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scenery along the coast is at the Pointe du Hoc, 13 km (8 mi) west of St-Laurent. Wildly undulating grassland leads past ruined blockhouses to a cliff-top observatory and a German machine-gun post whose intimidating mass of reinforced concrete merits chilly exploration. Despite Spielberg’s cinematic genius, it remains hard to imagine just how Colonel Rudder and his 225 Rangers—only 90 survived—managed to scale the jagged cliffs with rope ladders and capture the German defenses in one of the most heroic and dramatic episodes of the war. A granite memorial pillar now stands on top of a concrete bunker, but the site otherwise remains as the Rangers left it—look down through the barbed wire at the jutting cliffs the troops ascended and see the huge craters left by exploded shells.

Head west around the coast on N13, pause in the town of Carentan to admire its modern marina and the mighty octagonal spire of the Église Notre-Dame, and continue northwest to Sainte-Mère Église. At 2:30 AM on June 6, 1944, the 82nd Airborne Division was dropped over Ste-Mère, heralding the start of D-Day operations. After securing their position at Ste-Mère, U.S. forces pushed north, then west, cutting off the Cotentin Peninsula on June 18 and taking Cherbourg on June 26. German defenses proved fiercer farther south, and St-Lô was not liberated until July 19. Ste-Mère’s symbolic importance as the first French village to be liberated from the Nazis is commemorated by the Borne 0 (Zero) outside the town hall—a large, dome milestone marking the start of the Voie de la Liberté (Freedom Way), charting the Allies’ progress across France.

The Musée Airborne (Airborne Museum), built behind the church in 1964 in the form of an open parachute, houses documents, maps, mementos, and one of the Waco CG4A gliders used to drop troops. | Pl. du 6-juin-1944 | 50480 | 02–33–41–41–35 | www.musee-airborne.com | €7 | Apr.–Sept. 9–6:45; Feb and Mar. and Oct. and Nov., daily 9:30–noon and 2–6.

Head east on D67 from Ste-Mère to Utah Beach, which, being sheltered from the Atlantic winds by the Cotentin Peninsula and surveyed by lowly sand dunes rather than rocky cliffs, proved easier to attack than Omaha. Allied troops stormed the beach at dawn, and just a few hours later had managed to conquer the German defenses, heading inland to join up with the airborne troops.

In La Madeleine (Plage de La Madeleine | 50480 | 02–33–71–53–35) inspect the glitteringly modern Utah Beach Landing Museum (Ste-Marie-du-Mont | 02–33–71–53–35), whose exhibits include a W5 Utah scale model detailing the German defenses; it’s open April–June, September, and October, daily 9:30–noon and 2–6, and July and August, daily 9:30–6:30; it’s closed in January. Continue north to the Dunes de Varreville, set with a monument to French hero General Leclerc, who landed here. Offshore you can see the fortified Iles St-Marcouf. Continue to Quinéville, at the far end of Utah Beach, with its museum (Rue de la Plage | 02–33–95–95–95) evoking life during the German Occupation; the museum is open April through mid-November, daily 10–7.

WHERE TO EAT AND STAY NEAR THE D-DAY BEACHES

Casino.

$ | You can’t get closer to the action than this. The handsome, postwar, triangular-gabled stone hotel, run by the same family since it was built in the 1950s, looks directly onto Omaha Beach. The bar is made from an old lifeboat, and it’s no surprise that seafood and regional cuisine with creamy sauces predominate in Bruno Clemençon’s airy sea-view restaurant, where set-price menus start at €26 and hotel guests are reserved a table by the window. Pros: calm; right by the beach. Cons: small bathrooms; slow service in restaurant. | Rue de la Percée, | 14710 | Vierville-sur-Mer | 02–31–22–41–02 | www.logis-de-france.fr | 12 rooms | In-room: no a/c. In-hotel: restaurant, bar, Wi-Fi hotspot, some pets allowed | AE, MC, V | Closed mid-Nov.–mid-Mar. | MAP.

La Chenevière.

$$$$ | Topped by an impressive mansard roof, set in an elegant 18th-century château mansion, and surrounded by adorable gardens, this is a true oasis of peace a