Must-see attractions in Normandy

  • Le Mont Saint-Michel tidal island in beautiful twilight at dusk, Normandy, France
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    Abbaye du Mont St-Michel

    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…

  • CAEN, FRANCE - OCTOBER 22, 2016: The Memorial de Caen is a museum and war memorial in Caen, Normandy, France commemorating the Second World War and the Battle for Caen.; Shutterstock ID 511924579; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: BiT Normandy POIs

    Le Mémorial – Un Musée pour la Paix

    Caen

    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…

  • Bayeux Tapestry known in France as La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde (Tapestry of Queen Mathilda), Bayeux, Normandy, France, Europe

    Bayeux Tapestry

    Bayeux

    The world’s most celebrated embroidery depicts the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 from an unashamedly Norman perspective…

  • GIVERNY, FRANCE -3 JULY 2016- The house of French impressionist painter Claude Monet in Giverny is now a museum. It includes a beautiful garden with a nymphea waterlily pond and Japanese bridge.; Shutterstock ID 649707625; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet POI

    Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet

    Giverny

    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…

  • Falaise d’Aval, the famous white cliffs at Etretat in Normandy.

    Falaise d’Aval

    Étretat

    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…

  • The Erik Satie house in Honfleur, France.

    Les Maisons Satie

    Honfleur

    This unusual and intriguing complex captures the whimsical spirit of the eccentric avant-garde composer Erik Satie (1866–1925), who lived and worked in…

  • The inner wall and keep of Château-Gaillard medieval fortified castle, built in Normandy by Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century, seen from the barbican.

    Château Gaillard

    Normandy

    Under Richard the Lionheart's command, Château Gaillard was built with unbelievable dispatch between 1196 and 1198, securing the western border of English…

  • Museum of Modern Art Andre Malraux in Le Havre, France.

    Musée Malraux

    Le Havre

    Near the waterfront, this luminous and tranquil space houses a fabulous collection of vivid impressionist works – the finest in France outside Paris – by…

  • The Great Hall with famous bathyscaphes in the maritime museum La Cite de La Mer in Cherbourg, France.

    Cité de la Mer

    Normandy

    Cherbourg’s art-deco Gare Maritime Transatlantique (Transatlantic Ferry Terminal), built from 1928 to 1933, was designed so travellers could walk from…

  • The Historial Jeanne d’Arc, or Joan of Arc Museum, in Rouen, France.

    Historial Jeanne d'Arc

    Rouen

    For an introduction to the great 15th-century heroine and the events that earned her fame – and shortly thereafter condemnation – don't miss this…

  • German defense battery at Longues sur Mer, Normandy, France.

    Longues-sur-Mer Battery

    D-Day Beaches

    These mammoth German artillery pieces remain in their colossal concrete emplacements – the only in-situ large-calibre weapons in Normandy. The first…

  • The Saint Ouen Abbey Church in Rouen, France.

    Abbatiale St-Ouen

    Rouen

    This largely empty 14th-century abbey is a gloriously sublime and quite stunning example of the Rayonnant Gothic style, with a colossal interior dappled…

  • T8BJ49 France, Calvados, Colleville sur Mer, the Normandy Landings Beach, Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Omaha Beach in the background

    Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial

    D-Day Beaches

    White marble crosses and Stars of David stretch off in seemingly endless rows at the Normandy American Cemetery, situated on a now-serene bluff…

  • Caen Chateau, ramparts and bastions

    Château de Caen

    Caen

    Looming above the centre of the city, Caen’s magnificent castle walls – massive battlements overlooking a now dry moat – were established by William the…

  • Cathedral Notre Dame, Bayeux.

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Bayeux

    Most of Bayeux’ spectacular Norman Gothic cathedral dates from the 13th century, though the crypt (take the stairs on the north side of the choir), the…

  • Facade of the Rouen Gothic cathedral.

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Rouen

    Rouen’s stunning Gothic cathedral, built between the late 12th and 16th centuries, was famously the subject of a series of canvases painted by Monet at…

  • Le Volcan

    Le Havre

    Le Havre’s most conspicuous landmark, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1982, is also the city’s premier cultural venue. One…

  • Central nave and altar of church Abbatiale de la Trinite in Fecamp, France.

    Abbatiale de la Ste-Trinité

    Normandy

    Built from 1175 to 1220 by Richard the Lionheart, towering Abbatiale de la Ste-Trinité was the most important pilgrimage site in Normandy until the…

  • The Panorama XXL 360 degrees museum Rouen, France, known for its huge panoramic canvas depicting natural & historic city settings.

    Panorama XXL

    Rouen

    In a large, circular column on the waterfront, Panorama XXL is a massive 360-degree exhibition offering in-depth exploring of one astonishing landscape,…

  • Église St-Joseph

    Le Havre

    Perret’s masterful, 107m-high Église St-Joseph, visible from all over town, was built using bare concrete from 1951 to 1959. Some 13,000 panels of…

  • Eugene Boudin Museum in Honfleur, France.

    Musée Eugène Boudin

    Honfleur

    This museum features superb 19th- and 20th-century paintings of Normandy’s towns and coast, including works by Dubourg, Dufy and Monet. One room is…

  • Famous Falaise d'Amont cliff of Etretat, Normandy, France.

    Falaise d’Amont

    Étretat

    To your right and along off to the northwest as you walk onto the beach, the cliff of Falaise d’Amont is dotted with reclining or tottering figures taking…

  • Sherman tank at the Overlord Museum.

    Overlord Museum

    D-Day Beaches

    This excellent museum has an astonishing collection of restored WWII military equipment from both sides; the human dimension of the war is brought…

  • The Fine Arts Museum of Rouen, France.

    Musée des Beaux-Arts

    Rouen

    Housed in a very grand structure flung up in 1870, Rouen’s simply outstanding fine-arts museum features canvases by Rubens, Modigliani, Pissarro, Renoir,…

  • FRANCE - JULY 17:  The hanging gardens in Le Havre, Seine Maritime, France - The greenhouses of the hanging gardens developped in ancient fort on the heights of the city.  (Photo by Xavier TESTELIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

    Jardins Suspendus

    Le Havre

    The Jardins Suspendus (Hanging Gardens) is an old hilltop fortress transformed into a beautiful set of gardens, whose greenhouses and outdoor spaces…

  • Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial

    D-Day Beaches

    At 7.10am on 6 June 1944, 225 US Army Rangers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder scaled the impossibly steep, 30m-high cliffs of…

  • Abbaye-aux-Hommes

    Caen

    Caen’s most important medieval site is the Men’s Abbey – now city hall – and, right next door, the magnificent, multi-turreted Église St-Étienne (St…

  • Église Ste-Catherine

    Honfleur

    Initially intended as a temporary structure, this extraordinary wooden church was built by local shipwrights during the late 15th and early 16th centuries…

  • La Merveille

    Mont St-Michel

    The buildings on the northern side of the Mont are known as ‘The Marvel’. The famous cloître (cloister) is surrounded by a double row of delicately carved…

  • Palais de Justice

    Rouen

    The ornately Gothic Law Courts, little more than a shell at the end of WWII, have been restored to their early-16th-century glory. On rue Jeanne d'Arc,…

  • Vieux Bassin

    Honfleur

    The old harbour, with its bobbing pleasure boats, is Honfleur’s focal point. On the west side, quai Ste-Catherine is lined with tall, taper-thin houses –…

  • Memorial du 19 Août 1942

    Normandy

    This museum commemorates the Dieppe Raid of 1942, in which a mostly Canadian force of over 6000 men, backed up by 300 ships and 800 aircraft, landed on…

  • Civilians in Wartime Memorial

    Normandy

    This new, highly informative and timely (for the 75th anniversary of D-Day) museum in the town of Falaise, 41km southeast of Caen, gets you under the skin…

  • Abbaye de Jumièges

    Normandy

    With its ghostly white-stone ruins glowing against bright green grass and dark green trees, the Abbaye de Jumièges is one of Normandy’s most evocative…

  • Juno Beach Centre

    D-Day Beaches

    Juno Beach’s only specifically Canadian museum, the nonprofit Juno Beach Centre, has multimedia exhibits on Canada’s role in the war effort and the…

  • Musée du Débarquement

    D-Day Beaches

    Down in Arromanches itself and right on the beach, the Musée du Débarquement makes for a very informative stop before visiting the beaches. Dioramas,…

  • 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…

  • Appartement Témoin

    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…