One night or two in Rouen?

This is what I wrote about Rouen in my 2019 trip report. It was my first stop after flying into CDG.

ROUEN: Now I understand why Monet painted an impressionists series of this beautiful cathedral! I enjoyed seeing the interior of the cathedral, the beautiful exterior, and it was the backdrop for my first French nighttime Light Show. Some highlights in Rouen were their quaint timbered buildings, the Jeanne of Arc church, some wonderful boulangeries, and the Horloge Clock. I spent my second day of Rouen seeing their museums - definitely recommend their Fine Arts Museum – wonderful paintings, and hard to believe it is free and so uncrowded! The Ceramics Museum, a topic I enjoy, was surprisingly dull. Someone had told me not to miss the Metalwork Museum, Musée Le Secq des Tournelles. It was so interesting; I thoroughly enjoyed that one, too!

In Rouen, I stayed at the Mercure Rouen Centre Cathedrale which I had selected to be at the cathedral for the evening light show. I’ve stayed at their hotels previously, so I knew they have a wonderful buffet breakfast. Their huge assortment included delicious local cheese and everything else! For my jet lag nights, I select a hotel where I’m likely to get a good night’s sleep, and this worked well.

In looking at a similar route, I think either could work. If you HAD to pinch a day off trip, 1 night works with a slow start out of town after lunch. Or, you slow it down and take a full day with early start after 2nd night it depends on if you need a breather in your trip or not and if you’ve got the time.

The video tours I’ve “walked” of that town makes think I’d like an extra day there just to slow down a minute.

It's a lovely city. In addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, I also very much enjoyed the wrought-iron museum. I noticed a lot of the visitors were male--more than in most art-related museums.

I know you have a lot of interests requiring time in other parts of Normandy, so I'm not going to say you have to spend two nights in Rouen. I don't think you'll regret it if you do, however.

I am not a "museum guy", so I think that 1 night in Rouen is fine. If you visit Giverny, La Roche Guyon and Lyons la Forêt (the latter is recommended! and this is the order I suggest), you will get to Rouen quite late, but you can have most of the next day to visit Rouen.

It’s possible that Les Andelys is on the route between Giverny / La Roche-Guyon and Lyons-la-Fôrets. In case you have enough time I recommend enjoying the stunning view of Château Gaillard there with the Seine and Les Andelys at the background. Personally I would prefer staying a night in Lyons-la-Fôret instead of Rouen, but that’s my idea.

Hi,

I assume you are seeing La Roche Guyon, parallel to Giverny, as it was the HQ site of the German Army Group B on D-Day. When I was there in 2001, the little chateau there had an exhibition on the events of 1944. I thought it was well done, balanced, even though a modest exhibition.

Rouen, to me, is a must do. And you can easily spend 2 full days. There are some amazing restaurants as well. Le 6e Sens is splendid.

Thanks for everyone's input. Still not sure, but I guess it is the same old problem of not having enough time for my vacation. I am currently leaning towards one night in Rouen with a late departure. That way I will wake up on Omaha Beach the following day before heading off to the Sainte-Mère-Église area.

@Wil, yes I may try to stop at Les Andelys and Château Gaillard. I know all these stops will make me arrive to Rouen later, but we'll see. I pick up my car in Paris at 9:00am.