The Pointe du Hoc — Attraction in Metropolitan France

My first trip to Point du Hoc was in 2012 with my father. We decided to take a father/son trip to Normandy and hit the WW2 sites. Point du Hoc was one of my favorite sites. I returned in 2019 with my best friend and work colleague to the Normandy region and decided to visit the Utah and Omaha beach along with Point du Hoc and some of the museums. Every time I visited this area I was reminded of the sacrifice that so many men made so many years ago.

Fast forward to today…I had a chance to bring my wife and 17 year old son (who has a passion for World War history) to France specifically to tour the WW1 and WW2 battle sites and museums.

Before we arrived in France I told him about some of my favorite places to visit (many of which he was very familiar with)…. Point du Hoc being one of them. Today (July 15, 2025) was the much anticipated day to tour the beaches and Point du Hoc.

Point du Hoc was our last stop for the day. We arrived and walked a 5 foot path, unable to deviate from this path for the entire visit. Unfortunately the grounds looked horrible compared to previous visits and we were unable to venture off the path due to fences on both sides of the path. We were fenced in like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse. During previous visits I had the freedom to roam and explore the entire battle site. It made me feel as if I relived the experience these brave soldiers endured in June of 1944. Today, I felt none of that. Unfortunately, my son didn’t either. As we were leaving he said, “Dad, I don’t care if I ever come back to visit that place again.” I thought to myself, “This is how history dies.”

The American Battle Monument Commission should be ashamed of what they have done to a once great memorial to our American hero’s. Every person involved in the decision to take this once great memorial and turn it into what it is today deserves to be fired ASAP. It’s time to get real leaders in place to make Point du Hoc great again! The American people and EVERY VISITOR to this site deserve...

Completely disappointed with my visit. Firstly after driving for 2 hours we found the toilets closed, people being turned away from the information centre as this was closed and then we ventured to the site itself. Wow! I last visited pre covid and had access to the bomb craters and bunkers, I spent a lot of time contemplating what actually occurred here and walking in and around the site freely allowed me to really start to understand the magnitude of what the Rangers achieved. This time we found it overgrown, fenced off and unable to actually see the bomb craters. I'm 5ft 6ins and could not see anything as I was walking, or being herded, along the path. I was almost moved to tears at how this once shining example of one of the significant allied achievements on D-Day is now nothing more than a closed off nature reserve where it felt like the Rangers efforts are being slowly hidden from view. Even the bunkers were closed when the site was clearly very busy, with a constant stream of visitors stating how disappointed they were at this. The erosion was sad to see and nature is obviously reminding us of her power at this site due to how little of the previous cliff walk is understandably no longer available. This is not the place I remember visiting and will not be going back, purely because it feels like this part of history is being erased. Surely this historic site should be preserved for future generations and not left to grow wild and reduce the impact of the brave actions of those who fought there...

A very unpleasant experience in visiting this site.

It is managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission, for this reason I guess the site was full of security guards. All area is fenced and you are forced to go through a specific route. Ugly platforms are built to look at the landscape.

There are boards explaining their "goals" of preservation and a long list of unaccepted behaviors from the visitors but none to explain the monuments.

Also, we cannot be the only one to notice the memorial monument is clearly a phallum? It is difficult to be in the historical moment when you see it.

Most important to plan your visit: dogs are not allowed even on a leash to "maintain the dignity of the site". This is a free walk in a natural area, not a museum, but apparently dogs are not dignified enough for Americans. Even at the Mémorial gardens in Caen dogs are allowed to walk on a leash.

We visited a lot of other WWII sites on our visit to Normandy and this one was the only one with such rules.

The site has a very important historical significance of course, but we felt all the emotions and respect for war heroes a lot more on other sites than on this heavily guarded and fenced area where visitors are treated as...