side of the invasion beaches and you can still see the ruins of the harbors out in the ocean. During low tide you can actually walk out to them.
It was very hard to find parking in this little town even in the off-season
We wound up parking on a hill just outside of the main square and walked down the hill into town
Musée du Débarquement
This was an excellent D-Day museum that had a section focusing on the Mulberry Harbors. They actually started by sinking ships outside of the harbor area to create a breakwater prior to assembling the massive structures. Unfortunately a storm of the century hit Normandy shortly after D-Day and destroyed a lot of the harbor.
Fish & Co
Needed some grub after touring the museum. This place seemed very popular and was filled with French families.
Batterie de Longues-sur-Mer
After leaving Arromanches-les-Bains and driving west, you get to the gun batteries at Longues-sur-Mer. There are four of these very large guns situated in their bunkers and you can walk this small trail that takes you out to all four. The deeper you walk on the trail, the better preserved the guns are.
This is a great stop to take a look at some German defenses that have survived pretty well over the years.
Bar Le 1066
Back in town we went in search of a cocktail and looked up this place while searching on the map. The bar is actually pretty much just the lobby of the Hôtel Belle Normandy. I felt a little bad for the receptionist as she had to do double duty as the bartender as well to make my old fashioned drink.
La Paillote
Stopped for one last drink for the night and wound up what seemed like kind of a party bar here in Bayeux. It was staffed by younger folks and had some games and a clubbier feel. A different vibe than the rest of Bayeux.