Looking to spend a few days in Normandy in late June (arrive Thurs, leave Tues).

BF and his son really enjoy cycling. I know there are group tours you can do, but we are prob going to Airbnb either in Grandcamp Maisy or Port-en-Bessin.

A guided day trip cycle option would be good, but has anyone rented bikes and done this on their own? I know there are cycling routes along the coast. Is it pretty easy to rent a bike and go out on your own, or is a guide better?

Any day trip tour companies to recommend? Any other recs related to this?

https://texags.com/search?q=Normandy&fid=54

We used Livelo when we traveled to Australia a few years ago. Unfortunately, I don't think they're in France, but it was a great experience. Sent them our measurements and itinerary and the road bikes w/ GPS, helmet, water bottles, and repair tools were waiting for us in the hotel. The Garmin GPS they provided even had preloaded routes.

Even though us renting specifically through Livelo doesn't help, I wouldn't hesitate to rent a road bike and just go on my own (vs. a tour group) from a different company based on the experience. I'd assume Normandy is far, far more cyclist friendly than the US. Which 1) makes cycling just easier and safer and 2) makes it more likely they have companies available for just this type of thing.

Yeah, they actually have a bike route that goes right along the coast, from a little west of Pointe du Hoc all the way to Omaha Beach. I think you can keep riding, it just moves away from the beach as you go farther east.

I think I found a place where we can rent, the website is just a little confusing because not all of it is translating. I'm also looking into a couple of guided day tours, since we are interested in both. There is a lot of value in having a guide.

I was just curious if anyone has done a trip this way. Most of the posts in the search result are either river cruises or day trips from Paris.

We stayed in Port-en-Bessin in 2022 and really loved the place. Just the right size, and right on the coast.

I can't say that I noticed a lot of cyclists along the beaches, but I wasn't looking for them either. My guess is that any bike tour is going to focus on one beach, and Omaha above all others. It is the most dramatic, and not nearly as built up as the area around Juno and Sword. Utah beach is not quite the draw, but I could see bike tours that cover Utah and the airborne drop sites.

I really wanted to stay in Port-en-Bessin, but the airbnb selection was limited. We found a place in Grandcamp Maisy that we love. We are renting a car, so it should be easy to go back and forth.

Ideally, we'd like to do a multi-day bike rental and keep them at our apartment to use at our discretion, but I don't think that's going to be an option.

TXTransplant said:

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I really wanted to stay in Port-en-Bessin, but the airbnb selection was limited. We found a place in Grandcamp Maisy that we love. We are renting a car, so it should be easy to go back and forth.

Ideally, we'd like to do a multi-day bike rental and keep them at our apartment to use at our discretion, but I don't think that's going to be an option.

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If you don't care about the British beaches, Grandcamp would be a good location. One thing we didn't see when we were there, and I wished we had, would be very close to Grancamp, and that is the butter factory at Isigny. It gets mentioned in this video:



We loved the D-Day Experience Museum outside Carentan.

Are you going to Mont St. Michel?

Thanks for the video - I will watch it! The plan is to go to Mont St. Michel. One of the bike tour guides does a trip there - they take you on a shuttle part of the way, and then give you bikes to ride onto the island. I sent an email to the guide asking him to hold a date for us to do that.

Also looking into a fat bike ride on Omaha Beach - I think you can do that with a guide or on your own - as well as a side car tour of some of the D-Day sites.

Thought I'd update this, in case anyone else ever wants this info.

I found a multi-day bike rental company that will deliver bikes to our Airbnb. I rented e-bikes, but they have trekking bikes, gravel bikes, mountain bikes, tri bikes, kids bikes, and e-mountain bikes. It's not cheap (550 euros for 3 days), but it's convenient. It's called Loc Velo in Bayeaux.

Also hired a guide with a company called Petite Reine to take us on a bike ride to Mont Saint Michel. We won't ride the entire way (part of it is shuttle), but it's an all-day trip. Also provides e-bikes. They also do bike tours of various D-Day sites.

I tried to book a fat tire bike ride on Omaha Beach, but that wasn't available for tour dates.

We are also doing a motorcycle with sidecar D-Day tour for a few hours. I found that on Airbnb under experiences.

Sounds like fun.

I suppose if you are biking to Mont-St. Michel you won't be climbing to the top? I don't recall seeing any bike racks there, but then again, I wasn't looking for them.

While a guide would be nice, if you do a little research, you can still get a lot out of a self-guided trip to Omaha. The German positions are clustered around the beach exits, and standing there and seeing the view those guns had of the guys hitting the beach will leave an impression.

We have free time to walk around the island at Mont St Michel. I think we must leave our bikes somewhere. Maybe with our guide?

We have 2 days of free time to explore the beaches and museums. I booked the sidecar because I thought it sounded like fun and would be a unique experience. But we plan to ride our rental bikes as much as we can and just explore on our own.

My guess is that you will have to leave them in the parking lot, or perhaps along the strip of hotels. I don't recall seeing on the causeway/bridge. You will take the shuttle bus (or walk) from there.

twk said:

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My guess is that you will have to leave them in the parking lot, or perhaps along the strip of hotels. I don't recall seeing on the causeway/bridge. You will take the shuttle bus (or walk) from there.

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Came back to update this, since we just finished our ride/visit. There were cyclists on the boardwalk and bikes parked along the beach, however, we did not ride our bikes. Our guide locked them up near the first bus stop and rode his bike to retrieve the van while we walked around. So, we didn't ride bikes back to where we started, and are being driven all the way back to Bayeaux.

Overall, it was a fantastic day. We stopped at the German mausoleum on the way, which was very moving and appreciated, considering why we are here in the first place.

After spending all day yesterday in our bikes, I'm convinced cycling is the best way to see Normandy, especially the D-Day sites. Just a little taste of everything we saw…

https://instagr.am/p/DLeTYWyttE7

I never came back and updated this to share the rest of our trip. We also hired a company called Retro Tour Normandy to take us on a motorcycle sidecar tour. It was probably the BEST excursion/tour I've done on any vacation. Just tons of fun riding through Normandy on a motorcycle. With the exception of the Cemetery (which we wanted to go back to), every site they took us to was new/someplace we had not yet been. Can't recommend this enough!