10 days or so you can do it justice

Normandy is a big region with lots to see. If you have 10 days or so you can do it justice; if not, you'll need to prioritize. In search of natural beauty? Head to the coastline north of Le Havre. Prefer sea and sand? Beat it to the beaches west of Trouville. Love little villages? Honfleur is one of France's most picturesque old fishing ports. Like city life? Pretty Rouen is for you. Are you a history buff? Base yourself in Caen to tour the D-Day beaches. Can't get enough of churches and cathedrals? You can go pretty much anywhere, but don't miss Bayeux, Rouen, or Mont-St-Michel. (The last is a bit isolated, so you might want to get there directly from Paris, or at the start or end of a Brittany tour.)
Mont-St-Michel The spire-top silhouette of this mighty offshore mound, dubbed the Marvel of the Occident, is one of the greatest sights in Europe. Plan to arrive at high tide, when the water races across the endless sands.
Bayeux Come not just for the splendor of the tapestry telling how William conquered England, but also for untouched medieval buildings and the beefy, bonnet-top cathedral.
Honfleur From France's prettiest harbor, bobbing with boats and lined with beam-fronted houses, you can head to the ravishing wooden church of Ste-Catherine.
Rouen Sanctified by the memory of Jeanne d'Arc, hallowed by its towering Gothic cathedral, and graced by a huge Renaissance clock, Rouen is the gateway to Normandy .
Gothic architecture dots the city. See the Cathédral Notre-Dame, where an imposing cast-iron spire (the highest in France) is paired with a shorter steeple called the "Butter Tower," built when a group of wealthy citizens donated large sums of money for the privilege of eating butter during Lent. Other highlights include the St-Maclou and the Abbaye St-Ouen.The name of the pedestrian Rue du Gros-Horloge, Rouen's most popular street, comes from Gros-Horloge itself, a giant Renaissance clock. In 1527 the Rouennais had a splendid arch built especially for it, and today its golden face looks out over the street. You can see the clock's inner workings from the 15th-century belfry.

One of Rouen's cultural mainstays is the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which has a scintillating collection of paintings and sculptures, including works by native son Géricault as well as by David, Rubens, Caravaggio, Velasquez, Poussine, Delacroix, Degas, and Modigliani, not to mention the Impressionists Monet, Renoir, and Sisley.

D-Day beaches Contemplate the dramatic deeds of World War II by visiting Caen’s Mémorial, then touring the beaches from rocky Omaha to pancake-flat Utah.
You won't be disappointed by the rugged terrain and windswept sand of Omaha Beach. Here you can find the Monument du Débarquement (Monument to the Normandy Landings) and the Musée-Mémorial d'Omaha Beach, a large shedlike structure packed with tanks, dioramas, and archival photographs that stand silent witness to "Bloody Omaha."
At Pointe du Hoc, wildly undulating grassland leads past ruined blockhouses to a cliff-top observatory and a German machine-gun post whose intimidating mass of reinforced concrete merits chilly exploration. A granite memorial pillar stands on top of the concrete bunker, but otherwise the site remains as Colonel Rudder and his 225 Rangers left it, in one of the most heroic episodes of the war.In Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach, is the hilltop American Cemetery and Memorial, designed by the landscape architect Markley Stevenson. You can look out to sea across the landing beach from a platform on the north side of the cemetery.