There are few sensations more stimulating than being on a beach. Running your toes through the…read moresand, walking across broken shells, staring out at the water and dreaming about what lies on the other side of the horizon. Beaches sooth the soul, stimulate your neurons, and wash away the stresses of everyday life. Parisians are lucky to have the Normandy beaches just a 2.5hr drive from the city. And of all of the beaches that we've explored when we think of beach outing we thin of Trouville. The beach begins just behind the casino and stretches out far, far and away. On holiday weekends it's a bitter battle to find a spot anywhere close by, but who's going to give up and head home after driving 200km to be there?? There's a dead end street that runs parallel the main road with a diving school at the end. Take that street and turn around for as long as you have to to find a spot. There's an entrance there that leads right onto a part of the beach that's must more rustic and tranquil.

Come see what MONET saw and painted here (google it) and see the painting in the monet museum in…read moreparis. We rented a car and drove 4 hours east to the d day beaches to pay our respect and then drove one hour west (back toward paris) and spent the day in trouville sur mer. Its a quaint seaside french village. This body of water is the english channel. Now i understand why the germans wanted to control this area, they were only 80 miles across from england in the normandy area of france. We ate in a wonderful restaurant near the water and saw fishermen still in their gollashes bringing in the new catch and delivering it to the restaurants. The kids and I still talk about our side trip to this area of france.

As we've been traveling through France for two weeks and this was our third night in Deauville we…read morewere looking for something a bit different. We found it in Les Planches. As former New Jerseyans we have high expectations for Italian food. We ordered the linguine ala Vongole and the Cacio e Pepe and were not disappointed. We started with the eggplant parmigiana. The eggplant arrive piping hot and cheesy and was delicious. The cacio e Pepe was delivered ina. Cheese bowl and stirred at the table, which was nice. The linguine and clams was very nice as well. Service was also on point. Attentive and responsive. I asked for a green salad with tomatoes, and was told they don't have it, which I was fine with. They figured it out and served me rocket with cherry tomatoes and vinaigrette which was delicious. Reason for a 4 instead of a 5: We sat at outside tables and smoking is apparently allowed. Big turn off. The wine list by the glass is almost nonexistent. The ones they do have are pretty terrible. Would definitely go back to this nice little restaurant.

This French beach is where the allied troops arrived in 1944 to liberate Europe. It has been…read morerebuilt and is now a lively tourist area, but there are many reminders of the price that was paid by all the Allied Force Troops to create this much enjoyed freedom!

It was striking to set foot on Omaha Beach, and Omaha Beach was where the most horrendous American…read morelosses were suffered during the D-Day landings. The beach was quite flat and wide when we saw it at mid-tide, but at low tide when the troops landed, the width of the beach would have been an astounding 450 yards. It's no wonder the casualty rate of the first two landing waves was 90% as the GI's were sitting ducks under the heavy German machine gun fire. But a low tide landing was the plan so that the barricades and mines could be visible, so it was a tradeoff of two evils. Physically visiting this site gives you these insights and that was enlightening, but setting foot here on this once bloody beach where the course of world history hung in the balance was quite special and humbling.

We walked through town from the port to get to the beach and strand of shops/ restaurants. Passed…read morethrough the container park, took pictures at random buildings, went to multiple areas of the beach, the whole town was worth walking through and exploring if you have the time to do so. The churches are beautiful as well. It was a super hot July day but the water was literally freezing and it felt nice! As soon as you get out of the water you are dry due to the climate and are ready to jump back in!

The famous cliffs. Of course this will be mostly the main reason one comes to this town. And it was…read morethe reason for our visit as well. The north of France is lovely and has some great spots. This is one of these great spots. Just be prepared that you won't be the only one around when visiting. When we arrived - on a weekday during Covid-19 - it was packed. Like really really packed. No chance for a parking lot in town or even the big lot a bit outside of town. Parked it somewhere a bit uphill east of the town, just beside the street like many other french folks did (turned out well). The cliffs and rock formations are indeed impressive Choose to walk up the cliffs on the left or on the right of the town and its beach. The more interesting formations though are on the left, the western side I'd say. The stone beach is a nice place to have a quick rest and to get some really good views of the cliffs/formations. Swim, if you like and dare - because the water is cold, even in summer. There's a narrow path leading up to the cliffs and to the formations. Also to some bigger viewing platforms. It is very narrow and difficult at times. Not difficult because it's a really tough hike. Because it's not so bad, even our English Bulldog managed to walk the whole way up and down again. But it was so overflowing with visitors, that it was hard to pass by. Because some sections are so narrow that only one person fits. And now imagine folks going up AND going down...also the first section with the stairs are a bit difficult (and slippery). But it's worth it. Bring a bit of time, a bit of patience. We've seen moody and rushing visitors. Dont' be one of them. If you visit a place like this, take your time. LOOK at the place and enjoy it. But one selfie and a post on social media seems to be enough for many. Too bad, you're missing out. Once you made it to the top it gets easier. People are spreading out in the bigger and flatter area up there. Be sure to check out the different viewing spots and platforms. Careful if you're afraid of heights though and hold onto to your hats...it's windy at times. The views are very rewarding. The cliffs and the formations amazing. Worth the - even though short - walk up here. You could continue your walk on the coastline up here further east. But calculate your time well - especially if your car is still in town. All in all a great visit to Etretat. The town itself is the typical tourist fare. But the cliffs are worth several hours of drive. And: there are fascinating bunkers and war memorials around as well. Very interesting history lesson.

Spectacular views to be enjoyed. And the scope & detail continue to change depending on where you…read moreare on the beach from one end to the other as well as the height. You can choose to climb above the spirals where the views, as beautiful as they are, actually don't compare to the opposite's end on the cliff- that was my favorite view! When it's sunny, they appear as white but when the sun starts to set behind them they are dark & the detail again makes them seem to transform right before your eyes. The town too is an excellent example of Norman architecture. Very quaint. It's a resort town so it's pricier. If you are touring the region of Normandy while in France- defiantly make time for this beautiful seaside area.

Neither of the two owners have any of the wonderful charm, elegance or beauty of this incredible…read morepretty, vast camp site on the edge of Houlgate, Normandy. We found them insulting and unpleasant toward guests including us. We met the female of this grim duo on arrival when she turned us away about 9pm having arrived a day earlier than we'd booked through Yelloh for. We met the male noon the next day. They seem blissfully unaware that they are in the hospitality industry, supposedly. Yelloh boasts that it provides guests with 'open air hotels' giving great experiences. Perhaps it's a revelation for them as Yelloh ambassadors to know that it's not spelt 'hostility'. We didn't get off to a good start having arrived an evening early. Seemingly neither owner can cope well with such unplanned events, so if you've a crisis they won't be of much help to you, unless you can phone your crisis ahead for them in advance. Despite this being a really vast site, a multi million euro investment, populated with tents & mobile homes by the hundred, with many empty tents & mobile homes and two very tired customers, very happy to pay, these 'business' people in the hospitality industry couldn't help us; just a shrug of her sloping shoulders with the palms of her open hands gesturing upward. So off we drove to a wonderful Ibis budget hotel in the countryside in nearby Dives, courtesy of our Garmin sat nav, to find graceful and gracious owners who understand hospitality and we certainly paid them far less for the night than we would have paid in La Vallee. We highly recommend this Ibis at a mere £52 a night with free wifi and a beautiful Japanese garden next to a Lidl and 5 minutes drive to a supermarket and a Mc Donald's. We were told by the female owner in La Vallee to come back at 11am next morning, but we arrived at noon to find it was closed for a two hour lunch; now I've never experienced any other hotel experience open air or otherwise that effectively shuts its guests out for 2 hours at midday. Yet here we found a big business in the hospitality industry shut up tighter than a prison for two hours in the middle of the day on the premise that's it's not yet the 7 weeks out of 52 that's high season - only 9% of the year when it is open and it's completely closed for about 5 months. We fell into the other 91%. 21st century hospitality in the first world, apparently in a recession apparently an open air hotel that patently can't manage a staffed staggered lunch time as hotels do to suit sophisticated and discernible customers who make pay days. Yelloh's comparison with hotel experiences just evaporated here. The many guests arriving here having to plan round 2 owners. You couldn't make it up. This place is not a sideline in some farmer's field it's big business. We were about to leave again at about 12:15 when the female owner appeared before us only to chastise us for not arriving at 11am, telling us to come back later, this time at 2pm. Her charmless partner then joined to assist her. We had seen him loitering about near reception but we did not know who he was at first, as he had just ignored us for several minutes as he idly loitered until a few minutes after she appeared to begin grumbling. Eventually she said she would give us a key to get into the mobile and a security pass to enter through the barriers into the site by car. Truth is this could have been offered much more quickly, with grace and courtesy instead of offensive grumbling by two very unhappy people. When we'd had enough of their animated whinging we challenged their appallingly poor customer attitude. They didn't like it. There came a threat from him to send us away keyless until 3pm. Never had this with any other 'hotel experience'. So it was put to him directly, which time is it, he stared; he went quiet, she repeated 2pm so then we got the keys and they went off site briskly. We had to return for the wrist security tags to be able to open various heavy metal gates to access the pedestrian part of the site and to access pool areas. If you are weak or disabled you will have great difficulty pushing these gates and surprisingly there's no disabled hoist at the swimming pools either. As I said we had booked a 4 night stay here with Yelloh, had we booked through Canvas instead we would have met their very pleasant young and incredibly friendly representatives we met on this site. Yelloh don't seem to have their own staff on the ground here. We also booked a cottage for three nights with Yelloh on a campsite east of Paris/lle - de - France, and the differences between the two sites is stark. We got to the Paris site a day early too, about 8pm and it wasn't a crisis instead they joked with me that I drove too fast. No insults and no whinging. While they were pretty full up with many hundreds of guests and this was obvious, they cheerfully made an effort for us (la vallee owners take note and go take a holiday here to see how it should be done.