https://www.valortours.com/

I'm a military history nut and may take one of their European tours next year.

I'm also thinking about this:

https://www.cha-tours.com/garypowers/2027/

I have not for either, but have you ever taken tours like that? I ask because if you haven't, I think there may be pros and cons depending on your interests and the group you are going with.

Brief overview: the bright side is everything is taken care of for the most part, and you just follow them around and do whatever the plan is. The huge upside is they give you lots of context for what you are seeing, so you aren't just staring at a cool old bunker, but you understand why it's interesting, and you get the broad strokes of what happened.

The downside is you are with 40 other people who are interested too, which means if you see something and want to spend extra time with it, you may not be able to. You crowd into and out of places, which means taking your turn stepping into an area for photos, etc. You learn what they want to tell you and come away with their impression, and you see it through the lens of the guide you are with. Which is great or bad, depending on them. You are also limited by the mobility of the people on the tour to some extent. You are locked into areas you may not care about, which takes time away from stuff you might want to do.

If you are going to a place you know a lot about and have done your research, you may prefer to DIY. If you want to see an overview of an area or are getting interested in an area and want to visit and see what there is, a tour is a great way to cover ground. I'd also do a tour if I wanted to follow a campaign, i.e., D-Day from landing through the hedgerows, etc. If you hate logistics and planning and just want a point-and-click easy adventure, then it is also great. Just depends on what you are looking for.

For example, in July, we hired a cab that took us a few places: Omaha Beach and then, from the beach, up the footpaths to WN62(bunker overlooking the beach), up to the American cemetery, and then to the Overlord Museum. I'm not sure you can do that on a tour, but that also may not be what you want.

I am in France as I write this. We just completed a 5 day, 4 night Normandy tour and it was hands down the best experience we could have hoped for. It turned out to be a private tour with a driver and a guide. I hope to do a full write up when we get back in about a month but seriously consider looking into Normandy American Heroes.

https://www.normandyamericanheroes.com/