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Honfleur, Sept 17th. Private guide


RJB

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Looking for private guide to go to the D Day landing beaches and anything in between that is interesting. :)

 

http://www.normandy-travel.net/contact/contact.htm

 

When we took our WWII veteran parents to Normandy, we used Normandy Travel and they were superb.

 

The customization that they can provide is amazing and, what was most memorable to us was that their staff approached the facts of the war with respect for the sacrifices that were made.

 

Be sure to specify that you're day tripping off a cruise, as Normandy also offers land based tours.

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We used last May:

http://www.normandytownandcountry.com

Eric was absolutely fabulous and he is a British ex pat so we could understand him. We were picked up at Le Havre and toured different battle sites and the two (German & American) cemeteries and then, to lighten things up a tad, we spent the last 90 minutes touring Honflour. We loved that town, it was gorgeous.

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Looking for private guide to go to the D Day landing beaches and anything in between that is interesting. :)

Have you checked your Roll Call to see if others are looking to share tours?

You need to book early as these private guide get snapped up very early for the port stops;)

 

They do not come cheap either

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Just sticking my oar in where it hasn't been requested ...

 

Our last Renaissance cruise (May 2001) was Dover to Stockholm and the first port of call was Le Havre. I looked into tours to the Beaches (whether privately or on a ship's tour) and concluded that the distance was just too much to really do justice to the Beaches. I know that many people are happy with a day's tour up there driving a couple of hours each way, but I was not.

 

So we spent the whole day in Honfleur (took a cab there, the local bus back) and had a wonderful time. If you do not want to spend a lot of time on the road, there is plenty to do in Honfleur and it is a beautiful little town.

 

The next fall we did a land tour to Normandy (driving from Paris) and spent several days in the Beaches area. I can recommend a lovely B&B and guide if anyone is interested ...

 

Mura

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We actually did that excursion using a ship tour, one of few I have done with ships. It turned out to be a great tour and we were able to see all the beach , landing sites, the American cemetary etc. of course you won't see Honfluer on same day, so little time, and agree with Mura what a lovely city that is.

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we did a land tour to Normandy (driving from Paris) and spent several days in the Beaches area. I can recommend a lovely B&B and guide if anyone is interested ...

 

Mura

 

I would be very interested in knowing where you stayed, since we will be touring Normandy prior to boarding the ship, so we can then spend our only day in Honfleur walking around the town. Thank you

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I would be very interested in knowing where you stayed, since we will be touring Normandy prior to boarding the ship, so we can then spend our only day in Honfleur walking around the town. Thank you

 

Bear in mind that our information is a tad old! But we stayed at Le Mas Normand, booked through bonadresse.com. The B&B's email was <lemasnormand@wanadoo.fr>. This is a lovely home which has a separate building with two apartments, and as I recall there was a single room in the main house. Dinner there was delicious because the husband was a former chef.

 

We were there in November 2002. The owners were 40-50ish, so might still well be there. You might try searching at http://www.bonadresse.com to see if it still exists!

 

Our guide, who was recommended by the B&B couple, was Henri Leers and right now I'm searching to find his contact info. I know I have it somewhere (!) but if Mylene and her husband still run Le Mas Normand, they will have his info.

 

Feel free to email me at mura@speakeasy.net for further info.

 

 

__________

 

 

 

AHA! I found Henri's info. It's wonderful that I saved it under two possible names because the first macro is totally corrupted but the second one worked:

 

Henri Leers

557, rue du Chateau des Ravalet

50110 Tourlaville

France

 

Tel. 33 02 33 20 55 76

Fax 33 02 33 20 44 87

 

email: hleers@wanadoo.fr

 

 

Again, this is 8 years old! Good luck!

 

This was a great trip. We only used Henri for the day at the Normandy beaches, and drove around on our own to Bayeux and etc. We were in the vicinity for 3 nights, I believe, and then moved on to Mt. St. Michel. It does help to have a car!

 

Mura

 

 

 

 

P.S. I just went to bonadresse.com and found our place here: http://www.bonadresse.com/alist_bed-breakfast-bayeux.htm

 

Go down about 6-7 places. Prices are from 64 Euros, which is about what we paid 8 years ago.

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I would be very interested in knowing where you stayed, since we will be touring Normandy prior to boarding the ship, so we can then spend our only day in Honfleur walking around the town. Thank you

 

We did a self driving two week trip through Normandy in 2008. If you are going to stay in Normandy prior to the cruise, I wouldn't pick Honfleur. There are other places (e.g. Bayeux) that I think are better spots for a stay. If you would like read my trip report to see what we did, simply e-mail me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I DO agree with Cheesi that if you are looking to stay in the area before a cruise, Bayeux or the Normandy Beaches are better places than Honfleur. Honfleur is great for a day's visit.

 

But if you want to stay in the general area before a cruise I would also recommend Rouen -- assuming you have a car. (Well, you will need a car in Bayeux as well!) We spent about 3 days in the Rouen vicinity, which included a stop in Vernon on the way there ...

 

There is lots to see in Normandy.

 

My recommendation for Honfleur was on the assumption that you weren't going to take a ship's tour to the Beaches. The Beaches are great, I just object if you only have half a day there ...

 

In case you haven't figured this out yet, I always prefer to spend more time in a few areas than less time in more areas!

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