Things to do with tweens and teens in Normandy

Now the kids are a little older it can be a little trickier to find a holiday which suits everyone. We have spent many happy years at EuroCamp in the Netherlands which has plenty of amusement rides and an amazing water park. However, our last visit showed the kids were beginning to feel a little too old for this type of holiday, so this year we tried something new – we took the tween and teens for a week in Normandy, France.

We wanted to try gîte living and found a wonderful gîte with plenty of space to sleep and relax centrally placed in the Calvados region of Normandy. This looked to be within easy driving distance of Mont Saint-Michel to Le Havre, the D-Day beaches and more.

Bayeux Tapestry and Bayeux Cathedral

I don’t think you can visit Normandy without seeing the Bayeux Tapestry. This was a bucket list item for me, and I was excited to see it. We all took audio guides to listen to as we walked along the length of it, and it pointed out many details we would have otherwise missed. Even the kids were amazed (especially as we had visited the site of the Battle of Hastings previously). After this we popped into Bayeux Cathedral to see where the Tapestry had originally been made for and displayed.

Mont Saint-Michel

This was on our bucket list for years and we knew the kids would enjoy exploring a tidal island. We took the shuttle bus from the car park to the island and walked back (in hindsight we would have done this the other way round). The island is free to visit and explore although you will need tickets to enter the Abbey (and get the best views). We had fun climbing the many, many, many steps to get around the island. The Abbey was beautiful but pretty empty of any interpretation or signs (an audio guide was available but not offered to us). By the time we had finished or visit and tried to get lunch, the island was so overcrowded and not very enjoyable. So we picked up some sandwiches and found a quiet area to sit and eat, before walking back over the causeway and stopping for refreshments at one of the many bars on the mainland. The island is a great place to visit but horribly busy and we would recommend going early or late in the day, and taking your own food and drinks.

Airborne Division Museum and D-Day beaches

The northern coast of Normandy is famous for the 50 mile stretch of D-Day beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. This year marks the 80^th anniversary of the D-Day campaign and we were excited to drive along the coast and see where everything had taken place.

There are many museums, beaches, and historical sites worth visiting so we opted to visit the Airborne Museum in the pretty village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. The tween was given a tablet to use as she went round the museum which really enhanced her visit. The museum was informative, and we enjoyed our visit. Then it was on to the beaches, stopping off at Utah beach (pretty much the same as it was 80 year ago) and Arromanches-les-Bains (very touristy), to see the remains of the amazing Mulberry harbour.

Caen

To be honest this was not my favourite city. Chateau de Caen (Caen Castle) and L’Abbaye-aux-Hommes (Abbey of Men) felt empty and soul-less but we did find a free little electric bus (Twisto) which zips around the centre of Caen every 15 minutes and was the perfect way to see the city for free. You can hop on and off and we sat on it for an entire loop, seeing the canal and a good proportion of the city, before hopping off at the L’Abbaye-aux-Hommes to see where William the Conqueror was buried (or at least one of his thigh bones).

Les Vergers de Ducy – Domaine de la Flaguerie

It is always fun to try something local, and we had heard that Normandy was famous for its apples, cream, and butter. There are quite a few farms around Normandy, and we stopped at the family farm Les Vergers de Ducy. We followed the self-guided trail around the apple orchards and cider press where we were able to follow the journey of the apples to beautiful apple juice, cider, and calvados. Then it was into the shop for a tasting session before we purchased some delicious products to take home with us.

Le Havre and Honfleur

These two places could not be more opposite and are well worth a visit as they are close to one another, and you get to experience the amazing Pont de Normandie bridge if travelling between the two by car.

Le Havre was destroyed during the Second World Way and was entirely redesigned by one architect, Auguste Perret between 1945 to 1964. The city centre was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005. I have never been anywhere quite like it, every block looked the same, apart from the odd historical building which had been saved. We walked from the harbour, having watched large container ships come in, to the modern cathedral which was well worth a visit if your kids are fed up with seeing very old cathedrals and religious buildings. We also stopped at the Museum of Modern Art (kids go free) to see the wonderful collection of impressionist paintings, which is the second largest collection outside of Paris. There is also a small shopping centre with a Lego Store which was worth a special visit.

Then take the Pont de Normandie bridge over to Honfleur ,which is a beautiful harbour town the other side of the river Seine. Remarkably untouched by the Second World War considering how close it is to Le Havre, you can enjoy one of the many cafes and restaurants which line the inner basin, whilst watching the pleasure boats come and go. The shops are touristy, but we stocked up on delicious macarons, Normandy caramels, and came across a small brocante in the side streets. There is also a beautiful wooden church built by local shipwrights which is well worth a visit.

Zoo de Jurques

We wouldn’t normally choose to visit a zoo whilst on holiday, but the tween was very tired of visiting “big churches” so we wanted to pick something we knew she would enjoy. The Zoo de Jurques was 10 minutes from our gîte and well worth a visit to see the animals they look after. There were two routes to follow around the zoo and we did both, not wanting to miss any animals. My daughter loves otters, so we went to see these twice, but we also saw big cats, spiders, snakes, meerkats, flamingos, red pandas and everything in between.

I hope you find our post on things to do with tweens and teens in Normandy. We loved the French culture, the food and the friendly people. The tween collected souvenir medals from every major site we went to. There are many more places we could have visited, but we had fun visiting all of these.