Things to do in Normandy

Discover one of the world's first UNESCO World Heritage Sites with a visit to Mont-Saint-Michel abbey. Explore the site with a self-guided tour aided by an information booklet and learn the fascinating history of the site entirely at your own pace. The worship of Saint Michel was introduced on the holy mount in 708 and it became one of the most important places of medieval pilgrimage. Benedictine Monks began building an abbey here in the 10th century.   The abbey has withstood the assaults of man, time, and the elements. The heroic resistance of the mount to English attacks during the Hundred Years’ War (14th and 15th centuries) made it a symbol of French national identity.  Monks left the abbey in 1790 and it was listed as a historic monument in 1874. The whole site has been returned to its former glory thanks to ongoing restoration work.

Take advantage of your visit to Mont Saint Michel to visit its magnificent abbey, a majestic monument that dominates the bay and for which pilgrims have been coming for nearly a thousand years to pray. Listed as a World Heritage Site, Mont Saint Michel is a true architectural jewel. Its bay, its fortifications, its village and of course its magnificent abbey at the top of which culminates a statue of Saint Michel form a unique ensemble in the world. Thanks to your ticket for the abbey, you will have quick access to the interior of this major pilgrimage center built in the 10th century by Benedictine monks. You will also have a digital audio guide available directly on your phone. This app will allow you to learn more about Mont Saint Michel as a whole, from the history of the site to its various monuments to the cultural activities that take place there.

Travel through Normandy on the way to the medieval Mont-St-Michel on a day trip from Paris aboard an air-conditioned bus. Choose to go alone, with a live guide, or with an audio guide. Discover the UNESCO-listed island and its Gothic abbey. Learn of its fascinating history and legendary stories. Depart Paris and travel through the French countryside by an air-conditioned bus to the amazing fortified city of Mont Saint-Michel off the Normandy coast. Sit back and relax and get stunning views of the countryside along the way. Stop for a break at a nearby village dating back to the days of the Normans, and stroll the winding streets and narrow pathways to find the best views of the bay. Continue to the mouth of the Couesnon River, where Mont-Saint-Michel was built on an islet just a few hundred meters from the mainland. Spend the afternoon exploring the remarkable monuments of the walled city, classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO since 1979. Take time to discover the rocky islet at your own pace. Climb along the ramparts to make your way up to the abbey at the top of the town. Visit the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel with an included entrance ticket. this Benedictine building has played a vital role in the history of the commune and the feudal society it represents. Marvel at this magnificent example of Gothic architecture from the early 13th century. Admire views of the surrounding bay before leaving Mont-Saint-Michel in the late afternoon. Be driven back to the French capital to get dropped off at the starting point.

Visit Mont Saint-Michel on a guided day trip from Paris. Discover the highlights with your guide before taking an audio-guided tour of Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey. Enjoy some free time after to explore on your own. From Paris, board a private coach to the island of Mont Saint Michel. On the journey, listen as your guide provides interesting stories from the history of the abbey. Follow your guide on an orientation tour to ensure you see the most important attractions, including the hilltop Abbey of Mont Saint Michel. Enjoy a few hours at your leisure to explore the abbey and soak up the splendor of its interior with an audio guide tour, or stroll in the picturesque streets. Choose from a variety of lunch options ranging from dining rooms with rustic meat to sophisticated restaurants with bay view terraces specializing in seafood. Or, stop by one of the Mont Saint Michel's creperies to feast on galettes (buckwheat pancakes) with Normandy cider. In the late afternoon, board the coach for a return journey to Paris.

Meet your guide at Place de Québec and then begin your D-Day exploration adventure, retracing history as you uncover the day of June 6, 1944. The first stop is at the village of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the heart of the jump zone for the 82nd Airborne U.S. forces. Listen to stories of how paratroopers rained on the village, and how one of them famously got caught in the tower of the church. Visit Utah beach, the second location where American troops landed on D-Day. Pay a visit to the Utah Beach Museum and learn more about the fascinating history. Then, continue to Pointe du Hoc, a breathtaking cliff offering lunar landscapes and a magnificent viewpoint over the English Channel.  The site was built as a key point of the Atlantic Wall by the Germans because it was the highest point between the Omaha and Utah beaches and provided a great observation spot to notice any arrivals from the sea. Head to Omaha beach, where the deadliest landings of the day took place. From your guide, learn about the landings here and the soldiers who risked their lives. Your D-Day sightseeing tour of Normandy ends with a visit to the US military cemetery where you will have the chance to pay your respects and honor the soldiers of World War ll. 

Escape the busy city and visit the enchanting home and gardens of the famous impressionist painter Claude Monet. Stroll through the beautifully landscaped gardens with your knowledgeable guide and learn more about the flora as well as the importance of the gardens in Monet's paintings.  Meet with your small group and your guide before entering the gardens. First, visit the water garden with the water lilies that inspired many of his paintings and then the 'Clos Normand'. Your guide will point out different species of flowers and features of the garden. As you wander through the gardens and visit Monet's house also learn more about Claude Monet's life, and why he became the master of impressionism.  At the end of the tour, you can stay longer to stroll on your own or take a look in the big gift shop before you exit. From early spring till the first days of November, Monet's gardens are a fairy of colors and fragrances. Feel free to ask your guide about the picturesque village of Giverny and what more there is to see.

Enjoy a half-day trip to the former home of Claude Monet, one of the most famous painters of French Impressionism. Located in the tiny hamlet of Giverny on the banks of the River Seine, 50 miles west of Paris, the house and gardens were bequeathed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts by his son in 1966. They were opened as a public museum in 1980 following large-scale restoration work. Depending on the option you choose, your tour will either be guided, audio-guided or at your own leisure.  Depart Paris and travel by comfortable air-conditioned coach. As there is no direct public transport to Giverny, this is the ideal way to get there. You will drive via the western districts of Paris and take the Normandy motorway as far as Bonnières. After crossing the River Seine at Vernon, continue to Giverny through the wooded plateaus of Eure. Giverny attracted several Impressionist painters in the 19th-Century, most following the lead of the movement’s founder, Claude Monet, who lived there for 43 years. Visit the Master’s house, where the spectacular colors and enchanting garden were designed like a work of art. Be dazzled by the flowerbeds and plants and get a sense of the artist’s feelings and inspirations as you stand in front of the famous water lilies and weeping willows in the delightful water garden.

Visit the Les Jardins d’Etretat which combines classical gardening methods with neo-futuristic architectural vision. Discover a complex of seven gardens, each of them with their own character, purpose, atmosphere, range of plants, and sculptures. Appreciate the natural beauty of Normandy embodied in plants of different forms and shapes representing the waves of the English Channel, oyster farms, rock formations, and arches of the Alabaster coast. Les Jardins d'Étretat is also an open-air museum of contemporary art, which features a unique collection of objects. In addition to the permanent collection, explore the various temporary exhibitions of contemporary sculpture. The modern art collections are in the architectural core of the garden and represent its artistic integrity. Step out on the main terrace of Les Jardins d'Étretatwhich provides a panoramic view of the ocean and Etretat Cliffs. Iconic artist Claude Monet spent many long hours at this place working on his series of paintings. Explore the garden at your own pace. At the entrance, you will receive an information plan which will help you to discover each part of this wonderful site.

Explore the beautiful village and home in Upper Normandy where the Impressionist artists, Claude Monet spent the last 40 years of his life. Visit the charming village of Giverny, and discover why it proved such a source of inspiration for Impressionist artists. Following your transfer from Paris, look inside the house where Monet lived and worked. Set within an exquisite valley of the River Seine, the gardens and surroundings formed a great part of the subject matter for his paintings after he moved there in 1883. Once you have seen the rooms where the artist lived with his family, stroll through 2 unique gardens that Monet designed and modified throughout his life. See more than 100 different types of flowers, and intertwined foliage in Monet’s Flower Garden. Then, feel as if you have stepped into one of his paintings in the Japanese Garden. Go to the lake full of water lilies, and get a better appreciation of why Monet used this garden as the inspiration for over 250 of his paintings.

Explore the beautiful Normandy countryside on a fully guided day trip of the D-Day landing sites, and discover the rich traditions of Normandy at a typical cider and Calvados farm. The tour departs Paris for the historical battlefields and landing beaches along the coast, including the Utah Beach Museum, housed in an original German bunker on the very beach where the first American troops landed. Learn about the complicated planning behind Operation Overlord, and hear touching stories of ordinary men and women whose actions shaped the face of Europe as it is known today. The museum also offers unparalleled views over Utah Beach and is home to one of the only remaining B-26 airplanes in the world. Enjoy a Norman-style lunch of freshly prepared seasonal produce in a restaurant overlooking the port of Grandcamp Maisy. Next, stop at a traditional cider-making orchard, and taste the ciders and Calvados (apple brandy) typical to the region in a 17th-century barn. After that, travel to the Pointe du Hoc to see the German cliff-top defense that was heroically taken by US Rangers during the D-Day landings. Overlooking the English Channel, the site remains much as it was over half a century ago, with original German fortifications and the crater scars of bombs. Pay your respects at the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of President Roosevelt, and a Medal of Honor recipient, is buried here, along with almost 10,000 soldiers.