Band of Brothers Full Day Tour from Bayeux
Description
The book written by Stephen Ambrose and the famous 2001 TV series produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks has been a great success and left so many people with a desire to learn more about Easy Company, led by the famous 1st Lieutenant Richard Dick Winters. This is your chance to discover the sites where these soldiers were fighting during their campaign in Normandy and learn many details about the protagonists and their actions.
Tour Options
Itinerary
After a 30-minute drive from Bayeux, you will start the day on Omaha beach where the 1st and 29th US infantry divisions landed. With the help of maps and pictures, our guides will explain to you all the details of “bloody Omaha”. From the layout of the German defenses to the plight of the first waves, we will share with you the stories of these brave Gi’s who conquered the beach.
After a 5 min drive, your guide will show you the American cemetery behind Omaha beach. the resting place of more than 9,000 American servicemen and women. This sacred place, run by the American Battle Monuments Commission, is the most visited D-Day site in Normandy.
We will drive 20 minutes to our next stop: the unique site of Pointe du Hoc. Follow the footsteps of the 2nd US Ranger Battalion led by the famous Lieutenant Colonel James E. Rudder who scaled the cliffs to destroy a German gun battery threatening the whole US landing operation. Bomb craters, bunkers, dugouts, come and see this outstanding battlefield.
We will then drive 30 minutes to Sainte-Mère-Eglise. In the heart of the Airborne operation, it was the first town to be liberated by the American paratroopers. One of them got stuck up on the church tower during that night. Your guide will share with you the details of this crucial operation and many stories of these brave men. We will make a 60 min break with free time for the lunch
After lunch you will follow Easy Company led by Richard “Dick” Winters. You will learn in detail D-day plans concerning the different regiments of the 101st airborne division for their very first actions during WWII. Discover Marmion’s farm and stand where the first newsreel pictures of the invasion were taken. Men from Easy Company stayed there for a while.
The battle of Brecourt manor is the most famous action seen in the second episode of the TV show. The group took out four guns firing at Utah Beach. From the Easy company monument your guide will tell you everything about this exceptional battle.
The tour will end at Carentan. The town was a strategic crossroad that Easy Company captured. See the road used by these men in the third episode of the show “Band of Brothers” We will then drive 30 minutes back to Bayeux where we started the tour.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(104)
Bryce was an excellent tour guide. Dispute a malfunctioning sound system in the van he managed to inform and educate on the Band of Brothers Tour. I consider myself a WW2 aficionado but Bryce was able to fill in gaps that I did not know. I highly recommend
Excellent experience! Paul was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. We had our younger son with us and he included him in the conversation. Paul also gave excellent suggestions on places to eat, and other activities to enjoy while we were on our vacation in that area. Highly recommend!
We had the most amazing fantastic well informed tour. It has been our dream to visit and we were not disappointed . Our tour guide, unfortunately his name slipped my mind was from HQ company. Excellent. Thank you
We had Paul as a guide (HQ company) and he knows a lot about that period! We were very impressed. With facts, passion and humour he takes you back to D-Day time. We think he has seen the series B or B a lot. 😊 We came to places that are also featured in the series. That already appeals to the imagination, but because he also knew certain texts by heart, the picture is completely complete. In addition, he came up with fun facts about ordinary life. Thank you Paul for this unforgettable day!🍀
We had the most wonderful and knowledgeable guide William (Guillame?). So very interesting covering so much about D-Day, the places, the people and the events. Could not have been more engrossing. Very personable and steeped in knowledge about the area and the history. Shared some of his personal emotions about WWII. If you can, urge you to ask for him. Only regret is we did not spend another day or two with him in the area Gerald & Linda
Our guide Paul was excellent. Great English skills!
Gwen was absolutely fantastic on our tour. He made it personable to my husband’s family member who passed on the beach on D day & just all around did an excellent job. He is so knowledgeable, yet doesn’t seem like a history tour because he has so many personal stories of soldiers and civilians to keep you entertained. We got to see so much in our day trip & a big part of that was because Gwen navigated us and saved us time at each stop, knowing exactly what to do. HIGHLY recommend!
The guide arrived right on time for pick-up. The vehicle was a modern and comfortable minivan, well stocked with mineral water. Our guide, Michael, was friendly and very knowledgeable about the subject. He happily answered questions throughout the day, including more general questions about the area's history. He also carried a binder containing several period photographs, which he used to compare locations as they appeared during the war with how they look today. He was also happy to provide information about other museums and sites in the area that he recommended visiting. The morning half of the tour was centred around the beach landings, while the afternoon covered the airborne assault, focusing primarily on the unit featured in Band of Brothers, but also touching on the actions of the 82nd Airborne in the area. Michael frequently quoted from both the TV series and its source book, pointing out locations where some of the events portrayed on screen took place, as well as explaining several of the inaccuracies and liberties taken by the series. Of the morning stops, Pointe du Hoc was a particular highlight. Lunch was taken in Sainte-Mère-Église, which was a great place to stop and felt a little like the gift shop at the end of the Normandy campaign! There were plenty of cafés, bakeries, bars and gift shops, many of them themed around D-Day. We visited on a Thursday when the local market was taking place, which made parking a little tricky but did not affect our visit. The afternoon took us through the bocage countryside, where we visited several memorials to the airborne soldiers and learned more about their actions following the landings. You certainly don't need to be a fan of Band of Brothers to enjoy this tour. It provides a very good overview of the American involvement on D-Day, and I would happily recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the Normandy campaign.
This was one of the best tours I have been on. It was every historical site I hoped to see on my visit to Normandy. There were only four of us in a van with our guide who was a wealth of Information and even suggested a lunch spot and made reservations for us. I highly recommend this tour. It was very personal.
Wow, thank you for your wonderful review! We're so pleased you enjoyed the tour, the small-group experience, and your guide's knowledge and helpful recommendations. Your kind recommendation means a lot to us, and we hope to welcome you back to Normandy again soon! Pierre HQ Company Tour
Paul is a great tour guide to go with. From high over to detail and from a joke or chit chat, he comes seriously around the corner again and gets you quiet about the content. This tour makes much visible about the extent of an operation which fortunately has taken place anyway. You only get respect and gratitude for the people who gave their lives for our freedom then. Impressed with what I've been able to see. Highly recommended.
