WW2 museums to visit in Normandy

Normandy's WW2 and D-Day museums are filled with a wealth of artefacts and information about the events of 1944. Some museums such as the American Airborne Museum are very specific in their focus whilst others like the Memorial de Caen are far more wide-ranging. Whatever you are most interested in about D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, you are sure to find a museum or three that will help you uncover the incredible historic events that happened here during WW2. Discover the effects of the war not just on the armed forces involved, but also on the French civilians caught in the crossfire.

More modern museum techniques including multimedia exhibits like the cinema at the Arromanches 360, or interactive displays at other the Memorial de Caen, help to tell the story of the landings and the fight across France to push the Nazis back into Germany. You can also see all manner of artefacts from all sides of the battle such as mannequins dressed in uniforms, caches of arms and munitions, equipment, documents, letters, plans, photographs - even full-size aircraft and gliders, in the museums across the region.

Discover excellent museums filled with history

A lot of museums give guided tours, and many of these will be available in English if you want to learn even more about what happened here during WW2. Most of the museums also include English translations on the information cards about the exhibits.

Arromanches 360 cinema

The Arromanches 360 cinema is an immersive experience with 9 screens showing a high-definition film containing archive footage of the D-Day Landings and the Battle of Normandy. Located on the clifftops at Arromanches, the cinema dominates over the remains of the Mulberry B harbour at Gold Beach. Co-financed by the Région Basse-Normandie and the Mémorial de Caen, the film is produced by the makers of the hugely successful French television WW2 documentary series, Apocalypse. Presented in high definition on the circular cinema of 9 screens, the film tells the story of the Battle of Normandy with archive footage gathered from around the world and is a tribute to the soldiers from all countries and the 20,000 civilians killed during the liberation of Europe.  

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Address: Rue du Calvaire, 14117 Arromanches-les-Bains, France

D-Day Experience Museum

Previously the D-Day Paratroopers Historical Center, the D-Day Experience Museum is located in the heart of the parachute zone at Dead Man's Corner.

Address: 2 Vge de l'Amont, 50500 Carentan-les-Marais, France

Juno Beach Centre

This museum is the only one on the D-Day Landing Beaches to be dedicated entirely to the role played by Canadian troops in the Second World War.

Address: Voie des Français Libres, 14470 Courseulles-sur-Mer, France

Le Mémorial de Caen

From pre-1945 to the post-1945 period, this museum tells the story of the 20thC in a spectacular presentation of the events that had such an impact on European history.

Discover exhibition areas explaining the D-Day Landings and the Battle of Normandy. Watch the films D-Day and The Battle of England and follow one of the guided tours on the Landing beaches.

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Address: Esp. Général Eisenhower, 14050 Caen, France

Overlord Museum, Omaha Beach

The Overlord Museum is dedicated to June 6th 1944 and the Battle of Normandy. The museum boasts a unique and exceptional collection of over ten thousand objects and documents found on Norman soil, carefully gathered over more than 40 years by a first-hand witness of the conflict.

Address: Lotissement Omaha Center, 14710 Colleville-sur-Mer, France

Musée n°4 Commando

This museum pays tribute to the actions of the French commandos under Lieutenant Commander Philippe Kieffer, who landed on Sword Beach during the D-Day Landings.

See uniforms and other objects, and watch a video about the German invasion of France in 1940, the Commandos and the liberation of Ouistreham and Normandy.

Address: Pl. Alfred Thomas, 14150 Ouistreham, France

Musée d'Arromanches

Having originally opened in 1954, the D-Day museum in Arromanches holds the distinction of being the first museum specifically dedicated to commemorating D-Day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy.

A complete renovation in 2023 transformed the museum into a modern, immersive 1200 m² space, with exhibits, films and models revealing the meticulous planning and engineering behind D-Day, and the harrowing realities of the invasion itself.

The new building sits right besides Gold beach, with views over the remains of the Mulberry B harbour used to supply Allied troops during the operation. Museum exhibits explain the history of this port from its design and construction to its subsequent use by the military, until the port of Antwerp was taken by the Allies. Working models and practical demonstrations show how this giant jigsaw fitted together.

Address: Place du 6 Juin,14117 Arromanches-Les-Baines

Musée America Gold Beach

The town of Ver-sur-Mer saw 2 important events in the 20th century, both of which are explored at the Musée America Gold Beach. In 1927, the first airmail flight between the US and France crash-landed in the sea off Ver-sur-Mer. The aircraft was called America. Later, on 6th June 1944, the British 50th Infantry Division landed on the beach code-named Gold Beach in the D-Day Landings.

Displays including scale models, slides and archive photographs, as well as objects from the landings, showcase the events of the British landings on Gold Beach.

Address : 2 Pl. de l'Amiral Byrd, 14114 Ver-sur-Mer, France

American Airborne Museum

The American Airborne Museum tells the story of the American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions who took part in the night raids on the eve of the D-Day landings.

Address: 14 Rue Eisenhower, 50480 Sainte-Mère-Église, France

Musée de la Bataille de Tilly-sur-Seulles 1944

Housed inside a 12th century chapel, this museum pays tribute to those who were involved in the fierce fighting around the town of Tilly-sur-Seulles.

Outside the chapel stands a statue of Joan of Arc, damaged during the fighting. Documents, photographs, models and objects found on the battlefield illustrate the events of the battle between the 30th British Army Corps and the German troops.

Address: 18 Rue du 18 Juin 1944, 14250 Tilly-sur-Seulles, France

Musée Radar 1944

This museum is devoted to the history of radar during WW2 and is based at the former Douvres-la-Délivrande observation station.

Address : Route de Bény, D83, 14440 Douvres-la-Délivrande, France

World War II Museum, Quinéville

Previously the Memorial de la Liberté Retrouvée, this museum uses a 1000m² modern exhibition space to tell the chronological story of WW2 in Normandy.

Address: 18 Av. de la Plage, 50310 Quinéville, France

Memorial de 19 Août 1942

The Memorial de 19 Août 1942 is dedicated to the memory of those involved in the Dieppe Raid in 1942.

Address: 1 Pl. Camille Saint-Saëns, Dieppe

Musée départemental de la résistance et de la déportation

The Musée départemental de la résistance et de la déportation retraces the dark years of WW2 during the Holocaust.

Address: Rue du Maréchal Leclerc, 76440 Forges-les-Eaux

Musée de la Libération

This excellent museum is set in the Fort du Roule, a Second Empire fortress which was occupied by the Germans during WW2 and liberated by the Americans in 1944.

Address: Fort du Roule, Montée des résistants, 50100 Cherbourg

Museum of the Battle of Normandy

Bayeux was the first town liberated during the Battle of Normandy in 1944 and it is fittingly the home of a Museum dedicated to the battle that raged for over 2 months across the region. The museum contains displays of weaponry, uniforms and other military objects and takes a chronological approach from the period prior to the German assault to the Normandy Landings on D-Day in 1944.

There are also various tanks outside including British and American tanks. Opposite the museum is the British War Cemetery (Cimetière Militaire Allemand), the largest British cemetery in Normandy and a sombre testament to the horrors of war, holding nearly 4,000 British soldiers' graves.

Address: Bd Fabian Ware, 14400 Bayeux, France

Musée de la Percée du Bocage

The Musée de la Percée du Bocage is dedicated to the soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Hedgerows, especially in the battle around the town of Saint-Martin-des-Besaces. Discover this crucial battle in the son et lumiere guided tour, told in 8 different sections with models and dioramas.

There's also a fresco of 200 photos, a unique collection of documents and souvenirs from the battle, a superb audio-visual display and 200 contemporary photos of how the battlefield looks today.

Address: 5 Rue du 19 Mars 1962, 14350 Souleuvre en Bocage, France

Musée des Epaves Sous-Marines

Discover some of the vestiges of the D-Day Landings that have been brought up from the seabed including personal belongings that were found inside the sunken warships from the 6th of June. The process of uncovering these finds, 25 years of submarine exploration, are retraced in photographs and films.

Address : Lieu-dit Escures, RD6, 14520 Commes, France

Musée Août 44

Discover thousands of artefacts from the Battle of Normandy at the beautiful Château du Taillis.

Address: 1330 Rte du Havre, 76480 Duclair, France