This is part of our 10-day trip to the Normandy region of France in August 2020. You can find the overall itinerary and links to other stops on this trip in our Normandy post.
If you’re planning to travel through the region, you may be wondering where to stay in Normandy. Luc-sur-Mer was a great home base for us while we were visiting various locations in Normandy. And we would be remiss if we didn’t share some of the positive attributes of this quiet and centrally located town.
1. Location
It really is in a great spot if you want to travel around Normandy, especially to see things along the coast (as far west as Sainte-Mère-Eglise or east as Étretat) and further inland (such as Mont-Saint-Michele or Falaise), plus all the great little towns in between (such as Bayeux or Caen). It’s also close enough to bike to some locations. We found this to be great for a change of pace from driving and a more unique way to experience the beauty of Normandy.
2. The beach
While Normandy isn’t known for hot weather and beachgoing, Luc-sur-Mer is on the coast and the beaches are quite nice. There are large amounts of green algae, especially in August, but it can be avoided by shifting to different beach locations. When the tide goes out, you can walk out quite far to collect shells, which my kids loved doing (just watch out for the slippery algae!). If you want to take a day off to just relax or have a laid back evening, it’s a nice place to call “home.”
3. The town
There isn’t really enough in the town to consider Luc-sur-Mer a destination itself. However, there is enough to entertain the family before/after a day of site seeing in Normandy. In addition to walking along the beach and around the streets looking at houses, there is a really nice park downtown with a playground, some farm animals, flowers and trees, and the skeleton of a whale that washed up nearby in 1885.
I imagine there are plenty of other towns along the coast that offer similar benefits. For us, Luc-sur-Mer worked perfectly, if you’re figuring out where to stay in Normandy.