Not to miss

Mémorial - Un Musée pour la Paix

Located in a vast multilevel edifice on Esplanade Dwight Eisenhower, 3km northwest of the City Centre, Caen's high-tech museum, Mémorial - Un Musée pour la Paix, provides an outstanding and vivid account of the Battle of Normandy and the challenges to world peace from WWII to today.

The visit begins with a whistlestop overview of Europe's descent into total war, tracing events from the end of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, through the rise of fascism in Europe and the French occupation, right up to the Battle of Normandy. Unsurprisingly for one of France's flagship museums, it's a hugely impressive affair, using sound, lighting, film, animation and audio testimony, as well as a range of artefacts and exhibits, to graphically evoke the realities of war and the trials of occupation and liberation.

A second section of the museum focuses on the Cold War and the prospects for world peace. There's also an underground gallery dedicated to winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, located in bunkers used by the Germans during the battle for Caen in 1944. All signs are in French, English and German. Your ticket remains valid for 24 hours, so you can split your visit over two days if you wish.

To get to the museum, take bus No 2 from place Courtonne in the town centre. By car, follow signs marked 'Mémorial'.

Abbaye aux Hommes

Caen's two Romanesque abbeys were built by William the Conqueror and his wife, Matilda of Flanders, after the distant cousins had been absolved by the Roman Catholic church for marrying. The Abbaye aux Hommes, with its multiturreted Église St-Étienne, is at the end of rue Écuyère and was William's final resting place. The tomb was destroyed in turn by a 16th-century Calvinist mob and by 18th-century revolutionaries - a solitary thighbone is all that's left of Will's mortal remains. The convent buildings are today home to the town hall.

Caen Castle

Looming over the city centre and surrounded by a dry moat, Château de Caen was founded by William the Conqueror in 1060 and extended by his son Henry I. Wander around the ramparts and historic buildings, and visit the Jardin des Simples, a garden of medicinal herbs cultivated during the Middle Ages. But beware, some are poisonous!