Etretat is a town of about 1,300 on the Alabaster Coast of Normandy, and it is famous for a geological accident: the chalk cliffs on either side of its beach have been cut by the sea into ARCHES AND A FREESTANDING NEEDLE, and the result is among the most painted stretches of coast in Europe. Monet worked here repeatedly, as did Courbet and Boudin.
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What Is Here
THERE ARE TWO CLIFFS AND YOU SHOULD WALK BOTH. The FALAISE D'AVAL to the south west carries the PORTE D'AVAL arch and the AIGUILLE, the seventy metre needle standing in the water beyond it, with the Manneporte arch further on. The FALAISE D'AMONT to the north east has the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde on top and the monument to Nungesser and Coli, the aviators last seen from this coast in 1927 attempting to cross the Atlantic.
The climb is steps and then grass, perhaps fifteen minutes to the top of either side, and the paths run on along the clifftop for kilometres in both directions as part of the GR21.
The chalk and the sea are the second image, and they are the whole subject: this is a coast rather than a town with a view.
THE BEACH IS SHINGLE, NOT SAND, and it is large smooth pebbles rather than gravel, which is uncomfortable to walk on barefoot and surprisingly tiring. There is no sand at any tide.
The Jardins d'Etretat on the Falaise d'Amont are a contemporary topiary garden on the site of an actress's villa, with the cliffs as the backdrop, and they are better than that description suggests.
The town itself is small, with a nineteenth century market hall rebuilt in timber, a casino and a seafront of restaurants. It fills completely on summer weekends.
When to Go
May, June and September. The light is best early and late, and the cliffs face differently so the two sides suit different times of day.
July and August are extremely busy for a town of 1,300, and the clifftop paths queue.
Winter is grey, wild and nearly empty, and the sea against the arches in a gale is the most impressive version of this place. Many restaurants close.
Check the tide before walking under the cliffs. The foreshore below the Porte d'Aval is reachable at low water and cut off at high, which is the single most common way people get into difficulty here.
Getting There
By car, about 30 minutes from Le Havre and two and a half hours from Paris.
By train to Le Havre or Breaute-Beuzeville, then a bus, which takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour.
By bus, seasonal services run from Le Havre and Fecamp.
By air, Paris is the practical airport, with ferries from Portsmouth to Le Havre and from Newhaven to Dieppe.
Is Etretat Safe for Women?
Etretat is a prosperous and busy French seaside town and is entirely safe. The danger here is the coast itself. The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in France, and its terrorism wording is the strongest it uses: terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in France, with shopping centres, entertainment venues, sporting events, transport hubs and crowded gatherings named as possible targets. The everyday risks are more specific than that sounds. Pickpocketing is organised on the Paris Metro and on trains, typically in pairs with one person distracting you, and the FCDO records SERIOUS ASSAULTS on RER lines B and D, which matters because line B is the train most visitors take from the airports. Drink spiking is named with the drugs rather than hinted at: be alert to the possible use of date rape drugs including GHB and liquid ecstasy. Strikes and demonstrations happen at short notice and can stop trains and close roads, usually peacefully. And wildfires affect the south in hot dry summers.
THE CLIFFS ARE ACTIVELY ERODING AND PEOPLE DIE ON THEM. The chalk is soft, undercut by the sea and cut by vertical fissures, and blocks fall without warning. THERE ARE DEATHS HERE MOST YEARS, in two patterns: visitors who stand or sit at the unfenced clifftop edge for a photograph and the lip gives way, and visitors below who are struck by falling chalk. The clifftop paths have fencing in some places and nothing in others, and the fenced line is set back from the true edge for a reason.
THE TIDE CUTS OFF THE FORESHORE. The stretch under the Porte d'Aval, including the tunnel through to the next bay, is walkable at low water and submerged at high, and people are caught in it every season. Check the tide table, which is posted in the town and available free, and do not improvise.
The shingle is steep and the undertow is strong, and the beach is lifeguarded only in high summer at the central section.
The FCDO warns that wildfires can occur across France during the summer months. It says the risk is highest in the south, particularly along the Mediterranean coast, in Corsica and in parts of the south-west in hot, dry weather, and that access to forests, countryside and tourist sites may be restricted at short notice. The authorities may evacuate areas and close roads. Causing a wildfire is illegal in France even by accident, and can mean a fine or a prison sentence. Check Météo-France's fire alert map before you travel, follow local advice while you are there, and in an emergency call 18 (fire) or 112.
The Etretat Packing List
Channel weather on an exposed clifftop: wind, rain and sun in the same afternoon.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the right first layer because the clifftop is always windier than the beach and you walk up warm: the sequence of sweating on the steps and then standing in a Channel wind is what makes people cold here, and wool is the fibre that handles it. From October to April add a heavyweight merino base layer.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket with a hood that cinches down, in every month. There is no shelter anywhere on the cliffs.
Merrell Moab 3 waterproof hiking boots with Darn Tough merino socks. The clifftop grass is slick when wet, the steps are worn, and THE SHINGLE BEACH IS GENUINELY HARD WORK in soft shoes.
A RAYMYLO insulated water bottle, since there is nothing on the clifftop paths once you leave the town.
Not linked and worth packing: A TIDE TABLE, free from the tourist office and the thing most likely to keep you out of trouble; A HAT WITH A CORD, because the clifftop wind will take one without; SUNGLASSES, since white chalk and sea reflect hard; and A SMALL DAYPACK rather than a shoulder bag for the climbs. France is card-friendly throughout.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Etretat
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
The cliffs are actively eroding and people die here most years, in two patterns: visitors who stand or sit at the unfenced clifftop edge for a photograph when the lip gives way, and visitors below who are struck by falling chalk. The chalk is soft, undercut by the sea and cut by vertical fissures, and blocks come down without warning. Where there is fencing it is set back from the true edge deliberately: stay behind it, and on unfenced sections keep well back. THE TIDE CUTS OFF THE FORESHORE under the Porte d'Aval, including the tunnel to the next bay, and people are caught there every season: get the free tide table from the tourist office. THE SHINGLE IS STEEP WITH A STRONG UNDERTOW and the beach is lifeguarded only in high summer at the central section. 196 is the sea rescue number. THERE IS NO SHELTER on the clifftop paths.
US State Department travel advisory: the France advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: the Groupe Hospitalier du Havre, about 30 minutes away, is the nearest emergency department, with a local medical centre in Etretat for minor matters. Dial 112 for an ambulance or 15 for the SAMU, and 196 for a sea or cliff rescue, which on this coast is often a helicopter job. France is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which means you pay the same patient share a French resident pays rather than nothing. That is not the same as free and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. French hospitals are excellent and a pharmacie, marked by a green cross, handles minor problems without an appointment and will tell you where the duty pharmacy is out of hours. Tap water is drinkable everywhere. Dial 15 for a medical emergency or 112 for anything.
Official health authority: Sante publique France, the national public health agency, covers the Normandy regional health agency
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Paris.
Official tourism authority: Atout France, the national tourism body, publishes tide tables, the current state of the clifftop paths, which are rerouted after falls, and the Jardins d'Etretat opening hours
Takeaways
Walk both cliffs. They face differently and suit different times of day.
Stay back from the edge. The chalk gives way and there are deaths most years.
Get the tide table. The foreshore under the arch floods.
Shingle, not sand. Wear proper shoes on the beach.
Solo women safety assessment: Etretat presents no social or crime concern at all for a woman travelling alone. It is a small, affluent, intensely visited Normandy seaside town where the clifftop paths carry a steady stream of walkers in both directions through the season, the seafront is busy with families into the evening, and the whole place is overlooked from above. 112 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE free from any phone including a locked one, 15 reaches the SAMU, and 196 is sea and cliff rescue, which is the number that actually matters here. France's advisory concerns are national and urban and none of them describes this place. WHAT MAKES ETRETAT DANGEROUS IS THE GEOLOGY, AND I WANT TO BE BLUNT BECAUSE THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE SEDUCTIVE. THESE CLIFFS KILL PEOPLE MOST YEARS. The chalk is soft, the sea undercuts it, and it is split by vertical fissures, so blocks detach without warning and the clifftop lip is often overhanging ground with nothing beneath it. The two recurring patterns are a visitor sitting or standing at the unfenced edge for a photograph when the lip collapses, and a visitor on the foreshore struck by falling chalk. Where fencing exists it is deliberately set well back from the apparent edge; stay behind it, and on the unfenced sections, which are many, keep further back than feels necessary. Do not sit on the edge. Do not step over a barrier for a better frame. THE SECOND HAZARD IS THE TIDE, and it catches people every single season: the foreshore beneath the Porte d'Aval, including the tunnel through to the next bay, is walkable at low water and submerged at high, with no exit. The free tide table from the tourist office is the single most useful thing you can pick up on arrival. THE THIRD IS THE BEACH, which is steep smooth shingle with a strong undertow, lifeguarded only in high summer and only in the middle. And practically: the clifftop is always windier than the town, there is no shelter on it at all, and a hat without a cord will end up in the Channel.
Reading On
Etretat is the Alabaster Coast and Normandy runs either side of it. The Normandy packing list covers the region as a whole, the Honfleur packing list the harbour town along the coast and the Deauville packing list the resort beside it, with the Bayeux packing list and Caen packing list for the landing beaches and the Granville packing list and Cherbourg packing list for the Cotentin. East, the Amiens packing list and Dunkirk packing list continue up the Channel. In England the Dover packing list covers the chalk on the other side of the same strait, which is the same geology and the same danger. For the country the France travel guide for women and the France packing list carry the transport and the regions in full. For why wool suits a climb that ends in Channel wind, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
