The Normandy Beaches
A suggested 3-day / 2night tour for up to 5 people

Our anticipated schedule has us arriving in Normandy mid-afternoon on Day One. We stay two nights in the pretty town of Bayeux, virtually untouched by the fighting in 1944.
In our 48 hours in Normandy (the afternoon of Day Three is spent travelling back) we will cover your choices from the following:

Battlefields: a walk along Omaha Beach and up the bluffs above it, giving you a close account of how the touch-and-go struggle here was gradually won; a look at the Mulberry Harbour remains on the beach at Arromanches and the German guns still in their bunkers at Longues; a visit to Pointe du Hoc, where the American Rangers scaled the cliffs; the British and Canadian beaches; a drive following the route of the Canadians inland (the early tank battles around Buron / Ardennes Abbey).
Museums & sights: Choice of: Pegasus Bridge; the Memorial at Caen; the Airborne Troops museum at Ste Mère Eglise; the recently renovated Battle of Normandy Museum in Bayeux; the 360-degree cinema at Arromanches; the German bunker at Ouistreham (the Atlantic Wall Museum); the Bayeux Tapestry; and the cathedrals of Bayeux and Caen.
Cemeteries: the British cemeteries at Bayeux or Ryes; the German cemetery at La Cambe (with its fascinating exhibition on the ongoing work of the German war graves authority); and the American cemetery on the bluffs over Omaha Beach.
If you have extra time: St Lo & COBRA Break-Out; Falaise Gap

Add-ons available: A day in the county of Kent (+ a night in Canterbury), Paris, Mont St. Michel, Loire Valley chateaux; or combine it with the Ardennes or Dieppe.

See also:
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy - suggested itinerary
Canada: Dieppe 1942 / Normandy 1944 - suggested itinerary
Normandy & the Ardennes - suggested itinterary
Photo Galleries: Normandy Beaches; and Bayeux & Caen

Above: German guns still in their huge bunkers at Longues-sur-Mer
Below: Sections of the artificial Mulberry Harbour rest on the beach more than 60 years on

Above: The pock-marked landscape at Pointe du Hoc
Left: The cliffs U.S. Rangers scaled on D-Day

The Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge
A suggested 3-day / 2-night tour for up to 5 people

Arriving in the Ardennes region (south-east Belgium) mid-afternoon on Day One (or before lunch if starting from Brussels), we start with the Siegfried Line - seeing some of the German 'dragon's teeth' concrete anti-tank defences which are still in place at the edge of the woods on the German-Belgian border. This is one of the places from which the German attack on the 16th of December 1944 was launched - we see the tracks in the woods down which the panzers attacked. We will look at locations in the woods and on the hillsides where the American infantry put up strong resistance, before we head west along part of the route followed by SS Col. Peiper's lead force of tanks.

'Dragons Teeth' German anti-tank defences - part of the 'Siegfried Line' still visible today on the German-Belgian border

The beautiful Ardennes countryside in the autumn

We stay two nights in a hotel in Bastogne, and take in the major sights there - the American memorial and museum, the Bois-Jacques (where Easy Company of 'Band of Brothers' spent a hard time), the road where Patton's force broke through after five days of siege - and other highlights: a Tiger II Tank, a Panther (Panzer V) tank, and good museums in La Roche or Diekirch. We can finish our tour at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg City where Gen. Patton is buried.

As well as the rich historical interest, you will find the Ardennes a most attractive rural area - woods, fields and rivers, and small villages and churches built of the attractive local stone.

Add-ons available:
A day in the county of Kent (+ a night in Canterbury), Bruges, Ghent, Bridge at Remagen; or combine it with Normandy or Market-Garden

See also:
Suggested 3-day itinerary
Photo Gallery: Battle of the Bulge

Traces of fox-holes and shell craters in the Bois-Jacques wood

Market-Garden ('A Bridge Too Far'): September 1944
A suggested 3-day / 2-night tour for up to 5 people

Our tour gives 48 hours in the area and follows a south to north route, following the 60 mile 'corridor' which the British land forces pushed up to try reach the British paratroopers at Arnhem and Oosterbeek, joining up with the U.S. airborne forces on the way.

From the start point at 'Joe's Bridge' we visit the town of Valkensvaard, the 101st Airborne drop-zone, and the bridges of Son and Best. Spending two nights in Nijmegen, on Day Two we cover the 82nd Airborne drop-zone, the huge (and surviving) bridge at Grave, the bridges (rail and road) at Nijmegan, and the memorial marking the dramatic crossing of the River Waal there by the 82nd, finishing with 'The Island' and the British drop-zones. Our final morning is for Oosterbeek (museum and British cemetery) and the 'Bridge Too Far' in Arnhem itself, over the river Rhine.

Add-ons available:
A day in the county of Kent (+ a night in Canterbury), Bruges, Ghent, Rhine River Crossings; or combine it with the Ardennes.

See also:
Suggested 3-day itinerary: Market-Garden

Above: The bridge at Nijmegen
Left: Marker for one of the 82nd Airborne Division's drop-zones near Nijmegen

Above: 'The Bridge Too Far' over the Rhine at Arnhem

Germany:
The Rhine Crossings (Remagen), Peenemünde, Berlin, and Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Berchtesgaden)

Based out of Berlin, we offer privately-guided tours exploring the fascinating mix of World War II, Cold War and post- Reunification history that Berlin has to offer. From Berlin we offer excursions to Peenemünde and Nordhausen (looking at the development of the 'V-weapons'), and Leipzig (central to the story of the collapse of East Germany in 1989).

Based out of Munich we offer a tour of Munich itself, and an excursion to Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps (site of Hitler's mountain retreat and the 'Eagle's Nest').

As an add-on to our Ardennes or Market-Garden tours we can visit either the first Rhine crossing site at Remagen (and see the remains of the famous bridge); or the site of the later Rhine crossings to the north around Wesel.

See also:
Germany - World War II & Cold War tours
Suggested 3-day itinerary: Berlin
Suggested 3-day itinerary: Berchtesgaden & Munich
Photo Gallery: V-weapons

The restored Reichstag building, where the German Parliament has met since 1999

Dieppe 1942
A 1- or 2-day excursion for up to 5 people

Staying in a hotel in downtown Dieppe, we explore each of the landing beaches of the August 1942 raid - Dieppe town, Pourville, and Puys. By walking the ground we explore the different experiences of the Canadian troops on each beach, before visiting the Canadian cemetery on the hills above the town. We can also take in the British Commando raids either side of the main operation.

This can easily be combined with Normandy or one of our World War I Canadian tours.

See also:
Suggested 3-day itinerary: Dieppe 1942 / Normandy 1944

The western landing beach at Pourville