Étretat

Also known as Cliffs of Étretat, Cliffs of Etretat, Etretat, France

Étretat () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of Northwestern France. It is a tourist and farming town situated about northeast of Le Havre, at the junction of the D 940, D 11 and D 139 roads. It is located on the coast of the Pays de Caux area.

OverviewAI-generated

Étretat is a commune in France, situated in the Seine-Maritime department within the Normandy region. It is located in the arrondissement of Havre and the canton of Criquetot-l'Esneval, while its associated electoral district is the canton of Octeville-sur-Mer. The town shares borders with Bénouville, Bordeaux-Saint-Clair, and Le Tilleul.

The area of the commune is 4.07 square kilometers. Population figures vary by source, with one listing 1,411 residents (584 male and 707 female) and another citing 1,658. The elevation above sea level is recorded as 102 meters in one dataset, while other sources list elevations of 8 and 9 meters. Étretat uses the postal code 76790 and operates in the Europe/Paris timezone.

Synthesized by Vinony from 53 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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Place details

Locality: Étretat
Region: Normandie
Country: France
Population: 1,658
Timezone: Europe/Paris

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

37US AQIGood

PM2.5: 6.2 µg/m³
PM10: 10.9 µg/m³

As of 2026-08-11 02:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

French commune.name: Étretat
French commune.commune status: Commune
French commune.image: Vue d'Étretat.jpg
French commune.caption: View of Étretat
French commune.arrondissement: Le Havre
French commune.canton: Octeville-sur-Mer
French commune.INSEE: 76254
French commune.postal code: 76790
French commune.image coat of arms: Blason Etretat.svg
French commune.mayor: André Baillard
French commune.term: 2020–2026
French commune.intercommunality: Le Havre Seine Métropole
French commune.elevation m: 8
French commune.elevation min m: 0
French commune.elevation max m: 102
French commune.area km2: 4.07

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: commune of France
Official name: Étretat
Country: France
Located in: arrondissement of Havre
Population: 1102
Area: 4.07
Elevation: 63
Time zone: UTC+01:00
Shares border with: Le Tilleul
Official website: www.etretat.fr
Image: 00 3326 Blick auf Étretat, Frankreich.jpg

Show 13 more facts

Commons category: Étretat
Commons gallery: Étretat
topic's main category: Category:Étretat
postal code: 76790
associated electoral district: canton of Octeville-sur-Mer
male population: 584
female population: 707
P8168: Rudi Gernreich
described by source: Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
email address: mailto:[email protected]
phone number: +33-2-35-27-01-23
fax number: +33-2-35-28-59-37
native label: Étretat

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

Travel guide

Understand

It is on the Alabaster Coast in Normandy. The beach is composed of stones that have been smoothed by the waves of the English Channel and the town is set just behind the beach.

English is not common here, but basic French or use of a phrasebook will get you by. The tourist information centre, next to the bus stop, has a lot of information about the history of the town and can direct you to the beach, a few blocks from the bus stop. Once at the beach, there are trails to hike up to either cliff. There are two large arch formations on the southwest side of the beach is one large arch on the northeast side of the beach; both are spectacular.

Get in

The town is quaint and picturesque, but somewhat difficult to reach because there is no train that goes to town. There are, however, main lines that go to Le Havre and Fecamp, both of which have buses that run a few times daily to Étretat. The bus ride is €2 per person per way, and the trip takes about 45 min through the countryside. Taking one of the taxis queued outside of the Le Havre train station to Étretat will cost around €60.

Get around

The town is very compact, so walking is the easiest way to get around. Parking places are limited in the centre, but there is a free car park in a field off the D39 road which is about 15 minutes walk from the tourist office.

See

You can walk or hike from the town to the tops of the cliffs and get a commanding view of the channel, the beach and the opposite cliffs.

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

10 sections

Contents

The cliffs
''The White Bird''
Demographics
Economy
Notable people
In popular media
Gallery: Étretat in paintings
See also
References
External links

==The cliffs== thumb|left|One of the chalk cliffs in Étretat thumb|left|Panorama of the cliffs Étretat is best known for its chalk cliffs, including three natural arches and a pointed formation called ''L'Aiguille or the Needle, which rises above the sea. The Etretat Chalk Complex, as it is known, consists of a complex stratigraphy of Turonian and Coniacian chalks. Some of the cliffs are as high as .

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Étretat” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.