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The GR 21 is a coastal footpath in France, in the Grande Randonnée network.
Understand
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This 186 km (116 mi) route takes in the entire Alabaster Coast, its glorious chalk cliffs and snug harbour towns. It tracks north-east from Le Havre to Le Tréport on the Norman/Picard border.
Prepare
[edit | edit source]No permits needed — just show up and walk. The clifftop paths and rocky coastal terrain mean this is strictly a backpack-only trail; wheeled luggage, strollers, and wheelchairs won't get far. Good hiking boots are a must (ankle support will save you on the rocky sections). After heavy rain or frost, some sections can be treacherous, so check conditions before heading out.
Eat
[edit | edit source]You won't go hungry on the GR 21. The route hops between coastal towns and villages, and you can count on finding somewhere to eat or stock up pretty much every day. Leave the camping stove at home.
Drink
[edit | edit source]With towns never too far apart, most hikers just grab drinks at cafés and restaurants along the way. There are also streams, springs, and the occasional well, though you'll want to filter anything from natural sources before drinking it.
Sleep
[edit | edit source]Each stage of the trail has hotels, guesthouses, or campsites to choose from, so you don't need to carry a tent unless you want to. Wild camping isn't allowed. In summer, book ahead — the popular spots fill up fast.
Climate
[edit | edit source]Normandy weather is famously moody: sunny one moment, windy and wet the next, whatever the season. May through October is generally the most enjoyable time to walk, but the trail is doable year-round. Pack a windproof and waterproof layer no matter when you go, and don't forget sunscreen for the bright days on the open clifftops.
Get in
[edit | edit source]The trail begins in Le Havre.
Walk
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After leaving Le Havre, the trail ascends to Montivilliers. The next part of the route is along the cliffs of the Pays de Caux; a notable sight is Étretat, which is known for its chalk formations. The trail goes through many resorts and villages and eventually leads to Le Tréport near Eu.
19.4 km
4 hr
358 m
The trail begins at 1MISSING WIKILINK Le Havre — literally "The Harbour", Le Havre is Paris's port town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its post-WWII modernist reconstruction — setting off from the Fort de Sainte-Adresse on the western edge of the city. From here the route heads east, quickly leaving the urban landscape behind as it enters the wooded Forêt de Montgeon, a popular local green space with small fruit trees (mostly blackberries) lining the waymarked paths. Continuing east through the Parc de Rouelles, the trail then swings north, passing through the town of Montivilliers before reaching the small village of 2 Rolleville. This stretch stays inland and doesn't yet reach the coast or the chalk cliffs the GR 21 is best known for further along the route — the scenery here is gentle countryside rather than seaside drama — but it makes for an easy, low-effort first leg with modest ascent. Accommodation options are sparse in Rolleville itself, so it's worth booking ahead if stopping overnight here.
20.3 km 4 hr 257 m
This stretch continues through the rolling farmland of the Pays de Caux, passing near Notre-Dame-du-Bec, Turretot, and Criquetot-l'Esneval before turning toward the coast. The path here alternates between open fields and the edges of small woodlands, with charming Norman villages, manor houses, and old churches dotting the way — a peaceful, easy walk with little elevation change. As you near 3 Le Tilleul, a small farming village just southwest of Étretat, the smell of the sea starts to reach the trail at last. This is where the GR 21 truly meets the coast: from the beach at Le Tilleul, the path picks up the clifftop route that will follow the Alabaster Coast's chalk cliffs for the rest of the trail.
15.4 km 4 hr 466 m
This is where the GR 21 comes into its own, following the clifftop path high above the Channel with a series of steep but short climbs in and out of the "valleuses" — the perched valleys that cut down through the chalk to the sea. The trail soon reaches 4MISSING WIKILINK Étretat — near many cliffs on the shoreline, this town inspired many of Claude Monet's paintings — where the arches of the Porte d'Aval and the Manneporte flank the needle-like rock of l'Aiguille, best admired from the clifftop Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Garde just south of town. From Étretat the path climbs again toward Bénouville and Les Loges before reaching Vattetot-sur-Mer, where the ascents and descents grow noticeably steeper and more exposed. The trail then descends a final time into 5 Yport, a small former fishing village tucked into a green valley, its pebble beach lined with brightly painted boats and the blue-and-white beach huts that have become the village's trademark.
21.7 km 5 hr 504 m
Leaving Yport, the trail dips through the wooded valleuses of Grainval and Vaucottes before climbing to 6 Fécamp — beach, port, and "Bénédictine Palace" — a working fishing port whose museum, housed in a former cod-drying warehouse, tells the story of the town's long relationship with the sea. From the harbour, the GR 21 climbs steeply along the ancient Gallo-Roman Côte de la Vierge path to Cap Fagnet, the highest point on the Alabaster Coast at around 110 m, passing the small Notre-Dame-du-Salut chapel with its collection of sailors' votive offerings and a scattering of WWII-era blockhouses along the clifftop. From there the trail continues north above the cliffs, passing the beaches of Petites Dalles and Grandes Dalles, before descending into Saint-Pierre-en-Port, a quiet clifftop village marking the end of the stage.
20.2 km 5 hr 375 m
The trail continues east along the clifftops past bourgeois villas favoured by Normandy's Impressionist painters, before dropping inland through the fields of the Pays de Caux to reach Veulettes-sur-Mer. From there the path skirts the grounds of the 7 Paluel nuclear power station, one of the largest in France, before rejoining the coast to finish at 8 Saint-Valery-en-Caux, a fishing port turned marina town. The half-timbered Maison Henri IV, now a small museum, and the town's WWII memorial recall the Battle of Saint-Valery of June 1940, when British and French troops were encircled here by Rommel's forces and much of the town centre was destroyed; it was rebuilt after the war and today its green-and-white lighthouse marks the harbour entrance.
20.2 km 4 hr 206 m
From Saint-Valery-en-Caux the trail follows the clifftops onward along the chalk cliffs, alternating between open farmland and short, steep dips into the valleuses, and descending into 9 Veules-les-Roses — the location of ancient water mills. The village grew up around the Veules, France's shortest river at just over a kilometre long, and a footpath along its banks passes thatched Norman cottages, watercress beds, and several of the eleven mills that once lined its course, grinding grain and fulling cloth using its remarkably steady flow. Veules-les-Roses is often ranked among France's most beautiful villages and makes a pleasant place to break the journey before continuing on toward Dieppe.
14.4 km 3 hr 174 m
Leaving Veules-les-Roses, the trail climbs back up onto the cliffs and settles into a rhythm of flower-flecked farmland and open sea views, with the flax fields turning the plateau blue in spring. It passes through Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, home to a private 18th-century château (not open to visitors) that has been a listed historic monument since 1976, before crossing more fields to reach 10 Quiberville, a small resort village at the mouth of the river Saâne. Quiberville boomed as a seaside destination in the 19th century, and its pebble beach, backed by tall chalk cliffs and lined with old bathing villas, still marks a natural stopping point on the GR 21 before the trail turns toward Dieppe.
21.5 km 5 hr 555 m
From Quiberville the trail climbs past the Phare d'Ailly lighthouse and through the woods of Vasterival and the Bois des Moutiers before reaching Varengeville-sur-Mer, a village of grand villas overlooking the sea. Its 12th-century church, rebuilt in the 16th century, is ringed by a cliffside cemetery with sweeping views over the Alabaster Coast; painter Georges Braque is buried here beneath a mosaic of his own design, and the church holds stained glass windows he made. From Varengeville the path descends through Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer and drops to the beach at Pourville-sur-Mer, then climbs a final time through farmland and woods above the cliffs before arriving in 11MISSING WIKILINK Dieppe — brick architecture, harbours, and many seafood restaurants — a historic Channel port city that makes a fitting end point for this stretch of the GR 21.
26.4 km 6 hr 668 m
Leaving Dieppe, the trail passes below the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours and drops into Puys, a small clifftop resort where the novelist Alexandre Dumas père died. From there it climbs onto the Camp de César, a fortified Gallo-Roman-era hilltop enclosure covering some 50 hectares above Bracquemont, before continuing north through a string of small resorts and valleuses — Belleville-sur-Mer, Berneval-le-Grand, and Saint-Martin-en-Campagne — with long, open stretches of farmland between them. The route then swings inland for a roughly 5-km detour around the Penly nuclear power station before rejoining the cliffs for one of the wilder, quieter sections of the whole GR 21, crossing the valleuses of Parfondval and Biville with few villages, shops, or places to eat along the way. The trail finally descends into 12 Criel-sur-Mer, a small town at the mouth of the river Yères whose pebble beach and pastel-coloured beach huts, along with those of its hamlet Mesnil-Val, mark the end of this stage; its chalk cliffs rise to around 107 m.
7.1 km 2 hr 169 mThe final stretch of the GR 21 crosses the D22 over the river Yères and climbs gradually back onto the cliffs, passing through the Plaine du Mesnil and the valleuses of Parfondval and Biville — a wild, sparsely populated finish to the trail with fine views back along the coast. The path skirts the hamlet of Mesnil-Val and its pebble beach, likely the last beach walkers will see before the end of the route, before making a final climb along the clifftop above 13 Tréport — cliffs, fishing port, and seaside resort — the trail's official terminus. From the belvedere above town, hikers descend a flight of 365 steps (or take the funicular) down to the quays, arriving among Le Tréport's brick townhouses, fishing boats, and seafront casino at the mouth of the Bresle.
Stay safe
[edit | edit source]Keep well away from the cliff edges — the chalk crumbles unpredictably, and the drop is fatal. Stick to the marked path, especially after rain or frost when the ground is at its most unstable. If a section is closed or diverted, follow the signs rather than pushing through.