Readers' travel tips: Normandy, France

A beautiful bridge, Christian Dior's home and a great creperie … Been There readers share their favourite places in Normandy

WINNING TIP: Les Iles Chausey

This fabulous archipelago is barely populated, car-free, breezy and sunny – a timeless place of great beauty. There are a couple of gîtes and little shops, and a fair few yachting visitors. Weathered rocks, deserted shorelines, beaches and pools teeming with life are all great for kids. Daily ferries in summer from Granville: adults €24.50, three-14 years €15.35, under-threes €7.60.
ville-granville.fr/en/iles_chausey.asp
sometimestory

Cabourg

Le Grand Hotel
Immortalised by Proust in A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, this elegant 19th-century hotel was also home to the writer for several months in 1907. It was originally a casino, and today guests can luxuriate in splendour in rooms offering sweeping views across the Channel.
+33 2 31 91 01 79, accorhotels.com
missmarple0512

Bayeux area

D-Day cycle tour
Listed in Lonely Planet's Cycling in France, this circular route starts and ends in historic Bayeux. From here, pedal down lonely roads to Omaha beach and the moving American Cemetery. Stop for lunch in pretty Port-en-Bessin-Huppain before heading along the coast to Arromanche, where the cinéma circulaire offers 360-degree images of the local area, interspersed with clips of the same spots during the war, giving a very different picture of this idyllic and peaceful area.
memorial-caen.fr
rhiannonabike

Honfleur



Le Pont de Normandie
At 2,143m, the Pont de Normandie was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it was completed in 1995. The Japanese built a longer one in 1999, but that doesn't diminish the impact of this spectacular example of the French ability to meld engineering with art. For one of the best views in Normandy, take a ferry to Le Havre, and bring your bike: the toll bridge has its own cycle lane. The steep hump in the middle will keep you on your toes, but the panorama is worth it. At the other end, enjoy a calvados or cidre by Honfleur's pretty harbour.
lizcleere

La Cidrerie bar and creperie
It would be a crime against gastronomy to visit Normandy without sampling the famous cider and galettes (savoury crepes). Nestled between Honfleur's scenic Vieux Bassin harbour and wooden Sainte-Catherine cathedral, La Cidrerie has friendly service, affordable prices and fantastic crepes. If you have a sweet tooth the crêpe caramel au beurre salé is a surprisingly tasty regional delicacy.
creperie-lacidrerie-honfleur.com
jimmywalker390

Granville

Christian Dior museum
The home of the creator of the New Look, now a museum, is perched on cliffs in this Cotentin town. It has an ever-changing, stunning exhibition of Dior's work, but the real gem is the perfume garden, in which iconic fragrances in leafy, hidden corners can be guessed and enjoyed before a vertiginous descent down crumbling steps to the wide promenade and the vast beach.
musee-dior-granville.com
gouldini

Mont-Saint-Michel



Mont-Saint-Michel abbey and museums
For all the hype and crowds, Mont-Saint-Michel is beautiful and well worth a visit. If you are under 25 you can get into the abbey for free, and get half-price entry to the four museums. But be warned – you will need to prove your age with your passport. If you leave it in the car (like I did) you'll have to decide if walking back down and then back up again is worth the €18 saving!
Porte de l'avancée, +33 2 3360 1430, ot-montsaintmichel.com/en/accueil.htm
Jimwocko

Château de Monfréville
Located in the national park at the base of the Cotentin peninsula near Isigny-sur-Mer, Château de Monfréville is home to Paul, Zoe and family, who look after visitors with kindness and good humour. There are ducks, geese, hens and chickens, and the family grows organic vegetables. You can stay in the chateau, a gîte or roulotte (Gypsy caravan), or camp. It's handy for Bayeux, Mont St Michel and the coast.
+33 2 3121 3542, chateaumonfreville.com
grahamjgreen

Lisieux

Cerza Safari Lodge
At this safari park you can stay in a lodge, yurt or "zoobservatory". From the balcony you can watch the exotic animals and sunset over the lake (with a glass of wine) while the children interact with free-roaming deer and wallabies. The gibbons, rhinos and antelope enclosures are just a few metres away, and for €69 for six people you can get closer to the animals with a behind-the-scenes tour.
+33 2 3131 8230, cerzasafarilodge.com
beckywoo

Rouen

The Saint Maclou ossuary
A beautiful ancient courtyard with timber-frame houses, but on closer inspection you will spot human skulls carved into the wood. It was a plague graveyard in the middle ages and recalls how two-thirds of the town's people succumbed to this fate.
188 rue Martainville
pharrop01