DK Travel : Normandy : Places of interest

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Giverny

Pay homage to Monet in his own home – now the Fondation Claude Monet – and wander in the gardens that inspired him. In the Musée d’Art Américain, you can explore the work of the American artists who followed him here (see Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny).
Granville

At first sight, Granville seems an unlikely setting for one of Normandy’s most popular seaside resorts, but it has two distinct faces. Ramparts enclose the upper town, which sits on a rocky spur overlooking the Baie du Mont-St-Michel. The walled town developed from fortifications built by the English in 1439 as part of their assault on the Mont. The Musée de Vieux Granville, in the town gatehouse, recounts Granville’s long-established sea-faring tradition. The chapel walls of the Église de Notre-Dame are lined with tributes from local fishermen to their patroness, Notre Dame du Cap Lihou. The lower town is the resort, with casino, promenades and public gardens. From the port, there are boat trips to the Îles Chausey, a scattering of low-lying granite islands.
Granville

With its stern granite upper town on the one hand, and its beach and seaside amusements on the other, Granville offers two quite different faces. It became fashionable as a resort in the 19th century. Among its current attractions, it boasts a thalasso-therapy centre, the Aquarium du Roc (a “shell wonderland”) and a casino.
Gruchy

This spruce seaside village includes the humble birthplace of Jean-François Millet, open to the public in summer. Walk to the dramatic Rocher du Castel-Vendon; Millet’s depiction of it can be seen in the Musée Thomas-Henry in Cherbourg.
Haras National du Pin

You don’t have to be a horse lover to be impressed by the style and splendour of the national stud, a “Versailles for horses” founded by Colbert in the mid-17th century with the approval of the Sun King himself. Colbert commissioned Pierre Le Mousseux, a protégé of Mansart, to design it. At the end of a long, grassy ride carved through the surrounding woods, the main château and two elegant stable blocks (now housing exhibits) enclose a horseshoe-shaped courtyard known as Colbert’s Court, the scene of horse and carriage displays on Thursday afternoons in summer. There are guided tours of the forge, tack room and stables, where some 100 stallions are kept at stud.
Honfleur

The highlight of Normandy’s coast is this enchanting port, fortified during the Hundred Years’ War and constantly fought over by the French and the English during that time. Today, it is celebrated both for the intrepid mariners who set sail from its harbour, and for the artists who found inspiration here. The special light of the Seine estuary is at its best, so the artists say, just after dawn.
Hotels

In most hotels, children under 12 can sleep in a bed in their parents’ room at little or no extra cost.
Île de Tatihou

Children enjoy the amphibious craft that takes them across to this tiny pleasure island with a fascinating history, just off St-Vaast-la-Hougue (see St-Vaast-la-Hougue and Île de Tatihou).
La Cité de la Mer, Cherbourg

Man’s conquest of the deep is the theme of Cherbourg’s former Gare Maritime Transatlantique, an Art Deco jewel. Experience what it’s like to descend to the bottom of the ocean and live aboard a nuclear submarine (no children under six).
La Ferme du Cheval de Trait, Juvigny-sous-Andaine

See horse-drawn agricultural equipment, a miniature farm, a forge, and displays by Percheron draughthorses on this farm.