Fécamp and the Benedictine Palace

Hi, Elizabeth. My mother and I visited the Benedictine Palace in Fécamp last October, since we do drink the stuff. We did the basic, self-guided museum visit for 12 euros per person and were glad that we went. The collections take up only a few rooms but holds some nice examples of both quality religious artifacts and their brand and advertising history.

Before we got there, I was confused by mentions online such as "distillery visit by guided tour only." But that does not mean that you have to choose any of the add-on options. You can do the self-guided museum visit at your own pace, then gather in a waiting room until a staff person actually opens the door to guide you briefly through the distillery room and finish at the tasting room. Of course, you may be interested in one of the further add-ons if you want to do more tasting.

We found the place pretty easily with GPS in the car as well as some small road signs as we entered the town. We parked right on rue Alexandre le Grand, which was free (as was parking along the seafront at blvd Albert 1er).

Also, we drove through Etretat, but as it was market day, we did not find a parking spot and gave up on visiting there.

Thank you Laura! That is very helpful. I too was confused about all the add-ons. So the distillery and tasting is not extra? That is good to know. Did you have to order tickets ahead of time or just purchase them at the door? We plan on going to Etretat afterwards as well. What days are market days?

One more question, so on the self-guided tour, were you able to tour most of the palace or only a few rooms?

You can purchase tickets at the door. The tour I took went through most of the building and show us the complete operation.

If you can, be sure to visit Honfleur.

Driving along the D211 between Fécamp and Étretat worth a stop is Yport and a bit further the drive to the tiny beach of Vaucottes. Lovely country- and seaside there. Following further the D11 we parked our car near Bénouville and walked to Étretat along the trail on top of the cliffs. You can also park near Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde having a panoramic view of Étretat. Including Rouen, Étretat and Fécamp in one day will be very busy I think. It looks close but do not underestimate the distances and so the time you will need to drive. If driving to or from Rouen worth a detour are the cottages of Vieux-Port along the Seine and nearby Marais-Vernier.

The drive (D513) between Honfleur and Deauville along the coast is scenic.

Deauville & Trouville are very pretty towns! If you have an interest in Impressionist painting then take a look at the ones from these towns, you can still recognize some of the homes from the paintings as you walk around.

Rouen is a medium-sized city and you could easily spend a full day there walking around, visiting the Cathedral, etc. I'd suggest first using the car to visit harder to reach towns; for example Honfluer -> Etretat -> Fecamp. Then perhaps take the train for a full day in Rouen when you're done with the car, or rent the car for an extra day.

For the days w/o a car are you planning on staying in Deauville? Getting around by bus and car is not particularly convenient in the area, especially from smaller towns.

Wil, that is tremendously helpful, thank you! I agree, I really want to avoid shoving too much into one day. I think we’ve decided to do Rouen and Honfleur in one day, and Fecamp and Etretat another day. Or we may do what Bill suggests.

Yes Bill, we will actually be on a work trip in Deauville, so we have some meetings to work our sightseeing around. We will be visiting the DDay beaches with the group and then we’ll have two free days to sightsee on our own. For that we have rented the car.

to flesh out Honfluer -> Etretat -> Fecamp a bit more, I suggest getting to Honfluer in the morning, say 9am or so. It turns out there are at least 2 kinds of pay lots; one where you pay when you exit by time, the other where you estimate a time (say 2 hours) and prepay a ticket at a machine that you put on the dash. I suggest the first kind; we bought a 2 hour ticket thinking "walk around the harbor, have lunch, how long does that take?" but ended up having to leave before we wanted.

At Honfleur visit the shops, walk around town, then decide if you'd rather have lunch in the pretty ring around the harbor or drive to Etretat and have it looking at the ocean and delightful cliffs. It's then on to Etretat. Walk up one of the cliffs (depending on weather). It's a smaller town and seemed less interesting to me than Honfleur. Then on to Fecamp (I haven't been there).

We stayed in Vattetot-sur-Mer between Étretat and Fécamp. The latter has a few nice spots, but you won’t miss much if you skip it (some will disagree), nevertheless the museum Palais Bénédictine sounds interesting. The weather this week will be mostly chilly and rainy so having something indoors to visit like a museum is a good idea I think. What I liked was visiting the indoor market La Halle aux Beurres, a 10 minute walk from the museum where farmers sell their artisanal products, no idea if it’s open every day.

It makes a huge difference for places along the coast if there is a bit of sunshine or not. With bad weather many stay away and places can feel abandoned, think Étretat will always attract visitors bad weather or not. Our visit was during a chilly clouded but dry weekend in November, nevertheless still enough people there.

Rouen, especially the historic centre with it’s maze of oneway streets is not easy driving through, taking the train from Trouville-Deauville is certainly worth to think about. But if having the car and still having time worth on the way back is taking the D982 to Pont de Brotonne and see/visit the abbeys of Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville, Jumiège and Saint-Wandrille. Be aware not doing this during rush hour, I think you will risk losing too much time.

Thanks Bill and Wil. These are all good things to keep in mind! Our plans will definitely depend on the weather. Wil, where was the market you mentioned? And what times would you say rush hour is? I believe we will be in Rouen on a friday.

It’s underneath the cinema, a modern building near Église Saint-Étienne and Place Charles de Gaulle, a half mile east of the museum. Our visit was on a Saturday, there was an outdoor market too, but the local farmers with their artisinal products were based in the indoor market. The entrance is a bit hidden, but ask in the museum how to find it and if the market will be open or not.

From Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Salut on top of a cliff you can oversee Fécamp from the northside, there are remains of the Atlantikwall to see. However the panoramic view from the chapel in Étretat is more spectacular. Positive side of Fécamp is that it is a pleasant place and way lesser touristy as Étretat, but nevertheless lively and so better for having a local experience.

It was a few years back seeing the abbeys, but it was around 5 pm and very busy in Duclair and Le Trait, the latter having a speed limit of 50 km/h over a distance of 4km.

I felt that the museum portion of the palace included probably the grandest rooms, and main stair case, etc., so did not feel that we were missing out.

That was a sunny Saturday that we found Etretat so crowded. I think their regular market day is actually Thursday, so maybe it was a seasonal market that was happening.

No idea it was a regular market day or not, usually they are held during the week. So it can be possible it had to do with a special event, but didn’t noticed that.