Bayeux

Bayeux is a small town (population 16,000) in northern France within Lower Normandy. Bayeux is best known for the remarkable Bayeux Tapestry that chronicles in visual form the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, in 1066.

Understand


Bayeux is linked to two famous cross-Channel invasions. The Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 is depicted in a famous tapestry that has been kept in Bayeux for so many centuries it now bears the town's name. On 6 June 1944 the Allied D-Day (French: Jour-J) invasion force struck the beaches just north of the town. Bayeux was the first significant French town to be liberated from Nazi occupation during the 1944 Battle of Normandy and survived almost completely unscathed. On 16 June 1944 General Charles de Gaulle made his first important speech on liberated French soil in Bayeux. The town now hosts the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in Normandy and is an excellent base for visiting the Normandy beaches.

Get in
Trains run every couple of hours from Paris Saint-Lazare via Caen, taking 2 hr 20 to Bayeux, and continuing to Lison, Carentan, Valognes and Cherbourg. These are regional TER trains, not bookable; bicycles may be carried.

The town stands on route N13 between Caen and Cherbourg and is on Eurovelo 4 cycle route.

Get around
Most of the town can be navigated by foot after arriving at the train station (South of the city), even with a wheeled suitcase. The town centre, a ten minute walk from the train station, mostly lines the main street which changes names a few times as it goes along.

Streets are narrow and uneven and often cobblestone or similar, so bring comfortable footwear (especially if going on local expedition tours—see below for more information).

See




Buy
Shopping in Bayeux is a sensible combination of French authenticity and touristic gaudiness—almost at a one-to-one ratio. Shops toward the centre-ville (city centre) tend to be more overpriced than some of their counterparts about 3 km (1.8 mi) north.

Eat
Food can be procured for as little or as much as you wish: the main boulevard through town is lined with boulangeries and even a supermarket near the south end of town.

Go next
D-Day beaches. From Bayeux train station, you can catch a bus to some of the D-Day beaches. On the bus website there is a map of the bus route to the D-Day beaches. Bus No. 70 takes you to Omaha beach, the American cemetery, and to Pointe Du Hoc. Bus No. 74 takes you to Arromanches beach - the location of the Mulberry harbors. According to Wikipedia: "Omaha beach is 5 miles (8 km) long, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer" and these villages are accessible via the No. 70 bus. Note very carefully from the bus timetable that buses are few and far between, hence, you would schedule your bus trip to take into account the few buses. The buses are mainly for local school children and workers so tend to be early morning and late afternoon/early evening. It is almost impossible to visit the D-Day sites via bus. Also, buses do not run when there is heavy snow, so check the bus website beforehand during snow season.



Guided Tours of World War II Historic Sites (There are several guided tour companies in the area; Bayeux has a central designated meeting spot where all of the tours embark from in the morning and return to each afternoon).
 * Normandy Sightseeing Tours, or NST provide tours on every parts of the Normandy Beaches and elsewhere in Normandy. The tours available are Omaha beach (morning or afternoon tours), Gold beach (morning), Juno and the Canadian sector (afternoon), Sword (afternoon), as well as a US beaches tour including the paratroopers, Utah and Omaha (full day), and a US paratroopers tour (full day). The company is offering as well private tours to visit Mont Saint Michel, Honfleur, Deauville, Rouen, Giverny, and many more places depending of your wishes. NST is offering shuttle service for Paris to Bayeux. The company own comfortable and air-conditioned vehicles, from a luxury 4-seater car to a 57-seater coach.
 * Battlebus offer guided tours of sights including all the landing beaches, museums and cemeteries, and countless other hard-to-find sites. Tours offered are divided into zones of coverage (American, British, Canadian, and others), as each zone is fairly large. A one-day tour gives you a good overview of most of the highlights the region has to offer. Guides are experienced, interested, and respectful of the great history of the region. Pick up and drop off from your accommodation

Chateau de Balleroy - Not far from Bayeux, on the edge of the Cerisy Forest, is the small village of Balleroy with its 17th century chateau. The site offers the historic castle, built by a relative of Louis XIII, along with a good gift shop, an adequate tea room, extensive grounds, and a hot air balloon museum dedicated to the ballooning obsession of its latter day owner Malcolm Forbes (of Forbes magazine)

Cerisy-la-Forêt - From Balleroy, drive through Cerisy Forest, which is an interesting area of woodland home to its own endemic species of beetle, Carabus auronitens (French: carabe doré à reflet cuivré - the golden beetle with copper hints), and other common forest animals such as deer, badgers, foxes and boar. Leaving the forest by the D13 road, you come to the village of Cerisy-la-Forêt, noted for its magnificent neoclassical abbey and international sculpture park.