Bayeux Tapestry Museum

The Bayeux Tapestry Museum has been closed for renovation since September 2025, and the Bayeux Tapestry is not on display in Bayeux while the work goes on. The museum plans to reopen in autumn 2027, and its pages name October 2027. Normandy Tourism lists it as closed until the end of 2027. Until July 11, 2027, the Tapestry is on show at the British Museum in London, and two other Bayeux museums stay open in town.

Seeing the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum

The Tapestry is on loan to the British Museum from September 10, 2026, to July 11, 2027. You find it in Room 30, the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery. If your trip passes through London in that window, this is your chance to see it before it returns to Normandy.

Entry is by timed ticket, so plan ahead:

• Tickets for September 10, 2026, through March 31, 2027 are sold out.
• The British Museum says tickets for April to July 2027 will be released in early 2027.
• Under-16s go free, but you must book them with an adult ticket. Each ticketed adult can bring up to four.
• The museum estimates the exhibition takes about 40 minutes and advises allowing 1-2 hours because of queues.

For prices, release dates and booking, go to the British Museum exhibition page.

What you can still see in Bayeux

The Bayeux Tapestry museum is closed, but Bayeux itself is open for visitors. Its medieval center was not destroyed in 1944. It was the first town liberated in June 1944, and many visitors use it as a base for the D-Day beaches. Two other museums remain open, and all three museum buildings sit within walking distance of each other.

Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy

This museum is on Boulevard Fabian Ware. It covers the 1944 fighting that followed the landings, so it fits well before or after a day on the beaches.

MAHB Baron Gérard Art and History Museum

The MAHB is at 37 rue du Bienvenu, in the historic center. It is within walking distance of the Memorial Museum.

Tickets for both museums are sold only at the museum desks. There are no online or advance sales, and you do not need to book unless you come as a group. A combined ticket covers both museums and stays valid for one year. Entry prices and opening hours are on the Bayeux Museum website.

You can also see the Tapestry before you travel. The Bayeux Museum website lets you scroll through the whole work online, scene by scene.

What the Tapestry is

The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth about 70 meters long and 50 centimeters high. It tells the story of the events leading to the Norman Conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, as one long strip of linked scenes.

The British Museum dates it to about AD 1072-77 and says it was made in England. It counts more than 600 figures in the main body, and only three of them are women. The Tapestry is listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.

Planning your visit

Choose your source of truth for the reopening. The museum gives October 2027, while Normandy Tourism says the end of 2027. If seeing the Tapestry in Bayeux is the reason for your trip, wait for a confirmed date on the official site before you book anything you can’t change. If your trip falls in 2026 or the first half of 2027, the British Museum is the only place to see the original.

Bayeux still earns a stop. Even with the Tapestry away, the two open museums and the old center fill a morning or an afternoon. The town also works as a base for the beaches. The Two Days in Bayeux and on the D-Day Beaches itinerary shows how to split your time, and the Bayeux town guide covers the rest of the town.

Practical points for the open museums:

• They are accessible to visitors with reduced mobility, with a lift and wheelchair loan.
• Pets are not allowed, except assistance dogs.
• Bulky luggage is refused. If you arrive by train with suitcases, leave them at your hotel before you visit.

Check the season. Opening hours change between seasons, and the museums close on a few dates around the winter holidays. See the Bayeux Museum website before you set your day.

Getting there

The museum’s address is 13 bis rue de Nesmond, 14400 Bayeux. The open museums are a short walk from it.

By train. Trains from Paris leave from Saint-Lazare. From Bayeux station, the museums are a 10-15 minute walk. The Normandy Without a Car itinerary explains how to link Bayeux with other stops by rail. Getting to Normandy from Paris compares your options from the capital.

By car. From Caen, take the N13 and leave at exit 36. From Rennes, take the A84 toward Caen, leave at exit 43, then follow the D6. There is parking close to the museums.

Nearby

The driving times below are estimates from OpenStreetMap routing and do not allow for traffic.

Arromanches D-Day Museum is about 15 minutes away (11 km). It is the closest of these sites, so you can pair it with a morning in Bayeux.

Omaha Beach is about 26 minutes away (23 km). It turns a visit to Bayeux’s Battle of Normandy museum into a day on the landing grounds themselves.

Normandy American Cemetery is about 26 minutes away (24 km). It fits into the same outing as Omaha Beach, which is a similar drive from town. The American Battle Monuments Commission expects compulsory pre-registration for all cemetery visitors from summer 2027.

Caen Memorial Museum is about 25 minutes away (27 km). It is a good choice when you want a second in-depth museum on the same day, or a stop on the way to or from Caen.