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Founded by the Romans around 50 BC, the capital of Haute-Normandie occupied a strategic site on the Seine – the last point where the river could be bridged. From the end of the Hundred Years’ War, when the French retook the city from the English, Rouen prospered through textile production and maritime trade. In the 20th century, industry expanded on the south bank. The north bank’s many treasures – including streets of half-timbered houses and the magnificent cathedral – attract thousands of visitors every year (see Cathédrale Notre-Dame, Rouen).

The breathtakingly lovely ruins of a 7th-century abbey, which once housed a community of 900 monks.

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).

The first beach resort in France, Dieppe occupies a striking position between limestone cliffs. As a Channel port, it was coveted for centuries by foreign invaders, and has long been a favourite with British holiday-makers, drawn by its sweeping beach and lively old town centred on the Grande Rue. Nearby, medieval Église St-Jacques has a memorial to the thousands of Canadians killed in Operation Jubilee in 1942. Above the town, the 15th-century flint-and-sandstone castle is now a museum, with a fine collection of Impressionists and some remarkable 16th-century carved ivory pieces.

Le Havre was founded in 1517 to replace the ports of Honfleur, Harfleur and Caudebec, which had silted up. Now it is the country’s second port, a tribute to its astonishing recovery from the 146 separate bombing raids which flattened it in 1944. One of the few survivors is the 16th-century Cathédrale Notre-Dame, an architectural hybrid of Gothic and Renaissance styles, bristling with gargoyles. The city was rebuilt to designs by Auguste Perret, with reinforced concrete as the principal material. Typical of his style is the starkly imposing Église St-Joseph. More modern is the building of glass, aluminium and steel housing the Musée Malraux (see Musée Malraux, Le Havre). In the suburb of Montivilliers, don’t miss the Abbaye Notre-Dame, a recently restored Benedictine abbey for women.

On first sight of the Alabaster Coast, you might be fooled into thinking that you were across the Channel: it bears a striking resemblance to the White Cliffs of Dover. Stretching southwest from Le Tréport to Le Havre, the coastline is pitted by valleuses – dry hanging valleys in the clifftops, revealed as the cliffs retreat before the combined forces of sea and weather. The harbours shelter in natural shingle inlets, while the larger towns cluster on the estuaries. This coast offers some of the region’s most spectacular scenery.

Nestling between two cliffs, Falaises d’Aval and d’Amont, this picturesque village was a sleepy place until the 19th-century onslaught of writers, painters and Parisian holiday-makers. For the best view of Falaise d’Aval – an extraordinary rock formation with a natural arch, which Maupassant likened to an elephant dipping its trunk into the sea – climb to Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the chapel on top of Falaise d’Amont. Nearby, a museum and monument commemorate aviators Nungesser and Colia, whose aeroplane was last seen near here on the first, failed attempt to fly the Atlantic in 1927. In Étretat itself, visit the place du Maréchal-Foch, where 16th-century houses cluster around timbered halles – an attractive 1920s reconstruction of a wooden covered market.

After a casket said to contain precious drops of Christ’s blood was washed ashore in the first century, Fécamp became a pilgrimage centre. First an abbey (now ruined) was built to house the holy relic, then the glorious 12th- to 13th-century Abbatiale de la Trinité (see La Trinité, Fécamp). More prosaically, the cornerstone of this no-nonsense fishing port was the humble cod, as a trip to the Musée des Terra Neuvas et de la Pêche proves. Fécamp’s other claim to fame is Bénédictine, first made in 1863 by merchant Alexandre le Grand from an old monastic recipe. It continues to be distilled in his overblown 19th-century Palais Bénédictine, which contains laboratories, museum and gallery, and offers tastings (see Palais Bénédictine, Fécamp).

The twin villages of Grand and Petit Andelys enjoy a glorious setting on a lazy curve of the Seine in the shadow of the pale ruins of Richard the Lionheart’s Château Gaillard, built at break-neck speed in 1196 to prevent Philippe Auguste from reaching Rouen. Below lie the winding streets of tranquil, timbered Petit Andely, and more commercial Grand Andely, with a fine 16th-to 17th-century church and two interesting museums – one dedicated to the painter Nicolas Poussin, the other to the Normandie-Niémen regiment.

Visit this picture-postcard town in the Lieure Valley and you’ll understand why Ravel used to come here to compose. Sights nearby include the impressive, early-17th-century pink-brick Château de Fleury-la-Forêt, with a superb collection of toys and dolls; Château de Vascoeuil, which has traditional cottages and modern sculpture in its grounds; and the ruined Cistercian Abbaye de Mortemer with its museum.