Highly recommend the van tour. Our guide Prisca was friendly, patient and extremely knowledgeable. This is a must see dont miss!
In 2008 we visited this museum on our ay back to Paris. We could have stayed much longer. The movie about the Battle of Normandy was very good.
As a French professor, I have been traveling to Normandy for more than 30 years, and to this museum pretty much since it opened 10 or 15 years ago. This was the first time I had been in five years, and quite a few of the displays had changed. The basic physical layout as well as the conceptual framework - the descent down a long spiral from the German humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles into the abyss of the Shoah - remains intact. The displays and artifacts seem to have been added to, probably for the 70th anniversary of D-Day, and there's more in the way of multimedia. Some of the Holocaust displays and interviews are truly horrifying, but then the exit from the depths comes with the section of the museum dedicated to the D-Day landings and the liberation of Europe. Be sure to see the film at the end - side-by-side projection of the Nazi as well as the Allies' perspectives!
Caveat - we were here around the 70th anniversary of D-Day so crowds may have been more than usual. The museum has a fairly detailed history of the time period/events after WWI that ultimately lead up to WWII but the presentation in some areas made it nearly impossible to get through in a timely fashion. The visit starts in a corkscrew type descending walkway that lists the events after WWI that incited Germans and ultimately propelled Hitler to expand his empire. The problem is with a lot of visitors you cannot read/understand all that is on the walls because everyone was cramped in a tight space. Also, people were taking pictures of photographs on the walls? After you get out of the corkscrew, things open up a bit but it was still hard to move at a decent pace. Bottlenecks aside, the museum is definitely worth a visit and if you wind up having a lengthy visit (as we did), there is a restaurant on site that has decent food.
We entered this Memorial at opening time. Passed the whole day. Cannot add much, go and see it you will learn.
If you have to visit one museum in Normandy, this should be the one. Its exhibits are EXTENSIVE but thorough. It begins with the roots of WWII and takes you into the Cold War. Many military campaigns are shown with the emphasis on D-Day.
Ignoring the tacky "statue" on the way in, this museum is large and impressive and well worth visiting. The exhibits are well set out and there are some additional sound effects which help to recreate the build up to WW2. There is a shop and a very good self-service restaurant with friendly staff. If pressed for time leave out the bunker, you won't miss much.
Most of the presentation was in French and I was not impressed with them displaying the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbour. I expected much more of the local war event and most of the museum was in pictures and a few films (in French) We tired to eat at the restaurant but it was closed. The food at the café was disappointing and rather expensive. The memorial took ages to get to as it is tucked away in the suburbs and to find a bus was a real challenge. After waiting at 4 different bus stops we finally found the one that took us here. The other museums were closed on the day we visited (Tuesday).
A must if you are going to do the beaches, or even just near by. Being a Canadian, and a history buff, I absolutely loved this place. The bunker, tank, MIG fighter, but most importantly, the memorials. The Canadian memorial made me proud to be Canadian, and made me truly realize where I was. (Yes, I cried). A Must see.
This was our first stop on our D-Day beaches tour. It was a pretty good museum to get an idea of the war from the European perspective. We are American and always learn about WWII from our lens. This was refreshing.The price was slightly high for the size of the museum (average but not large). We were easily able to walk through with audio guides in about a hour and a half, and paid 18 euro each. Slightly pricey.