Normandy by Campervan with Dog and Cat: Itinerary, Tips and Useful Information

In this article we’ll take you with us to discover Normandy, a French region we love and have visited both by car and by van. Ready to discover fairy-tale villages and beaches rich in history? Not without stepping into a boulangerie and walking out with a baguette under your arm :) If your plan is to visit Normandy together with Brittany, head to the article about it so you can combine the two itineraries. We also recommend taking a look at a couple of destinations in Hauts-de-France!

Itinerary

In this section we’ll list all the stops of our adventure, recreating a short daily diary. If you want to read our itinerary in short, you’ll find it here, while if you want to know which stops we recommend as unmissable, you can click here.

Day 1: our destination, arriving from Hauts-de-France, was Le Tréport, the first town in Normandy. If instead you’re coming from the Paris region, we highly recommend a stop in the small village of Giverny, which we visited years ago, reaching it by car. Back to Le Tréport, we walked to the lighthouse and then towards the beach, admiring a row of colourful houses, but we also recommend not missing the picturesque houses stretching along the other side of town, towards Mers-les-Bains beach. When it started raining we decided to move on for the night to Dieppe, where we had dinner at a small tavern based on apple juice, a galette with mushrooms, emmental and egg, and a galette with ham, emmental and egg, not forgetting a sweet apple crêpe. Dinner ended with a quarter of an hour of thank-yous at the till and to the cook, a grandma with a sweet look, waving her hands at us from a small window overlooking the kitchen. We stayed overnight for free in the large car park overlooking the beach.

Day 2: we took a stroll through the streets of Dieppe’s centre and near the harbour, watching the kites getting ready for the mid-September festival. Then we moved a few kilometres to Hautot-sur-Mer, to a car park by the sea we already knew, for a walk along the shore up to the small chapel with the blue stained-glass window at the back. After this short stop we moved to the village of Veules-les-Roses: a small, characteristic village, with climbing roses on the house walls and canals running through the historic centre. Finally we reached the hill overlooking the cliffs, surrounded by World War II bunkers: below us the cliff line curving around Fécamp. We stayed overnight for free.

Day 3: Saturday morning in Fécamp means one thing: the local market. So, after strolling along the cliffs, we parked at the stopover area just before the town and walked to the beach and the Palais Bénédictine, before heading into the centre. With bags full of bread, cheese, fruit, vegetables and cider, we went back to the van and moved on to have lunch at a small equipped picnic area just before the village of Étretat, a place that had stayed close to our hearts years before. The historic part is now reduced to a square that has unfortunately become very touristy, losing some of the charm it must once have had. The cliffs, though, are spectacular. They stand out to the left and right of the beachfront promenade. With too many tourists around, we decided to move to a car park 15 kilometres away, overlooking Saint-Jouin-Bruneval beach and protected behind by a line of cliffs. We stayed overnight for free with a breathtaking sunset.

Day 4: at 8 o’clock sharp in the morning it was just us and a couple of other solitary walkers on the cliffs of Étretat. We started our hike on the right side up to the small chapel, then went down and back towards the left, from where you can admire the characteristic trunk-shaped rock. These places stay etched in your heart and memory. Heading back, we stopped at a small bakery, buying a pain au chocolat, a baguette and a slice of the apple cake typical of this area (a must-try!). Then we went back to the beachfront car park, and in the evening we had dinner at the small restaurant with the characteristic moules frites à la normande, that is, mussels with onions and cheese cream, together with fries (excellent value for money).

Day 5: after staying all morning in this peaceful place and running on the beach with our animals, we decided to get moving to reach Honfleur, a small village overlooking Le Havre’s harbour. The big city hadn’t impressed us years before, so we decided to skip it, crossing the Pont de Normandie instead, which offers a fantastic view over the Seine, as well as being a structure genuinely in harmony with the landscape. Parked 15 minutes from Honfleur’s centre, we walked to the small round harbour, filled with little boats, with colourful buildings overlooking the water. The streets of the centre are decorated with restaurants and art galleries, making the visit truly pleasant. We stepped into the church in the main square, unusual for its double mirrored nave and double altar. For the night we moved to Villerville, at a campervan spot.

Day 6: Villerville is a small Normandy village that welcomed us with houses in typical French style, with coloured stripe patterns on the façades. In the rain, we decided to get back on the road to reach the D-Day landing beaches. We crossed Pegasus Bridge, behind which you can visit the first house in Normandy liberated by the Americans during the landings, and where today there’s a small café to grab a coffee, decorated inside with countless war memorabilia. Not far away, in a museum, you can also see the remains of the actual bridge. In this itinerary we skipped Bayeux, but the town is worth a stop. We then reached Sainte-Mère-Église, the place where a soldier was left hanging by his parachute from the church roof, played dead, was captured and managed to escape. Today you can admire a dummy in his memory. We moved on again, to commemorate this piece of history by walking through the Normandy American Cemetery, with more than 9,000 white crosses overlooking Omaha Beach. For the night we moved to a car park right on the sand, in Lestre, in an area where oysters are harvested.

THE D-DAY LANDING BEACHES: There are 5 D-Day landing beaches, and you can reach them in order from the south: Sword Beach, Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. The most famous of them all is Omaha Beach, in Colleville-sur-Mer, home to the large American cemetery. You can comfortably dedicate a single day to visiting them, perhaps choosing a couple of museums.

Day 7: after a stroll along the shore, we moved to Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, parking with a view of a small lighthouse. From here we walked towards the town centre, passing by the oyster-processing plants, all the way to the harbour and the characteristic lighthouse. We stayed overnight for free.

Day 8: after staying at the quiet car park, in the afternoon we moved into town, stepping into a small courtyard that had caught our eye years before, with benches where you can read poems written on small pieces of wood. Back on the main street, we reached the small shop of an artist we’d bought a painting from, picking up a postcard to hang in the van. We then moved to the neighbouring village, Barfleur, a small village with stone houses overlooking the harbour, where time seems to have stopped. Since the weather forecast wasn’t favourable, we decided to drive an hour and a half to reach the Cap de la Hague lighthouse. We parked in a field near about twenty other campervans. The wind was blowing hard, but we managed to see that imposing lighthouse we’d barely glimpsed through the fog years before. We stayed overnight for free.

Day 9: the weather forecast wasn’t wrong. Given the non-stop rain, we ran a few errands in the afternoon and made use of a supermarket’s campervan service point before driving on to Granville. We stayed overnight for free near the swimming pool.

Day 10: Granville welcomed us with the same charm it had shown us years before. Parked at the harbour, we started walking with Olimpia and Sakè, heading towards the upper part of the city, surrounded by ramparts, a maze of little streets to get lost in and admire the coast from. Back at the van to let the animals rest and enjoy a triple-chocolate pain au chocolat, we headed to the gardens of Christian Dior’s childhood home. The view over the bay from here is a genuinely delightful postcard. The trees frame it, the waters, crystal clear and bright at first, drift out to open sea to turn dark blue. The white sand creates a striking contrast of light, and the wave foam adds brushstrokes here and there. Heading back, we got to fully experience the festive atmosphere among the little streets, with conservatory students playing music at every corner. Leaving Granville, we moved to reach a spot in the middle of a small village with just a few houses, surrounded by fields. In front of us, Mont Saint-Michel stood out in all its splendour. We had lunch on the bench, then stayed at this spot, admiring the sunset over the Abbey and sleeping undisturbed.

Day 11: we arrived early in the morning at a small kiosk’s car park not far from Mont Saint-Michel, where you can park for a couple of hours if you buy breakfast there. Having bought coffee and chocolate madeleines, we enjoyed both the treats and the view. Then, having secured the animals in the van to spare them the crowds we’d be facing, we set off on about an hour’s walk. If you don’t feel like walking, you can queue to board the paid little train. Having already visited the Abbey years before, we just walked through the little streets, in our opinion a bit spoiled by too many touristy signs, before heading to a car park in Cherrueix, right on the seafront.

In Short

Below are just the stops. We always stayed overnight for free.

Day 1: Le Tréport - Dieppe

Day 2: Dieppe - Veules-les-Roses - Fécamp

Day 3 Fécamp - Étretat

Day 4 Étretat

Day 5: Honfleur - Villerville

Day 6: Étretat

Day 7: Villerville - Sainte-Mère-Église - Utah Beach - Lestre

Day 8: Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue - Barfleur - La Hague

Day 9: La Hague - Granville

Day 10: Granville

Day 11: Mont Saint-Michel

Roads

All the roads we drove in Normandy are in good condition and offer truly breathtaking views.

Services and stops

In France it’s very easy to find equipped, free service areas for water fill-up and waste disposal. We had no trouble with free overnight stays since we travelled in the low season. The only limitation came from barriers denying access to vehicles taller than 1.90 m near the beaches. If you go in summer you might find it harder to find parking.

Travelling with your pet

To travel within Europe with your pet you need to have:

• passport
• microchip
• valid rabies vaccination

Check whether your pet's breed is allowed in the country you're visiting. We recommend always being careful in crowded places, as people might be scared of your pet which is why we always keep our pets on a leash. In many cases a muzzle is required, so we recommend keeping one handy.

We recommend bringing a bowl (we use one that clips conveniently onto a backpack) and a water bottle if the day is particularly hot.

Reflections and unmissable stops

France stayed close to our hearts, two out of two trips. The villages are tidy and clean, with harmonious architecture. Often the smell of bread and butter will invite you into a boulangerie, and you’ll rarely be disappointed.

By campervan or car, unmissable destinations:

• Veules-les-Roses: a genuinely lovely little village.
• Honfleur: in our opinion, dedicating even just a couple of hours to a walk through this village is worth it.
• Fécamp and Étretat: both towns are genuinely worth a stop. If you go in summer or on weekends, we recommend walking the cliffs early in the morning to fully enjoy these magical places.
• the D-Day landing beaches: on this trip we didn’t cover every beach, but if you’ve never seen them, we recommend them all, especially Omaha Beach and the nearby Normandy American Cemetery.
• Granville: a lively city, pleasant to visit — you’ll genuinely feel like hunting for the many little gnomes scattered around.
• Mont Saint-Michel: even though by now it’s, in our opinion, too touristy a destination, it’s definitely worth a visit.

Our vlog

In the video below you can relive our Vlog in Normandy, or find the full series about the country at this link  .

Our maps

Below you can browse all the maps for our trip. If you want to know how to download them and use them offline, you'll find everything at the following link⚠️ we can't guarantee that the marked spots still exist! Please keep the area clean and follow the rules.

Vandipety takes no responsibility for how the information provided here is used.