Haute Normandie is easy to reach from its ports Le Hâvre and Dieppe although, thanks to the improved motorway network, Rouen is only a little over two hours from Calais.
 Arriving in Basse Normandie across the mammoth Pont de Normandie, the road leads straight to the painters’ paradise Honfleur with its picture book harbour. Along the coast, Deauville still attracts the Paris crowds. Ferries from the UK sail to Caen-Ouistreham and Cherbourg making it easy to head south to the jewel of Mont St Michel.
The region is bordered along the northern coasts by the English Channel. There are granite cliffs in the west and limestone cliffs in the east. There are also long stretches of beach in the center of the region. The bocage, patchwork of small fields with high hedges, typical of the western areas caused problems for the invading forces in the Battle of Normandy. There are meanders of the Seine as it approaches its estuary which form a notable feature of the landscape.