A contemporary building created within the walls of William the Conqueror's ducal castle houses the Caen Museum of Fine Arts, in the capital of Calvados.

From the 14th century to the present day, around 350 paintings provide a complete overview of European painting. The French, Italian, Flemish and Dutch collections spanning the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as a unique set of etchings, make it one of France's most important museums.

The collections covering the 16th and 17th century include Perugino, Veronese, Tintoretto, Poussin, Champaigne, Rubens and Ruysdael; for the 18th century, Boucher, Rigaud and Tiepolo; for the 19th century, Romantic and Realist painters such as Courbet, Delacroix and Géricault, Impressionists like Monet and Boudin; then Cubists and contemporaries such as Braque, Dufy and Soulages.

Don't miss the prints room, with a total of around 50,000 works making up the Mancel Collection, and an extensive programme of activities for adults, families and young people.

To round off the visit, a walk in the sculpture park is a must, to see masterpieces by Rodin, Bourdelle, Marta Pan, Huang Yong Ping and Alain Kirili.

Museum of history and society rich in important archaeological and ethnographic collections, it presents a panorama of the life of the populations on the territory of all Normandy. In the heart of the archaeological remains of the castle, the walls of the ramparts host temporary exhibitions and souvenir shop. Numerous activities for all in the year : guided tours, workshops, shows, animations, booklets games…

Dedicated June 18,1066, the splendid abbey of the Trinity, masterpiece of Norman Romanesque art, still houses the tomb of its founder : Mathilde, Queen of England, Duchess of Normandy and wife of William of Conqueror. Beautifully restored, the Abbaye aux Dames is now home to the headquarters of the new Normandy Region. From the eleventh-century crypt to the seventeenth-century convent, to the "French-style" park, discover the 950-year history of this Norman abbey and its illustrious ladies.

Capital of Lower Normandy, Caen is also the city of the dukes of Normandy. In spite of the bombardments of June 1944, the City of Art and History has preserved its beautiful architectural heritage. The Abbaye-aux-Hommes abbey founded by William the Conqueror, whose Saint-Etienne church is a wonderful example of The Romanesque art, the Abbaye-aux-Dames abbey founded by the queen Mathilde, the Saint-Pierre church, the Duke's castle which boasts numerous viewpoints of the city, and the many mansions, such as the Renaissance Escoville residence, are some of the sites to be seen or visited.

Not to be missed, the Caen Memorial is a Peace museum tracing history from 1918 to our days.

The conventual buildings are today the seat of the Town Hall. Built in 1066 during the reign of William the Conqueror, they were rebuilt in the seventeenth century. The abbey Saint-Etienne, a jewel of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, houses the tomb of William the Conqueror.

She can visit herself freely.

Come face to face with history at the Mémorial de Caen! Inaugurated in 1988 and part of the International Network of Museums for Peace, the Mémorial, located on Esplanade Eisenhower in Caen, a martyr city that was almost totally destroyed by bombings in the Second World War, is a 20th-century history museum dedicated to peace.

From the origins of the Second World War to the Cold War, from the Holocaust to the Battle of Normandy, and from the end of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the museum explores the world before and after 1945. The bloody events of the century are analysed using documents, photos and archive footage, as well as historical artefacts that once belonged to civilians or soldiers.

What events paved the way for the Second World War? How did people live under the Occupation? What forms of resistance and repression were there? The Mémorial de Caen aims to answer all these questions.

Its focus on education makes it a first-rate museum for teaching the younger generations and passing on the duty of remembrance.

Good to know: the Mémorial also organises guided tours of the D-Day beaches, including Omaha Beach, Le Hoc headland, the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer and Arromanches artificial harbour.

Move on the beaches

Visit the landing beaches from June 5th to August 31st !

Come visit the landing beaches from June 5th to August 31st for only 40 € per adult. (from Tuesday to Saturday)

For pre bookings contact + 33 2.31.44.01.24 at least 4 hours before departure or by email at normandiecarservice@orange.fr.

Departures are from Caen :

• 11h30 bus parking of the castle street Montoir fishmonger, (downtown)
• 12h00 bus parking General Esplanade (Memorial)

or Bayeux :

• 13h00 Location Normandy car service (Quebec place)

or Arromanches :

• 14h00 Behind the orientation table

The prices are :

• 40 € per adult
• 30 € for students and for people over 60
• 15 € for children under 10 years
• Free for children under 5 and veterans upon presentation of proof

(tickets sold on the bus payment in cash or credit card)

Today's program

• Bayeux stop of 30 min (arrival towards 12h30, departure towards 13h00)
• Arromanches stop 30 min (arrival 13h30, departure 14h00)
• Longue on Sea stop of 15 min (arrival 14h30, departure 14h45)
• Cemetery American stop 45 min (arrival 15 : 15, departure 16 : 00)
• Passage on the beach of Omaha for photos
• Pointe du Hoc stop 30 min (arrival 16 : 30, departure 17 : 00)

end of the circuit return to Bayeux for 18h00, Arromanches for 18h30 and Caen for 19h00-19h30

Inaugurated on 4 June 2000, by S.A.R. Prince Charles of England, the Pegasus Memorial is dedicated to the heroic action of the 6th British Airborne Division during the Battle of Normandy from June to September 1944.

It offers guided tours in a modern museum space to discover the missions of the 6th Airborne Division that were to precede D-Day, the longest day… June 6,1944.

Several hundred objects and photos, historical and moving memories of the liberation of the region are presented inside the museum.

The Bayeaux Tapestry is an embroidery tracing the history of the conquest of England by William the Conqueror.

Spared during the war, the medieval town of Bayeux has preserved a rich architectural heritage. The historic centre is superbly intact and is a wonderful place for walkers, with its Gothic cathedral and old narrow streets lined with mansions and old timber-framed residences. Not to be missed, the Guillaume-le-Conquérant centre is home to the famous Bayeux tapestry, said in France to be by Queen Mathilde, his wife. Made in the 11th century, this woollen embroidery of 70 metres in length and 50 centimeters in height, redraw the conquest of England by the duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror.

Bayeux is also home to the Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum which offers a complete overview of this event in history.

Cabourg is an elegant seaside resort of the Côte Fleurie (Flower coast) has preserved its cachet, with its beautiful villas, its Grand Hotel, its Casino, pleasant pedestrianised seafront, its beautiful fine sand beach, and its romantic Marcel-Proust walk.

In Bayeux, Calvados, not far from the D-Day beaches, you can visit the leading museum about the Battle of Normandy, from its beginnings to the end of August 1944.

As they fought to restore freedom to Europe, the Allied armies had to drive back the enemy and forge a path to liberate the capital, an aim which they achieved on 25 August, at a cost of very heavy civilian and military losses.

With a display and a themed trail in chronological order designed for all audiences, the museum tells the story of these two-and-a-half months of strategic fighting.

There is an explanatory film for visitors, who can also see period objects, cannons, handguns, machines and military costumes from various army corps.

A must-see museum, to be combined with a visit to the D-Day Museum in Arromanches-les-Bains or the Mémorial de Caen, before going to discover the D-Day beaches.

The first museum designed to commemorate 6 June 1944 and the Battle of Normandy, the D-Day Museum in Arromanches-les-Bains opened in 1954.

Built opposite the still visible remains of the artificial harbour built for the D-Day landings, the museum tells the story of the Allied forces' arrival, known as Operation Overlord, and describes how Arromanches harbour worked.

In the night of 5 to 6 June 1944, the first parachute drops preceded the arrival of a fleet of around 5,000 Allied ships on the Norman coasts, from which 130,000 American, British and Canadian soldiers disembarked. One by one, at a cost of very heavy losses, the strategic targets were reached: Bénouville Bridge, Pegasus Bridge, the Merville battery and Sainte-Mère-Église. The Battle of Normandy had begun. The D-Day Museum tells the whole story of this great page in history, and gives an idea of the logistical challenge that was the Allied forces' D-Day adventure on the beaches of Normandy, including the construction of the artificial harbour, which was carried over the sea in pieces and assembled in front of Arromanches. This masterpiece of engineering played a key role in victory in Europe.

Birth place of William the Conqueror, Falaise's main attractions are the castle, where the duke of Normandy was born in 1027, as well as its fortified surrounding wall with its portals and towers.

Officially inaugurated in 1956 with its memorial, this cemetery honors American soldiers who died during the Battle of Normandy during the Second World War and is one of the 25 permanent funerary sites of the United States on foreign soil.

Well-known all over the world, Deauville is a high-society seaside resort renowned for its festivities and its prestigious establishments. Big hotels and luxury shops, charming villas, racecourse, casino and thalassotherapy centre are just some of its key features. Following the long fine sand beach, the Planches boardwalk is lined with beach huts carrying the names of American stars. Prestigious events, such as the American Cinema festival, horse races, the world polo championship, and yearling sales contribute to its fame.

The architecture of Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay make it the most popular tourist site in Normandy and one of the ten busiest in France - the first site after those of Île-de-France - with nearly two million and a half of visitors each year (3,250,000 in 2006,2, 300,000 in 2014).

A statue of St. Michael placed at the top of the abbey church stands 157.10 meters above the shore. Major element, the abbey and its dependencies are classified as historical monuments by the list of 1862 (60 other constructions being protected thereafter) ; the commune and the bay have been on the unesco world Heritage List since 1979.

In 2015, the town had 33 inhabitants, called the Montois. The islet of Mont Saint-Michel has become over time an emblematic element of French heritage.