After some research, I am leaning towards basing ourselves in Bayeux for two nights and maybe one night in the Le Havre/Etretat area. We can easily do MSM and D-Day beaches while in Bayeux and then drive to Etretat for the last day.
Was hoping to do Giverney on our way back to Paris, but it looks like we are out of luck - the gardens don’t open until the end of March 
I looked him up @Illinoisparent12. The rate for one day is over 600euros?? I don’t think I can do that…
Sorry - didn’t realize. My memory is that we paid much less, but we did our tour with him 8-9 years ago and we also split the cost with my parents, so that could explain it.
I’ll try to look who we toured with out of Bayeux. I got the recommendation years ago on CC. Don’t miss the tapestries they are amazing. We also stayed in Honfleur which was a picturesque town.
There is an old thread “touring Normandy” that might be helpful.
Our tour company was Overland Tours
Hotel in Bayeux- Hotel dargouges
Practical tip: lunch is 12-2pm and most restaurants stop taking new clients at 1:30pm. You have to be careful not to be caught by that schedule!
Dinner is 7-9pm or so but there’s more leeway wrt later hours. There’s also “4 heures” or goûter (“katror”, “gootay”) which is around 4:30pm for primary school children leaving school but means adults who need a rest from sight seeing can readily find cafés and salons de thé (coffee&pastry shops) serving sit-down pastries or cakes along with coffee/hot chocolate/tea 
(And of course there are boulangeries and small shops like Brioche Dorée that offer brioche, croissants, pain aux raisins, etc. take outs any time of day but if you’re looking for a seating area to rest from walking around it’s not a given.)
We used Overlord Tours in July and I highly recommend them. We did the two day tour.
Etretat is gorgeous. Be sure to hike up the cliff overlooking the town. And there’s a garden there that’s a must see.
Last summer we spent two nights in Bayeux, spending a full day seeing the WW2 sites on our own. We drove to Ste Mere Egilse and Utah beach in the morning/early afternoon. This is the area that the Band of Brothers (HBO show) focused on. We then headed past Caen and up the Omaha beach side, making sure to be at the American cemetery for the 5 pm flag lowering.
We did it ourselves and didn’t even get lost. Even though the distances don’t look too far on a map, it took longer to get everywhere, find parking, turn around, etc than I planned. We saw what we wanted to see and stopped to take in roadside memorials.
Bayeux is a wonderful, easy to navigate town, with an interesting cathedral and lots of cafes, restaurants, etc.
Maybe ask for the “British” tour?
I would advise taking a tour of Normandy. There are so many fascinating stories you’ll hear. Our guide knew some of the paratroopers who landed there!
The Bayeux Tapestry is worth seeing but there can be a long line to get in.
I second the suggestion of taking a tour. We learned so much from our guide.
That’s cool that your tourguide had some connections. Last fall we did a Viking Rhine Getaway cruise and opted to add extra (ie fee) WWII history tour of Colmar pocket area. Our expat tourguide was daughter of an American soldier who fought there - so many interesting stories.
We also used Overlord Tours (based on a CC recommendation) in Normandy to visit the D day beaches, cemetery, and St. Mere Eglise as well as a tour to Mont St. Michel that included a visit to the Brittany American cemetery.
Here’s the link to the gardens in Etretat. We just stumbled across them. Wow. Very unique! I don’t want to give anything else away. https://etretatgarden.fr/
We’re going to France for almost all of April. Other than Paris, this trip is all new territory - Burgundy, across to Bordeaux, Loire valley, up to Normandy, and ending in Paris.
Currently trying to decide on 2 or 3 nights in Normandy. Looking at the tour recs above are helping a lot.
We know where we’re staying and for how long in Burgundy and Paris, it’s all of the middle that’s still in flux. A fine first world problem to have haha.
When you go to Bordeaux, make sure you see St. Emilion. It’s a charming medieval town that’s (I learned) famous for its wine. I visited it in college and got a bottle of bordeaux wine for my dad, because I’d always heard him talk about it. When he found out I went to St. Emilion he asked me why I didn’t bring wine back from there!
Of the chateaux in the Loire Valley, Chenonceau was my favorite. If you make it out to Angers (or is it Anjou?) there’s another cool tapestry there, so it’s a nice complement to the one in Bayeux if you end up seeing that one.
Hope you have a fantastic time in France!
I vote for three nights in Normandy!!
I would vote the same in June. But in April the weather is a lottery and may be miserable.
We live in the PNW so visiting places in wind and rain is pretty much our jam. We’ve had miserable weather in Paris in July and August, so it came down to April.
I wanted to stay clear of any Olympics stuff & also leave the summer open for some surgery and recovery.
Now to push for 3 nights and 2 full days