Bayeux

Understand

thumb|220px|View of central Bayeux

Bayeux is linked to two famous cross-Channel invasions.

When William the Conqueror attacked England in 1066, his invasion fleet sailed from Bayeux. His conquest of England 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 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

thumb|220px|Exterior view of Bayeux Cathedral

thumb|220px|Interior view of Bayeux Cathedral

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. Omaha Beach is 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.[https://nomad.normandie.fr/ Nomad line 121 operates between Bayeux and Courseulles-sur-Mer with stops in Arromanches-les-Bains (Avenue de Verdun and, sometimes, Cinéma 360). Check the timetable carefully. In the summer of 2025 there were just six services per day which is fine for one-way trips or days out to other places on the route but there's little scope for mistakes. There are fewer services on Sundays. The tourist information office has details. thumb|400px|Château de Balleroy 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 fr…