10 places to stop on a foodie trail through Normandy

1: Rouen

France’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy (an award embracing both deliciousness and a destination’s role in promoting healthy eating and sustainability), Normandy’s capital has an incredible culinary heritage displayed in its everyday restaurants, its Michelin-starred venues and culinary specialties such as canard au sang (pressed duck). Rouen is also home to the oldest inn in France, the 1345-opened La Couronne; it’s here that great American TV cook Julia Child began her famous love affair with this nation’s food.

2. Dieppe

France’s oldest seaside resort has 100-plus restaurants and brasseries serving fantastic regional produce including seafood fresh from the boats. This is the capital of coquilles Saint-Jacques (scallops), offered here in many guises ranging from raw to seared. There’s even a scallop festival each November. But the town’s most iconic dish is Marmite Dieppoise, a creamy fish stew best sampled in the restaurant of the same name. And don’t miss Dieppe’s Saturday-morning market, crowned France’s most beautiful market in 2020.

3. Fécamp

This seaside resort and fishing port was a religious pilgrimage site, and Benedictine liqueur is still produced in its neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance Palais Bénédictine. Legend has it that a monk created a secret elixir at Fécamp Abbey in 1510 – something you can learn about at the Palace with its tasting room, stylish new-in-2022 cocktail bar La Verrière, cocktail-making workshops and tea room. As well as Benedictine cocktails, try the liqueur in spiced madeleines, cakes and ice cream.

4. Trouville-sur-Mer

This quaint, stylish seaside resort stands out for having one of Normandy’s best-loved fish markets – a Historic Monument built in 1936. This Marché aux Poissons is as great for browsing as for buying, with the freshest scallops, oysters, lobsters, crabs, mackerel and more inspiring you to fill your basket to cook them in your self-catering rental or to head to a restaurant to try them in fantastic dishes by local chefs – perhaps at Les Vapeurs, a true French brasserie.

5. Pont-L’Evêque

This charming little town in the Pays d’Auge is home to the eponymous soft cheese – the oldest Normandy cheese in production and one of the region’s four AOP cheeses (Appellation d’Origine Protégée – with a protected geographical origin). This is also the heart of Calvados country, and in the immersive Calvados Museum you can discover the secrets of the iconic apple brandy before heading to the Château du Breuil to make your own. Meanwhile, the 40km Cider Route unites 20-plus cider farms.

6. Camembert

It’s from this tiny village on the edge of the Pays d’Auge that one of the world’s most famous cheeses derives – one developed in 1791 by a local farmer’s wife. With its half-timbered buildings, churches and lush valleys, it’s an enchanting place to explore in its own right – but do visit the Maison du Camembert to learn about and taste the cheese, and La Fromagerie du Clos de Beaumoncel to witness the different stages of its production.

7. The Mont-Saint-Michel

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this seemingly gravity-defying abbey perched on its holy island in the vast bay featuring the highest tides in all Europe was one of the Continent’s major pilgrimage destinations for centuries. Today it attracts visitors for other reasons, too – among them are the famous fluffy omelettes cooked over a wood fire at the cosy Auberge de la Mère Poulard, made to a recipe that has been kept secret for more than 130 years.

8. La Maison du Biscuit

Up on the Cotentin Peninsula, in a gem of a village called Sortosville-en-Beaumont, sits this amazing-looking shop selling some of the most delicious cakes and biscuits you’ll ever eat. Made by a passionate five-generation-strong family team from top-quality local ingredients since 1903, with some items still produced on early-20th-century machines, they include Doigts de Dames or ‘ladies’ fingers’ made from meringue powder and hazelnuts, and petits fours financiers, soft almond biscuits.

9. Barfleur

Clustered around its pretty harbour, this fishing port – listed among the most beautiful villages in France – is also one of the best places in the country to savour fresh mussels and oysters. Harvested by boat just out to sea, where they grow in natural banks, the wild moules de Barfleur are wonderful cooked à la marinière (in a shallot and white wine sauce), in a cream sauce or à la normande (with fish stock, cream, butter and egg yolk).

10. Réville and Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue 

These neighbouring towns south of Barfleur between them offer one of France’s best beach bars and a famous wine cellar. Réville’s Le Géoland 1951 at the edge of the sand and waves at the Pointe de Jonville serves delicious food including fish ’n' chips and beach brunches, and hosts DJ sets and live concerts. Meanwhile, Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue with its UNESCO-listed Vauban towers is home to the vintage-feel Maison Gosselin deli with its incredible wine and spirits selection.

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