Normandy has a long and fascinating history. After Paris, the Calvados department of Normandy is the French area with the most historic monuments with over 900 sites listed.
You can easily spend a week discovering historic Normandy. Our tailor-made itineraries will introduce you to Medieval fortresses and Renaissance chateaux, prestigious abbeys, beautiful churches and cathedrals, fortified farms and half-timbered manor houses, not to mention the thought-provoking D-Day Landing beaches of the north coast.
A great number of abbeys and churches were built in Normandy from the 5th century onwards. At the height of their glory, they numbered over 100. Today, 60 of them still survive of which the most well known is perhaps that of Mont Saint Michel. Many of the surviving abbeys are still monasteries.
In your tailor made itinerary we can provide you with detailed information on the Norman Abbey Circuit, a driving circuit which takes in some of the most important abbeys of the area.
The Medieval period left an important mark on Normandy of which the Bayeux tapestry, included on the UNESCO Memories of the World register, is probably the best known.
But we’ll also ensure you discover many lesser-known Medieval sights during your trip to Normandy. They’ll include towns, villages, chateaux and manor houses with half-timbered buildings and relics of days gone by.
An historic Normandy trip is not complete without a guided visit to the D-Day Landing Beaches, war memorials and cemeteries of the area. You’ll gain a deeper insight into the turbulent history of this time and delve deep into the lives of those who took part in this momentous event.
Overview
This single centre, fully flexible itinerary is based near Caen and is the basis from which your own personal itinerary will be created.
We suggest you fly into Paris which is only 2 hours from Caen by car. Alternatively, take a cross-Channel ferry from the UK into Caen or even Cherbourg or Le Havre from where you can hire a car.
The price for this Historic Normandy trip will depend on your accommodation choice, the number of people, the time of year and which elements of the itinerary you wish to include.
This itinerary can be combined with any of the other itineraries on our site to create a complete trip to France.
