Nantes/Angers Area to Normandy Beaches

Hi,

My fiance and I were thinking about taking a day trip to Normandy Beaches. We will be staying in an area near Nantes/Angers and wanted to know what the best way was to get to the Normandy Beaches area. Would the TGV train be the best? If so, which town should we take the train from and to?

Or would driving be a better option? We will have a rental car so we have the ability to drive there, but I wasn%26#39;t sure how long it would take and if we would be able to get there and back in a day.

Any info would be most helpful!!! Thanks in advance!!!

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You%26#39;d be better hiring a car to be self-sufficient as the sites are pretty widespread. From Nantes/Angers area up to say, Omaha beach will take you around 3 hours by car. This is assuming you know the route, which around and after Caen can get a tad tricky. Don%26#39;t worry though, as all the major sites are very well signposted.

Hope that helps.

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Thank you so much for the information. That does help a great deal! We will have a rental car for the week so perhaps a day trip to Omaha beach would be a good possibility as long as we left early enough in the morning. Thanks again for the info.

:-)

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I suggest driving west on the road north of Nantes to the beaches at La Baule near le crossic, there stunning. easy drive as well on a new motorway to nantes

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Hmmm. They well be nice beaches, but the OP wanted to know specifically about the landing beaches.

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I think you will find it too much of a hassle. Not worth doing by train - at least 4 hours each way, and driving it would not be a lot quicker. The fastest way is by car on the Autoroutes, but that%26#39;s no fun at all, and the scenery is pretty dull from the autoroute as well.

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I don%26#39;t agree. It IS worth doing, especially given that this year is the 65th anniversary of the landings. It%26#39;s NOT difficult, and the route that I took from Saumur wasn%26#39;t péage at all, and was VERY scenic. A 3 to 4 hour drive isn%26#39;t much at all when you consider the vast distances you may need to cover say, in Australia or the US?

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Going to the D-Day beaches will definitely be a bit of a %26#39;hike%26#39; from Nantes, but certainly do-able in a day if you have a car, and are prepared to get up very early, and get back very late. I%26#39;d certainly give it a go if it was me!!

I also suggest you consider visiting St Nazaire, which is not too far from Nantes. It was the site of an interesting WWII story, where the Brits raided the Harbour, see this Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nazaire_Raid

You may know some of the story if you have seen the Trevor Howard war film %26#39;The Gift Horse%26#39; (also known as %26#39;Glory at Sea%26#39;) which is well worth watching:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044658/

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Stu - I agree it%26#39;s doable, and I regularly drove further when I lived in Aus. I wouldnt be doing as a day trip on holiday though - by the time you%26#39;ve got there, found somewhere for lunch and seen one beach, it would be time to come back.

Plus of course, it depends what time of year the trip is - do it in June and unless youre there at 3.00am you won%26#39;t get near the beaches. I was there on 6 June 2008 - the traffic was bedlam, and we ended up seeing chaos battery and skipping the rest.