The Mulberry harbour caissons still rise from the bay: Arromanches is twenty minutes from your cottage, along the road past the Longues battery.
Camping Portland, a five-star Yelloh! Village in Port-en-Bessin, is thirteen kilometres from Arromanches-les-Bains. In June 1944 the Allies towed an entire harbour across the Channel from Britain to supply the front: concrete caissons sunk offshore, breakwaters and floating roadways to the beach. Eighty years on, about twenty caissons are still there, visible from the beach and best of all from the cliff. Half a day is enough for the town, museum included.
The coast road passes the Longues batteries: you can combine both visits in the same morning.
At low tide, you can walk out to the stranded caissons. The cliff car park, to the east, offers the best overall view.
Check the tide times before you set off: at low tide, you can get close to the stranded caissons. The cliff car park offers the best overall view.
The first Phoenix caissons were sunk from 7 June 1944, and the harbour landed its first cargo on 14 June. About twenty caissons still trace an arc across the bay: from the viewpoint on the east cliff, you take in the scale of the operation at a glance.
The first museum ever devoted to D-Day, opened in 1954, moved in 2023 into a new building facing the sea. Working models and archive films tell how the harbour was built: an hour is enough, and it is the best introduction for children.
On the hill east of the town, nine screens in a circle show “The 100 Days of the Battle of Normandy”: about twenty minutes of archive footage that puts you in the middle of the fighting. The cinema is run by the Caen Memorial.
Between visits, the beach at Arromanches is still a beach: beach huts, terraces, kites and a view of the caissons. The best place to catch your breath.
Photo credits: Toastydave, Zairon, Simon de l’Ouest, Mémorial de Caen (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jebulon (CC0) / Wikimedia Commons.
Camping Portland is a five-star Yelloh! Village on the heights of Port-en-Bessin. After the museum and the 360, the indoor water park is waiting at 30 °C, with its 48 m slide and jacuzzi, and the premium pitches have their own heated private washrooms.
Our guests rate us 9.4/10 and the Yelloh! Village network ranks us in its Top 5. Cottages sleep 4 to 8 people, including one cottage adapted for guests with reduced mobility.
5-star cottages and a 2,020 m² heated water park, in Port-en-Bessin facing the Channel.
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