Utah Beach, Normandy

Utah Beach is the westernmost D-Day landing sector, on the east coast of the Cotentin peninsula in the Manche department of Normandy, near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont and La Madeleine. The beach and its memorials are free at any hour, and the Utah Beach Landing Museum stands where the troops came ashore. It suits Second World War enthusiasts, families and anyone touring the landing beaches.

Added in December 1943 with Cherbourg as the aim

Utah was the code name for this sector. It was added to the invasion plan in December 1943 to widen the front, with the port of Cherbourg as a key objective to the north. In July 2026 it became one of six components of "The D-Day Landing Beaches, Normandy, 1944", inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee at its 48th session in Busan, alongside Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches and the Pointe du Hoc.

Landing 1.8 km off target with the 4th Infantry

About 300 B-26 Marauder bombers struck the coast in the twenty minutes before the landing. Currents then pushed the landing craft about 1.8 km south of their planned zones, onto a stretch that proved less heavily defended. About 21,000 soldiers of the US 4th Infantry Division landed with 197 casualties, far fewer than at Omaha.

During the night about 14,000 paratroopers and glider troops had dropped inland to secure the causeways across the flooded marshes behind the beach, at a cost of about 2,500 casualties. Sainte-Mère-Église was among their first objectives. Cherbourg fell on 26 June, but its port had been wrecked and was not fully working again until September.

A B-26 Marauder in the landing museum

The museum is built on the site of a German strongpoint and tells the story of the landing in ten sequences over about 3,000 square metres. Its centrepiece is a B-26 Marauder bomber in its own hall, with vehicles, landing craft, maps and personal objects from the soldiers. A temporary exhibition presents archaeological digs at Brécourt Manor, the gun battery attacked by paratroopers on D-Day. About 200,000 people visited in 2024.

Adult tickets cost €10, reduced €9, students €7.50 and children aged 6 to 15 €6.50; under 6s are free. Tickets are sold online. Guided tours cost €2.50 extra for 45 minutes or €5 for 90 minutes. The museum opens daily from 10:00 to 18:00 from October to April and from 9:30 to 19:00 from May to September, with ticket sales ending an hour before closing. It is closed from 16 November to 14 December. Small dogs are allowed if carried in a bag.

Marker 00 of the Voie de la Liberté

In front of the museum a monument to the 4th Infantry Division was unveiled by General Omar Bradley on 6 June 1964, and nearby stands marker 00 of the Voie de la Liberté, the road of milestones that runs from here to Bastogne. Dunes and remains of bunkers line the shore.