Celebrating the 80th anniversary
In 2024, Normandy will honour the memory of these events and the men and women who came from all over the world to liberate us.
A regional mobilisation will take place to celebrate this major ten-year anniversary. Normandy will be there alongside its residents as well as people from all around the world.
Here are the key facts you need to know to follow the festivities for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy:
Frequently asked questions
Traffic conditions will mainly concern the area around the international ceremony (Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer).
For all questions relating to access and traffic conditions, please consult the Calvados prefecture website, where you will soon find all the information you need:
The programme of events includes all the labelled and promoted events on an interactive map, which is updated regularly.
A selection will be available in hard copy in all tourist offices and visitor attractions in the region from the Easter holidays 2024 onwards. This Visitors' Guide to the D-Day Normandie Terre de Liberté destination, published by Normandie tourisme, will include some of the events that have already been awarded the label.
Cérémonie internationale du 6 juin
La cérémonie internationale du 6 juin 2024 est organisée directement par l’Etat à Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer (Omaha Beach). Elle sera accessible uniquement sur invitation.
Autres cérémonies
Quelques cérémonies seront ouvertes au public et vous aurez la possibilité de vous inscrire sur le site internet de la préfecture. Les inscriptions seront ouvertes aux alentours du 1er mai 2024 :
To help you prepare for your stay, you can find an exhaustive list of accommodation on the Normandie Tourisme website.
We suggest that you contact the accommodation providers or tourist offices in the area concerned directly, or use an online booking platform.
Please note, however, that bookings for the week of 6 June 2024 are very busy and some hotels are already fully booked. You will be able to find other accommodation available away from the D-Day and Battle of Normandy coastal area.
A brief history of the D-Day landings
The D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 were a decisive turning point in the Second World War: the Liberation of France and Europe began on the beaches of Normandy. It was in Normandy that the face of today's world was shaped. From 1942 onwards, with the Raid on Dieppe, the history of Normandy as a whole was intimately linked to that of the return of Freedom, Peace and Reconciliation.
On 6 June 1944 and in the days that followed, thousands of young men from fifteen different nations and 177 Frenchmen from the Kieffer Commando landed on the beaches of Normandy to liberate the country. By midnight on 6 June, more than 150,000 Allied soldiers were in Normandy, including 23,000 paratroopers and 20,000 vehicles of all sizes. 12,000 men had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Three months of battles followed to liberate Normandy. Then it was the turn of Paris and finally the whole of Europe.
Even today, through the remains, cemeteries, places to visit and emblematic heritage of the Reconstruction, these traces are still visible and keep this memory alive in Normandy. The D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 and the Battle of Normandy are engraved in the minds of every Norman and form part of a shared heritage that we have a duty to pass on.