Falaise d'Aval, Étretat
Monet's chalk, standing in the sea.
The chalk cliffs of Étretat are the jewels of Normandy's Alabaster Coast. Two great natural arches — the Porte d'Aval and the mightier Manneporte — book-end the beach, while the Aiguille, a seventy-metre needle of chalk, rises from the water between them. Monet painted them again and again; the light here really does change by the hour.
A grassy clifftop path climbs from the promenade to the little seamen's chapel of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde and on above the arches, with the whole sweep of the coast laid out below. It is an easy walk with an outsized payoff.
Time your visit with the tide: at low water you can walk out across the shingle beneath the Porte d'Aval, but the sea returns quickly and the base of the cliffs is no place to be caught. Check the tide table before you descend.
Getting there
Étretat lies on the Normandy coast, about 30 minutes by car from Le Havre and 2.5 hours from Paris. By train, take a Paris–Le Havre service to Bréauté-Beuzeville, then a connecting bus to Étretat. The clifftop paths start directly from the seafront promenade.