Travel Journal

5 Beautiful Towns & Villages to Discover Along the Normandy Coast

Here are five places along the Normandy coast that we never tire of returning to.

September 10, 2026

We spend a lot of time in Normandy. It is where Sharon lives, where we host some of our tours, and a region we return to constantly for the magazine and simply for ourselves. Yet the coast can still surprise us.

Within a couple of hours, the landscape and atmosphere can change completely. There are elegant seaside towns built for fashionable Parisians arriving for the summer, working fishing ports where you can still watch the boats come in, tiny villages built from local granite, and great stretches of chalk cliff that have been painted by artists for generations.

And while some of these names are very well known, we don’t think that makes them any less worth visiting. The secret is often knowing when to go, what to look for, and sometimes simply walking a couple of streets away from where everyone else is standing.

Here are five places along the Normandy coast that we never tire of returning to.

Honfleur

Honfleur is probably the town we know best on this list. We have stayed here with our guests, and however familiar it becomes, there is something particularly lovely about walking down to the Vieux Bassin first thing in the morning, before the cafés fill their terraces and the day visitors arrive.

The harbour is what everyone comes to see, and rightly so. Tall, narrow houses line the water, many covered in the dark slate so typical of this part of Normandy, and boats still fill the basin below. But Honfleur becomes more interesting when you leave the harbour behind and wander into the streets around Place Sainte-Catherine. The church here is quite unlike most French churches: built largely in wood by local shipbuilders in the second half of the 15th century, its construction reflects the naval skills of the people who made it. It remains the largest wooden church in France with a separate bell tower.

Honfleur also has a wonderful artistic history. Eugène Boudin was born here, and the changing skies and reflections of the Seine estuary attracted painters including Monet and Courbet. It is easy to understand their fascination when the weather changes, which, being Normandy, it frequently does.

Our favourite way to experience Honfleur is without too much of a plan. Walk the harbour, explore the smaller streets, look into the galleries and antique shops and stop somewhere for lunch. If you can, stay overnight. Once the busiest hours of the day have passed, Honfleur feels like a different town altogether. Even Normandy Tourism recommends visiting early in the morning or later in the evening, particularly outside the busy summer season.

Deauville

Deauville is a very different Normandy.

There is a polish to the town that has been part of its identity almost from the beginning: grand villas, horse racing, smart hotels, the casino and, of course, the beach. It is easy to think of Deauville simply as the chic weekend escape from Paris, but we particularly love its architecture. Wander away from the main shopping streets and you find an extraordinary collection of seaside villas, each seemingly trying to outdo its neighbour with timbering, turrets, balconies and wonderfully elaborate roofs.

Eventually, though, we always end up on Les Planches. The famous wooden promenade dates from the 1920s and runs alongside Charles Adda’s Art Deco sea-bathing complex. The beach cabins now carry the names of actors and directors associated with the American Film Festival, which has taken place here every September since 1975.

There is something very French about the fact that a walk beside the sea can still feel like an occasion here. In summer, the beach fills with Deauville’s distinctive colourful parasols; at other times of year, we like it almost better, when there is space to walk and watch the horses exercising nearby.

And if you enjoy houses as much as we do, make a detour to Villa Strassburger. Built in 1907 for Baron Henri de Rothschild and later owned by the American Ralph Beaver Strassburger, it is one of the best examples of the wonderfully extravagant architecture that tells the story of Deauville as a resort.

Trouville

Trouville sits just across the Touques from Deauville, but crossing the river changes the atmosphere almost immediately.

It is actually the older seaside resort of the two. Artists and writers were coming here before Deauville had developed its glamorous reputation, and Flaubert, Boudin and Monet were among those drawn to the town. Yet for us, what makes Trouville special today is that underneath its Belle Époque villas and holiday-town atmosphere, it still feels very much like a fishing port.

The place we nearly always gravitate towards is the fish market on the harbour. The covered market is open throughout the year, with fish and shellfish arriving from the local boats, and you can sit down nearby with oysters or a seafood platter and a glass of white wine. Trouville is particularly associated with mackerel, as well as scallops, sole and prawns.

Afterwards, walk along the beach and look back at the villas lining the seafront. Trouville’s boardwalk dates to 1867, earlier than Deauville’s famous Planches, and the town was already a fashionable bathing resort during the Second Empire.

We like visiting Deauville and Trouville together because the contrast is part of the pleasure. They are neighbours, but they have never quite become the same place.

©Office du Tourisme de Cotentin

Barfleur

Barfleur requires a little more effort to reach, on the northeastern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula, and perhaps that is part of why we like it so much.

It is small, genuinely a village rather than a resort, and is recognised as one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France. Around the harbour are solid grey-granite fishermen’s houses with slate roofs, small boats and a handful of restaurants. There is no need to arrive with a long list of things to do. Barfleur is somewhere to walk slowly around the port and watch what is happening on the water.

Fishing here is not just part of the scenery. When the trawlers return, you can still buy fish and shellfish at La Débarque, and the village is particularly known for its wild mussels, the moules de Barfleur, harvested offshore.

Look out, too, for the unusual Saint-Nicolas church with its sturdy square tower. From beside the church, you can look out towards the mussel beds and the lighthouse at Gatteville. If you feel like walking farther, the coastal path leads the roughly 3.5 kilometres from Barfleur towards the lighthouse.

Barfleur doesn’t demand very much from a visitor, and that is exactly its appeal. Come for a walk around the harbour, eat something that came out of the sea that morning, and give yourself enough time not to rush away again.

Étretat

There are plenty of photographs of Étretat, but they don’t quite prepare you for the scale of the cliffs when you see them in person.

The white chalk arches and the great needle of rock known as L’Aiguille have made this small town on the Côte d’Albâtre one of Normandy’s most recognisable places. Monet painted the cliffs repeatedly, as did Eugène Boudin and other artists, returning to the same formations in different weather and at different times of day.

We think Étretat is best when you give yourself time to see it from above as well as from the beach. On one side of town, the path climbs towards the cliffs; on the other, Les Jardins d’Étretat sit high above the sea, with sculpted gardens and a remarkable view back towards the Falaise d’Aval and the Aiguille.

There is another story tucked away in the town that we love. Maurice Leblanc, creator of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, lived here at Le Clos Lupin, and Étretat and its Aiguille became part of the Lupin mythology. His former home can still be visited today.

Étretat can become extremely busy, so this is one place where timing really matters. Go early, stay late or visit outside the height of summer. Once the crowds thin out, walk back down to the pebble beach and simply look up. It is one of those rare famous views that, for us, is still better in person.