Normandy: Places to Explore

Bayeux, the first town to be liberated during the Battle of Normandy, was already steeped in history, as home to a Norman Gothic cathedral and the world's most celebrated piece of needlework: the Bayeux... Read more

With its abbeys and castle, Caen, a busy administrative city and the capital of Lower Normandy, is very different from the coastal resorts. William of Normandy ruled from Caen in the 11th century before... Read more

History focused its sights along the coasts of Normandy at 6:30 am on June 6, 1944, as the 135,000 men and 20,000 vehicles of the Allied troops made land in their first incursion in Europe in World War... Read more

Twin towns on the beach, divided only by the River Touques, Deauville and Trouville compete for the title of Most Extravagant Norman Town. In the 19th century, there were no more fashionable towns than... Read more

Perched midway along Normandy's Alabaster Coast, Étretat might look like a spot not worth the detour. However, its end-of-the-world site on the Atlantic coast, its spectacular stone formations famously... Read more

Proud locals like to call Granville the "Monaco of the North" for its seawater therapy center and casino, a rarity in Normandy. Gambling aside, Granville instead has a down-to-earth feel. Granite houses... Read more

Beloved by artists, Honfleur is the most picturesque of the Côte Fleurie's little seaside towns. Much of the city's Renaissance architecture remains intact, especially around the 17th-century Vieux... Read more

You might think there is little left to see in Le Havre, France's second-largest port (after Marseille), as it was bombarded 146 times during World War II. Think again. You may find the rebuilt city, with... Read more

Mont-St-Michel is the third most-visited sight in France, after the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. This beached mass of granite, rising some 400 feet, was begun in 709 and is crowned with the "Marvel," or... Read more

"O Rouen, art thou then to be my final abode!" was the agonized cry of Joan of Arc as the English dragged her out to be burned alive on May 30, 1431. The exact spot of the pyre is marked by a concrete-and-metal... Read more

St-Lô, perched dramatically on a rocky spur above the Vire Valley, was a key communications center that suffered so badly in World War II that it became known as the "capital of ruins." The medieval... Read more