I’m excited to share our Normandy, France area itinerary today because this region of France SHOULD be on your bucket list! There is so much to do there! It’s filled with history, beauty, and friendly people. Our trip was done in 4 days and 3 nights but you could easily spend a week in the area if you have time. It also has a fun ‘hidden’ secret that I’ll share further down. I can easily say that our trip to the Normandy region has been one of the highlights during our time here.
We drove from Spangdahlem to the Normandy region, note that Normandy is a region of France and not a city. There are many cities in this area and lots to see and do. The Normandy area is best known for it’s huge impact with WWII and D-Day where American soldiers and Allied forces stormed the beaches to push back the Germans. Much blood was shed, though the plan was victorious. We planned to visit the historical sites as well as some other sites to round out the trip and get the most out of it.
We went on Labor Day weekend, which was fantastic. The peak season had already ended so the crowds were really low and the weather was great. I’d highly recommend this as a great time to check out the area.
There are tolls when driving, I have all the trip costs broken down at the bottom of the post for those who would like that info.
Below is our itinerary with a short blurb including costs and the link to the post on each place which has more detailed info as well.
Day 1 (Friday)
Drive Day
Etrétat, France -Free, amazing white chalk cliffs to explore. (LINK)
We left on Friday morning and drove the 6 hours to the cliffs from Spang. We visited the cliffs, walked around the town, had a snack and then finished the 2 hour drive to our family friendly B&B which was quaint and ran by a great lady. We had dinner in the local area.
Total attraction cost for 2 adults & 2 kids (12 & 14) €0. Food cost for day €97,40.
Day 2 (Saturday)
D-Day sites all day. I highly recommend using Rick Steve’s Normandy book for your planning. We used his self-guided route to plan our trip and it was amazing. We did the sites as he recommended and then went to the next town with the next site, which made it easy to plan. I highly encourage you to use his advice and start off with the Arromanches 360. I also read the book aloud on the drive down which was great to get us all refreshed on D-Day history.
Port Winston Artificial Harbor – €3 parking in lot on top of cliffs. Start on the cliffs above town, use the concrete overview to get a good look at area.
Arromanches 360 Theater – €5 adults, €4.50 kids. Great show to get you refreshed on your WWII history.
Arromanches Beach – Free, we walked down from the theater area, there is also a free train you can take if it’s running.
D-Day Landing Museum – €7.90 adults, €5,80 kids, discount for military with ID. After walking the beach we visited the museum. It had a great film but the rest of the museum was small. We walked around the small walkplatz and grabbed some pizza for lunch.
Longes-sur-Mer Gun Battery – Free, this was a quick stop to check out the remains of the German casemates.
WWII Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial – Free, in addition to the cemetery of the fallen US soldiers it has an impressive memorial area downstairs with films, displays, etc. It is not to be missed!
Vierville-sur-Mer & Omaha Beach – Free, walked along the beach and grabbed a snack from Hotel La Sapinière.
Cider Farm stop – we stopped the 10th century fortified farm to get some locally made cider, it was amazing! Cider farms are the hidden secret and gems in this area! Keep your eyes peeled for signs and follow them for some neat experiences. We stopped at 7 of them during our time in the area! Cider tasted different at each place and all offered tastings, we came home with many bottles! I’ll be doing a post about them soon and sharing the info for this one.
Pointe du Hoc – Free, this bomb cratered area of German bunkers is an interesting stop.
Dinner & back to B&B.
Total attraction cost for 2 adults & 2 kids (12 & 14) €46,40. Food cost for day €74.
Day 3 (Sunday)
Utah Beach Landing Museum – €8 adults, €3,50 kids under 15. Hands down the best museum in the area, I highly recommend it. We also walked along the beach area as well.
Sainte-Mère-Église – Free, seen the church were Private Steele got stuck on the steeple, walked around town, & had lunch.
Mont St. Michel – €9 adults, €7,50 kids. Visited the fortified monastery and walked in the mud flats.
Dinner & back to B&B.
Total attraction cost for 2 adults & 2 kids (12 & 14) €56. Food cost for day €122,70.
Day 4 (Monday)
Drive day – 7.5 hours back to Spangdahlem area.
Honfleur – Free, stopped at this neat little harbor village to sightsee and grab lunch.
Total attraction cost for 2 adults & 2 kids (12 & 14) €0, we did free sites in Honfleur. Food cost for day €77.
Total Gas Cost – €174,50/$196.44
Total Toll Cost – €60,90/$68.56
Total Parking Cost – €23/$25.89
Total Attraction Cost – €102,40/$115.28
Total Food Cost – €371,10/$417.76
B&B Cost – €330/$371.39 for 3 nights, breakfast included.
Total Trip Cost – €1061,50/$1195.32
I hope you get the chance to experience the Normandy area and all it has to offer, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!
Love your break down of this trip. I went to the Normandy area with my mom when I was 16 and it changed my life. It’s really incredible to see. My husband and I are hoping to get stationed in Germany next, so you can be we will be visiting!
Thanks for sharing your costs and your itinerary. That’s a great way for others to get an idea of what you did, how much it cost and whether you thought it was worth it or not. The third picture, of the castle/church on an island…where is that? Thanks again for sharing!
Hi there!
It’s Mont St. Michel and is part of the Normandy itinerary on Day 3.
Love this post is was very well written!
This is wonderful! I did this same itinerary (including Honfleur) from Paris when I was in college. I have recommended it to many of my friends stationed here in Southern Spain at Naval Station Rota. If you ever want to travel to Rota, you can find tons of travel tips on my blog, http://adventuresinrota.blogspot.com.
Rota looks amazing, I wouldn’t mind visiting it! Thanks for sharing your info 🙂
Thanks for posting this itinerary! I’m headed out to Normandy today and haven’t done as much planning as I usually like to do before a trip. I appreciate the notes on the museums and the recommendation for cider tastings– I hadn’t heard about that!
-Kristin
Normandy was one of our favorite trips, I hope your’s is amazing as well!
What B&B did you stay in? Was the B&B the only thing you booked in advance? I clicked the link you had for the B&B and it took me to a bunch of options, about how far away was it from everything? I love all the details you have in this blog.
Sadly the place we stayed is no longer a B&B. We were around 20 mins from where we needed to be and 1.5 from Mount St. Michele.