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Quiet and dignified, Forges-les-Eaux became a fashionable spa town after it was visited in 1633 by a regal threesome: Louis XIII, his queen, Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Richelieu. Today, the spa and casino, built in the 1950s, are run as a health and leisure complex by Club Med.

With its shingle beach and esplanade curving between two famous chalk headlands, the Falaises d’Aval and d’Amont, its dramatic clifftop walks and its recreational Parc de Loisirs des Roches, charming and elegant Étretat is the Côte d’Albâtre’s most alluring resort, as many writers and artists discovered in the 19th century.

The magnificent coastline from Honfleur to Cabourg, with its series of wide, sandy beaches, means that all of its resorts – Villerville, Trouville, Deauville, Villers-sur-Mer, Houlgate and Cabourg – have much to offer the sun-worshipper, with swimming and watersports all the way along. If you tire of the sun, and your money is burning a hole in your pocket, you will find no shortage of casinos to lose it in. Each place has its own character, none more so than exclusive Deauville.

The people of Caen, on the River Orne, are proud of their close connection to the sea, and here, at the mouth of the river, is “Caen-sur-Mer”: the attractive ferry and yachting port of Ouistreham and the bustling resort of Riva-Bella, with its superb sandy beach and jolly main street, rue de la Mer.

Thalassotherapy (sea-water treatment) is a speciality of Norman resorts, and at bracing Luc-sur-Mer, the cure uses kelp extract. There’s also a sea-water hammam. Children can shore-fish for crabs, shrimps and clams, and admire the skeleton of a 19 m (76 ft) beached whale on display in the attractive municipal park.

A little further west along the Côte de Nacre at Juno Beach, where memories of the Normandy Invasion (see D-Day Beaches) mingle with modern-day seaside amusements, Courseulles has a large marina (somewhat overshadowed by modern apartment blocks), and a terrific shellfish aquarium. Just inland is Reviers, where an arts and crafts festival takes place each July.

Spectacular sandy beaches, backed by windblown dunes, sweep along the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, looking out toward the Channel Islands. At Barneville-Plage, between busy Barneville-Carteret and charming Portbail, the coastline becomes tame enough for a holiday beach, full to bursting in summer, and backed by lines of villas.

With its 8 km (5 miles) of fine, sandy beach, this west coast resort makes a great summer playground for the people of nearby Coutances and visitors alike. Contrast a morning on the beach with a walk out to Pointe d’Agon, with its magnificent sea views.

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.

Legend has it that Hugues de Tessé left his horse Rapide to die quietly of old age in the forest, only for the animal to trot home in rude health. He found that a spring was the cause, bathed there himself, and was also rejuvenated. Today, this calm, orderly spa town attracts thousands to its Établissement Thermal, particularly helpful for rheumatism and circulatory problems.