Three-Day Private Trip: D-Day, Mont.St-Michel, Three Castles

07:30 am: Hotel Pick-up and Departure to Loire Valley

Pick-up from your hotel and departure to the Loire Valley, a 180-km drive in a comfortable air-conditioned Mercedes car or a minivan, which will take about 2.5 hours. En route, your guide will give You general Information about the French history connected to the castles of the Loire Valley.

10:00 am – 11:30 am: Arrival at the Loire Valley at Château de Chambord. As you explore the castle, your guide will tell you the history of the castle and its construction. The Château de Chambord is one of the most popular castles because of its French Renaissance architecture. The building was constructed from 1519 to 1547 by Francis I and has 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 84 staircases. The castle is also known because of its open double-spiral staircase. The two spirals ascend the three floors without ever meeting. Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase.

11:45 am: Departure to Amboise city (1 hour drive)

12:45 pm – 13:45 pm: Lunch break in Amboise city. You'll find many restaurants and cafes here. We can also recommend you a good place to eat and make a table reservation.



13:45 pm – 15:00 pm: Royal Chateau d’Amboise visit

Take advantage of the skip-the-line access to Royal Chateau d’Amboise. Enjoy the tour of the castle with the help of histopads explaining to you the history of this castle and its rooms. Amboise is the grand 15th-century residence of King Charles VIII and an example of the transition of Gothic to Renaissance architecture. Learn the history of the castle Amboise which is known as birth place of princes, the reign of kings, and the death of the greatest Renaissance master, Leonardo Da Vinci. Here, you can also visit his grave in the chapel.

15:00 pm Departure to the Chenonceau Castle (20 minutes drive)

15:20 pm – 17:00 pm: Once again we will use skip-the-line access to enter Chateau Chenonceau and its Gardens. Your guide will tell you the history of the castle and its construction. Nicknamed the "ladies’ castle," Chenonceau is associated with famous women of France such as Catherine de Medici, its stunning architecture, and its unique arches over the River Cher. The Renaissance-style Gardens of Chenonceau, with their more than 130,000 flowerings plants, will surely impress you.

17:00 pm: Departure to Mont Saint-Michel (3.5 hours)

20:30 pm: Arrival in Normandy and check in to your hotel located close to Mont Saint-Michel.

08:00 am – 12:30 pm: Hotel check out and Mont Saint-Michel Tour

Go on a guided tour of Mont Saint-Michel Abbey, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Your guide will lead you up the narrow streets of the medieval village toward the top of the island, from where you can admire panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and bay and enter the Benedictine Abbey. Entrance tickets into the abbey include audio-guides in many languages. The whole island with the Bay remains practically the same since the Middle Ages.

12:30 pm: Lunch and Departure to Omaha Beaches (1.5 hours)

14:00 pm – 15:00 pm: Arrival at Pointe du Hoc, a prominent cliff between Utah and Omaha Beach. This point was important because it was the highest land between Omaha and Utah beaches and could thus fire upon both of them. The site was a gun battery, fortified with concrete casemates and gun pits, forming part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall defences. Visiting the Pointe du Hoc You will learn about the 2nd Ranger Battalion's sacrifice to take this crucial gun battery on the cliffs of Omaha Beach on June 6th 1944. Many of the original fortifications and bunkers remain on the site and are open to the public, including the fire control casemate, on top of which there is a monument to the 2nd Ranger Battalion.

15:00 pm: Departure to Omaha Beach Signal Monument (15 minutes)

15:15 pm – 15:40 pm: At Omaha Beach Signal Monument, learn about the huge sacrifice made by the 34,000 men who landed here on D-Day. Next, we will take a short drive to Overlord Museum.

15:45 pm – 16:15 pm: Located just a few hundred meters away from the Normandy American Cemetery, the Overlord Museum contains many World Ware II artefacts and installations like tanks, weapons, guns, many military vehicles, V-1 missile, personal belongings and more.

16:15 pm – 17:30 pm: Take a tour of Normandy American Cemetery & Visitor Center in Colleville-sur-Mer. It contains 9,387 US soldiers, most of whom were killed during the Normandy Landings and the Wall of the Missing with the names of 1,557 soldiers missing in action. The cliffs leading down to the beaches contain the remnants of the German defences, including concrete casemates with memorials to the soldiers. At Normandy American Cemetery you’ll also see the semicircular memorial colonnade with the sculpture “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves” and large maps of military operations.

17:30 pm: Departure to to German Batterie de Longues-sur-Mer (25 minutes)

18:00 pm – 18:30 pm: Stop at the German Gun Batterie de Longues-sur-Mer and explore the remnants of history at the German Gun Batterie. You will visit this historic site, where remnants of World War II stand as silent witnesses to the past. Discover the military prowess of the German forces.

18:30 pm: Departure to Bayeux (20 minutes)

19:00 pm: Hotel Check-in

08:30 am: Departure to Caen Memorial and Museum (30 minutes)



09:00 am – 10:30 am: Visit of the Caen Memorial and Museum, located in the British Sword Beach sector. Caen Museum is the best World War II museum in France. Here, you will get an overview of the Battle of Normandy as well the sense of the personal lives of the people who took part in it. An excellent 19-minute film documents this battle with original historic footage.

10:30 am: Departure to Calvados Christian Drouin for Calvados Tasting (45 minutes)



11:15 am – 12:15 pm: Arrival at Calvados Pere Magloire L'Experience in Pont-L'Eveque. You will learn how Calvados has been made for centuries and enjoy a tasting session.

12:30 pm: Departure to Honfleur (25 minutes)



13:00 pm – 15:30 pm: Go on an hour-long walking tour in Honfleur. The main defensive port of Normandy of the 15th century, Honfleur is now a charming resort town with a picturesque bay, much-loved by the artists of the 19th century. Honfleur was first mentioned in 1027, when it belonged to the Norman Duke Richard III. The owners of the city changed several times during the Hundred-Years War. In the 15th century, there were French pirates, corsairs who ravaged the English coast. A little later, in the 17th–18th centuries, the city became significantly rich in trade with the American colonies. After the port was closed, the city's economy declined and Honfleur became a suburb of Le Havre. Today it is one of the most known tourist cities in Normandy.

14:00 pm – 15:30 pm: Enjoy some free time after lunch and departure to Rouen (1.5 hours)



17:00 pm – 19:00 pm: After arrival in Rouen, go on an hour-long walking tour of the city. Rouen, the capital of the Duke of Normandy and the city of a hundred bell-towers, is famous for its Gothic cathedrals. Here, you will have the opportunity to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral of the 13the–16th centuries, known throughout the world in the paintings of Monet, the area of the Vieux Marché (Old Market), the place of execution of Joan d'Arc and the Church of Joan d'Arc, and the medieval clock Gros-Horloge.

19:00 pm: Departure to Paris (2 hours)



21:00 pm: Paris arrival and drop off

Trip ends.