7 Best Sights in Normandy, France

An imaginative museum erected in 1988 on the north side of the city, the Mémorial is a must-see if you're interested in World War II history. The stark, flat facade, with a narrow doorway symbolizing the Allies' breach in the Nazi's supposedly impregnable Atlantic Wall, opens onto an immense foyer with British Typhoon aircraft suspended overhead. The museum itself is down a spiral ramp, lined with photos and documents charting the Nazi's rise to power in the 1930s. The idea—hardly subtle but visually effective—is to suggest a descent into the hell of war. The extensive displays range from wartime plastic jewelry to scale models of battleships, with scholarly sections on how the Nazis tracked down radios used by the French Resistance and on the development of the atomic bomb. The D-Day landings are evoked by a tabletop map of the theater of war and by a spectacular split-screen presentation of the D-Day invasion from both the Allied and Nazi standpoints. The war's lasting effects are explored in an exhibition on the Cold War, examining a divided Berlin and the social ramifications of the resulting surveillance state. Softening the effect of the modern structure are tranquil gardens, including a British one inaugurated by King Charles III. Fittingly, the museum is located 10 minutes away from the Pegasus Bridge and 15 minutes from the D-Day beaches.

Constructed behind the town church in 1964 in the form of an open parachute, this fascinating museum houses documents, maps, mementos, and one of the Waco CG4A gliders used to drop troops.

Exhibits at the Musée de la Bataille de Normandie trace the story of the struggle from June 6 to August 29, 1944. Located near the moving British War Cemetery, it contains some impressive war paraphernalia.

Gallo-Roman glassware and mosaics, medieval tapestries and enamels, and Moorish ceramics vie for attention inside this extensive antiquities museum. Occupying a former 17th-century monastery, it also has a display devoted to natural history, which includes some skeletons dating to prehistoric times.

Little remains to mark the furious fighting waged hereabouts after D-Day. In the bay off Arromanches, however, some elements of the floating harbor are still visible. As you contemplate the seemingly insignificant hunks of concrete that form a broken offshore semicircle, try to imagine the extraordinary feat involved in towing them across the Channel from England. General Eisenhower said that victory would have been impossible without this prefabricated harbor, which was nicknamed "Winston." The Musée du Débarquement, on the seafront, has models, mock-ups, and photographs depicting the creation of this technical marvel.

Inside a former prison, the Musée Historique traces the 1,000-year history of the Mont.

Bertrand Duguesclin built this home for his wife Tiphaine in 1365. The former was a general fierce in his allegiance to the cause of French independence; the latter was a famed astrologer. Now a museum, the logis traces the couple's marital life through rooms filled with period furnishings and interesting artifacts—including a medieval chastity belt, armor, and astrological tools.