This is part of our 10-day trip to the Normandy region of France in August 2020. You can find the overall itinerary and links to other stops on this trip in our Normandy post.
After a couple days of museums, we wanted to spend more time outside. We decided to ride our bikes from Luc-sur-Mer to Arromanches. It was a bit further than the ride to Caen (20 km / 12.5 mi) but took about the same amount of time (1.5 hours). This is also the way I would recommend traveling to Arromanches, if you can.
The ride to Arromanches was stunning. Most of it was on a boardwalk along the beach, through small towns, or on the main roads with gorgeous views of fields and the sea beyond. Unlike the ride to Caen, only a small portion of the ride to Arromanches was on bike paths. However, since cars are familiar with bikes throughout most of Europe, we never felt unsafe riding on the road as cars sped past.
On the way to Arromanches, we stopped at a beach for the kids to play and eat our picnic lunch. From there, you could see the remaining parts of the artificial harbor (Mulberry) in the water that the Allies had constructed after they took the beaches during WWII.
We passed a number of monuments to the Canadian and British troops as we rode past Juno and Gold Beaches, including the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada monument (bottom left picture). Near the Arromanches 360 museum, there is a great memorial to the British Royal Engineers (top left picture) as well as the newly installed in 2019 ‘D-Day 75 Garden’ which honors the surviving D-Day veterans (right picture).
These monuments are placed in a gorgeous location, on a cliff overlooking Arromanches and the sea (and Mulberry) below. We then took a very steep ride down to the town of Arromanches, parked our bikes and walked to the beach. There you could really see the remnants of the temporary harbor left in the sea. It was strange to have it jutting out of the water where people are playing as if its always belonged there.
We walked a circle around the town, which is very cute but also a bit too touristy for my taste. We didn’t end up staying for too long before beginning the bike ride back to Luc-sur-Mer. If we had driven by car to Arromanches, I think I would have been disappointed with the destination itself. However, as part of a day trip that involved a beautiful bike ride and stops by the sea, it was perfectly nice town.