Things to see

Consecrated in 1077 with William the Conqueror in attendance, Notre-Dame cathedral towers over a town the 1944 bombs spared: the old Bayeux around it is the real thing, not a reconstruction.

Don’t miss the 11th-century crypt and the chapter house, then let the pedestrian streets carry you to the river Aure and the half-timbered houses.

Our house tip — On summer evenings the cathedral is floodlit and the centre empties out — it’s the best hour of the day, and parking is easy.

Worth knowing: The museum is closed for renovation and reopens in October 2027, for the millennium of William the Conqueror’s birth. The Tapestry itself is on display at the British Museum in London from September 2026 to July 2027.

A 70-metre embroidery from the 11th century, the Tapestry tells the story of William’s conquest of England in 1066 scene by scene, like a comic strip. It is listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.

Its lifelong home is being rebuilt: the enlarged museum will present it in a completely redesigned setting. Until then, the cathedral and old Bayeux more than justify the trip into town.

Our house tip — If your stay falls during the London loan, tell your group before they queue for nothing — guests have already asked us about this.

Worth knowing: The museum closes every January (5–27 January in 2026).

The caissons of the Mulberry artificial harbour, towed across from England in June 1944, are still out there on the horizon. At low tide you can walk towards the remains straight off the beach.

The D-Day Museum, rebuilt facing the sea in 2023, tells the story of that logistical feat: an entire harbour, built in England and assembled under fire in a matter of days.

Our house tip — Check the tide times before you set off: at low tide you can walk out towards the caissons, and the late-afternoon light from the eastern viewpoint is superb.

Europe’s leading museum on the Second World War and the Battle of Normandy, from the rise of Nazism to the Cold War — including General Richter’s underground command bunker.

It is the visit that makes sense of all the others: do it first if your group is new to D-Day history, or save it for a rainy day — the whole route is indoors.

Our house tip — Allow a good three hours and buy tickets online: the desk closes 1 hr 15 before the museum does, and the summer afternoon queue is real.

Overlooking Omaha Beach, 9,387 white marble crosses and stars stand in perfect rows on the bluff. The silence of the place, maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, gets to every visitor, whatever their age.

Below, the beach itself is freely accessible: vast at low tide, marked by the “Les Braves” memorial sculpture and the remains of the gun batteries.

Our house tip — Arrive for opening at 9 am and you’ll have the memorial almost to yourselves; the flag-lowering ceremony at the end of the day is another moving moment.

At dawn on 6 June 1944, 225 US Rangers scaled this 30-metre cliff on ropes, under fire, to silence a German battery. The ground has been left as it was: bomb craters, shattered bunkers, the observation post.

It is the rawest of the D-Day sites — the one where the landscape alone tells the story. Spectacular views over the Channel on a clear day.

Our house tip — Bring proper shoes and a windbreaker even in summer: the headland is exposed and the ground uneven. If you have kids with you, this is the site they will remember.