Normandy and the D-Day Beaches

Eleven nights across Normandy and Brittany, starting at Versailles and taking in two of the most visited places in France along with a great deal of coast that very few people see. The riding is undemanding and the stops do the heavy lifting.

The Loire opens it, the road following the river past its chateaux to Cellettes, then Le Mans, where the circuit that hosts the twenty-four hour race sits just outside town. Nantes follows, and then a rest day at Carnac, where thousands of standing stones were raised more than six thousand years ago in alignments that still have no agreed explanation.

Brittany is the stretch to savour. The route takes in Cap Frehel, the ramparts of St Malo, the Crozon peninsula, Quiberon and the Cote d’Emeraude, and the interior roads between them are quiet and well surfaced. Mont St Michel comes next, then a rest day at Bayeux and the D-Day beaches, where Allied forces landed in June 1944. Honfleur and Rouen close the trip.

Edelweiss include a choice of BMW motorcycle, hotels along the way with some in historic buildings, a guide and a tour book. Flights are separate, and a guided city tour of Paris can be added for 350 euros per person with a 65 euro single supplement. Prices are per person for 2026 and the distance runs to roughly 1,600 to 2,000 kilometres over the eleven nights, which is a relaxed daily average by the standards of this operator. For a rider who wants history and coastline rather than altitude, and for anyone travelling with a passenger, Normandy and Brittany are a better fit than the Alps.