Cliffs of Étretat

White chalk cliffs on the Normandy coast at Étretat, Seine-Maritime. More than 90 m high, they are known for their three natural arches and a tall needle of rock rising from the sea.

Étretat is a town on the English Channel in Normandy, about 32 km northeast of Le Havre on the Alabaster Coast. Its pebble beach is framed by cliffs of white chalk more than 90 metres high. The sea has carved three natural arches into them, which locals call “portes” (gates), and offshore stands a pointed stack known as the Aiguille (needle).

Once a modest fishing village, Étretat became a fashionable seaside resort in the 19th century. Painters such as Claude Monet, Gustave Courbet and Eugène Boudin depicted its cliffs, and Guy de Maupassant was a regular visitor. Maurice Leblanc made the needle the hidden lair of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin in his novel L’Aiguille creuse (The Hollow Needle).