Mary AnneThe D-Day Festival in Normandy runs officially from May 31 to June 15, 2025. But events start in April and you’ll also find a lot to do from May 15 to June 30 as the region celebrates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Towns, villages, museums and military sites put on exhibitions, events and parades. It happens all along the coast where the D-Day Landings took place as well as inland.
From June 1 to 9 Normandy will be very busy but do try to go. It won’t be as packed as last year when Normandy celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day. And with the added celebration of the end of World War II, there will be a great atmosphere.
You’ll also find that many sites continue to commemorate and celebrate during the rest of the year. So even if you miss the main June extravaganza, there’s a lot to see and do.
Don’t Miss…
…The British Normandy Memorial
Standing with Giants
The British Normandy Memorial is one of the most moving memorials to D-Day and World War II. Last year, to commemorate the D-Day Landings’ 80th anniversary, 1,475 silhouettes were brought from the UK. This year they are back again, to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. They will stand here from mid May to September.
Standing in the wild meadow fields of the memorial, the silhouettes represent the number of fatalities under British command on June 6, 1944. Hand-made from recycled signs, they were assembled by local community groups in Stanton Harcourt, near Witney in Oxfordshire.
What to See and Do at the Normandy D-Day Festival 2025
Every Tourist Office in Normandy will have booklets of all the events. So pick one up, look at the dates you’re there and choose what to see, experience, visit and take part in.
What Caught My Eye for the Normandy D-Day Festival 2025
Find out more about Sword Beach in a novel if fairly eccentric way. The tourist office at Ouistreham rents out umbrellas fitted with headphones and GPS. Follow the 2km audio tour through Ouistreham and the neighbouring towns of Lion-sur-Mer and Colleville-Montgomery, learning all about the area’s D-Day history and, on a lighter note, admiring the grand villas along the seafront.
At Sainte-Mère-Eglise, in the field right behind the Airborne Museum, you’ll find the annual Camp Géronimo. The camp produces faithful reconstructions of the installations used by the American troops, particularly the paratroopers, during the Battle of Normandy. There are daily workshops run by enthusiasts, parades and vehicle exhibitions.
A few events to look out for
Events are being added all the time to the official Normandy website, so keep checking it out as you get nearer to your visit.
Events on Saturday May 31, 2025
Courseulles-sur-Mer, 3pm: Canadian Troops Disembarking at Courseulles in June 1944. Follow the story with two guides who take you back to the day the Canadian troops arrived. Adult 10€, child €3.
Sainte-Mère-Église, 10am: International March for Peace from Maison de la Paix.
Events on Tuesday June 3, 2025
Carentan-les-Marais, 9am: Festival Day at Place du Valnoble.
Events on Wednesday June 4, 2025
Carentan-les-Marais, 2pm: Camp Reconstruction at 8 Lieu-dit Villageg de la Haute Addeville.
Events from Thursday June 5
June 5-8: Colleville-sur-Mer. Daily from 11 am: Overlord Museum shows the great vehicles of 1944 like Sherman, Famo and other motorized vehicles. Demonstration of the vehicles at 11am and 3pm.
Events on June 6, 2025
Batterie de Crisbecq, Saint-Marcouf, from 9am: 81st Anniversary has a reconstructed camp and live shows.
Sainte-Mère-Église from 10am: Day of D-Day Celebrations (Journée festive).
Vierville-sur-Mer: Omaha footbridges open to the public (to June 9).
Arromanches-les-Bains, noon: Somme Battlefield Pipe Band in the square in front of the Musée du Débarquement. The Somme Battlefield Pipe Band promotes the music and history of the Scottish soldiers, particularly at the Somme. The band plays traditional Scottish tunes as well as tunes from Ireland, America, Canada and Australia.
Events on June 7, 2025
Ouistreham, 10am: D-Day Parade
Bayeux, 7pm: Bal de la Liberté in Place de Gaulle with Radio Cadillac (swing pop) and Stomp (swing band). Dress the part and enjoy the dancing. Free admission; catering or bring a picnic.
Courseulles-sur-Mer, Juno Beach Centre, from 10am: Bal de Juno – Concert Dancing Day. Dance the Lindy Hop from the 1930s and 40s and learn from the dancers of Rock & Go from Caen. Free.
Colleville-sur-Mer, Overlord Museum, 5pm: M.V.C.G Liberty Convoy leaves the museum for Grandcamp-Maisy. See the displays on the port and the parade through the town.
Luc-sur-Mer, Langrune-sur-Mer, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Bernières-sur-Mer and Courseulles-sur-Mer: Military vehicles parade through the different communes and there’s a bagpipe performance in each town. Details from the local tourist office.
Vierville-sur-Mer, Rue du Hamel aux Prêtres, 7pm. Concerts celebrating American music from the 1940s to the 70s, with a picnic and ending with fireworks.
Douvres-la-Delivrande, Place des Marronniers, 7pm: Liberation Ball with people in 1940s dress. Music and refreshments on site.
Carentan-les-Marais, Place du Grand Valnoble, noon: Festive Day and Grand Parade.
10am: Route de Saint-Côme, Parachute jumps from 10am.
Sainte-Mère-Église, rue Eisenhower, 10am: Festive Day and Fireworks.
Arromanches-les-Bains, 10am Somme Battlefield Pipe Band.
2pm: Orange Band of Liberation performs in the Jardin des pins behind the Landing Museum.
6pm: Rues piétonnes d’Arromanches, performance of Band of Brothers.
9pm: Esplanade du musée Place du 6 Juin, 9pm. Open air film.
Events on June 8, 2025
Bernières-sur-Mer, Salle de la Mer, 9pm: Prize-winning documentary film Look into their eyes (Dans leurs yeux) seen through the eyes of Rémy and Marguerite Cassigneul, liberated by the Canadians on June 6, 1944.
Vierville-sur-Mer, Route de Formigny, from 8am: Military Antiques Fair.
Courselles-sur-Mer, Juno Beach Centre, Open Air screening of The Last Rifleman in the evening (check the Juno Beach Centre for times). Inspired by a true story, the film is the story of Artie Crawford, a Second World War veteran who escapes from his care home in Northern Ireland to travel to France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Starring Pierce Brosnan.
Events on June 9, 2025
Arromanches-les-Bains, from 10am: Entertainment.
Events on June 14, 2025
Bernières-sur-Mer, from 9am. Whole programme of beach walks, animations, food stalls and more.
Events on July 16, 2025
Creully sur Seulles, Château de Creully, 2pm: The Coded messages of the Landings (Les messages codés du Débarquement) is a workshop for adults and children on how the codes were deciphered. It’s in the chateau occupied by the BBC during World War II. Best to reserve.
This is part of the Les Étonnants Patrimoines (Amazing Heritage) programme which highlights special events in Normandy’s long history.
Exhibitions on the 81st Anniversary of D-Day
Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer: To Dec 31: Rising to the Challenge commemorates the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). From 1939 to 1945 nearly 250,000 Canadians served in the RCAF; around 18,000 of them lost their lives.
Sainte-Mère-Église. Jul 1-Aug 31, 2025: Cotentin Farm Museum exhibition: Système D-[DAY] shows how civilians coped with the war and how they took and used military materials on farms and fields in their daily lives. A gas mask case becomes a milk jug, a parachute is made into a blouse and more.
More on D-Day and Normandy
Major article on the Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches
Practical Information
All the events are listed in the D-Day Festival Brochure you can pick up at any tourist office in Normandy. It’s online here.
Events in France in May
Events in France in June
Special Travel Pass
Explore Normandy Pass
The Explore Normandy Pass is well worth getting. You get a lot of content on the area and for just 1€, you also get discounts at over 70 D-Day sites and museums in Normandy.
More about Normandy
How to Get to Normandy from the UK
New Travel to and around Normandy: new flight and shuttle bus along the D-Day Landing Beaches
Guide to Normandy
Guide to Courseulles-sur-Mer at the centre of the Landing Beaches
Caen celebrates its Millennium this year with a large number of events; well worth a visit.
Accommodation & Hotels
Pierre et Vacances Self-Catering Apartment in Courseulles-sur-Mer and Normandy
Hotels and Accommodation near the D-Day Landing Beaches
If you want to read more, then please consider buying the guide book D-Day Landing Beaches Guide Book by myself (Mary Anne Evans) and Alastair McKenzie and published by Bradt Guides in March 2024. It’s full of information, and details of the different sites, CWGC cemeteries (and German cemeteries), memorials, monuments and museums.
