Why Houlgate Is the Most Charming Towns in Normandy France

We spent a few days exploring Houlgate, a small coastal town in Normandy and we’re going to show you why it’s completely underrated. In this video we’re showing you around, what to do, where to eat, the best views around town, why it’s a great base for exploring nearby places and why you have to add this to your Normandy itinerary.

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Where is Houlgate and Why Should You Visit?

Houlgate is on the Normandy coast in the Calvados area, right between some of the region’s most visited spots.

It works really well as a base if you have a car because you can move around the coast and inland really easily. Honfleur is about a 45–50 minute drive, Caen is around 30–40 minutes away, and the D-Day beaches are roughly 45–60 minutes depending on which part you go to. It also sits quite nicely in between Mont Saint-Michel and Étretat, both being just over 2 hours away in opposite directions.

That makes it a good middle point if you want to explore a lot without changing hotels every night. At the same time, Houlgate itself is much quieter and less touristy than the bigger places.

It’s not a very big town, so even if you don’t stay here, you can easily visit it in one day.

The main areas to explore are the beach promenade, where you’ll find large Belle Époque and Neo-Norman style houses along the seafront. We absolutely loved just walking along the beach on days where we didn’t have a packed itinerary. Rue des Bains, which is the main street with toned of cafés and shops, the area around church (Église Saint-Aubin), and Rue du Général Leclerc, where we found our go-to bakery in Normandy, which we’ll talk more about later.

Everything is close together, so you can move between these areas on foot without needing transport. The streets and buildings are well looked after, clean, and there are small details and beautiful corners to explore all around town.

The cabin features a distinct white and orange striped pattern — Beach hut on Houlgate Beach

Where to Eat in Houlgate

Houlgate has quite a few cafés, bakeries and restaurants, and these are the ones we really liked and would recommend.

Breakfast

For coffee and breakfast, we really enjoyed the café attached to Hôtel Le Normand. It’s in a half-timbered building with a pastel blue frame, and what first caught our attention was outside there were these giant teddy bears sitting at some of the tables which we thought was a cute touch. Inside, the decor is full of vintage pieces like old radios and kitchenware. We ordered cappuccinos with a side of chantilly cream, and the portion is very generous. One serving is easily enough for two. If the weather is good, sitting outside is the best option.

Our favourite bakery

For bakery stops, we kept going back to L’Épi d’Or. It’s a small bakery and pastry shop that we ended up using for breakfast, snacks for the road, and desserts after meals, plus the prices were very fair. The quiches were a highlight, especially the chorizo, caramelised onion and salmon spinach ones. The almond croissants were also very good, the kind you end up going back for, we often craved them when out and about. If you go early, they also sell plain crêpes to take away, which are good on their own or with things like nutella you can pick up from a supermarket.

This is a charming dining scene featuring a vintage-style cafe interior with a "Houlgate" poster and a vase of red tulips on a wooden table — Le Normand café and brasserie

On that note, if you need groceries or you’re staying somewhere with a kitchen, there are two small Carrefour stores in Houlgate, and if you go to Cabourg nearby, there’s also a Lidl and an Aldi if you need a bigger shop.

Lunch & Dinner

For lunch or dinner, we went to Bistro du Port by Port Guillaume in Dives-sur-Mer, so technically not in Houlgate, but only about a 30-minute walk along the water from the centre of town.

We had moules frites there, which is a very common dish in Normandy. The local mussels weren’t in season, so we were offered mussels from the Netherlands instead, but they were still very good. We tried them in two sauces: camembert cheese and a creamy cider sauce. The camembert version was our favourite. The cider sauce was quite strong in flavour and a bit much by the end, but worth trying if you really like cider. The fries were well cooked, crispy on the outside and soft inside.

We also ordered some local brut cider for the table from a nearby farm. It was half a litre for €11 and quite dry, which I personally liked, but others would’ve preferred something sweeter. There are sweeter options if that’s your preference. The portion of mussels was very generous and very filling, 850 gr of mussel meat for 18 ’50€. Definitely worth it. The service was also amazing, so overall it’s a place we’d recommend.

This charming spot is Le Normand, a brasserie and hotel located in the seaside town of Houlgate, in the Normandy region of France — Le Normand, a brasserie and hotel located in the seaside town of Houlgate

Best Things to Do in Houlgate

Walk along the beach promenade

One of the best things to do in Houlgate is simply walk along the beach. We especially recommend grabbing a pastry and a drink and walking by the water, especially in the morning or towards sunset. If you want a longer walk, you can actually walk all the way from the Casino in Houlgate to Cabourg beach when the tide is low, since the sand connects the two towns. Sunset here is also really beautiful, so it’s definitely worth coming back to the beach again in the evening.

The best views over the town

For the best views over Houlgate, go up to the viewpoint called Table d’Orientation. It’s about a 20-minute walk uphill from the centre and you don’t need a car to get there. From the top you get a great view over the coastline and the rooftops of the town.

Explore local markets

Another nice thing to do while exploring is visit the local markets. Every morning until 1pm you can go to the covered market hall for fresh fruit and vegetables, and every Thursday morning there’s also a flea market and produce market on Avenue des Ormes. A few minutes away in Dives-sur-Mer, there’s the medieval market called Halles Médiévales de Dives-sur-Mer every Saturday on Rue Paul Canta. The market dates back more than 600 years and you can buy things like local cider, cheese, bread and charcuterie there. There’s also parking nearby if needed.

Church in the background in a town in Normandy — Église Saint-Aubin

Enjoy water sports

If you like water sports, there are also activities in Houlgate like towing tubes, waterskiing and kitesurfing.

Visit nearby towns

Houlgate is also a really good base for visiting nearby towns. Close by you’ve got places like Dives-sur-Mer, Villers-sur-Mer, Trouville-sur-Mer and Villerville, and then slightly further away there are bigger places we’d really recommend like Honfleur, about 45 minutes away by car, Caen, which is also around 45 minutes away and where we made a full video, and the D-Day beaches, which depending on which beach you visit are around 45 minutes to 1 hour away by car.

If you’re planning a bigger Normandy trip, we also made a post following our road trip through the region, including places like Étretat, Honfleur, the D-Day beaches and Mont Saint-Michel. We also explored more of the Calvados area beyond the coast, including a cider distillery and tasting, a medieval lordship and the city of Caen, so if you want more ideas for your itinerary those videos should be really helpful.

The building is a typical example of Belle Époque architecture

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Why Houlgate Is One of the Most Charming Towns in Normandy France

Where is Houlgate and Why Should You Visit?