Normandy 2Days Trip, D-Day Beaches & Mont Saint Michel from Paris

Exceptional but NOT without issues

The guides were excellent and it was a beautiful tour overall. However, it was not without issues. First, I was caused an inadvertent level of stress when I was not picked up at my hotel and I was given no options by Paris City Vision despite assurances that I would be picked up. I had to solve the issue myself - truly unacceptable because had I not been able to, I would’ve missed the entire tour. Other issue is we were given 1/2 less time in St Malo than provided for on the itinerary. It felt very rushed. Overall constructive criticism - all stops were too short. If at all possible, the tour should be modified to allow for more time at each stop.

Good way to see D-Day locations and Mont Saint Michel

I wanted to see Mont Saint Michel and my husband wanted to see the D-Day beaches. This tour was perfect for us. We stayed at the Pullman Hotel the night before. Busses pulled up AROUND THE CORNER and loaded for several tours early the next morning. They took care of the driving, the hotel and provided a guide who told us what we were looking at. We also visited a few other historical spots on our way and had time to walk around tiny towns and taste some local treats. The hotel they provided was clean and comfortable. The meals provided were good. Time was planned well and our guide, Lena kept us on schedule and did a good job of keeping us informed. Mont Saint Michel has a lot of steps to climb so my husband did not go all of the way up. There is a shuttle that takes you out to the island so it can still be enjoyed with limited mobility. The beaches and National Cemetery can be viewed with limited mobility also. Weather was nice in early May - cool with a little rain.

D-Day Normandy Visit 80th anniversary.

The very brief to the American Cemetery and distant view of the Omaha Beach cliffs climbed by Col Rudder's Rangers, but we could not get closer than several hundred yards before being whisked away. The program over-promised D-Day visits and under-delivered, ushering the group from one gift shop opportunity to another. The tour guide, Leila, provided simply outstanding history and explanation of the French history for which she merits a medal. Just outstanding in every way. She did not design the tour but she salvaged its weak points, which is why I recommend others take the tour if simply for her superior explanations the St. Michel Abbey visit above all.

Mixed Bag

This is meant to be feedback for Viator--not to be published as a review. There were several good things about the tour. The places you picked to visit were all great. Our tour guide, Layla was excellent: friendly, well-organized, informative. The trip ran smoothly, and we were given time for bathroom breaks, coffee breaks, and lunch. Then there were some things that weren't so good. Your ad said that the coach we traveled on was a luxury coach. That just wasn't true. The seats were cramped, the power outlets did not work, and there was no wifi. Your ad also said that the hotel where we were staying was 4 stars. That was also not true. It was 3 stars at best. The dinner they served was mediocre, as was the breakfast. And it seemed cheap that you didn't provide a glass of wine with the dinner. I saw some wonderful sights and places on this tour, so I'm glad I went, but I think you need to work on coach/hotel/meals.

Fantastic trip!!!

This was our first visit to France. If you are looking for a good overview trip of Northern France, this is a great trip. The driver and guide were very friendly, knowledgeable, and engaging. This would have been a LOT of work to piece this all together on our own. NOTE: This trip is "an inch deep and a mile wide". Meaning, if you are wanting to spend a lot of time exploring each stop, you may be disappointed. You will spend anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hrs at each stop. The guide will walk you around, providing a lesson and then turn you loose to explore. One could easily spend a full day at each site. That's not what this is. You WILL cover a lot of ground in northern France and see/experience many incredible things. If you want to spend a lot of time in some of these places, there are other tours for that. I highly recommend this trip!!

Good but some things to be desired

We’ve used Viator in the past overseas and have been happy, but this tour fell flat for a few reasons. There were a lot of older couples in this group who were quite slow. Getting on and off the bus seemingly took forever. Perhaps we should have paid for the private tour. The tour information was provided in both English and Spanish, meaning the tour guide was repeating the same material in multiple languages. As a result, there was a lot of noise, generally. There wasn’t time to ask many questions. Be prepared for that. The phone charger in our row of seating was damaged, and we were in one of the rows with a window seal blocking our view, and we were required to stay in the same seats during the entire 2-day (plus overnight) trip, so that was disappointing. The accommodations were okay. The front desk personnel at the Novotel were so so and didn’t really aim to please. Also, the 2-day is actually a portion of a 3-day trip. On day 2, because we did not stay for the entire tour, we had to transfer buses to get home. This meant that me and my partner were stuck with the least desirable seats left on the bus. We were both in aisle seats, unable to truly sit next to each other, for the entire 4+ hour ride home to Paris. And there were no phone chargers in that tour bus. So it made for a long ride home, generally. Overall, the locations and timing of the tour was good, though we would have liked more time at Omaha Beach to visit the museum. We had 20 minutes total there. As a plus, our guide was intelligent and cared.

Great

The tour guide was entertaining and very knowledgeable. Great content and fantastic small group. We saw as much as possible in the two days and the tour guide kept us away from the general crowds and that was the best.

Normandy on a budget

We traveled to the most significant historical places in and around Normandy. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and had an entertaining personality!

Normandy is a must see!

Wonderful tour! The guide was knowledgeable and kept things interesting. The stop of Honfleur which is a quaint fishing village had wonderful seafood at the fish market. Of course Mont Saint-Michel and the D-Day memorials/beaches/ cemetery was the highlight and what we went for and did not disappoint.

Leila, our English and...

Leila, our English and Spanish speaking guide, did a wonderful job. She was very knowledgeable sharing historical and cultural information in a pleasing manner. We liked the itinerary and places we visited. The bus ride returning to Paris was a little too long, however.

Great

Very nice tour. Everything was great, including hotel we stard and food. The most memorable were visit to Rouen snd St, Michael

Spectacular places!

Visiting Saint Malo & mount Saint Michel with their spectacular Abady. Omaha beach was very emotive. We have very little time to shop souvenirs or to enjoy by ourselves the places. Our tour guide Leonor was very nice and kind but the bus driver was very rude and grinch

Very informative tour

I want to start this review with our tour guide, Amelia, was very good. She was very knowledgeable about all the places we visited. I would have liked less time at the two towns we stopped at on the first day and more time at Omaha Beach. We had 15 minutes which seemed like not enough time. Perhaps incorporate more than one beach? The second day was great at Mt St. Michael. Plenty of time to explore and see the entire area. The coach was comfortable and the hotel was nice after a long day of travel. My only suggestion would be to spend more time on the beaches.

Normandy- such good surprises

This is hard because it was all pretty incredible. Honfluer was such a cool surprise, so beautiful, calm, and charming. Mount Saint Michel was spectacular but the view from a distance was more impressive than actually being inside (in my opinion). The hotel in Caen was fine, nothing special, but we were so tired all we needed was a good meal and a comfortable bed which it had! Our tour guide was so warm and friendly and had lots of fun tips, it was very well organized.

LIED, LEFT, and LUGGAGE DESTROYED

The first half of the trip was fine. The backhalf was not. When we booked the tour, it was known we were returning on Bastille Day. The paperwork, the emails and even the conversations with the team before we left was that we would be dropped off at the same spot we were leaving from. Most of us had hotels right there (we wanted to be close for the Bastille Day fireworks). We were also assured we'd be home in time for the fireworks. Lie #1. Once on the return, we were told we would be dropped off at a different spot due to Paris being shut down for Bastille Day. We would be responsible to pay for a taxi to take us back in to the city (out of pocket $100). 15 minutes in, the most hideous smell happened. Our return bus smelled like poop (literally recirculating the toilet) and we broke down. That part was fine. Our guide didn't give us any information. He was too busy being on his phone "I'm not sure what will happen. Last time this happened we had 2 drivers and they fixed it together". Our driver was trying, but obviously struggled. Two people on the trip tried to help, but the guide still chatted on his phone. We were told a repair truck was coming, but it would be an hour. Ok...also fine. It's not their fault the bus broke. However, when it did come, they quickly tossed all of the luggage on the side of the road (see picture...brand new bag had the wheel ripped off). To add insult here, the guide didn't allow anyone to take luggage. He said the bottom of the bus was full (it was empty....he just didnt' want to wait around for the load). Those with luggage had to wait for a second bus that he PROMISED would be there in 30 minutes. The families - yes FAMILIES - left behind were assured the 2nd bus would be there within 30 minutes. Well guess, what..... He jumped on the bus and drove away. Lie #2. The driver, in his broken English, told us there was no second bus, there was never a second bus, and w'd have to wait for him to repair. Another hour later, and we are on our way in the poop mobile (the guide told us the toilet smell was from before covid....do the math - that is THREE YEARS of old poo). After about 45 mintues, we pulled over again. Our driver timed out and we needed a replacement driver. Quite a few people ended up booking ubers (2 hours outside of Paris...imagine that fee) on their own charge to be sure they would make it back. Again, the families had to stay - ubers weren't available out there that would hold 4. We arrived in Paris, well after time for the fireworks, outside of the city so we were stuck with a cab (during the Bastille Day post-fireworks crowd), a broken bag and a lot of tears from all of the kids on the bus. I've reached out to ParisCityVision, GrayLine both directly in email and on their corporate sites. No answer at all. They started off talking, but as soon as I mentioned "refund" they stopped all communications. Oh, and PS. When the first bus left, they left the luggage of a Chinese Speaking family on the side of the road. Luckily we saw it but no thanks to the tour guide. They were waiting for the bus when we finally arrived. And as a final insult to injury....the driver had all of the supplies on the bus he needed for the repair. He just didn't know how to do it, and the guide obviously didn't even bother to try. In short: Go ANYWHERE else with anyone else. AVOID THIS COMPANY!!!

Mixed review

We enjoyed the towns we visited and the WW2 sites. We would have liked the time in the towns compressed to give us more time at the American cemetery. We also didn’t appreciate our guide at the Abbey climbing so fast we never saw her again.

Florence was fab!

Great trip! Our guide Florence was fabulous (one of the best we’ve had in any city), and we enjoyed seeing and learning about these parts of Normandy and Brittany. We’ll be back!

See a lot in 2 days!

What a trip! We really enjoyed this two-day tour. It’s a fabulous sampling of gorgeous regions in France; we saw so many beautiful places. We moved quickly from place to place, but that was ideal for our kids — and it meant we got to see more! Our guide and driver were incredible (I am not sure how we managed to navigate our bus through narrow streets, but we did!). We learned a lot and made many great memories. Highly recommend.

Saint Mont Michel & Normandy Beaches, 2 day tour

Layla was a terrific guide giving us loads of information at each site and she did well to navigate neatly 40 of us on tour. We began in the cute maritime village of Honfleur where many famous Parisians resided before heading to Caen for lunch and spare time to walk around the city. We visited Omaha and Arromanches Beaches as well as the American war graves site. We stayed at the Novotel in Caen and the following day visited Saint Malo and the magical, awe inspiring place of Saint Mont Michel. The Romanesque architecture is really something to see and to see how the monks once lived there. A long drive back into Paris but a very worthwhile tour which I cannot recommend enough! Thank you Brian the driver and Layla and all the team at Paris City Vision! Tres Bon!!! Merci Boukou 😀

2 Day Normandy w/Mont-Saint Michel

Lelia was a wonderful tour guide, she has an excellent knowledge of history and was able to realistically convey the story to us. Overnight at Novotel was more than adequate, dinner and breakfast were very good. Buses were just OK, maybe time for a refresh. BTW, felt drivers were professional.

Normandy Trip

Excellent guide was very personable and very knowledgeable about the trip. The buses should all be MAN Lion’s Couch. The return bus was hrible for space and room.

Normandy & Brittany

Laela was an excellent tour guide. Accommodations and dinner/breakfast in Caen were nice. This tour exceeded our expectations.

Great but Audio devices worthless

A great trip! Lots to see! Only draw back was the little audio devices were worthless, buzzing and hard to hear. Volume control also not working. So hearing guide was almost impossible. Loss of history and information given by guide on tours.

Extreme delight

The tour guide was extremely informative and helpful. Making our group more of a family than just a group on a tour. The accommodations set up by aviator were exceptional the food at both breakfast and dinner was pleasantly appealing to all palettes!

Half baguette is better than none.

First day was very good: bus to Rouen, Honfleur, D-Day beaches, American Cemetery. Overnight hotel accommodations, with meals, were fine. Second day: St. Malo was good in the morning. In the aftternoon, we could barely see Mont St. Michel, and could not visit it, because visitors overwhelmed the site. Viator should have scheduled Mont St. MIchel in the morning and St. Malo in the afternoon. Return bus trip to Paris was fine.

99% Positive - Will recommend!

Thank you for a fine trip. We felt it was well organized. and well done. Our guide was friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. The destinations were well planned with plenty of time allowed. The overnight hotel, dinner and breakfast were excellent. There are a few improvements however I would like suggest: 1) you should have coffee available at the pick up point - we were there very early as advised and had to stand in the cold for an hour without breakfast! A coffee cart would have been very welcome! 2) I would also like to suggest that the phone chargers on the bus are operable. Ours were not and with photos and notes, we quickly ran out of power. 3) The return trip from Mt. St. Michelle was very long with only a 20 minute comfort break. It would have been nice if we could have stopped for dinner and a short walk-about to break up the long trip. These small inconveniences had only a small impact on the trip and we would recommend it to our friends. Thank you. Karen & Arnold York

"Normandy part oversold and WAY under delivered"

April 2023. For the four of us we expected the D-Day part of the tour to be an equal to the Mt. St. Michel part as it was the main reason for taking this tour. At the end of the day we spent a total of 2 hours total at Omaha Beach, the Cemetery and Juno Beach overlook. We spent the same or more amount of time at the public bathrooms. If the D-Day experience is of important to you, do not take this tour as it will sour you on the rest of the tour...Mike Robinson

Awesome 2-day trip; don't skip this one!

Our guide, Laila started providing background for our trip before we even left Paris. Our first stop was in Rouen, where we visited the local cathedral and saw where Joan of Arc was burned alive. We stopped and got lunch in Honfleur, a quaint seaside town before moving onto Normandy, where we spent time at the Omaha Beach landing site and US cemetery. Being at the Cemetery as the flag was lowered in the evening to the sound of taps was very emotional. After this we headed to our hotel for the evening where dinner was served. The following morning after breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to Brittany while Laila provided some history of the area while enroute. Our first stop was Saint-Malo, a beautiful walled town on the coast. Laila gave us a tour of part of the town including the local cathedral. We then boarded the bus for a one-hour ride to Mont Saint Michel, a spectacular town/abbey on an island. Laila gave us a tour and some history of the abbey and we then had about an hour or so to wander around the town before heading back our bus mid-afternoon for the bus ride back to Paris. This is definitely a trip worth taking. We took the 2-day trip... There's also a 3-day trip that is probably worth considering...

Best ever

The entire tour was amazing from the incredibly informed guide, the driver and instructions. Every stop, every location magical and our well Informed guide was the best ever. Again I can’t say enough about our Incredible guide. Not only information but directions, setting Proactive expectations and knowledge.

Nor enough time allocated to D-Day Beaches and Mont Sant Michel.

Our guide was among the most knowledgeable guides we've ever had. However, the tour is titled "Normandy with tours of D-Day beaches and Mont Sant Michel." I expected to spend the most time at those two locations. However, we spent only 20 minutes at Omaha Beach, having spent two hours at Honfleur for a short tour of the city and lunch. I could easily have skipped that and had lunch at Caen. And not enough time was allocated to the American D-Day Cemetery to allow both an appreciation of the graves and the excellent Visitor Center Museum. Likewise, we spent about four hours getting to Sant Malo and touring it, and lunch. There was barely enough time to walk to the top of Mont Sant Michel and back down. Skip St. Malo and have lunch elsewhere, closer to MSM, which would get us back to Paris a little earlier. Cathedral at Rouen was impressive and broke up the trip to Normandy. Wonderful two day excursion, but be aware time at the two biggest attractions will be limited.

VERY DISAPPOINTED.

VERY DISAPPOINTED. If your interest is at all D-Day, this is NOT the tour you want to take. We only spent a TOTAL of 2 hours on the TOTAL D-Day/Normandy part of the tour which included a 30 minute TOTAL STOP at Omaha beach, 1 hour TOTAL STOP at the U.S. Cemetery and another 30 minute TOTAL STOP at the Juno Beach overlook (which while we were only given 20 minutes but which by then seeing how we were being shorted, many just stayed out an extra 10 minutes). We spent more time in restrooms than we did on the D-Day experience. This did not give anywhere—ANYWHERE--enough time to walk areas or see the Museums or displays or overlooks at Omaha Beach, walk the cemetery and see the excellent displays at the Visitor Center.

Fun filled history your.

Jam packed two days. Amelia was awesome along with our driver. Organization was spot on. Even the food at hotel was enjoyable. Great choice of cities to visit.

A bit disappointing

If you want a WWII tour this is not it. It gives a lot of history about the area of Normandy and the towns that make up the region. We were disappointed we didn’t get to spend more time at the American soldiers cemetery or Omaha beach. The tour didn’t stop at the WWII museum or a gift shop to purchase any memorabilia.

The tour was Amazing. ...

The tour was Amazing. Great host with so much knowledge. The sights were beautiful and we enjoyed it all

Very Disappointed

My husband and I were most disappointed with the 2 Day trip to Normandy. We take responsibility for not checking more carefully the itinerary as it was way TOO busy. Every stop was just a “Glance” at a particular location. Our time at Omaha beach and the American cemetery was totally insufficient. Very disappointing! Absolutely no time to even rush through the museum. And why go to St Malo that is actually in Brittany? Why not Focus on Normandy like it notes in the title? We had taken 2 other tours through Viator that I thought were fabulous but the way Paris City Vision handled this particular tour… I felt like I was hastily herded from one spot to another and the switch of buses at the end to go back to Paris was ugly. In addition the one stop we made on the way back to Paris at a very busy/crowded rest area to grab a few unappetizing snacks was nasty. Good money for a POOR travel experience in beautiful, historic France.

Two days in Normandy… very disappointing. Overpriced…under- delivered.

1. The itinerary was poor. We spent more time on shopping streets in Rouen and Honfleur than at the American cemetery at Normandy. One hour is not enough time to walk from parking lot to admission exhibit hall, visit and then walk to memorial monuments and graves and then walk back to bus! 2. Our guide, Layla, was terrible. She made no attempt get to know anyone and continually threatened us that if we were late, the bus would leave without us. She got everyone so anxious that we actually cut short times to be back early. She did not always comment on the location of public toilettes and didn’t want anyone using the bus facility. She gave history while we were en route while several were asleep during long bus rides. 3. The company provided no hand sanitizer or water on bus. 4. The tour was supposed to be in English only but this one was also in Spanish so the overviews were long to cover both languages. 5 The return trip to Paris was over 5 hours. The village in Brittany was nothing more than a souvenir tourist trap. We were transferred to a completely full double decker bus back to Paris… everyone squeezed in. 6 The Novotel hotel in Caen was quite clean and comfortable. It would have been nice if our guide had introduced everyone… there were only 30 people. This trip was on September 23 & 24.

Great Trip To Normandy

We had an amazing trip to Normandy. The bus was comfortable and the guide was so knowledgeable and funny.

Great host, learned a lot!

The tour guide explained many things to us, both on the bus ride, and then in the group when we wandered around the many locations we’ve visited.

Worth the price

We enjoyed the visits to the Normandy beaches and cemeteries. Other highlights were the lovely French towns and the Abbey of Mont Ste Michel.

Lovely 2-day adventure

Well done! Guide and driver were excellent. I appreciate their diligence and friendliness. Thank you!

2 day trip Paris to Normandy and Britany

This trip was a good value: competent guides, good selection of highlights of the area including Omaha Beach D-Day site, Mont San Michel, and the towns of Rouen and Honfleur. Comfortable accommodations for overnight. Missed visiting the museum of WWII in Caen but there simply wasn't time.

Normandie, a Jewel of History

Our tour of Normandie was a step into history. Our guide was knowledgeable and added a nice perspective to each stop. We enjoyed the route, site selections, and time allocated to each. My compliments to the company for timely execution of the schedule including pick-up and drop-off. Same could be said for the hotel staff. We definitely wouldn’t hesitate booking another Viator listed tour.

We saw so much!

This package included everything, and more, that I’d hoped to see. We were efficiently whisked from amazing site to amazing site and never had to fumble with tolls, parking places, making a wrong turn or closing times. Highly recommend to make the most out of a quick trip to the area!

A Big Trip But Worth The Effort

After touring Paris for days, I was exhausted before going on this trip. I am so glad I paid extra for them to come and pick me up at my hotel, it made the process so much easier since it was early morning. Our guide was fantastic, the itinerary was great along with all the stops. The hotel we stopped at was very nice and had a good dinner and breakfast. I wouldn't hesitate again in booking this tour.

Normandy 2 day trip

Excellent tour guide Would have liked having a time schedule for the tour as we missed our final stay in Paris due to the late arrival hour back in the city. Had we known the time schedule ahead of time we would have only booked the one day tour into Normandy

Great guide

We really enjoyed the two day tour. Great knowledgeable guide. It is a fast paced sampler of the area...thus nice to see a lot of the region but a trade off of not spending a long time in any one spot. I wish we had time for the D Day museum.

too much emphasis on the operation overlord

the Bayeux museum -norman occupation tapestries could be more interesting or visiting Caen Of course for the americans the landing sites are central to visit/ the St Malo , Honfleur and MS Miche sites were inspiring

Normandy trip

We booked the trip to primarily see Omaha Beach, and the museum, etc. We spent very little time there. Most of the trip was in other cities, shopping and looking at Churches. The monestery was a good site. The hotel air conditioner didn't work. One guide was good, the other was rude when we first met her. She warmed up but still not the best. I rarely leave reviews but was not satisfied with this trip.

Great 2 Day Tour to Mont St Michel and D day Cemetery

We had an amazing time visiting the American Cemetery, St Malo & Mont & Michel. The tour guide was outstanding and shared lots of great info throughout the tour. We stayed at Novatel Caen and accommodations were excellent. Dinner and breakfast was good. They were long days but a lifetime of memories were taken from the 2 days. Words can’t describe the visit to the Cemetery. Really was an emotional experience. Mont St Michel was definitely a climb but well worth it. Overall it was an outstanding 2 days and I would highly recommend this tour!

Great trip!

What a great trip! Our tour guide was amazing! We learned more about the history of D-day and the invasion of Normandy from her than from history class. Although the time at each stop was short, it gave us a feel for the history, culture, and beauty of the region. It was a great overview of the area and gives you a sense of whether or not you want to come back for a longer visit. We definitely do!