Starting from Rouen, I was thinking about a day doing this loop: Rouen -> Honfleur -> Étretat -> Veules-les-Roses -> Rouen If I map it out on google http://goo.gl/dOH6vt the estimate of the driving time is about 4 hours. So if I leave at 9am and plan to be back in Rouen around 6pm (although days are still long in Sept so I could return even later) that would give 9 hours, of which about 4 would be driving. Breaking it down a bit more, I could spend 2 hours in Honfleur, 2 hours in Étretat, and another hour in stops along the coast.

Does this sound plausible or too rushed? I've never been to this region before so I don't know if 1) the google time estimates are reasonable 2) if I have underestimated how much time many people like to spend in the locations I mentioned.

Any advice is welcome!

1. It depends how much time you want to spend at each place and what your interest are there.

2. The driving distance is of course do-able

3. This means that you will not be going to the Normandy Beaches where the allies landed.

4. Having been to these places , it all should be okay and if you spend a bit more time at some place,

then you drive back to Rouen in the dusk...it's okay

I am often faced with this sort of pleasant dilemma. But I use a Michelin paper map to get the best overview of the possibilities (including other possibilities!). Scrolling over a screen will never be the same experience for me.

@Percy, this is just one day of the trip but the one I'm having trouble figuring out. I am spending 2 days in Bayeaux, 1 to see the town and visit the museum in Caen, another to do a D-day beaches tour.

I hope that you are actually staying in Bayeux.

And I hope you aren't seeing the Caen museum from Bayeux--doable, I suppose, but....
The town of Bayeux doesn't really require a day--the Tapestry, a great dinner.
We used it as a base for touring the beaches using the Michelin Green Guide. We were there for 3 days.

Check out the following newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/nfpskzl

It will give you a little more information on the Route of the
Abbeys and the Alabaster Coast.

I think the best guide for all this is the Michelin Green Guide to Normandy.
We went from Rouen to Honfleur on the Abbey Road. Then to Bayeux and back to Chartres and Paris. There are a lot of ways to do it.

okay miket123, This loop you have plan seems okay to me.

Good Luck and enjoy the scenery .

We drove from Honfleur to Fecamp for the tour at Benedictine but had to go to the one in the afternoon as the driving took a bit longer than we thought. We had lunch at the wharf area and then drove from Fecamp to Etretat arriving around 2 pm. We were mesmerized and didn't want to leave......view and walk along the beach - amazing; deciding to walk up the south prominence or drive up the north side. Ended up staying for sunset and dinner. One of the most inspirational beach setting we've enjoyed.....I'm just saying'.....don't short change Etretat.