Le Treport, in the most Northern part of Upper Normandy, is a small fishing town with many restaurants and one big attraction; their (free) funicular!

Some of the lighthouses that can be found along the coastline of France that have not appeared on any of the other articles on this site.

A lighthouse, a church, ruins of an abbey, a French Navy Observation post and a WWII Memorial museum at Pointe Saint-Mathieu in Brittany. Quite a place to visit.

The almost island of Quiberon in Brittany is known by the French for their beaches, dunes and many hiking paths. A place to spend a nice few days of peace and relaxation.

The Saint-Clair Castle at Les Sables-d’Olonne is small but does its job; protecting the harbour entrance. Now it’s a museum.

Les-Sables-d’Olonne is a nice coastal town in the Atlantic, but it’s mostly known as departure and arrival point of the grueling single handed round-the-world sail race without any stops, the Vendee Globe.

Camaret-sur-Mer in Brittany is a small town, some 2700 inhabitants, with a very scenic harbour, enormous dramatic cliffs and a very big monument. The village/town is old, very old. Traces of habitation can be found as far back as 2500 years BC! In those days, the place was for druides and their magical stone, the […]

Dinard in Brittany is a fantastic place to stay for a few days. The seaside promenade is an incredible walk, alongside a narrow winding pedestrian area, covering the beaches and rock formations. Dinard is located just a few kilometers from the more well known city of Saint Malo. They are divided by the “La Rance” […]

Concarneau as a city is nothing to write home about if it weren’t for its walled city (Citadelle or Ville Close). The walled city, located in the harbour, is beautiful and intact. One has to assume that walking the old cobblestone streets is like walking them centuries ago. Concarneau’s walled city is a bit like […]

Biarritz, in the South of France along the Atlantic ocean, is a very special place to visit. It has been special for over a century and half, as you can see from the who-is-who of celebrities that have and still do visit. Biarritz is part of the Basque country, so much of its culture is […]

Cherbourg is world’s 2nd biggest artificial harbour, a major ferry harbour but a drab and boring city. For many travellers to and from the UK and Ireland it’s a must to pass through. But it does have a few parts that are worth a quick stopover.

Following Normandy’s best kept secret (Veules-Les-Roses), here’s the least best kept one; Honfleur. Honfleur is one of the prime tourist destinations in Normandy, second only to the Mont St. Michel. It’s not only popular with the foreign tourists but also with local French ones. Day trippers from Paris, even from within Normandy, will be visiting this […]

No visit to Marseilles is complete without a visit to the famous, even notorious, fortress called Chateau d’If (it’s like visiting Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower). For those of you who do not know what this castle represents, let me remind you of a very famous book written by Alexandre Dumas called the […]

St. Malo in Brittany is one of those cities (population around 50,000) that shows very well why France is the #1 tourist destination in the world. It’s a medieval city, well maintained with an enormous walled city, enormous fortress towers, a big harbour, many old and majestic houses and cobblestone streets lined with restaurants. Definitely […]

Although Perros-Guirec is a real beachside resort, many people go there for the incredible and wild nature hikes alongside the picturesque seaside (English Channel). The town is cute but not exactly tourist worthy; you don’t go there to visit the town itself. The earliest recording in history of the town can be found in the […]

Dieppe is a small harbour city (some 40,000 inhabitants) with an active fishing fleet, a ferry to the United Kingdom (Newhaven), an enormous fortress/castle and a nice looking inner city. Dieppe was founded in the year 1060 as a small fishing village, but already in 910, the Vikings started a settlement. Dieppe, like most of the […]

Trouville-sur-Mer, Lower Normandy, suffers from a perceived lack of glamour because of its more famous neighbour, Deauville (known for its casino, conference centre and international star-studded film festival). But they have nothing to be ashamed of. Big and long white sandy beaches, beautiful mansions, great restaurants and also a big casino, Trouville is the prefect beachside […]

Fecamp is a small coastal city with an active fishing fleet. The fishing fleet is central to the city, since the fishing boats have been going to Newfoundland for over a century to fish for cod, and another large portion of the fleet fished for herring. The city used to have several herring smoking factories, but […]

The harbour of Le Havre is France’s second largest, second after Marseilles, and the biggest in France for containers (and Europe’s 5th largest). Every day you can see many big cargo ships arrive or depart from this port. In fact, there are two main harbours; the “historical one” and “Port 2000“. The first one is […]