Porte d'Aval
The great arch.
Monstrue — CC BY 2.0 · W. Bulach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Superbass — CC BY-SA 4.0 · johanvanbetsbrugge — CC BY 3.0 · Jörg Braukmann — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Étretat cliffs are white chalk cliffs on the Pays de Caux coast of Normandy, northern France, at the town of Étretat, about 24 km north of Le Havre and 183 km northwest of Paris in a straight line. They are famous for three natural arches and a pointed rock called the Needle, which rises 70 metres above the sea, and some of the cliffs reach 90 metres. The cliffs and the town's beach drew many painters, including Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet, who painted them many times, and they appear in a 1909 Arsène Lupin novel. Two towering white walls stand at either end of the pebble beach, the best known being the Falaise d'Aval with its great arch, the Porte d'Aval, and the Needle standing in the sea beside it. Green meadows top the cliffs, and the sea below shifts from green to blue with the light. Visitors climb paths along the cliff tops from both ends of the beach for wide views, and at low tide walk on the rocks below. The cliff edges are unfenced in many places, so keep back, and watch the tide when walking below.
The great arch.
A rock in the sea.
Wide views.
Étretat, Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France
Many are unfenced; keep back.
Yes, from Honfleur or Le Havre.