The Gullivers Sports Travel pre-tour inspection helps us to plan the best customer experience, giving you piece of mind that we have checked out all of the arrangements in place and look at opportunities to enhance the tour package. This tour report is specifically about Caen. Visits to Caen form part of your trip amongst other destinations and the time planned in Caen offers plenty of opportunity for rest, relaxation and sightseeing. We hope that you find the following information useful:

My visit to Caen and Normandy came after a very busy few days in Paris during the 6 Nations. Caen has a very welcoming and warm feel to it, after the business of Paris it certainly felt like a much slower pace of life. Caen is very accessible and easy to get around. For many people the reason to visit Caen is as the gateway to the D-Day landing beaches and memorials. It was really lovely to spend some time in Caen familiarising myself and the team with the town, ahead of tour visits later in the year. Caen can be whatever you are looking for during your time there; if you want to do nothing but relax it’s a lovely town to have a walk around with some nice bars, restaurants and coffee shops, equally if you are keen to explore further afield the itinerary opens itself nicely to visit the D-Day landing beaches, Caen Memorial, Mont St Michel as well as enjoying Caen itself.

I stayed in both the Ibis Styles Caen Centre Gare and the Mercure Port de Plaisance and visited the Best Western Plus Le Moderne. All are in fantastic locations to enjoy Caen and have a good selection of bars, restaurants and amenities nearby.

I was keen to explore Normandy and visit the D-Day landing beaches and look into what we can offer in terms of day trips, to ensure that our clients have the opportunity to experience these places which I’m sure for many is part of the reason for choosing the tour package that they have.

Caen is 2.5 to 3 hours from Paris if travelling without a stop. The journey itself is very easy once you are out of Paris where the traffic can be quite heavy. Rouen may offer a suitable stop on the way and your tour manager will communicate the plans once you are together as a group in France.

Ibis Styles Caen Centre Gare

This hotel enjoys big rooms, a really spacious lobby area that instantly gives a feeling of space, especially when you are arriving from Paris. There is a lobby bar but I would recommend taking a short walk and enjoying one of the local bars. The hotel is part of a commercial complex with a bakery next door, bars, restaurants, shops, a pharmacy and a supermarket all contained within the same complex.  As I mentioned above, Caen is very easy to walk around and this is how I moved around. It’s a relatively small town but there is a tram system that is very easy to use. Tickets can be purchased via a machine at each of the stops and I never had to wait long for the next tram. A ticket was 1 Euro 80.  There is a tram stop right outside the Ibis Styles hotel for those that don’t fancy a walk into the centre. On the tram it is just a few moments into the centre of Caen, alternatively it’s a 15-20 minute walk.

Mercure Caen Centre Port de Plaisance

You are welcomed into a lovely warm, relaxing lobby area at the Mercure. There is a popular bar that is perfect for the group to meet up in the evening. The hotel is a very short walk from the ‘centre’ of Caen and there is a popular Irish sports Bar over the road that I think would be popular during the RWC. The hotel is recently refurbished, and the finishing touches were really nice.

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Best Western Plus le Moderne

This hotel is on the pedestrianised area and very close to the shops, restaurants and bars to be enjoyed in Caen. A small boutique hotel, whilst I didn’t stay here, I did visit and the hotel had a very smart appearance, ideal for a short stay in Caen.

Things to do:

A must visit whilst in Caen is the ‘Caen Memorial Museum’. This is a short drive out of the centre (10 mins) and from the hotels we are using. Regular public buses make the journey here and we will be planning to use our coaches to take people at planned times as well if possible. (We are currently planning the excursion offering for the leisure days in Caen and will share information as soon as this is complete – this will include a visit to the Memorial)

Individual entry is 19 Euro 80. The Memorial Museum is inside a beautiful building and the exhibition is fantastic – it is informative and visual, and the exhibition ends with a video screening. There is a coffee shop and restaurant on site.

During my time in Normandy, I spent a day visiting the D-Day landings. This included a visit to Arromanches as my first stop. There is a 360-degree cinema, and this is definitely a stop to make in the day. Arromanches is 45 minutes’ drive from Caen and I walked from the cinema experience down to the beach. This is very steep and doesn’t form part of most day trips because it is lost time on the very steep hill.

My next stop was the fascinating German gun battery at Longues. On a guided tour this would be very interesting and incredible how the artefacts have been maintained. I also visited the American cemetery at Omaha. This is a must visit and is quite emotional, as visually it demonstrates the sacrifice that was made during those landings. There is a fantastic amount of information available to read and learn about what happened during the Second World War in Normandy, and if this is of interest to you then these will be very memorable visits. We are currently working with the local guides and the Caen Memorial team to put together the day trip and experiences to enable you to make the most of the time in the region. There are also many private tours available if you would like to arrange your own tour.

Although I was unable to visit Mont St Michel during my visit, we will be planning a day trip there separately of the D Day landings for our clients.

In summary I really enjoyed my short time in Caen and the surrounding area. It was the perfect break in between stays in Paris and whilst at times it’s emotional taking in the D Day landings, it was incredibly informative, and I really enjoyed the experience as well as the laid-back atmosphere of Caen. I think this will be a fantastic element of your RWC experience.

by Alistair Randall, Operations and Commercial Director

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