Final-year school trip to Normandy and Paris: Rouen, the D-Day beaches, Mont-Saint-Michel and the Eiffel Tower (6 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school, Rouen and arrival in Normandy

• Departure from your school early in the morning, at the agreed time, daytime drive to Rouen (about 320 to 430 km depending on your region, 3½ to 4½ hours excluding stops).
• Our drivers drive for a maximum of 3 hours, then take a 30-minute break, day and night.
• Free lunch, then a walk through old Rouen: the Notre-Dame Cathedral painted by Monet, the Gros-Horloge and the Place du Vieux-Marché, where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431.
• Drive to the Caen area (about 1½ hours) and check-in at the accommodation for three nights.
• Dinner and quiet evening.

Day 2: The D-Day beaches

• Arromanches and the remains of the artificial harbour built by the Allies in June 1944.
• Circular film at the Arromanches 360 cinema (on request).
• Free lunch, then Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer (free access), overlooking the beach.
• Pointe du Hoc and its bomb craters, stormed by the US Rangers (free access).
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 3: Mont-Saint-Michel

• Drive to Mont-Saint-Michel (about 1¾ hours), then shuttle from the car park to the foot of the rock.
• Climb up the Grande Rue and the ramparts, with views over the bay and its tides, among the strongest in Europe.
• Visit to the abbey and its cloister perched high above the bay (on request).
• Free lunch, then return to the Caen area in the late afternoon.
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 4: The Caen Memorial and arrival in Paris

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and visit to the Caen Memorial, a museum of the Second World War and of peace (on request).
• Drive to Paris (about 2¾ hours), free lunch during a stop.
• Arrival in mid-afternoon at the Trocadéro, facing the Eiffel Tower, then a one-hour cruise on the Seine.
• Check-in at the accommodation for two nights, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 5: Notre-Dame, the Louvre and the Champs-Élysées

• Visit to Notre-Dame Cathedral, reopened in 2024 after its restoration (free access).
• Visit to the Louvre Museum and the Mona Lisa (on request).
• Free lunch, then the Tuileries Garden, the Place de la Concorde and up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.
• Up to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower in the evening (on request).
• Dinner and last supervised evening.

Day 6: Montmartre and return to your school

• Rooms vacated after breakfast, luggage loaded into the coach.
• Morning in Montmartre: the Sacré-Cœur Basilica (free access), its view over Paris and the Place du Tertre.
• Free lunch, then daytime drive back to Belgium, with a 30-minute break every 3 hours of driving.
• Arrival at your school in the evening.