Best private Normandy Tours from Paris by a car

Best private Normandy sightseeing, historical and D-Day WW2 battlefield tours from Paris by a car with a Guide in English. Before the choosing a route and compiling a program for your trip, we recommend that you look at our small guide book to Normandy and its attractions and at a map of the location of the tourist objects. La Manche, Caen, Calvados, Honfleur, Deauville, Trouville – all the sights and interesting places that you can see in one day or 2-3 days during your private trip by a car. Compiled by the Union of Taxi Drivers in Paris and Nice, based on the experience of the last 100 years.

Normandy (in French Normandie) is a historical region in the north-west of the country, currently covering two regions of the country – Upper Normandy and Lower Normandy. It is famous for its farms, apple orchards and dairy industry, especially cheeses such as Camembert, Le livarot and Pont-l’Évêque. The total population is about 3.2 million people. The main cities of Normandy are Caen, Cherbourg-Octeville, Evreux (Évreux), Rouen, Le Havre, Dieppe. The area in the north-west of France, and especially the city of Rouen, is known throughout the world, as it is associated with Richard the Lionheart, Jean D’Arc and the work of Claude Monet “Rouen Cathedral”. Ancient buildings, castles, cathedrals all abound and are available for visiting.

Normandy is really a country into a country at northern France. You can come many times and always find something new and interesting. From a tourist point of view, it is divided into several geographical areas that are convenient for visiting in one day. Usually, acquaintance begins with a sightseeing tour of the northeast from Rouen to the Alabaster Coast.

Route 1. Rouen – Trouville – Deauville – Honfleur – Etretat Sightseeing tour
Rouen is not only the Hundred Years War, Jean d’ Arc and the remains of an ancient castle, but also the world’s only museum of fine arts made of iron, a collection of highly artistic castles, caskets, tools, lighters and, of course, antique decorative weapons. This collection was requested from the owner of Le Secq des Tournelles by Paris, but the owner, in memory of his ancestors, transferred everything at the beginning of the 20th century to Rouen.

Rouen, a little about the history
An ancient French city that everyone in the world knows because of Jeanne d’ Arc. But once Rouen was a large fortress on the banks of the Seine, controlling all the main transport arteries to Paris. Years of battles, revolutions and even the bombing of the “allies” during the Second World War greatly changed the face. Only fragments remained of the ancient fortress – the tower and the Donjon, pieces of the wall. Medieval cathedrals and the entire old center with its narrow streets, ancient buildings and structures have also been preserved. During a tour of Normandy, tourists visit the center, but they don’t even know what magnificent museums there are, so to speak, “the national treasure of France”. We offer individual excursions, which means that you can choose the objects to include in the visit program, including the Museum of fine metalwork. This, of course, is not the Armory in the Kremlin, but in many categories it is even more interesting and practical. But still, the main attractions are associated with the legendary Jeanne d’ Arc. So to speak, the lessons of “living history” for those who once read textbooks at school as a child. It’s one thing to read, it’s another thing to see everything live and take a “memory photo”. Usually, a guided tour of the center takes 2-3 hours. Judging by personal experience, viewing a collection of fine metalwork will take 0.5-1 hour (quickly it can take half an hour, but for those who like antique weapons, lockable caskets or who want to make a fence on their mansion in a medieval style, you will need about an hour including photographing details.)
Normandy is also a wonderful seaside resort. For entertainment: a golf, a horseback riding, a swimming (on the Atlantic coast – sandy and pebble beaches), good varied cuisine, visiting horse farms and farms for the production of cheese and Calvados. See below “Sightseeing tours from Paris, photos and reviews”.

Trouville (Trouville-sur-Mer) is an old fishing village and tourist recreation area that has existed since the time of the Vikings. It has a casino and a thalassotherapy center, picturesque landscapes that inspire artists and poets to their creations. Today, in addition to beautiful villas, the main attractions are also the hotels and the Casinos, a visit to which is usually included in the tour program.

Deauville is also a famous French resort, Coco Chanel’s favorite holiday destination and the site of the “Festival of the American Cinematographer”, the World Polo Championship and the largest horse auction in Europe.

Honfleur is a small and very picturesque port town with old wooden architecture that inspired many impressionist painters. Ancient houses, chapels, churches, mansions and palaces, suburban and suburban quarters, corners of houses of the 17th – 18th centuries.

Alabaster coast, from Dieppe to Le Havre. Fécamp and Etretat.

Route 2. Caen – Mont-Saint-Michel (Lower Normandy) sightseeing tour
The region has interesting ancient fortresses and even royal castles.
Caen is an ancient fortress.

Route 3 series. D-Day landing WW2 battlefields private tours.

“WW2 D-Day Battlefields tour” is a targeted visit to the best military museums and memorials located in the sectors of the beaches “Utah”, “Omaha”, “Gold”, “Juna” and the city of Caen. The list of sights you choose yourself or according to the routes that we will recommend to you. These regions have been attracting tourists from all over the world for 70 years, there are many interesting things here. Our experts have carefully studied all the routes and objects, and came to the conclusion that all the proposed programs are designed for American, Canadian, British and German tourists. We conducted additional historical research and supplemented our own programs with traditional visits to American cemeteries and beaches, where you can sunbathe and swim during a break in the trip. We have chosen the best for tours according to our experience – the climbing real fascist bunkers of the preserved fortified area, the visiting museums with the magnificent dioramas and mannequins in the uniform, the corners of “the living history” – it’s very interesting. Interesting facts about recent events. Few people know, but OST arbeiters and prisoners of war from the USSR participated in the construction of the Atlantic Wall, and it was defended by …. Cossacks, Hi-Wi and OST battalions. Many museums also have same mannequins in the uniform of ROA. All this led to the extradition of the Cossacks in Lienz, where we also conduct the special exclusive author’s tours. We try to make the trip program not only interesting and informative, but also include the “Russian trace”. Our experience shows that for those who are slightly above average interested in military history, one day is not enough. We make tours of Normandy for two days, and even for a week, as well as an extended option with a continuation of visiting the Atlantic Wall in the Boulogne-Calais area. . See below “personal experience, useful tips” and reviews.

In summer, on any of the routes above, you can make a short stop at any beach to swim, sunbathe and, of course, taste the local wine, beer or Calvados specialty drink.

We can easily calculate and make you preliminary travel options to Normandy, which you can change in advance or during your trip. To do this, we need some basic information, namely: the number of people, the age and the special hobbies (a history, cars, tanks and equipment, collecting, military-historical reenactment, and so on). Where and at what time you need to be picked up at the hotel in Paris or immediately at the airport of arrival Charles de Gaulle or Orly, Beauvais. Starting the journey right from the airport of arrival saves your time, but we change the program due to possible fatigue after a long flight. This option is great for a 2-3 day tour. If you write an approximate schedule for your entire stay in France and Paris, we can choose the best day to travel to Normandy, as well as suggest other interesting trips to the regions – Champagne, Loire Valley according to your special interests.