Rough Guides: Travel the Liberation Route Europe is a travel guide dedicated to remembrance sites and itineraries all over Europe.
Order your Rough Guides now!By the evening of 6 June 1944, the Allied forces had established a foothold on all five landing beaches. There was still a long way to go, but the day’s operations, which took the German command by surprise, were successful. Fought between the iconic 6 June landings and the liberation of Paris on 25 August, the Battle of Normandy is often overlooked. Yet this campaign decided the course of the war in Northwestern Europe. The military cemeteries and memorial sites dotting the landscape of Normandy remind us of the heavy price that was paid for Europe to regain its freedom.
Upon arrival to Paris or Charles de Gaulle airport transfer or drive to Normandy.
Day 2Begin the day with a visit to Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. The day continues with a trip to Pointe du Hoc, where Rudder’s Rangers ascended the steep cliffs to take out the long-range artillery firing on the landing beaches.
Day 3Spend the day exploring Utah Beach. Start your day with a visit to Utah Beach Museum and then reach Sainte-Mere-Eglise and the Airborne Museum. The day ends with a visit to Dead Man’s Corner Museum in St-Come-du-Mont.
Day 4Begin your day with a trip to Longues-sur-Mer, the only German battery in Normandy with the guns still in place. Then travel to the town of Arromanches-les-Bains where you can visit the D-day Museum, the Circular Cinema and Gold Beach with its remnant Mulberry Harbour.
Day 5In the morning, start your day at Juno Beach and visit the Canadian Juno Beach Centre. Continue your day going to Sword Beach and later cross the famous Pegasus Bridge and visit the memorial dedicated to this episode of D-Day.
Day 6Drive towards the Falaise Pocket, where the Allied Forces won the Battle of Normandy before heading towards Paris, which was liberated at the end of August. Visit the Montormel Memorial.
Day 7Spend the morning visiting the Memorial de Caen Museum situated on the spot where the underground command post of the 716th German Infantry Division was located. In 1944 this Division was responsible for the defence of the coastal sector north of Caen. The memorial helps the public understand the Second World War, from its origins after the First World War to its final consequences in 1989. Enjoy a city tour of Caen in the afternoon.
Day 8Drive in the morning to La Cambe for a visit to La Cambe German Military Cemetery located near Omaha Beach. With around 21,200 graves it is the largest and best known German military cemetery in Normandy. In the afternoon, on your way back to Caen, stop in Bayeux and visit the British Military Cemetery, the largest British military cemetery of the Second World War in France. Also stop at the adjacent Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy, which commemorates the unidentified Commonwealth soldiers who fell during the Battle of Normandy.
Day 9End of Normandy tour.
