Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Coutances
Normandy
The interior of the splendid twin-towered Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Coutances includes several 13th-century windows, a 14th-century fresco of St…
Must-see attractions in Normandy
Musée d’Ethnographie et d’Art Populaire Normand
Honfleur
Through multiple rooms, this museum gathers together exhibits on domestic and economic life in 16th- to 19th-century Normandy portraying traditional…
Le Havre
Furnished in impeccable early-1950s style, this lovingly furnished bourgeois apartment can be visited on a one-hour guided tour that starts at 181 rue de…
Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny
Giverny
About 100m northwest of the Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet is the Giverny Museum of Impressionisms. It was set up in partnership with the Musée d’Orsay…
Rouen
To size up Rouen, climb this hill rising up next to the Seine. It's a 15-minute walk to the summit, from where Monet once painted a view of the city…
Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie
Bayeux
Using well-chosen photos, personal accounts, dioramas and wartime objects, this first-rate museum offers an excellent introduction to the Battle of…
Arromanches 360° Circular Cinema
D-Day Beaches
The best view of Port Winston and nearby Gold Beach is from the hill east of town, site of the popular Arromanches 360° Circular Cinema, which screens…
D-Day Beaches
The harbour established at Omaha was completely destroyed by a ferocious gale (the worst storm to lash the Normandy coast in four decades) just two weeks…
Normandy
The highest point on the Côte d’Albâtre, Cap Fagnet (110m) towers over Fécamp from the north, offering fantastic views up and down the coast. The site of…
Normandy
Located 5km north of Caen within two restored German bunkers (bunker H 622 and bunker L 479), this museum is interesting for anyone of a technical bent or…
Giverny
Dedicated to St Radegund, this church was originally built in the 11th and 12th centuries, expanded in the 15th century and then greatly restored between…
Caen
Highlights at the Women’s Abbey complex in the east of the town centre, once run by the Benedictines, include Église de la Trinité – look for Matilda’s…
Rouen
Home to one of the world’s premier collections of wrought iron, this riveting (excuse the pun) museum is an astonishing sight, showcasing the…
Normandy
Built between the 14th and 18th centuries, this imposing clifftop castle affords spectacular views of the coast. Inside, the museum explores the city’s…
Bayeux
The largest of the 18 Commonwealth military cemeteries in Normandy, this peaceful cemetery contains 4848 graves of soldiers from the UK and 10 other…
Honfleur
Built between 1600 and 1613, this chapel sits on the Plateau de Grâce, a wooded, 100m-high hill about 2km west of the Vieux Bassin. The area offers great…
Caen
This excellent and well-curated museum takes you on a tour through the history of Western art from the 15th to 21st centuries, including works depicting…
Normandy
Fécamp’s new flagship museum is a terrific addition to town, situated in the middle of the harbour, 300m northwest of the tourist office and showcasing…
Mont St-Michel
Built on the rocky tip of the mountain cone, the transept rests on solid rock, while the nave, choir and transept arms are supported by the rooms below…
Rouen
Dedicated in 1979, the thrillingly bizarre Église Jeanne d'Arc, with its fish-scale exterior, marks the spot where 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at…
Rouen
Spanning rue du Gros Horloge, the Great Clock’s Renaissance archway has a gilded, one-handed medieval clock face on each side. High above, a Gothic belfry…
Le Havre
When Le Havre's concrete expanses and straight lines overpower you, stop by this lovely Baroque church, which somehow eluded the intense bombing efforts…
Normandy
The ‘City of the Sea’ brings Dieppe’s long maritime and fishing history to life, with kid-friendly exhibits that include model ships and a fish-petting…
Normandy
This gorgeous bucolic 4-hectare delight of a garden is surrounded by typical Norman half-timbered buildings, as well as a museum of old tools. For rest…
Normandy
Dieppe’s often-windy, beach is a 1.8km-long stretch of smooth pebbles, rather like the beach at Brighton across the channel. The vast lawns were laid out…
Calvados
The long and broad beach at Trouville is its greatest asset, packed with sun-seekers and children in summer, and punctuated with tennis courts, various…
Mont St-Michel
Situated up on a hill, this old working windmill dates to the early 19th century and is quite a picture on the way to Mont St-Michel. You can buy flour,…
Normandy
Many of the Canadians who died in the Dieppe Raid of 1942 are buried at this peaceful site framed by rolling fields. The cemetery is situated 4km towards…
Rouen
The Ceramics Museum, housed in a 17th-century building with a fine courtyard, is known for its 16th- to 19th-century faience (tin-glazed earthenware) and…
Caen
A handy primer for fathoming the character of the region, this two-part museum situated within the former Logis des Gouverneurs in the Château de Caen…
Normandy
Fécamp’s 800m-long, smooth-pebble breezy beach stretches southward from the narrow channel connecting the port with the open sea. In July and August it's…
Honfleur
Children and adults will enjoy this lush greenhouse that houses scores of species of free-flying tropical butterflies in the northwest of town, a short…
Brittany American Cemetery & Memorial
Mont St-Michel
Almost 5000 Americans who died during the Normandy and Brittany campaigns of 1944 are buried or memorialised at the Brittany American Cemetery & Memorial,…
Musée du Débarquement de Utah Beach
D-Day Beaches
This impressive museum is a few kilometres inland from the US landings at Utah Beach. Guided tours of the museum and of the landing site can be arranged…
Jardin des plantes de Coutances
Normandy
These delightful landscaped botanical gardens date to the mid-19th century and include a Cedar of Lebanon, magnolias and a large variety of flowers as…
Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery
D-Day Beaches
The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery is 4km south of Courseulles-sur-Mer near Reviers.
Honfleur
A visit to this lively fish market to browse the day's catch is both fun and fascinating.
Rouen
The only relic of Rouen’s medieval Jewish community, expelled by Philippe le Bel in 1306, is hidden underneath the staircase at the eastern end of the…
Bayeux
Lacemaking (dentellerie), brought to Bayeux by nuns in 1678, once employed 5000 people. The industry is sadly long gone, but at the Conservatoire you can…
Normandy
This cable-stayed bridge, opened in 1995, stretches in a soaring 2km arch over the Seine between Le Havre and Honfleur. It’s a typically French affair, as…
