Étretat and the Alabaster Coast

The briny smell of kelp hangs in the air as hard light carves the chalk cliffs and the 70‑meter needle at Étretat. It’s more than a postcard: from the Amont headland, Notre‑Dame de la Garde (1856) keeps watch, and the GR21 trail runs on toward Yport and Fécamp. The Manneporte and Porte d’Aval arches still echo Monet’s canvases from the 1880s. At low tide, you can reach Plage des Tilleuls via the Antifer valley. Chalk breaks, flint snaps, and the Channel—rarely still—continues shaping the Alabaster Coast.

For the day, your driver handles the wheel while you soak up the coast. Pick‑up at your hotel in Rouen, Mercedes on hand, and a flexible schedule that follows tides and shifting light. Your private chauffeur in Normandy adjusts the sequence: Étretat’s cliffs in the morning if swell builds, Yport for a plate of whelks, a loop to Fécamp (30 km, about 40 min) for the Palais Bénédictine, then back via Vattetot. You tour and taste; he deals with parking, access, and tide times. The D940 becomes your thread, adapted to what you feel like seeing.