Normandy
Normandy runs along the Channel from the mouth of the Seine to the Breton border: chalk cliffs, apple orchards, half-timbered farms, and a coastline that has been fought over for a thousand years. It is two hours from Paris, and it holds more famous things per square kilometre than almost anywhere else in France — Mont-Saint-Michel, the D-Day beaches, the Bayeux Tapestry, Monet’s garden, Rouen cathedral.
The name is the Norsemen’s. Vikings settled the lower Seine and were granted the duchy in 911; a century and a half later their descendant William crossed the Channel and became king of England, which is why English is the language it is.
The main sights
Mont-Saint-Michel
The abbey on its rock in the bay, begun in the eighth century and built upward for the next seven hundred years. It is one of the most visited places in France and it earns it. The tidal range in the bay is among the largest in Europe — the sea can come in fast across the sand, and crossing the flats without a guide is genuinely dangerous. A causeway and shuttle now carry visitors from the car parks on the mainland.
Go early or late; the middle of the day in summer is a queue on a staircase.
The D-Day beaches
The landings of 6 June 1944 came ashore along 80 km of coast west of the Orne, on five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. What to see:
- Omaha Beach and the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer — 9,000 graves above the beach
- Pointe du Hoc — the cliff the Rangers climbed under fire, left as it was, cratered
- Arromanches — the concrete caissons of the Mulberry harbour still lying in the sea
- Sainte-Mère-Église — the first town liberated, with a parachute permanently on the church tower
- Caen Mémorial — the best museum of the campaign, and the place to start if you want the whole story
A car is close to essential; alternatively take a guided day tour from Bayeux or Caen.
Bayeux
The town came through 1944 undamaged, and it holds the Bayeux Tapestry — 70 metres of eleventh-century embroidery telling the story of the Norman conquest of England, and the single most remarkable object in Normandy. Its Gothic cathedral is the building it was made for.
Rouen
The historic capital, with a cathedral Monet painted more than thirty times in different light, a working astronomical clock over the street — the Gros-Horloge — and the market square where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. Half-timbered streets, and an hour and a half from Paris.
Giverny
Monet’s house and garden, where he lived from 1883 until his death in 1926 and painted the water lilies. Two gardens: the flower garden in front of the pink house, and the Japanese water garden with the green bridge across the road. Open April to November, and best early in the morning before the coaches.
Étretat
The white cliffs on the Alabaster Coast, arched and pierced by the sea, with the needle standing offshore. Painted by Monet, Courbet and Boudin, and the walk along the clifftop either side of the town is free and takes an hour.
Honfleur
The old harbour at the mouth of the Seine, ringed with tall slate-fronted houses, and the birthplace of Impressionism as much as anywhere: Boudin was from here and taught the young Monet to paint outdoors. The church of Sainte-Catherine is built of wood by shipwrights.
Château Gaillard
Richard the Lionheart’s castle above the Seine at Les Andelys, built in two years in the 1190s to hold the river against the king of France. Ruined, spectacular, and the view up and down the valley is the best in the Seine bend.
The coast
Deauville and Trouville, side by side, are the Parisian seaside: the boardwalk with its striped parasols and the names of film stars on the bathing huts, the racecourse, the casino, and the American film festival in September. Deauville is the expensive one; Trouville across the bridge is a working fishing port and pleasanter for it.
Dieppe is the oldest seaside resort in France and still a fishing and ferry port, with a Saturday market that is among the best in the north. Granville, on the west coast, is a walled town on a headland and the birthplace of Christian Dior, whose family villa is now a museum.
What to eat and drink
Normandy has no wine and does not need it. It has apples, cream and butter, and the cooking follows:
- Cheese — Camembert, from the village of that name, plus Livarot, Pont-l’Évêque and Neufchâtel. Four AOC cheeses in one small region.
- Cider — drunk from cups, dry or sweet; and pommeau, cider blended with calvados
- Calvados — apple brandy, aged in oak. The trou normand is a glass of it taken mid-meal to make room for the rest.
- Seafood — oysters from Saint-Vaast, mussels, scallops from the bay of Seine, and sole normande in cream
- Tripes à la mode de Caen — slow-cooked tripe, for the committed
- Teurgoule — rice pudding baked with cinnamon for five hours
See French cheeses.
Getting to Normandy
- By train — from Paris Saint-Lazare: Rouen in 1 h 15, Caen in 2 hours, Le Havre in 2 h 15, Deauville in 2 hours. Mont-Saint-Michel is reached via Rennes or Pontorson. See regional trains in France.
- By ferry — Portsmouth to Caen (Ouistreham) and Le Havre, Newhaven to Dieppe, Poole to Cherbourg.
- By car — the A13 from Paris. A car is the honest answer for the D-Day beaches, the cheese villages and the Suisse Normande; the trains only serve the towns. See parking in France.
Suggested routes
- Two days from Paris — Giverny and Rouen, then the coast at Honfleur and Deauville
- Three days — add Bayeux, its tapestry and the landing beaches
- A week — the above plus Mont-Saint-Michel, Étretat and the Cotentin peninsula
When to go
May to September. This is the Channel: it rains at any time of year, and the light between showers is exactly what the Impressionists came for. June is the best month — long days, the gardens at their peak, and the D-Day anniversary if you want the ceremonies (or want to avoid the crowds they bring). July and August fill the coast. Giverny is closed in winter.
See UNESCO sites in France and the most beautiful villages in France.
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