World War II Tour 2027
Main Tour: May 27 - June7, 2027
Optional Extension: June 7 - 13, 2027
Join alumni and friends for this unique experience with expert guides and Ohio State Professors Peter Mansoor and Lydia Walker!
Itinerary | Extension Itinerary | What's Included | Cost | VISA Requirements | Faculty Guides
Itinerary
May 27 - June 7, 2027
DAY ONE | May 27
LONDON
Individual travelers arrive in London. Meet in hotel lobby at 5pm for introductions and a Happy Hour - first drink is on us! You will then walk to Cabinet War rooms and then attend a cocktail reception followed by group dinner. You will spend the night at Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge (4★) while in London. You will be conveniently situated on London’s South Bank, and will be near the London
Dungeon and the SEA LIFE London Aquarium. Waterloo and Westminster Stations are about a five-minute walk away, too, which means getting around the city couldn’t be easier.
DAY TWO | May 28
LONDON
Today you will visit Bletchley Park! After riding the tube and taking the train to Bletchley, you will see the place where the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) studied and devised methods to enable the Allied forces to decipher the military codes and ciphers that secured German, Japanese and other Axis nation's communications.
DAY THREE | May 29
LONDON
Today you will travel by tube to visit the Imperial War Museum, followed by an independent lunch at the cafe on site or a pub nearby.
DAY FOUR | May 30
LONDON, CHARTWELL & PORTSMOUTH
A private coach will take you to from London to Chartwell and there you will tour Winston Churchill's family home! From there you will be taken to Portsmouth and stay at the Holiday Inn Portsmouth (4★) with a relaxed coastal atmosphere.
DAY FIVE | May 31
PORTSMOUTH & BAYEUX
After a buffet breakfast, you will spend the day traveling by private coach and ferry to Bayeux. After checking into Hotel Le Bayeux, you will walk to a local restaurant for dinner. The hotel is only a few minutes away from the Cathedral and historic city center.
DAY SIX | JUNE 1
BAYEUX
Our coach will take you to tour Pegasus Bridge battle site, followed by a bus tour of Sword, Juno, and Gold Beaches on the way to Arromanches. After independent lunch, you will visit Musée du Débarquement and the Cinema. To end the day, you will be able to visit Bayeux Commonwealth War Cemetery.
DAY SEVEN | JUNE 2
BAYEUX
You will travel to Angoville-au-Plain, where two US medics (one of them a former OSU student) treated dozens of US and German wounded on D-Day. You will then travel to the Major Richard Winters Memorial in Sainte Marie du Mont by private coach. Then, you will tour Utah Beach Musée du Debarquement, followed by a stop in Ste Mere I'Eglise for lunch. After a tour of the Airborne Museum, the day will conclude in La Cambe with a visit to the German military cemetery. At the end of the day you will return for the night to Bayeux.
DAY EIGHT | JUNE 3
BAYEUX
Our tour of Normandy concludes with a look at Point du Hoc, the 100-ft cliff overlooking the English Channel that was captured by the U.S. Army Ranger Assault Group on D-Day, followed by an outing to Omaha Beach, the beach depicted in the film Saving Private Ryan, and an emotional visit to the Normandy American Military Cemetery. The group will gather for a lunch at a local restaurant.
DAY NINE | JUNE 4
BAYEUX & MONT SAINT-MICHEL
You will have a full day to tour Mont Saint Michel as well as its abbey, then return to Bayeux for the night.
DAY TEN | JUNE 5
BAYEUX & PARIS
Private coach will take you to Paris to the Hotel De La Cite Rougemant. This hotel is within walking distance of Grands Boulevards, Opéra Garnier, and numerous theaters and cafés!
DAY ELEVEN | JUNE 6
PARIS
Tour the Musée de L'Armée, Napoleon's Tomb, and the Charles de Gaulle Museum. After a full day of fun you will have a farewell dinner at a local restaurant.
DAY TWELVE | JUNE 7
PARIS
Transfer to airport independently.
Extension Itinerary
DAY TWELVE | JUNE 7
PARIS & KRAKÓW
After a flight to Kraków, you will drive by coach to the Holiday Inn at Kraków City Center (5★) which is walking distance from the Main Market Square, Wawel Castle, and Vistula River.
DAY THIRTEEN | JUNE 8
KRAKÓW
Explore historic Kraków. Activities include a tour of Oskar Schindler’s Factory. Oskar Schindler was a German entrepreneur and member of the Nazi party credited with saving approximately 1,200 Jews by employing them in his factories so they could avoid death in Nazi labor camps. His story became well-known because of the Steven Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List.
DAY FOURTEEN | JUNE 9
KRAKÓW
Experience a full-day excursion to Oświęcim for a guided tour of the concentration and extermination camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. You will return to the Holiday Inn at Kraków City Center for an evening of quiet reflection.
DAY FIFTEEN | JUNE 10
KRAKÓW & BERLIN
Travel by motor coach to Berlin, Germany, where you will stay at JW Marriot Hotel Berlin.
DAY SIXTEEN | JUNE 11
BERLIN
Your full-day tour will include a Wartime Walk of Berlin. Guests should be prepared to walk 3-4 miles over the course of the day.
DAY SEVENTEEN | JUNE 12
BERLIN
On your final day of this amazing tour, you will have a guided tour of Wannsee House, where leading figures in the Nazi government and SS met to discuss their so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Finally, the group will stop at the Olympic Stadium, location of
the 1936 Olympic Games, where Ohio State’s Jesse Owens won four gold medals. Your tour ends with a special group dinner at Restaurant Maximilians Berlin.
DAY EIGHTEEN | JUNE 13
BERLIN & HOME
After breakfast, make your own way to Berlin Brandenburg airport for your return flight home.
*Itinerary subject to change.
INCLUDED FEATURES
- Accommodations: Four-star and Five-star hotels (and one charming three-star) with proximity to historic attractions.
- Meals: Eleven breakfasts, one lunch and three dinners.
- Professional Program Manager: Throughout your journey, you will be in the care of a seasoned travel professional who will manage all the logistics, allowing you to relax and simply soak up the ambiance. Resourceful, knowledgeable and attentive, Christian Mauer helps to ensure you enjoy an unforgettable travel experience.
- Expert Guides: Who better to show you around than experts in the fields of US and military history? Ohio State Department of History Professors Peter Mansoor and Lydia Walker understand the needs of educated and curious travelers. Warm and genuine, they’re ready to share their passion for World War II history with you.
COST
Main Program
- $6,900 Double Occupancy
- $8,100 Single Occupancy
A 25 percent deposit is required to hold a space on the tour. This deposit is refundable until November 30, 2026, when it becomes non-refundable. Final, non-refundable payment is due on January 31, 2027.*
Price includes: a $1,000 tax-deductible contribution per traveler to the Department of History’s WWII Study Abroad program; the expertise of Ohio State Department of History Professors Peter Mansoor and Lydia Walker; a professional program manager, Christian Mauer; accommodations; transfers; tours and services per itinerary; meals and drinks listed on itinerary; and all city taxes.
Not included: Optional Extension Trip; airfare to/ from tour arrival and departure cities; airline baggage fees; passport and visa expenses; meals or drinks with meals if not listed in itinerary; gratuities for program manager and drivers; personal expenses; itemized services; and any government imposed entry/exit fees and taxes (subject to change and without notice).
Optional Extension Trip
Cost includes overnight accommodations for 6 nights (June 7 - June 13) including continental breakfast.
VISA REQUIREMENTS
People traveling from countries to the EU that do not currently have to apply for a Schengen visa, will still need to apply online and pay a small sum for a visa waiver via the new European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) website. The UK, which is no longer part of the EU following Brexit, follows a similar scheme with their UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system.
RESERVATIONS
Using the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, tell us, “Okay, let’s go.”
Show us your interest in booking this once-in-a-lifetime experience by contacting us through email.
FACULTY GUIDES
Dr. Peter Mansoor
Professor Peter Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.), is the General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair of Military History and the recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy, Colonel Mansoor served in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East during his military career, including two combat tours in Iraq. Professor Mansoor is the author of The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions 1941-1945, and Redemption: General Douglas MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines. He is also winner of the Society for Military History distinguished book award.
Dr. Lydia Walker
Professor Lydia Walker is the Seth Andre Myers Chair in Global Military History at The Ohio State University and an Associate Professor in the Department of History where she teaches classes on the global history of war, empire, and decolonization. She studied at Harvard and Columbia, and was a 2025 Visiting Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge. She wrote States-in-Waiting: A Counternarrative of Global Decolonization (Cambridge University Press, 2024) which received the 2025 Busuttil Medal and Prize in Human Rights from the Royal Asiatic Society and is a 2026 Finalist in History for the American Council of Learned Societies Open Access Book Prize. She is
also the author or co-author of a dozen peer reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as commissioned essays in Aeon Magazine and The Washington Post.