Arromanches-les-Bains (France)

Arromanches-Les-Bains (aka Arromanches) is a Seine River cruise port and village in France's Calvados department (Normandie region, northwestern France) with a population of under 1,000. Arromanches is approx 30 km (19 mi) northwest of Caen (3rd-largest port city in Normandy - after Le Havre and Rouen), approx 12 km (8 mi) northeast of Bayeux and approx 10 km (6 mi) west of Courseulles (gateway for the Normandy beaches popular for the US landings on June 6, 1944).

Arromanches is served by buses (line 74) and SNCF trains (from Bayeux, Caen, and Cherbourg). The nearest airport is in Caen (Carpiquet) at approx 30-min drive distance. Arromanches is best-known for the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune) at the end of WW2 (1939-1945), and particularly for the artificial harbor port (Mulberry Port) which made it possible the to land between 9000-22000 tons of heavy equipment per day during the Battle for Caen (June-August 1944) between England (Second Army) and Germany (Panzergruppe West).

In Britain were built large floating caissons of concrete, which were towed across the English Channel and assembled side by side here to create the docks, jetties and floating pontoons of the artificial harbour. Today, some of these "Phoenix" caissons are still standing and visible offshore. During Operation Neptune (D-Day), at Mulberry Port landed around 2,5 million men, 0,5 million vehicles, and 4 million tons of equipment/materials.

As cruise port, Arromanches is included in the regular schedule of one of Europe's largest river cruise companies - Scylla. The next table shows the ports sequence of the 9-day itinerary operated by the Tauck-chartered ship Swiss Sapphire. The cruise tour is operated between homeports Paris and Giverny, with prices from ~USD 5000 per person (double occupancy cabin rates).