 The Hotel du Casino - overlooking Omaha Beach - Normandy |
 Looking out across a field of poppies - Audembert, France Let me guide you some of the areas that I have been to on my last two trips to France in 2013 and 2016. |
Careful Planning One of the first things to consider before even booking your trip to France is to plan carefully before you go, don't wait until you get there! Figure what you want to see and where exactly you want to go. In regards to WWII museums and bunker locations in France you need to realise a a number factors to take into account first. Normandy for instance is not entirely easy to get to, it's a trek, a beautiful one but it's a journey nonetheless so be prepared and don't worry I will prepare you in this section on how best to get there. The Pas de Calais and other regions too will be featured here, what I like to call "bunker country". In this area there is some really beautiful countryside when visiting the remains of the Atlantik Wall as well as the nice variety of museums. The first thing I did before booking my flight was to think about what I wanted to see and where I wanted to go. I always wanted to go to Normandy, so in 2013 I sat down and browsed through a few books on D-Day, the landing beaches and the coastal defense networks of the Atlantik Wall. I selected a number of different locations and planned from there. Looking at Google Earth I pinpointed the locations and the sites I had in mind. From there I added place markers as to where my locations would be and once I had everything in place I exported the place markers from Google Earth to my desktop PC. The next step was also relatively simple. If you have a Garmin GPS for your vehicle I strongly advise you to purchase the French Road Maps package by Garmin. What you will need to do is to connect your Garmin GPS to your PC using the USB cable that should have come packaged with the equipment at the time of purchase. After purchasing the French road maps from Garmin download the software to your PC. Connect your Garmin GPS device to your PC and then upload the French road maps software to your Garmin GPS device. The next step is to make sure you have all of your places of interest ready to be downloaded from Google Earth. When you are ready go to Google Earth and select with your mouse and click Save As. You are going to Save As to your desktop or folder of choosing and the file will be saved as .KMZ file. The file format is the format in which Google Earth codes the navigation data including latitude and longitude.  Click to enlarge example Once you have downloaded the .KMZ files it's now ready to upload them to your Garmin GPS device. Now since my 2013 visit Google have removed a great feature that once allowed you to upload the .KMZ files directly to your GPS device, why they did this is a bit a mystery to many of us that loved that feature. But never fear! a solution is here! There are in it's place a number of excellent mapping software programs on the market including Garmin BaseCamp, EasyGPS, Expert GPS and so on. Once you have purchased this software you can easily follow the directions and upload your .KMZ files directly to your GPS device. From there you can re-name or keep the same names of the locations you want to visit, mount it in your car in France then select whatever location you want to go to based on the .KMZ files you uploaded. To the left the Garmin City Navigator Map pack - France - click to buy from Amazon.com This saved so much time and hassle by having GPS set up, no messing around with a great big paper map! Though I do caution not to rely on GPS alone! Make sure you bring a map of the region you are visiting, I have listed 3 versions below that you can purchase via Amazon.com |
 The Hotel L'univers - overlooking the estuary that leads to Grand Fort Philippe |
Lodging in France is easy and it's obvious to prepare your stay long before you actually make your trip, don't leave it to the last minute especially in the peak summer months. There are number of great hotels to stay all over France but when booking in regards to a WWII tour of the beaches in Normandy or any number of the great WWII museums throughout the north I do have some suggestions. The Normandy region has a great selection of hotels and B&Bs. Hotel du Casino is one of my favourite accommodations and over looks Omaha Beach in the Charlie Company Sector.  The sun going down on Charlie Company sector beach on Omaha Beach, Normandy  The town of Arromanches with it's fine selection of restaurants and shops.  The Hotel Samoria - a rustic treat in Northern France  The Hotel Ibis sous la Manche- Calais  Cite` Europe  The Hotel L'univers - Grand-Fort-Philippe  The Ferry Man |
 St. Pancras Station, London |
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Via flight there are so many options to choose from it really doesn't make sense to create a section with links to your favourite airlines but in case you do need some assistance here are some of my choices with flights to Paris: Google Flights Norwegian Airlines Air France When coming from England one of the slower routes is via the Ferry. I chose this route on my 2013 trip to Normandy and I must say as pleasant as it was it was an overnight ferry and took a very long time to get there, I also strongly suggest you book a berth instead of booking a "Reserved Lounge Seat".  The recliner option on Brittany Ferries.  The waiting lounge at the ferry port in Caen, Normandy. Here is the link for Brittany Ferries. The quickest and most pleasant journey to France from the U.K. is via the Eurostar train service which runs from St. Pancras Station to stops in Frethun, Lille, Avignon and Paris. It also has stops in Belgium. Here is the link for Eurostar or you can follow the direct links below: Eurostar Departures and Arrivals Eurostar Timetables Eurostar fares and fees information St. Pancras is located in central London, the address is: Euston Rd, Kings Cross, London N1C 4QP, UK A direct link to their web site can be found here After you have purchased your ticket on the Eurostar make your way to St. Pancras station. Because you are traveling internationally you will be required to bring your passport. You also will want to travel somewhat light. When I went in 2016 there was a limited number of baggage stowaway bins available and I was early to arrive.  Are we there yet!?  Your train awaits you! After your departure announcement has been made you will be led up an escalator where your train awaits you, but we warned don't mess around be quick! they leave on time and I mean on time. You really do only have a few minutes once the announcement is made to make your train otherwise it will leave without you. If you are going to stop at Frethun or Calais which is the first stop in France the journey time can take about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. I believe when I went it was about an hour and a half, it really does go by very quickly. Please check the Eurostar time tables as listed above if you are traveling to other destinations in France. But if you are going to the WWII museums and the Atlantik Wall bunkers then your stop will be at the Frethun station in Calais. So how are you going to get about once you have arrived at the Frethun station in France? Well you need to hire a car and I do hope you have arranged for that already. If traveling from the U.K. your British driving license will suffice but if you are traveling from other countries such as the United States you will need your state driving license plus an International Drivers license, visit our Driving in France section for more details. I also hope you can drive a manual or a stick shift because 99.99% of the cars for hire anywhere in France are just that, manual. There are very few automatic options in France to choose from, I am not saying you can't hire one but they are few and far between and they are expensive.  A Toyota Hybrid hired through Avis I was really satisfied with Avis, they gave me a great car and the customer service agent on site was really nice. She also worked with me on my broken French which was very helpful!  The departure lounge in Frethun, France. | |
 A well sign posted country road in Northern France |
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If you have never driven in France before let me give you a few driving tips before getting on the road. If you are traveling from anywhere in Europe including the U.K. your current drivers license from your country of origin will suffice. If you are traveling from outside of Europe such as the United States then you will need your current state drivers license plus you will need to purchase a short term international drivers license, they are relatively inexpensive. I bought mine from my automobile insurance carrier which was good for six months. If you stay longer you will need to renew from the country of origin. You want to make sure that you carry these with you in the glove compartment of your vehicle whenever you drive. You also want to make sure that you carry your passport with you, preferably somewhere safe in your pocket for instance. My suggestion when driving in France is to please put away your mobile phone device, don't text when driving! If the police or Gendarme as they are called pull you over for texting the fines are very steep and you often have to pay on the spot! That's right, if you get pulled over in France for texting or are caught speeding the Gendarme will have you pay then and there. I was told by someone that if you don't have the money on you they sometimes will drive you to you a a local ATM to withdraw the funds to settle the fine. And obviously don't drink and drive as you will be arrested and carted off, it's not worth it so don't be foolish and be respectful, your on holiday, have a drink when you are settled in your hotel at night, you can then look back at the great day you had and the photographs you took of the beautiful French countryside. As mentioned in the Careful Planning section of this web site make sure you have a GPS device with you. When booking your car most car rentals will offer you a GPS at an extra cost that's already built into the car, make sure you get this option plus just to be on the safe side I would bring your own portable device. Again the smartest thing to do is to be prepared before you even step into the car. Get your trip ready and program your routes before hand, it's so much easier this way.  A typical sign post in France - this one letting you know the region you are heading into. The rest stops also have petrol / gas stations. France measures their petrol or gas by the litre not by the gallon as they do in the United States. It's all very straightforward of course, filling up the tank is the same as back home. When paying at the pump you will be required to use a credit card as there are no attendants to accept cash at the rest stop areas.  A typical toll booth in France  This toll booth happens to have a nice toll taker. When you return your car to the rental agency such as Avis or Hertz make sure the tank is full of petrol/gas. Keep in mind that some petrol stations are closed on Sundays. | |
