Granville

The English fortified this headland in 1439 during the Hundred Years War as a base to attack Mont-Saint-Michel, and the French took it two years later; the Haute Ville still sits behind those walls in grey granite above the harbour. Christian Dior grew up in Villa Les Rhumbs on the cliff, a pink and grey house with a garden his mother laid out overlooking the sea, and he credited it repeatedly as the source of his colour sense and his flower motifs; it is now the Dior museum with an annual themed exhibition. The tidal range here is among the largest in Europe, and the port dries out completely at low water.

What you actually see

• The Haute Ville - the walled granite upper town on the headland.
• Villa Les Rhumbs - Dior's childhood house and cliff garden, now a museum.
• The extreme tides - the harbour emptying completely at low water.
• The Carnival - one of the largest in Normandy, held before Lent.

When to go

April to October; the Dior museum opens seasonally, roughly spring to autumn, with a new exhibition each year. Carnival falls in February and fills the town.

Honest expectations

The Dior museum closes for winter and between exhibitions. The upper and lower towns are separated by a steep climb. Granville is a working port rather than a resort.

Nearby

Mont-Saint-Michel lies south; the Iles Chausey are offshore.