France
Étretat
Chalk arches punched through sea cliffs like cathedral windows opening onto the Channel.
Chalk arches frame the Channel like windows cut by a sculptor with geological patience, the sea pouring through gaps it has carved for millennia. Étretat sits in a natural amphitheatre of white cliff on Normandy's Alabaster Coast in northern France, the pebble beach curving between two headlands that Courbet, Boudin and Monet all tried to paint, and that Maupassant, Offenbach and Gide came to for the light.
The Falaise d'Aval on the south side carries the arch, and beyond it stands the Aiguille, the hollow needle of chalk that Maurice Leblanc turned into the secret of his gentleman-burglar Arsène Lupin. On the north headland the Falaise d'Amont holds a small sailors' chapel and the cliff-top Gardens, a sculpted landscape of clipped shapes set against the coastal panorama. Belle Époque villas from the town's first seaside boom still stand back from the shingle, and the little tourist train saves the climb. One thing to know before you go: the town has closed the cliff tunnels, the Chambre des Demoiselles and the descents to the shore beyond the promenade because of rockfall and the tide — the headland paths above are where the views are, and they are enough.
Solo
Walk the cliff path at first light — the arch, the needle and the grey Channel below in a silence the painters would recognise.
Couple
Climb the Falaise d'Aval together and turn to look at the town shrinking between the white headlands, then the Gardens above, made for slow walks and long conversations.
- Cliff-top paths on both headlands look straight down at the arches and the hollow needle of chalk standing in the sea.
- The pebble beach sits in a natural amphitheatre of white cliff — sit, sketch, or stare at the arches all day.
- Courbet, Boudin, Monet, Maupassant and Offenbach all came here — the light does something to creative people.
- The cliff-top Gardens on the north headland set sculpted topiary against the whole sweep of the coast.
Normandy scallops and oysters at the seafront brasseries — the region lands more scallops than any other in France.
A trou normand between courses: a shot of Calvados, or a Calvados sorbet, the local pause that makes room for the next plate.
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