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Normandy Excursions›12 Things to Do in Bayeux Updated 2026-09-04

12 Things to Do in Bayeux, Normandy, While the Tapestry Is Closed

Hours, prices and access verified by the Normandy Excursions team — last checked 2026-09-04

The river Aure running past stone houses and an old water wheel in Bayeux, with the cathedral spires behind
Short answer. The Tapestry is away until October 2027, and Bayeux still fills a day. The cathedral is free and open daily. The Battle of Normandy museum and the art and history museum cost €8.50 each, or €14 together. Markets run on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, and guided days to the D-Day beaches and Mont-Saint-Michel leave from the town itself.
Only one afternoon to spare? Five hours on the landing beaches, with pickup from Bayeux hotels. From $109 per person.
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Things to do in Bayeux at a glance

Euro prices are full adult admission.

Things to do in Bayeux: what each costs and when it is open from October 2026
What to doCostOpen from October 2026 Where
Bayeux CathedralFree Daily 9am–6pm to 1 November, then 10am–6pm Rue du Bienvenu
Battle of Normandy museum€8.50 Daily 10am–12:30pm, 2pm–6pmBoulevard Fabian Ware
Bayeux War CemeteryFreeAlways open Boulevard Fabian Ware
Reporters’ MemorialFreeAll year Beside the cemetery
Art and history museum (MAHB) €8.50, or €14 for both museums Daily 10am–12:30pm, 2pm–6pm37 rue du Bienvenu
Old-town trail and the Aure pathFreeAny time The old town, 2.5 km
Lace conservatoryFree Monday to Saturday 9:30am–12:30pm, 2pm–5:30pm 6 rue du Bienvenu
Weekly marketsFree to browse Wednesday to 1:30pm, Saturday to 2pm Rue Saint-Jean, place Saint-Patrice
Botanic gardenFree 9am–7pm in October, 9am–5pm November to February Route de Port-en-Bessin
Guided walk on the Tapestry€10 School holidays only, in FrenchCathedral forecourt
Afternoon on the D-Day beachesFrom $109 5 hours, back around 6pmHotel pickup
Day at the abbey in the bayFrom $189 7 hoursPlace du Québec

1. Walk into Bayeux Cathedral

Start here: it costs you nothing and opens daily, 9am to 6pm until 1 November and 10am to 6pm after. Sunday mass is at 11am. The building was consecrated on 14 July 1077 in front of William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda. The crypt, the western towers and the first level of the nave survive from that day.

Did you know? The embroidery was first shown here. Bishop Odo, William’s half-brother, consecrated the building.

2. Spend an hour or two in the Battle of Normandy museum

The Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy covers the fighting from 7 June to 29 August 1944 in 2,300 square metres of galleries. You walk it in date order, past a diorama of the Falaise-Chambois Pocket and an archive film. Allow one to two hours. Admission is €8.50, and tickets are sold at the desk only. There is a lift, and a wheelchair you can borrow. From 1 October it shuts for lunch between 12:30pm and 2pm. Hours and admission along the rest of the coast are set out separately.

3. Visit the Bayeux War Cemetery

This is the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the Second World War in France. It holds 4,144 Commonwealth burials, 338 of them unidentified, and more than 500 graves of other nationalities, most of them German. Opposite, the Bayeux Memorial names more than 1,800 men with no known grave. The cemetery never closes and costs nothing. You cannot park in front of it, so leave your car at the museum, about 300 metres away.

4. Read the names at the Reporters’ Memorial

On the same stretch, a landscaped walk runs between white steles naming more than 3,000 journalists killed at work since 1944. The town created it with Reporters Without Borders. It is free and open all year, and you can cover it, the museum and the cemetery on foot in one afternoon.

5. See the art and history museum in the old bishop’s palace

The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire Baron Gérard (MAHB) fills the former bishop’s palace at 37 rue du Bienvenu, beside the cathedral. Its 14 stages run in date order through 600 works of art, 1,000 pieces of Bayeux porcelain and lace, and 800 archaeological and ethnographic objects. Boudin, Caillebotte and Boucher are on the walls. You pay €8.50, or €14 for a pass that also covers the Battle of Normandy museum and stays valid for a year.

6. Follow the bronze nails through the old town

Bronze nails in the pavement mark a 2.5 km trail round the medieval town, with 23 information panels along it. From there, a 4 km footpath follows the river Aure through the old tanners’ and dyers’ quarter. The streets are intact because Bayeux was the first town in mainland France to be liberated, on 7 June 1944, with little fighting.

7. Watch lace being made

At the Conservatoire de la Dentelle, in the Maison d’Adam et Eve at 6 rue du Bienvenu, lace-makers demonstrate the work and answer your questions. The studio protects skills handed down from the town’s 17th-century lace-makers. Entry is free, and the doors stay shut on Sundays and bank holidays.

8. Time your stay for a market morning

Wednesday’s market sets up along the pedestrian rue Saint-Jean from 7:30am to 1:30pm. Saturday’s takes over place Saint-Patrice from 7:30am to 2pm. Both bring local traders and producers, and the food page covers what to buy at a Normandy market.

Useful tip A full-day tour on a Saturday costs you the Saturday market. Book your long day for another day of the week, or shop first and take the afternoon departure.

9. Sit under the weeping beech in the botanic garden

The Jardin botanique, at 55 route de Port-en-Bessin, is free and holds 400 trees. The one to find is the weeping beech, a listed natural monument since 1932. You can walk in from 9am to 7pm in October and from 9am to 5pm between November and February.

10. Follow the Tapestry’s story without the Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry museum has been closed since 1 September 2025 and is due back in autumn 2027. The embroidery itself is at the British Museum in London from 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027. You still have two ways in. Every scene of its 70 metres is free to explore online. And in school holidays a one-hour guided walk on its history leaves the cathedral forecourt for €10, in French, with no booking.

11. Take an afternoon, or a day, on the D-Day beaches

This is why most people sleep in Bayeux. The afternoon departure from Bayeux runs five hours, collects you from selected hotels and has you back around 6pm, so your morning stays free. It stops at Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc and the Normandy American Cemetery. The nine-hour day from Place du Québec adds Utah Beach and Sainte-Mère-Église. The beaches and the cemetery are free to enter, so your fare buys the driving and the guide.

The afternoon on the beachesFive hours. Cancel six days ahead for a full refund. From $109 per person.
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The full American-sector dayNine hours, Utah Beach Museum admission included. From $165 per person.
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Not sure which length suits you? The guide to half day or full day settles it, and Normandy D-Day tours sets every departure side by side, a private sidecar ride included. All of them are excursions in Normandy that start here.

12. Give Mont-Saint-Michel its own day

Do not bolt the abbey onto a beaches day. The full day from Bayeux with the abbey included takes seven hours and meets at Place du Québec. You get five hours on the island, two of them inside the abbey, and lunch is yours to buy. The Mont-Saint-Michel page has the tides.

The abbey day from BayeuxSeven hours, abbey admission included. From $189 per person.
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How do you fit Bayeux around a guided day?

Build your day from the opening hours.

  1. 9am: the cathedral (10am from 2 November).
  2. Mid-morning: the bronze nails, then the art and history museum before it shuts at 12:30pm.
  3. Lunch: the market, on a Wednesday or a Saturday.
  4. Afternoon: the afternoon departure from Bayeux, or the Battle of Normandy museum from 2pm and the cemetery next door.

Two nights is the comfortable answer: one day for the town, one for the coast. Still weighing a night in Bayeux or a day trip from Paris? That comparison does the arithmetic, and getting to Bayeux by train covers the journey. Normandy Excursions lists every departure with its fare.

Bayeux questions, answered

Is the Bayeux Tapestry open in 2026?
No. The museum has been closed for renovation since September 2025 and is due to reopen in autumn 2027. Until 11 July 2027 the embroidery is on show at the British Museum in London, by timed ticket.
Is Bayeux worth visiting without the Tapestry?
Yes. The cathedral where the Tapestry was first shown is free, the town’s two other museums are open, and guided days to the D-Day beaches start here.
What days is the market in Bayeux?
Wednesday and Saturday. The Wednesday market runs along the pedestrian rue Saint-Jean from 7:30am to 1:30pm, and the Saturday market fills place Saint-Patrice from 7:30am to 2pm.
Is Bayeux Cathedral free to enter?
Yes, all year. It is open 9am to 6pm until 1 November 2026 and 10am to 6pm from 2 November, with Sunday mass at 11am.
Can you visit the D-Day beaches from Bayeux without a car?
Yes. The five-hour afternoon departure collects you from selected Bayeux hotels, and the nine-hour American-sector day meets at Place du Québec in the town.
The town fills one day. The coast it sits beside fills the next.Most tours refund in full; each card states its own window.
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Days that leave from Bayeux