Towns In Normandy

I can't contribute but replying as a reminder to follow this post.

Beuvron-en-Auge is about 45 minutes drive from Bayeux. I found it in a listing Les Plus Beaux Villages de France while researching our trip. We did some driving along the Cider Route. Safe travels.

After your stop in Honfleur on your way to Lille I would suggest a visit to the beautiful coastal village of Veules-les-Roses. It is not a big place - easy for a stop of just an hour or two and it fits your wish for “ a nice place to see.” Several old wooden waterwheels on little canals or channels of water, colorful flowers and picturesque homes and buildings made for a very by pleasant stroll. After leaving Honfleur we stopped by Etretat to see the beautiful rock formations in the sea and from there we followed the coast and stopped for lunch and a walk around the village in Veule-les-Roses and then we went on to explore Dieppe prior to catching our ferry back to the UK.

Rouen has a gorgeous (rebuilt after the war) historic center and some good museums.

Falaise has an excellent museum about civilian life during the war. It also covers the Resistance. It's a nice addition to all the invasion-focused museums in the area.

Over in Eastern Brittany are the picturesque towns of Fougeres and Vitre. St. Malo, Dinard and Dinan are on or close to the coast and thus are more touristy--at least they were at the time of my 2017 visit.

If you're willing to venture up into the Cotentin Peninsula, there are several non-WW2-focused towns that might be worth a visit.

Granville is one of the larger towns on the peninsula and has a bustling downtown and several good restaurants.

Near Hambye are the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. It's situated in a beautiful valley along the Sienne River and is worth a stop.

The nearby town of Villedieu-les-Poêles is a quaint medieval town with a long history of metalworking; especially copper. There are museums dedicated to that history and an active bell foundry (Cornille Havard) that makes bells for institutions worldwide, including Notre Dame de Paris. Tours are available in French and English. It's a small place, which except for the workers' safety gear, electric lights, and a few electrically-powered tools and pieces of equipment probably doesn't look much different than it did 200 years ago.

Barneville-Carteret on the coast is a scenic little town. A bit touristy during some times of the year, but it makes a nice place to stop for lunch.

Further north and located west of Cherbourg is the Château de Nacqueville. It has one of the prettiest settings I've seen. You can't go into the château, but the walk there from the parking area is gorgeous. It does have a link to WW2: it was used during the German occupation as a camp for the Hitler Youth and, after the war, the Allies set up an education facility on the grounds in front of the château for German prisoners who weren't Nazi Party members and who showed both leadership ability and openness to democratic principles.

One last suggestion: around on the east side of the peninsula is Saint-Vaast-la-Hogue, a pretty harbor town with defensive towers designed by the French military engineer Vauban.

Think big. Look at a map of Normandy and you'll see that it covers much more than the coast and the landing beaches. It goes much farther inland than some people realize. Towns we love are Bernay, Pont-Audemer, Lyons la Foret, Varengeville sur Mer, St Valery en Caux, La Roche-Guyon, Mortain with its waterfalls, the chateau at Carrouges, and the chateau d'O. In the southeast corner, a gently hilly area just west of the flat Beauce, are the small towns of Mortagne au Perche, Belleme, and La Perriere.

Most of these places are low-key unless you hit market day. Low-key travel suits us but I know it's not for everybody.

There have been trips where we pretty much stuck to Normandy the whole time because it's so varied and interesting. By the time we got around to visiting the WWII landing beaches, we found the area not all that scenic and way too crowded.

Thanks everyone, great suggestions. I just wish we had time for all of them. We will be spending 3 nights in Dinan and covering that area before we head north. Too many places to see and there is never enough time.

It's a special interest, but some rural estate formal gardens are open (paid) to the public.

The Michelin Green Guide to Normandy will list just about every town in the region along with a description of what a tourist might want to see in them. There are enough interesting villages and cities that one could spend weeks trying to see them.

I would also suggest allowing space in your plans for serendipity. One a drive in the region we went by a small seaside town that was having a market day. We parked, then enjoyed walking around and having lunch. It remains a favorite memory from the trip.

Actually, the Green Guide is a useful resource but it's hardly comprehensive. It covers what its authors consider to be the highlights.
Their tastes may have poor alignment with those of some visitors.