Flybe to Caen from Southend

Travel to Caen Carpiquet Airport
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday & Saturday during the high season  Return £59.93

 

Basse Normandie, Calvados, Normandy, whatever you wish to call it you’re in for a real treat if you visit this lovely region of Northern France. Famous for William the Conqueror and in more recent history, The Normandy Landings during WW2 codenamed Operation Overlord. The french have never forgotten what happened during that day of 6th June 1944 and there are museums and cemeteries there to prove it. I will not dwell on the war or the monuments within Normandy as there are obviously loads, but a visit to the beaches does leave you a little dumbstruck if you were to stop and think about those days back in 44, I would recommend a visit to the Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches before you head home again, also Arromanches-les-Bains which is located some 12 km north-east of Bayeux and 10 km west of Courseulles-sur-Mer on the coast in the heart of the area where the Normandy landings took place on D-Day, 6 June 1944.
You can fly to Caen Carpiquet Airport from London Southend Airport (SEN), it’s around a 50 minute flight with Flybe so no need to sleep off the jet-lag when you arrive, In Caen itself there are many Abbeys, Monuments, Museums, absolutely loads to enjoy, have a look at the Caen Office De Tourisme Website

 

                     

 There you can download City maps and other useful information, there are even passes on sale there for you to purchase ahead of a visit. Every year since 2007 there is a D-Day Festival Normandy features a festive program of events within the framework of the anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy June 6 1944, usually from the End of May until Mid June.

In 2015, nine tourist offices united to offer a comprehensive program on all the landing beaches: Baie du Cotentin, Isigny-Grandcamp-Intercom, Omaha Beach, Bayeux Intercom, BSM Tourism, Coeur de Nacre, Caen, Ouistreham Riva Bella and Cabalor. A tourist and popular program of events, cultural and festive: parachuting, car parades, fireworks, concerts, military camps reconstructions, giant picnics, book fairs, exhibitions, dances
Also a visit to Mont St Michel is an absolute must for anyone visiting, what a great picturesque place this really is, and an excellent place to actually visit.

                   

 However if you wish to get there from a place like Caen for instance you really need to hire a car or get a train from the local SNCF station as it looks like they have exclusive transport rights. But whatever way you make it you will certainly have a lovely time there. I say it is a must visit place but if you don’t in fact get the opportunity to get here on your visit then it is well worth coming back for a second or even third visit.

Caen is one of the major towns of Normandy, with easy access to the Normandy Landing beaches, they also have a must visit place themselves called Le Memorial De Caen, which is an unbelievable experience, I’m not sure if it means to make you feel Sombre but it certainly makes you think about those days when Normandy along with much of the continent were oppressed by German forces. This place opens your eyes much more. While we were staying recently in Normandy we visited Sword Beach and although we were not around in those days of 1944 it does start you thinking “what would these beaches have been like all those years ago” and in your mind’s eye start to picture the advancing allied forces leaving their landing crafts and make you wonder what the people in and around the coastal towns were going through as a lot of their own homes were hit by bombs, poor poor things.

 As stated before, it is accessible via Caen Carpiquet Airport with flights directly from London Southend one flight only but on most days of the week in the summer months. There are many taxi’s to transfer you to the centre of Caen itself or to your selected hotel. Caen has some great places to visit in it’s own right like, ABBAYE AUX HOMMES, (The Men's Abbey) ABBAYE-AUX-DAMES, (The Women’s Abbey), THE DUCAL CASTEL, (Château de Caen, Caen Castle), THE MARINA AND THE CANAL, all of these places make Caen a very picturesque and interesting place that you will love.

There are many towns in Normandy with the likes of Rennes, Bayeux, Giverny, Rouen. All have their own characteristics, and some more famous than others like Bayeux which is famous for it’s tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings as King Harold tried to fight off William of Normandy after he launched an attack on the newly crowned English king, William died in battle in Rouen and is buried in ABBAYE AUX HOMMES in Caen. Rouen is also famous as the place where Joan of arc was executed under English Rule , And a much better history Giverny with Claude Monet’s picturesque garden.
    All of the above no matter how sad or happy add to a great visit to this special region of France, there is a history between the French and the British, some good and some bad, we found on our visit that the French were polite, helpful, and very happy to welcome us, let’s keep the history between us as it is (History) we have moved on, both nations helped each other in 1944 and we should help each other for ever more.