Juno Beach and the Canadian story: visiting Courseulles-sur-Mer

On June 6, 1944, Canadian soldiers landed on a stretch of coast code-named Juno, between the British beaches of Gold and Sword. For Canadian visitors, this short shoreline around Courseulles-sur-Mer, Bernières and Saint-Aubin is the heart of a trip to Normandy, and many families come looking for a name, a regiment or a story told at home.

Courseulles is only a short drive from Caen and from Bayeux, which makes it easy to visit in a relaxed morning, or as part of a longer day.

The Juno Beach Centre

Start at the Juno Beach Centre, built in the dunes at Courseulles-sur-Mer. It is Canada’s museum on the Normandy coast, and it tells the story of the landings within the larger story of Canada at war: the volunteers, the home front, and the long campaign that followed.

The exhibitions are clear and moving, and the centre is staffed by young Canadians. Ask at the desk about the visit of the grounds, which takes you to the remaining German bunkers in front of the museum and explains what the soldiers faced as they came ashore. Allow at least two hours.

The beach and the harbour

After the museum, walk out onto the beach. At low tide it is wide and flat, and it is easy to imagine the landing craft coming in. Along the seafront you will find memorials to the units that landed here, and the Cross of Lorraine that marks the place where General de Gaulle returned to France a few days later.

Courseulles is also a pleasant small harbour town, known for its oysters. It is a good place for a simple lunch or a coffee by the boats before we drive on.

Bernières and Saint-Aubin

A few minutes east along the coast, Bernières-sur-Mer and Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer saw some of the first Canadian troops ashore. In Bernières, the half-timbered house facing the beach, known to many as the Canada House, appears in photographs taken on D-Day and is among the first houses on the coast to have been liberated. The seafront at both villages has memorials and bunkers that are easy to visit on foot.

The Canadian War Cemetery at Bény-sur-Mer

Inland, among the fields, the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery holds the graves of more than two thousand Canadian soldiers, most of whom died in the first weeks of the battle of Normandy. It is a quiet, beautifully kept place. Many families leave a small Canadian flag or a note in the register at the entrance.

If your day continues towards Caen, the Abbaye d’Ardenne memorial remembers Canadian prisoners of war killed there in June 1944. It is a sombre visit, and I mention it so that you can decide in advance whether it belongs in your day.

Building your day

• Half day: Juno Beach Centre, the beach at Courseulles, and Bény-sur-Mer on the way back.
• Full day: add Bernières and Saint-Aubin, then continue east to Pegasus Bridge and the British sector, or west to Arromanches and the remains of the Mulberry harbour.
• Combined with the American sector: possible, but long. If you want to see Omaha and the American Cemetery as well, I would suggest two separate days.

Tell me what brings you to Juno when you book, and I will plan the day around it.