Travel Trade Edition 2014 by Normandie Tourisme

NORMANDY

Travel Trade Edition 2014

Welcome to

Normandy!

Please note that the Clubs of the Tourist Board have brochures available for professionals on four dedicated themes: historical sites and monuments, parks and gardens, golf courses and outstanding hotels & restaurants. And information for cycling with groups is available too.

Normandy Tourist Board

14, rue Charles Corbeau 27000 Évreux - FRANCE Tel. 00 33 (0)2 32 33 79 00 Fax : 000 33 (0)2 32 31 19 04 E-mail: contact@normandy-travel-trade.com

Cover photo: Thierry Houyel / Adeline Keil

A très bientôt en Normandie!

Gastronomic Normandy

Steeped in our common history, Normandy invites you to go back in time to retrace the footsteps of William the Conqueror and to walk along the D-Day Beaches, the Coast of Heroes. Normandy is world-famous for the part it played in WWII when Allied troops broke through Nazi defences to liberate occupied France but it also bears a rich medieval history with William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart and Joan of Arc.

Home of the horse

With its worldwide reputation for equestrian excellence, Normandy is an obvious destination for horse lovers. Home to two national studs, the Haras du Pin and Haras de Saint-Lô, the region also hosts many major horse races and events and offers the visitor the chance to get in the saddle.

Our 2014 guide is full of practical information and inspirational ideas to help you plan your next trip to Normandy.

Historic Normandy

Normandy is a true gourmet's treasure trove with its emblematic cheeses: Camembert, Livarot, Neufchâtel, Pont L’Evêque and apple-based drinks such as Calvados, cider, Pommeau and perry.

Impressionist Normandy

Normandy is easily accessible by plane, train or by road. The region is just a two hour drive from Paris and its airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, or from the port of Calais. If you take the train from Paris in just over an hour, you will arrive in Normandy’s main cities. With four local crossChannel ports, there are also regular sailings from Britain and Ireland. Whether you plan on a dedicated trip or are looking to include the region

as part of a wider tour, Normandy remains the ideal destination with a mixture of France’s best countryside, heritage, culture, food and entertainment.

Whether you are a tour operator, a group travel organiser, a coach company, an incoming agency, an association or a school, we look forward to wel co min g yo u s o o n to No rm an d y, this incomparably beautiful region of France.

www.normandy-travel-trade.com

Find out all you need to know about Normandy on our new website

As the spiritual birthplace of Impressionism, Normandy has inspired many great artists to create images which live on in the collective consciousness today. With its unique lighting, magical seascapes, dramatic monuments and dreamy countryside, Normandy offered the perfect backdrop for Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Eugène Boudin, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Courbet and Camille Pissarro…

www.normandy-travel-trade.com

Caen [D3]

Bagnoles-de-l’Orne [D5]

Lisieux, the second most visited place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes, is renowned as a site of pilgrimage dedicated to Sainte-Thérèse. The Basilica was built in her honour and remains the largest church built in France during the 20th century.

With its white cliffs, picturesque villages, the meandering Seine River offers beautiful scenery, notably from the vantage point at Château Gaillard [G3], medieval fortress built by Richard the Lionheart.

The seaside towns of Honfleur, Trouville, Deauville, Cabourg to name but a few, along the “Flowered Coast”, were made popular in the 19 th century when sea bathing became a fashionable past time for the French bourgeoisie. The capital of Lower Normandy is a thriving modern city with outstanding historical sites including William the Conqueror’s Ducal Castle and the Abbaye aux Hommes and Abbaye aux Dames, together with the peace museum, Mémorial de Caen, which takes an indepth look at 20th century history.

A gem of Belle Epoque architecture, this elegant nineteenth century spa town is set in the Orne countryside and can offer a casino, racecourse, lake, cycle tracks and golf course.

Just a short distance from Paris, this quaint artists’ retreat on the banks of the Seine became the home of Monet, father of the Impressionist movement. His world famous house and gardens plus the Musée des Impressionnismes can be visited today.

Rouen [G3]

A veritable Museum-City on the banks of the Seine, Rouen leaves no visitor indifferent, with its medieval half-timbered houses, its paved streets and its gothic churches and Notre-Dame cathedral. Artists flocked to this port city which is also where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.

Le Havre [E2]

Seine Valley

Etretat © E. Benard

Etretat is a romantic seaside village on the Côte de Nacre overlooking the Channel which is a constant source of inspiration to artists and writers with its dramatic white cliffs and chalk needle.

This major European port combines the attractions of a modern, vibrant city with the charm of a seaside resort. Rebuilt in modernist postwar style by Auguste Perret, the concrete poet, Le Havre is recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.

Giverny [H4] © Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny

Etretat [E2]

Le Haras du Pin [E4]

The Mont-Saint-Michel, a major French tourist attraction, remains an inter national place of pilgrimage to this very day and the Bay of the Mont-SaintMichel is included on the UNESCO list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage sites. This medieval architectural Wonder of the Western World dominates the surrounding landscape, rising out of the bay, which provides the natural show of the greatest tidal ranges in Europe.

Known as the “Versailles of Horses”, Le Pin National Stud is the oldest and most prestigious national stud and was founded in 1715 by Louis XIV.

La Côte Fleurie [E3]

With its narrow cobbled streets and cathedral at its heart, Bayeux is the perfect example of a medieval Norman town. It is also home to the world famous Bayeux Tapestry, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Normandy’s Channel coast is world-famous for the part it played on 6th June 1944, when Allied troops broke through Nazi defences to liberate occupied France and to change the course of World War II. The Allies launched simultaneous landings of U.S., British, Canadian and French forces on five separate beaches along this stretch of Normandy coast which were specifically codenamed Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah.

Mont-Saint-Michel [B5] This "City of the Dukes" is internationally renowned for its UNESCO-listed needle point lace and is ideally situated on the edge of the Normandy-Maine Natural Park for trips into the countryside.

Alençon [E5]

www.normandy-travel-trade.com

Lisieux [E3]

D-Day Landing Beaches [B3 to D3]

Bayeux [C3]

Located at the top of the Cotentin peninsula, Cherbourg harbour boasts the world’s longest artificial roadstead which is 4 km long. The Cité de la Mer museum bears testimony to the maritime tradition of the town.

Cherbourg [B2]

Major

events in 2014

New! Museums, sites and visits Biotropica – Val-de-Reuil [G3] / www.biotropica.fr

Alltech FEITM World Equestrian Games

A giant zoo in a tropical greenhouse with unusual animals and plants.

Overlord Museum – Colleville-sur-Mer [C3] / www.overlordmuseum.com/en

New museum dedicated to D-Day and the Battle of Normandy with a collection of over 10,000 vintage objects near the American Cemetery.

Normandy Tank Museum – Catz [B3] / www.normandy-tank-museum.fr

New museum with a unique collection of tanks plus American vehicles from WWII.

Arromanches 360 – Arromanches-les-Bains [C3] / www.arromanches360.com/en

New film at the circular cinema, Normandy’s 100 Days, retracing the story of the Battle of Normandy from the preparation stages of the Landing right through to the Liberation of Paris.

From March to August

In 2014, all eyes will be on the D-Day Landing Beaches and the sites of the Battle of Normandy. The 70th Anniversary of D-Day will be celebrated in the presence of many heads of state and thousands of spectators and television viewers on 6th June 2014 in Ouistreham. This pivotal moment in world history will be commemorated with numerous events and festivities such as firework displays, parades, military camps re-enactments and airdrops from March till the end of August. www.the70th-normandy.com

Musée d’Art et d’Histoire – Bayeux [C3] / www.bayeuxmuseum.com

New layout for the central museum’s collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, china and lace.

Le Balcon – Rouen [G3] / www.rouentourisme.com

New exhibition space dedicated to the Notre-Dame cathedral offering an exceptional vantage point from the balcony overlooking the cathedral.

Manufacture Bohin – Saint-Sulpice-sur-Risle [F4] – 2014 / www.bohin.fr

From 23rd August to 7th September

Normandy will host the 7th edition of the Alltech FEITM World Equestrian Games, the world’s biggest equestrian event. Key venues will include Caen city centre which will become a huge equestrian stadium, the Mont-Saint-Michel bay for the endurance event, the Pin National Stud for the cross and dressage. Two demonstration challenges will also be held in Saint-Lô for horse-ball and Deauville for polo. www.alltechfeiweg2014-normandy.com/en

The only needle and pin factory in France opening its museum next year.

Les Arpents du Soleil – Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives [E4] – 2014 / www.arpents-du-soleil.com The only vineyard in Normandy producing a quality wine now offers group visits. Musée Airborne – Sainte-Mère-Eglise [B3] – 2014 / www.airborne-museum.org/en

A new building in the shape of an airplane’s wing with a section dedicated to former American President, Ronald Reagan.

Mémorial de Montormel [E4] – 2014 / www.memorial-montormel.org

A new tour retracing the story of the Battle of the Falaise Pocket with a guided tour of the Corridor of Death.

Le Panorama – Rouen [G3] – 2014 / www.la-crea.fr

New tourist site with a giant 360° panoramic view of the City of Rouen as it was in medieval times.

Les Pêcheries, cité des Terre Neuvas – Fécamp [E2] – 2014 / www.ville-fecamp.fr

Canoe Polo World Championships

New museum bringing together the collections of local museums linked to the town’s past as a cod port.

Restoration of the Mont-Saint-Michel’s maritime character

Historial Jeanne d’Arc – Rouen [G3] – 2015 / www.la-crea.fr

Joan of Arc Historial opening in the Rouen Archbishop’s Palace in the same place as her trial and her rehabilitation.

Hotels Le Jardin des Plumes – Giverny [H4] / www.lejardindesplumes.fr

New 8 room boutique hotel with a gastronomic restaurant in Monet’s home village.

96 room Ibis Styles Rives de l’Orne hotel in central Caen near the station.

From 22 to 28 September nd

In the heart of the Suisse Normande, just south of Caen, Thury Harcourt will welcome over 600 world athletes in September 2014. This prestigious international competition will be an ideal opportunity to get to know more about this sport which combines water polo, handball and kayaking in a place which has become a world famous spot. The Suisse Normande boasts exceptional sporting facilities for canoe polo and other activities. www.thuryharcourtcanoe2014.com

Opening of a 107 room 3 star hotel.

End 2014

The building of a lightweight bridge, linking the Mont to the land, simply means that the famous rock will recover its island status after 10 years of construction work. With a new reception centre, new means of access and transport, the aim is to preserve the bay’s natural environment and to ensure that the Mont remains accessible to all from the newly created car park. www.bienvenueaumontsaintmichel.com

Hôtel M’Gallery – Trouville [E3] – 2015 / www.mgallery.com Opening of a 103 room 4 star hotel with spa centre.

Radisson Blu Hotel – Rouen [G3] – 2015 / www.radissonblu.com Opening of a 91 room 4 star hotel with a well-being centre and seminar rooms in central Rouen.

Spas B’O Resort – Bagnoles-de-l’Orne [D5] / www.bo-resort.com/en 4 star residence with 158 family flats and spa now open.

Prévithal Thalasso – Granville [A4] / www.previthal.com 76 room 3 star hotel with spa now open.

Thalazur – Cabourg [D3] / www.thalazur.fr 164 room 4 star hotel with spa now open.

www.normandy-travel-trade.com

www.normandy-travel-trade.com a new website dedicated to travel trade professionals This new website features all the information you need including a log book and an interactive map, together with a photo library to help you organise your next trip to Normandyâ&#x20AC;Ś 1

For brochures, photo library, downloads

To get to Normandy, weather and tides

Everything Normandy has to offer

Normandy

Your space and log book