Le Havre France question

[goldenfilly]

We will be docking at the port in Le Havre, France and was wondering if there were any fabulous places or private excursions to go on other than going to Normandy. We would really appreciate any suggestions from any of you seasoned cruisers who have been there. We don't want to rent a car but would be willing to take a train somewhere up to about an hour away or as I said before to take a private excursion.:)

[HeinBloed]

We will be docking at the port in Le Havre, France and was wondering if there were any fabulous places or private excursions to go on other than going to Normandy. We would really appreciate any suggestions from any of you seasoned cruisers who have been there. We don't want to rent a car but would be willing to take a train somewhere up to about an hour away or as I said before to take a private excursion.:)

 

As you are willing to go one hour by train there is only Normandy left for any excursions...

 

But Normandy is more than D-Day Beaches or Honfleur...

 

Le Havre itself is UNESCO World Heritage.

 

In one hour range is Rouen.

 

Even you dislike to drive yourself:

 

you can click on my signature and seeing pictures of Rouen - to get an impression and to check if you like to visit or not.

 

To get ideas what we can do when we are next time in Le Havre we check the website of the Taxi Organisation of Le Havre:

 

http://www.taxis-le-havre.com/taxitour/index.html

 

But we are only using the routes as inspiration to develop own plans.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

Another possibility is the seaside village of Honfleur. You can get a cheap local bus from LeHavre. We love to have a nice lunch in one of the outdoor cafes located on the small gorgeous harbor of Honfleur. If your timing is right they will have some of the best mussles (Moules frites) on earth.

 

Hank

[Missus Makkem]

We will be docking at the port in Le Havre, France and was wondering if there were any fabulous places or private excursions to go on other than going to Normandy. We would really appreciate any suggestions from any of you seasoned cruisers who have been there. We don't want to rent a car but would be willing to take a train somewhere up to about an hour away or as I said before to take a private excursion.:)

 

Rouen is lovely and easy by train, lots of medievile buildings and of course Joan of Arc.

[Poohb]

Do NOT (I repeat) NOT bother with the Tourist Train in LeHavre. We were the only 2 people on it, there were speakers in each trolley car BUT the language was French, luckily the driver gave us pamphlets to follow. I would have hoped that they could have planned to have the commentary in a few languages since it is a TOURIST train. LeHavre was 'okay', nothing spectacular. The park in the middle, near a large hotel was lovely. The most interesting area was by the beach since the waves were crashing wildly over the break water barriers.

[gosport11]

Honfleur by public transport will take a lot of planning no 20 bus is the one you want but not frequent service,train to paris 90 min if your lucky,another nice place near by is harfleur this can be reached by a frequent bus service with 2 changes,another option is a taxi tour:),a good point of reference is the Le Harve tourist board web site its really worth while looking at:) we did a self guided walking tour intresting and about 2 hours strolling Le Harve was destroyed during the war :)

[Hlitner]

Honfleur by public transport will take a lot of planning no 20 bus is the one you want but not frequent service,train to paris 90 min if your lucky,another nice place near by is harfleur this can be reached by a frequent bus service with 2 changes,another option is a taxi tour:),a good point of reference is the Le Harve tourist board web site its really worth while looking at:) we did a self guided walking tour intresting and about 2 hours strolling Le Harve was destroyed during the war :)

 

I would have normally suggested just renting a car to drive to Honfleur and nearby Deuville, but the OP said they did not want to rent a car. We have never been a big fan of using the buses for just the reason you mention. One has to plan their day around the bus schedules which, to us, is a royal pain and not the kind of freedom we prefer when traveling. Hence, we often rent cars.

 

Hank

[HeinBloed]

Just as reference:

 

the current bus schedule:

 

http://www.busverts.fr/_hiver/base_horaire/hiver09/L520S2.pdf

 

http://www.busverts.fr/_hiver/base_horaire/hiver09/L520S1.pdf

 

and you see "dimanches et jours féries" (for Sundays and public holidays):

 

only 4 connections.

 

A taxi tour to Honfleur is 115 EUR for 3 hours (for 4 persons)

 

and renting a car is 80 EUR plus fuel plus toll (for the Normandy Bridge)

 

So if you decide for just Honfleur: use the taxi tours.

 

Renting a car is more economic if you want to stay the whole day at morre other places.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed