Walk along the cliffs of Étretat

The parking area is located in the car park along the Route du Havre (D940) south of the town of Étretat. It is on the left-hand side of the road as you leave the town (opposite is a car park for motorhomes). The car park is pay-and-display (as everywhere in the town), but has the advantage of being at the start of this hike.
Access: from Le Havre, take the D940 road that runs along the coast. The parking spot is on the right-hand side of the road just before entering Étretat.

(S/E) Leave the car park and head towards the gate to the north of the car park, which leads to the D940 at a crossing protected by traffic lights. Cross the road and take the path opposite, which climbs uphill. Immediately afterwards, it joins the path coming from the caravan park. Follow this road to the right to reach Chemin du Petit Valaine, which is paved in its lower section, until you reach the houses on your right.

(1) Turn left onto Chemin du Petit Valaine, which climbs steeply. Continue straight ahead past the houses, where the road gives way to a path that climbs up a small wooded valley until it emerges onto a plateau with crops on your left and the Étretat golf course on your right. Continue straight ahead until you reach a junction with a farm track on the left. Take the track opposite, heading south-west, and pass an isolated house on your left immediately after the junction. Continue to the T-junction.

(2) Turn right to follow the^GR®21, which winds its way towards the coast. When you reach the cliff edge and before turning right, admire the coast with the beach and the Antifer valley on your left. Head right onto the^GR®21, which heads north-east along the hamlet of Les Pisseuses. Admire the Pointe de la Courtine on your left.

A little further on, the path descends steeply down a stony track into a small valley where there is a pumping station, then climbs up the other side on another very stony track. The path, which is now almost flat, heads towards the Manneporte. This is the largest of the three cliffs of Étretat. Its name means "big door" in Old French. From here, there are beautiful views of the Porte d'Aval and the Aiguille to the north-east, as well as the Pointe de Courtine to the south-west.

(3) The path is now mostly downhill and heads towards the Porte d'Aval, offering beautiful views of it and the Aiguille, a little further out to sea. Continue to the Porte d'Aval to enjoy magnificent views of the entire cliffs, including the Porte d'Amont to the north, dominated by the Notre-Dame de la Garde chapel (see section "During the hike").

From the Porte d'Aval, you can see the beach and the village of Étretat on one side and the continuation of the cliffs with the Manneporte arch on the other. At the end of the arch, on the north side, you can go down and back and enter the "chambre des demoiselles" (maiden's chamber), a small room carved into the rock with a hole for a window. Legend has it that three young ladies took refuge there after being pursued by an evil lord, the Baron de Fréfossé!

(4) Take the steep path down towards Étretat. It leads to a platform offering a beautiful view of the beach and the Étretat Promenade. Continue down the stairs leading to the Étretat Promenade.

(5) Walk along the Promenade towards the north-east towards the town. Pass the Cercle Nautique and turn right into Rue de Traz Périer. Follow it to the junction with Rue Anicet Bourgeois. Turn right into the latter, which leads to the D940 after about 50 metres.

Cross the road with caution and turn right, heading uphill towards the town exit. Follow the pavement until you reach an entrance to the park on your left after about 100 metres, where the park wall gives way to a gate. Enter the park and follow the path uphill along the gate and the road.

The path passes in front of the gate that led out of the park at the start of the walk. Continue to return to the parking area (S/E).

The parking spot is located in the car park along the Route du Havre (D940) south of the town of Étretat. It is on the left-hand side of the road as you leave the town (opposite is a car park for motorhomes). The car park is pay-and-display (as everywhere in the town), but has the advantage of being at the start of this hike.
Access: from Le Havre, take the D940 road that runs along the coast (the parking spot is on the right-hand side of the road just before entering Étretat).

This hike takes place on varied terrain and requires sturdy footwear. In places, the path is very stony.

Dogs must be kept on a leash to protect the fragile environment.

This hike does not present any real difficulties in terms of orientation and is marked with yellow signs (^PR® trail). It follows the GR®21 from the point (2) almost to the point (5), but also a Promenade et Randonnée (^PR®) trail for the rest of the route. In addition, it is advisable to follow the directions in this description and on the map, while also taking note of the landscape you are passing through. The distances from the starting point and the GPS coordinates of the waypoints (including the starting point) can also help hikers find their way.

Hike completed by the author of this description on 16 May 2022

This route is particularly popular in summer and throughout the year, especially from point (4) to point (5).

Étretat
The Alabaster Coast
The Alabaster Coast owes its name to the 140 kilometres of chalk cliffs between the Seine and Somme estuaries (from Sainte Adresse to Le Tréport). The cliffs are often around 100 metres high. The site of Etretat, an exceptional geological feature classified as one of the "wonders of France", is known throughout the world.

The Cliffs
The cliffs of Étretat consist of three successive arches:
- to the west, the Falaise d'Aval with its famous "needle", then the Manneporte in the background;
- to the east, the Falaise d'Amont, overlooked by the sailors' chapel.
The existence of these arches is not linked to marine erosion, but to the action of a coastal river parallel to the beach, which carved its bed into the cliff before it receded, leaving behind the "needle" of harder limestone that prevented its final dissolution, resulting in this extraordinary creation of nature. The sea then widened the arches, giving the site its current appearance.

The pebbles
The cliffs of Étretat are made up of layers of limestone and flint, which explains the presence of pebbles on the beach. Following the collapse of sections of the cliffs, the limestone and flint came into contact with the sea water, which dissolved the limestone and the action of the waves polished the flint to form pebbles.
The pebbles provide natural protection for our village. It is strictly forbidden to collect them.

The Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde Chapel in Etretat is the most important religious and historical building in the commune. It is also sometimes called the sailors' chapel. This neo-Gothic church, built in the mid-19th century, was destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt in 1950.
It is not open to visitors, but you can admire the view from outside and take some superb photos of the chapel overlooking the Amont cliff, directly facing the Aval gate and the needle.

The history of Étretat has always been steeped in the spirit of the sea and its ancestral values.
Once a little-known village focused on fishing, a source of life, food and essential sustenance, Étretat has become a world-famous site over the centuries after welcoming so many illustrious artists.
It has retained its air of mystery, punctuated by artistic and literary milestones.
The mystery, with various assumptions about the origin of the name Étretat on the one hand. According to research conducted by Raymond Lindon, former mayor and author of numerous writings on Étretat, enriched by that of Alain Millet, scientific writer and historian, the origin of the name Étretat comes from ancient Scandinavian languages, Norman or Viking, "strut, strurt, strud,..." which all evoke the cornet, the cone, the headdress... symbolised by the needle once discovered by the Vikings.
Strutr in Norse and Structa in Latin are reminiscent of this term associated with the root "Art" or "ard", linked to the Latin "ardurus" and the Celtic "arduo", raising the question of a Roman or Viking origin.
These various assumptions lead to the ancient name of Étretat, composed of these various origins and associations to form the name "Estrutat", "Estrutard" or even "Strutard".
The most plausible explanation would be a difference in pronunciation or a simple evolution of the French language, where the "u" gave way to the "e", as explained by Alain Millet (see the Estretatais collection) for the words burre, murtre and hurter, which became beurre, meurtre and heurter.
It was therefore between the 14th and 15th centuries that the name Étretat appeared in its definitive form.
It should be noted that, in accordance with republican ideas in the year II, Etretat was renamed Saint-Sauveur, then La Roche, before regaining its current name (read the excellent book by Jean-Pierre Thomas, Etretat des origines à nos jours).
The mystery remains, despite extensive archaeological research carried out by Abbé Cochet, which has established some truths about the origins and evolution of our village but also left many questions unanswered. It has been established that human occupation dates back to Antiquity, although remains attesting to human presence in the area since Prehistoric times have been found. Remains and place names attest to this, such as "the Roman ditch" on the Amont cliff and the existence of a road that shows the presence of the Romans in Etretat.
Abbé Cochet, who carried out extensive research in the 19th century, discovered numerous archaeological finds, which he compiled in a number of writings. He analysed and excavated churches, cemeteries and cellars to uncover many artefacts tracing the origins of Etretat and human occupation over the centuries.
The mystery still surround this extraordinary natural site, which has inspired so many legends and literary tales.
One such legend is that of the Olive Fountain, which tells of a young woman named Olive who, threatened by invaders, possibly Saracens, promised to build a church if she escaped.
She did so in the centre of the village. But she hadn't counted on the Devil's towers, which moved parts of the religious building to its current location every night. According to legend, this explains the presence of the Church of Notre Dame in the Petit Val on the road to Bénouville. Another version suggests that the village began to develop in this neighbourhood, hence the location of the church. Finally, we cannot mention the mystery without mentioning the imagination of Maurice Leblanc, who created his famous character Arsène Lupin. He hid his treasure in the famous "Aiguille Creuse" (Hollow Needle). This myth has almost become reality, as people refer to our natural peak as being truly hollow.

Famous
Over time, our fishing village has evolved and transformed, welcoming, century after century, personalities and artists who have marked the history of Étretat.
Gustave Courbet
Claude Monet
Henri Matisse
Guy de Maupassant
René Coty
The painter Eugène Isabey
Eugène Delacroix
Alphonse Karr

Source: official website of the Commune