Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Arrival in Arromanches
The main parking lot by the museum costs €1 per hour. For free parking and less traffic,
lookforthelotbetweenthesmallgrocerystoreandIdealeHôtelMountbattenasyouenter
Arromanches.
Helpful Hints
ATM:
Across the street from the museum parking lot, you'll find an ATM run by the
French postal system.
Groceries:
A little
supermarket
is a few blocks above the beach, across from the Ideale
Hôtel Mountbatten.
Taxi:
To get an Arromanches-based
taxi,
call mobile 06 66 62 00 99.
In this section, I've linked Arromanches' D-Day sites with some self-guided commentary.
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Port Winston Artiicial Harbor
Start on the cliffs above the town, overlooking the site of the impressive WWII harbor.
Getting There:
Drive two minutes toward Courseulles-sur-Mer and pay €3 to park,
or park in Arromanches and walk up. Non-drivers can hike 10 minutes uphill from Arro-
manches, or take the free white train from the museum to the top of the bluff (runs daily
June-Sept, Sat-Sun only Oct-May).
Self-Guided Tour:
This commentary will lead you around the site.
• Find the concrete viewpoint overlooking the town and the beaches and prepare for your
briefing. Beyond Arromanches to the left is the American sector, with Omaha Beach and
then Utah Beach (notice the sheer cliffs); below and to the right lie the British and Cana-
dian sectors (more level terrain).
Now get this: Along the beaches below, the Allies arrived in the largest amphibious
attack ever, launching the liberation of Western Europe. On D-Day +1—June 7, 1944—17
old ships sailed 90 miles across the English Channel under their own steam to Arro-
manches.Theircrewssankthemsothateachbowfacedthenextship'sstern,formingasea
barrier. Then 500 tugboats towed 115 football-field-size cement blocks (called “Mulber-
ries”) across the channel. These were also sunk, creating a four-mile-long breakwater 1.5
miles offshore. Finally, engineers set up seven floating steel “pierheads” with extendable
legs; they then linked these to shore with four mile-long floating roads made of concrete
pontoons. Soldiers placed anti-aircraft guns on the Mulberries and pontoons, protecting a
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