D-Day beaches on your own from Le Havre

[amypintx]

In case anyone is looking to do the Normandy D-Day beaches on your own, here’s what we did and it worked out great. I loved the freedom of having our own car, going where we wanted and staying as long (or little) as we wanted. 

 

We rented a car through Turo. I tried and tried to rent from the rental car place at the port but their site wouldn’t ever let me get to a place where I could pay for a reservation. In the end, Turo was cheaper and I could set our own hours (we were in port on a Sunday and the agency would have closed at 6:15 and we didn’t have to be back on board until 8:30) so it worked out for the best. The cost of the Turo with additional mileage (the listing just included 200km) and premium insurance was about 90€. We also filled the tank with gas at the end for 26€. 

 

We stopped at Aldi on our way out of town and got water, bread, cheese, salami, chips, etc to make lunch (21€ total) and then headed out. I had marked places that we wanted to go in Google Maps and we decided to start with the one farthest away and work our way back toward Le Havre. We used Google Maps for navigation and it never steered us wrong. There were a ton of toll stops along the way but they were super easy. Just go to the lane that has a card icon and tap your credit card. Total tolls were about $26.

 

We went to Maisy’s Battery (approx 7€ pp admission), Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and Normandy American Cemetery. Parking was free everywhere except Omaha Beach and that was 1€/hour in the main lot. 

 

I had originally wanted to go to a few other places but it was a rainy/chilly day and we were ready to head back after the cemetery. We had an amazing day and saved a ton from the cruise ship and private excursions I had researched. 

[John Bull]

We've done likewise a few times in our own car (car ferries from Portsmouth UK are much quicker, cheaper and more frequent than car ferries from Oklahoma 😄).

 

Does need a bit of planning to get the best out of the time, but once out of Le Havre there's no city driving, the drive from Le Havre is simple and fast (but keep to speed limits, there are stacks of speed cameras).

Once in the area of the D-Day landings, the little coastal lanes are surprisingly quiet and parking is free and easy in most places.

 

Not sure how you found "a ton of toll stops" ?

The only one I'm aware of is the Pont De Normandie which crosses the mouth of the River Seine.

 

JB 🙂

Edited July 9 by John Bull

[amypintx]

🤷‍♀️ I wasn’t counting as we were driving but we have 7 different charges so I guess Google took us on a toll intensive route!