Footsteps of WWII · Normandy
Overlord Museum, Colleville-sur-Mer
Museum · Jun–Aug 1944
The story
This private museum is built around the collection of Michel Leloup (1929–2011), who witnessed the fighting as a boy and later worked in Normandy's post-war reconstruction, gathering vehicles and equipment left on the battlefields. The collection was shown in Falaise from 1987 and moved to this purpose-built site near Omaha Beach in 2013. It covers the campaign from the landings to the liberation of Paris, with a short look at the earlier war, using large vehicle scenes that put German and Allied equipment side by side.
What to look for
More than 35 vehicles, tanks and guns from the armies that fought in Normandy are shown in staged scenes, including Shermans, a Panther and a Panzer IV. Personal belongings of individual soldiers add the human scale.
Plan your visit
Open daily mid-February to early January (winter 10:00–17:30, summer to 19:00); closed 4 January to 12 February, 24–25 December and 1 January. Adult €9.90 in 2026, €10.90 in 2027.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer · 1 km
- Omaha Beach: Les Braves, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer · 3 km
- Pointe du Hoc · 11 km
- Longues-sur-Mer battery · 12 km
- La Cambe German war cemetery · 12 km
- Bayeux War Cemetery and Memorial · 13 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
Open the guide