Justin Foulkes
Normandy
From the Norman invasion of England in 1066 to the D-Day landings of 1944, Normandy has long played an outsized role in European history. This rich and often brutal past is brought vividly to life by the spectacular and iconic island monastery of Mont St-Michel; the incomparable Bayeux Tapestry, world-famous for its cartoon scenes of 11th-century life; and the transfixing cemeteries and memorials along the D-Day beaches, places of solemn pilgrimage.
Lower-profile charms include a variety of dramatic coastal landscapes, plenty of pebbly beaches, some of France’s finest museums, quiet pastoral villages and architectural gems ranging from Rouen’s medieval old city – home of Monet’s favourite cathedral – to the maritime charms of Honfleur to the striking postwar modernism of Le Havre.
Camembert, apples, cider, cream-rich cuisine and the very freshest fish and seafood provide further reasons to visit this accessible and beautiful region of France.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Normandy.
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Abbaye du Mont St-Michel
Mont St-Michel's one main street, the Grande Rue, leads up the slope – past souvenir shops, eateries and a forest of elbows – to the star attraction of a visit here, a stunning ensemble crowning the top: the abbey. History Bishop Aubert of Avranches is said to have built a devotional chapel on the summit of the island in 708, following his vision of the Archangel Michael, whose gilded figure, perched on the vanquished dragon, crowns the tip of the abbey’s spire. In 966, Richard I, Duke of Normandy, gave Mont St-Michel to the Benedictines, who turned it into a center of learning and, in the 11th century, into something of an ecclesiastical fortress, with a military garrison at the disposal of both abbot and king. The abbey sits at the very top of the Mont © Mor65_Mauro Piccardi / Shutterstock In the 15th century, during the Hundred Years War, the English blockaded and besieged Mont St-Michel three times. The fortified abbey withstood these assaults and was the only place in western and northern France not to fall into English hands. After the Revolution, Mont St-Michel was turned into a prison. In 1966 the abbey was symbolically returned to the Benedictines as part of the celebrations marking its millennium. Mont St-Michel and the bay became a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1979. Check if guided tours are running, or hire an audio guide © Elena Elisseeva / Shutterstock Guided tours Most areas of the abbey can be visited without a guide, but check if the 1¼-hour tour is running; English tours (usually) begin at 11am and 3pm from October to March, with three or four daily tours in spring and summer. You can also take a one-hour audio guide tour, available in 10 languages. Tickets and other practicalities Tickets and audio guides should be booked online in advance. Audio guides are available for a small fee, and must be requested as part of your advance booking. Benedictine monks hold services in the abbey, which are free for worshippers.
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Le Mémorial – Un Musée pour la Paix
For a very insightful and vivid account of the entire war, with special focus on the Battle of Normandy, Le Mémorial is unparalleled – it's one of Europe’s premier WWII museums. A hugely impressive affair, the museum uses film, animation and audio testimony, as well as many original artefacts, to graphically evoke the realities of war, the trials of occupation and the joy of liberation. It is situated 3km northwest of the city centre, reachable by bus 2 from place Courtonne. Suspended above you as you enter is a life-size model of a Hawker Typhoon. Beyond, you are led chronologically through the collection, culminating with a spellbinding video of the Nuremberg trials. Perhaps oddly, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki get but a footnote. A further gallery examines the world after 1945 and the Cold War. There is also an excellent 19-minute film, The Battle of Normandy, which graphically reveals the destruction of the region. You can also exit the museum to visit a 70m-long German relic: the oppressive interior of General Richter's Underground Bunker. All signs are in French, English and German. Download the smartphone app before arriving. Audioguides are available in six languages, with different English versions for Yanks and Brits. Note that tickets are valid for 24 hours. Child care is available. There are several restaurants here. See the website for details about tours of the D-Day sites. By car, follow the signs marked ‘Le Mémorial’ for the museum.
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Bayeux Tapestry
The world’s most celebrated embroidery depicts the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 from an unashamedly Norman perspective. Commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William’s half-brother, for the opening of Bayeux’ cathedral in 1077, the well-preserved cartoon strip tells the dramatic, bloody tale with verve and vividness as well as some astonishing artistry. Particularly incredible are its length – nearly 70m long – and fine attention to detail. Fifty-eight action-packed scenes of pageantry and mayhem occupy the centre of the canvas, while religious allegories and illustrations of everyday 11th-century life, some of them bawdy and naughty, adorn the borders. The final showdown at the Battle of Hastings is depicted in graphic fashion, complete with severed limbs and decapitated heads (along the bottom of scene 52). Halley’s Comet, which blazed across the sky in 1066, appears in scene 32. A 16-minute film gives the conquest historical, political and cultural context, including crucial details on the grooming habits of Norman and Saxon knights. Also well worth a listen is the lucid and highly informative panel-by-panel audioguide, available in 14 languages. A special audioguide for kids aged seven to 12 is available in French and English. A joint ticket for admission to the Bayeux Tapestry and Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie or Musée d’Art et d’Histoire Baron Gérard is €12 (or €15 for all three).
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Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet
Monet’s home for the last 43 years of his life is now a delightful house-museum. His pastel-pink house and Water Lily studio stand on the periphery of the Clos Normand, with its symmetrically laid-out gardens bursting with flowers. Monet bought the Jardin d’Eau (Water Garden) in 1895 and set about creating his trademark lily pond, as well as the famous Japanese bridge (since rebuilt). The charmingly preserved house and beautiful bloom-filled gardens (rather than Monet’s works) are the draws here. Draped with purple wisteria, the Japanese bridge blends into the asymmetrical foreground and background, creating the intimate atmosphere for which the ‘painter of light’ was renowned. Seasons have an enormous effect on Giverny. From early to late spring, daffodils, tulips, rhododendrons, wisteria and irises appear, followed by poppies and lilies. By June, nasturtiums, roses and sweet peas are in flower. Around September, there are dahlias, sunflowers and hollyhocks. Combined tickets with Paris’ Musée Marmottan Monet cost €21.50/14 per adult/child, and combined adult tickets with Paris’ Musée de l’Orangerie cost €18.50.
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Falaise d’Aval
It's impossible to miss this cliff, as the shingle beach bends around off to the southwest, with its natural arch and solitary needle. You will spy miniature figures climbing up the precarious steps and over the grassy slopes to a viewpoint down to the needle, or Aiguille, a 70m-high spire of chalk-white rock rising from the waves. You can join them, or also walk out to the arch at low tide (but watch you don't get caught by the water). To reach the plateau above, take the steep footpath from the southwestern end of the beachfront. The arch was compared by French writer Maupassant to an elephant dipping its trunk in the sea; it's an apt comparison. You can also climb the Falaise d’Amont opposite for superb but distant views of the arch, made particularly memorable as the sun sets. Further along the cliff is a second natural arch known as La Manneporte.
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Château Gaillard
Under Richard the Lionheart's command, Château Gaillard was built with unbelievable dispatch between 1196 and 1198, securing the western border of English territory until Henry IV ordered its destruction in 1603 (it first fell in 1204). Admission to the inner bailey, upper court and dungeon are by ticket, but there is year-round entry to the château grounds where you can explore the outer bailey. The tourist office has details on tours (€4.50, in French with English-speaking guides), held on request. Don't miss the unbelievable views of the Seine winding off into the distance and the lovely panorama of the village at the foot of the hill. The castle was long plundered for its stones as building materials, so that by 1573 it had already dissolved into an uninhabited ruin. In 1862, Château Gaillard was designated a monument historique.
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Musée Malraux
Near the waterfront, this luminous and tranquil space houses a fabulous collection of vivid impressionist works – the finest in France outside Paris – by masters such as Monet (who grew up in Le Havre), Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley. You'll also find works by the Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy, born in Le Havre, and paintings by Eugène Boudin, a mentor of Monet and another Le Havre native. There's a cafe with fine views over the harbour and a bookshop downstairs. A MuMa audioguide appears on your smartphone as you connect to the museum wi-fi – if you don't have earphones, reception can supply you with a pair. The museum is situated in an early 1960's building, 1km southeast of the tourist office, at the southwestern tip of the city centre.
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Les Maisons Satie
This unusual and intriguing complex captures the whimsical spirit of the eccentric avant-garde composer Erik Satie (1866–1925), who lived and worked in Honfleur and was born in one of the two half-timbered maisons Satie (Satie houses). Visitors wander through the beguiling rooms, each concealing a surreal surprise, as a headset plays Satie’s strangely familiar music. Les Maisons Satie is situated 350m northwest of the northern end of the Vieux Bassin. Among the rooms, visitors will encounter various bizarre sights: a giant mechanised monkey, a white self-playing piano, an oversized pear with flapping wings and an anthem-playing carousel ride powered by you. If there's one museum not to miss in Honfleur, it's this one. A €13 pass combines Les Maisons Satie with Musée d’Ethnographie et d’Art Populaire Normand, Musée de la Marine and Musée Eugène Boudin.
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Historial Jeanne d'Arc
For an introduction to the great 15th-century heroine and the events that earned her fame – and shortly thereafter condemnation – don't miss this excellent site. It's less of a museum, and more of an immersive, theatre-like experience, where you walk through medieval corridors and watch (and hear via headphones, in seven languages) the dramatic retelling of Joan's visions, her victories, the trial that sealed her fate, and the mythologising that followed in the years after her death. It's not coincidentally set inside one part of the archbishop's palace, where Joan was likely tried and condemned in 1431. A joint ticket with Panorama XXL is €15 for adults and €12 for children.
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