Etretat. Étretat is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in Normandy in north-western France.
It is a tourist and farming town situated about 32 km north-east of Le Havre, at the junction of the D 940, D 11 and D 139 roads. It is located on the coast of the Pays de Caux area.
Étretat is best known for its chalk cliffs, including three natural arches and a pointed formation called L'Aiguille or the Needle, which rises 70 metres above the sea. The Etretat Chalk Complex, as it is known, consists of a complex stratigraphy of Turonian and Coniacian chalks.
Some of the cliffs are as high as 90 metres. These cliffs and the associated resort beach attracted artists including Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet.
They were featured prominently in the 1909 Arsène Lupin novel The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc. They also feature in the 2014 film Lucy, directed by Luc Besson. Two of the three famous arches are visible from the town, the Porte d'Aval, and the Porte d'Amont. The Manneporte is the third and the biggest one, and cannot be seen from the town. The GR 21 long-distance hiking path passes through the town. Main article: The White Bird Étretat is known for being the last place in France from which the 1927 biplane The White Bird was seen. French World War I war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli were attempting to make the first non-stop flight from Paris to New Yo