Le Donjon - Domaine St-Clair

Normandy might not get the kind of international attention that’s showered on Provence and the Côte d’Azur, but it’s certainly not without its charms. Étretat, with its famous chalk cliffs — the French counterpart to the cliffs of Dover — is among them. And on a hillside overlooking the town of Étretat is a 19th-century château in the Anglo-Norman style, a one-time private residence that’s now one of the region’s most unique hotels: Le Donjon - Domaine St. Clair.

Each of its rooms is named for either a fictional character or someone of historical significance, like Monet or Flaubert or Sarah Bernhardt. And each one, like its namesake, is an absolute individual, with a color scheme and decorative theme all its own. They’re not subtle, but it’s safe to say this isn’t the sort of hotel you’ll forget any time soon.

The same can be said for the restaurants. Le Donjon is the gastronomic restaurant, spanning three separate rooms, one decorated by artist Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, and each with its own view of the Channel. And Le Bistrot is set in the outlying cottage — along with four more bedrooms and the hotel’s spa, which features a private sauna and a rooftop jacuzzi with an extraordinary 360-degree view of the sea, the cliffs, and the town.