I will be taking a.cruise next October and one of the ports is Le Havre.
I am thinking about my port excursion.
Do I want to stay in and explore Le Havre? Do I want to explore Rouen? Or do I want to take coach to Paris?
I am not well traveled and would appreciate tips and suggestions from those who know these areas.
If you did the Le Havre to Paris bus excursion, is the trip pretty and are there toilets on the coach or do you stop for bathroom breaks?
Paris as a coach excursion from Le Havre sounds horrible, toilet break or no toilet break. It's 6-7 hours round-trip...
Le Havre itself is quite interesting, a great place for 20th century architecture lovers: Niemeyer's Volcano and St Joseph church are amazing, and there are other highlights around town.
Nearby Honfleur is an easy cab or bus ride away, and Rouen is a bit further but doable still (by train). I'd feel safer in Honfleur in terms of ability to head back to the ship in time.
And there's Étretat, too - amazing cliffs there. Not too far by bus or with a driver.
I can't really advise about drivers on Le Havre, but maybe others have info - or you could reach out to the tourist information office, https://www.lehavre-etretat-tourisme.com/en
We had a cruise stop in Le Havre a few years back, and we've been to Paris several times. We opted for the excursion to Rouen because we hadn't been there but wanted to see it. Rouen has a beautiful center, with a famous cathedral painted multiple times by Monet, an interesting "plague cemetery," half-timbered medieval streets, and the place where Joan of Arc was burned. There's also an art museum with a good reputation which we didn't have time to visit.
I wouldn't recommend the Paris excursion because most of it will be going to and from on a bus. I'm sure there's some nice scenery on the way but also a lot of unattractive suburbs and expressways. A few hours in Paris won't go very far, and you may spend much of that time on the bus looking at things from the street. Paris is a fantastic place to visit, but I would give it at least a week if possible. You might think that a vey short visit would tell you whether you like Paris enough to return, but the risk is that the rushed coach experience might skew your perception to the negative. Take the city on its own terms with a longer visit. I could spend a month there easily, others maybe not, but just a few hours isn't worth it.
I haven't been closer to LeHavre than the dock area, but it was heavily bombed in WWII and not much is left of the old city. There is a very good art museum, and a remarkable bridge across the Seine that you might see from the highway on a Rouen or Paris trip. You could probably get into LeHavre easily enough by taxi.
Another option, which you didn't mention, might be an excursion to Honfleur and/or the D-Day beaches. That might also be a worthwhile choice. Honfleur is so close to LeHavre that your bus time would be minimized.
Thank you for your responses.
I forgot to mention Honfleur as one of my interests and options.
My cruise line does offer excursions to both Honfleur and Rouen. Both are attractive and reasonably priced. Whichever one I pick, I will book it through my cruise line because I get $50 plus a little more off as an amenity and should anything goes wrong, the ship will be held for 2 hours or more. All of us on the excursion will be passengers on the same ship.
Between Honfleur and Rouen, I would choose Rouen. I would run out of things to do in Honfleur after 3 hours or so.
Thanks for posting this. We are on a Transatlantic next April/May (2024), stopping in Le Havre, so the responses are great.
We are thinking of doing Rouen independently, but I see some tour options that cover Rouen and Giverny.
We are in port twelve hours.
I forgot to check out how long we are in port but it must be over 10 hours.
Honfleur is a four hour excursion while Rouen is five hours
There is a Rouen Giverny. option offered as well which is 9 1/2 hours long and includes a meal.
Andrea, I am sailing Norwegian. Are you also?
And to add...my favorite board game : )
Le Havre has a certain charm to it. It feels totally different--naturally. But there are some amazing sites.
The Saint-Joseph church is an architectural gem. The shape is so peculiar and when inside it feels like looking at a kaleidoscope .
The MUMA art museum right on the beach is also quite a nice museum. The trip to Paris would be miserable---stick to the Normandie area and you'll be happy.
I have decided against Paris as a shore excursion. It exhausts me just to think of a three hour bus trip each way.
I may stay in Le Havre or I may choose Rouen.
I am not sailing until October and most shore excursions have not yet been loaded. I keep watching. There are more coming but when I make a choice, I will post what I chose.
An excerpt from this thread: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/day-trips-from-le-havre-not-wwii
A transatlantic cruise had been a boyhood dream for Denis, so in 2017, for our first trip to Europe, we took one. We didn't really care about any of the excursion options, so we didn't bother. After the great hordes disembarked for their day trips to Paris (seemed the most popular choice), we just stayed in Le Havre. We had gotten Euros from an ATM while docked in Ponta Delgada, so we already had some money. We went for a walk, desiring to go to the Malraux Museum to see both the Impressionist paintings and the building itself. (I was excited not to have to wear my seasickness bracelets on land!) It's a very nice, modestly sized museum, which we very much enjoyed. Then we just went for a walk around town, looking at whatever there was. After all, we'd never been there before, so it was all new. Following some garden beds, absolutely gorgeous spring beds of such happy colors, we found ourselves in front of city hall. We kept wandering, looking at shop windows, sticking our heads into open churches, just plain experiencing something different. Nervously I bought my first (of many) baguettes in unsure French. I was pleased, lol! It was a good day. We had finished with our dinner and were just relaxing when the ravenous day trippers returned. So, it's an option if you don't find one that appeals to you more.
I am also arriving to Le Harve via cruiseship in July. I was thinking about renting a car and driving west, along the landing beaches, making my way to St. Mont Michel, then back to the ship.
I have about 12 hours.
Thoughts?
Paul has opened a new thread to ask his question: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/le-harve-in-a-day. (Thanks, Paul.)
I will be arriving Le Havre 7 am and not leaving until 11 pm. I guess that is so guests can do the Paris excursion which I have decided against. If the excursion went by train, I might consider but not by bus.
My cruise is not until October and it appears that not all shore excursions have been loaded. I am waiting to see what more might appear.
I am hoping that an excursion to Mont St Michel might be included. How far is Mont St Michel from Le Havre. Maybe in October, it will not be as crowded.
Mont-Saint-Michel will require completely traversing Normandie. I'd say either discover Le Havre or take the bus to Honfleur or Etretat. If I had to choose between the last 2, I'd choose Honfleur.
How far is Mont St Michel from Le Havre
over 2 and a half hours driving a car each way... longer on a coach because the driver has to stop every 2 hours by law.
Not counting any accidents or traffic or delays on the Normandy bridge.
