Honfleur (LeHarve), La Rochelle, Vigo from past X cruisers

[suec12]

With the search function disabled, searching in the ports section is a bit tedious!

 

We are looking at one of the wine cruisers for in the fall and trying to figure out some options in these ports. none are the BIG ports with many posts on what to do or easily researched!

 

Going to Honfleur - on our own? I've read the bus service is spotty but have others done this? We don't mind some walking. Other DIY options at LeHarve, we've visited Paris before, also the Normandy beaches.

 

Have other cruisers done LaRochelle with X or is that a new port this year? Are there shuttles or is it a walk off the ship option. We'd like to visit Ile d'Roi - is that doable on our own?

 

Vigo - we've been to Santiago de Compostela - other options for Vigo?

 

We definately prefer easy do on our own options, not renting a car. I am interested in this cruise but don't want to feel there are not good options in the ports. Any feedback appreciated. Thanks!

[Wine-O]

With the search function disabled, searching in the ports section is a bit tedious!

 

We are looking at one of the wine cruisers for in the fall and trying to figure out some options in these ports. none are the BIG ports with many posts on what to do or easily researched!

 

Going to Honfleur - on our own? I've read the bus service is spotty but have others done this? We don't mind some walking. Other DIY options at LeHarve, we've visited Paris before, also the Normandy beaches.

 

Have other cruisers done LaRochelle with X or is that a new port this year? Are there shuttles or is it a walk off the ship option. We'd like to visit Ile d'Roi - is that doable on our own?

 

Vigo - we've been to Santiago de Compostela - other options for Vigo?

 

We definately prefer easy do on our own options, not renting a car. I am interested in this cruise but don't want to feel there are not good options in the ports. Any feedback appreciated. Thanks!

 

In Vigo, get a hold of Brendan Lowe: http://www.guidedgalicia.blogspot.com/p/cruise-tours.html

 

He gets great reviews. We were scheduled to do a tour of Vigo - Cambados - Combarro - Pontevedra - Vigo. (with winery stop), but our ship got diverted.

[Turtles06]

Our westbound TA on the Infinity this past fall had port calls in La Rochelle and Vigo. I did many searches on this board about those ports (not much info to be found), and also on Trip Advisor (which was particularly helpful for La Rochelle).

 

For us, La Rochelle was a DIY day. The ship docks well out of town, and there's a free shuttle. The Vieux Port area of La Rochelle is charming and well worth walking around. The harbor is guarded by three old towers, and you can climb up into them for great views overlooking the town. Then walk around town, have some fantastic nutella crepes, gelato, take it all in. Be sure to buy some salted caramels (and, if you are a cook, the local sea salt). If the weather is bad, the aquarium in La Rochelle is supposed to be excellent.

 

Here's a great site for downloading La Rochelle street maps:

 

http://www.holidays-la-rochelle.co.uk/city-maps

 

As for getting to Ile de Re on your own, I'm not sure about that. Perhaps you could go by taxi. If I recall correctly, the ship had a shore excursion there.

 

We enjoyed La Rochelle very much; a nice relaxed day walking around at our own pace in a charming French town (and one of the best nutella crepes I've ever had :) ).

 

As for Vigo, not much there. We too had been to Santiago de Compostela, so we decided to stay in Vigo and walk around. This is very easy to do, as the ship docks right at the foot of the old town area. If you enjoy mussels, you can get some fresh ones for lunch. As for Vigo overall, there's some interesting architecture, but the key historic church was closed when we were there (no idea why). All in all, not the most interesting of ports. You might consider an excursion to a winery; this is the area where albariño is from.

 

Here's the Vigo tourist web site; Vigo sounds more interesting here than it turned out to be:

 

http://www.turismodevigo.org/en/tourism-professionals

 

If you have specific questions, just ask. (As for Honfleur, scroll around on the France board, lots of info there about visiting from Le Havre. It sounds wonderful.)

 

Here are a couple of images of La Rochelle:

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

Edited February 19, 2014 by Turtles06

[vedettes1]

The town of La Rochelle is wonderful and the inner harbor is one of the most picturesque anywhere. Same for Honfleur.

 

If you are comfortable renting and driving a car in France, you can explore Ile de Re. Otherwise I have my doubts. As for Honfleur, you can rent a car in Le Havre. Crossing the Seine on the Pont du Normandie is spectacular. Again, I think it is iffy if you don't rent a car.

[Turtles06]

In Vigo, get a hold of Brendan Lowe: http://www.guidedgalicia.blogspot.com/p/cruise-tours.html

 

He gets great reviews. We were scheduled to do a tour of Vigo - Cambados - Combarro - Pontevedra - Vigo. (with winery stop), but our ship got diverted.

 

Folks on the Spain board have asked why they haven't been hearing back from Lowe, and post 12 on the thread linked below says he's not around. (No idea whether this is true or not, but I recalled reading it recently so I wanted to give the OP the link. It's hard for folks like the OP with the search engine not working right now.):

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1887978

[Wine-O]

Folks on the Spain board have asked why they haven't been hearing back from Lowe, and post 12 on the thread linked below says he's not around. (No idea whether this is true or not, but I recalled reading it recently so I wanted to give the OP the link. It's hard for folks like the OP with the search engine not working right now.):

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1887978

 

That's too bad. It was back in 2011 when we had him booked.

 

I had a tour in Tenerife cancelled because the tour guide was Danish and the Tourism industry put him out of business effective 30 Sep 2013. I think Brendan was from NZ (I think, but he wasn't Portuguese) and maybe the Portuguese Dept of Tourism put him out of business also.

[Turtles06]

That's too bad. It was back in 2011 when we had him booked.

 

I had a tour in Tenerife cancelled because the tour guide was Danish and the Tourism industry put him out of business effective 30 Sep 2013. I think Brendan was from NZ (I think, but he wasn't Portuguese) and maybe the Portuguese Dept of Tourism put him out of business also.

 

Probably not in Spain though. :);)

[ClaudiaB]

We did a TA a couple years ago and we spent the day in Honfleur. It was a beautiful, fun day to just walk around the charming town. We had a group of cruise critic people together. We walked (turns out it was nearly two mile walk) to the bus station, purchased round trip tickets and took the bus there. If we did it again, we'd just take a taxi to the bus station or price it out a taxi the entire way there. At the end of the day we had that 2 mile walk again so keep that in mind.

What a beautiful part of France the northern Normandy area is. I think I could spend weeks there and never get tired or bored of it.

[Us Two]

We docked in Le Havre, took $8.00 taxi ride to bus station( is also train station) Asked re bus to Honfluer and told us time (maybe it was 8-45--9.00 am) and number. Think it cost $5.00 return, or such. Word of caution,make sure you get the # right for the bus back. We got the wrong one, and had a 1-30 min ride going the wrong way!! Got back eventually tho.

 

We were fortunate to be there on a Sat, when there is a wonderful market.

Have to agree, the inner harbour is very scenic. It really is easy if you get the info right. Wish I were going.

[gosport11]

Le Harve its self is worth exploring,they have a good tourist board

We enjoyed going to La Rochelle and just walking about we visted the tower in the photos

Vigo we normally end up browsing the shops as long as its not Sunday,you can also get oysters from the various bars in the old town,a vist to cortes englais (a department store is a must)if you like walking a trek to the top of the hill is worth it alto its very steep :)

[Floflegs]

La Rochelle and Le Havre have walking yours which you can do on your own.

In Honfleur 6 of us shared a taxi. The driver left us in Honfleur and came back at a prearranged time. It is a lovely little place.

[suec12]

Floflegs - did you pre-arrange the taxi. I thought I read somewhere that folks were surprised at lack of taxis at the LeHarve dock.

 

Wow good thing I was able to edit this - I had mistakenly noted your name as Froglegs - exxxcuse me!

Edited February 19, 2014 by suec12

[CathyCruises]

We did a TA a couple years ago and we spent the day in Honfleur. It was a beautiful, fun day to just walk around the charming town. We had a group of cruise critic people together. We walked (turns out it was nearly two mile walk) to the bus station, purchased round trip tickets and took the bus there. If we did it again, we'd just take a taxi to the bus station or price it out a taxi the entire way there. At the end of the day we had that 2 mile walk again so keep that in mind.

What a beautiful part of France the northern Normandy area is. I think I could spend weeks there and never get tired or bored of it.

 

We spent a week there post-TA a few years ago, got off the ship at Le Havre, and I guarantee you it wasn't enough! We really love Northern France. . .and they have the best food we have ever found in France.

[vedettes1]

I think most Americans think Paris and Provence, but Normandy and Brittany are very special.

[Floflegs]

Floflegs - did you pre-arrange the taxi. I thought I read somewhere that folks were surprised at lack of taxis at the LeHarve dock.

 

Wow good thing I was able to edit this - I had mistakenly noted your name as Froglegs - exxxcuse me!

 

No, we did not prearranged the taxi. With 6 of us we needed one of the larger ones but it was no problem. Taxis were arriving all the time and there was no big queue.

[Turtles06]

I think most Americans think Paris and Provence, but Normandy and Brittany are very special.

 

Just from the one day we spent touring the WWII sites from Le Havre I found Normandy to be beautiful and someplace I'd like to return for a land-based vacation.

[Hlitner]

We would urge to OP to repost their questions on the appropriate port of call board where we deal with these question on a very regular basis. And yes, it is true that public bus service between Le Havre and Honfleur is not very good (the frequency sucks). While it is possible to work with the bus schedule (although you need to wait until near your cruise to see if it is changed) this is one reason why we prefer to simply rent a car for the day.

 

Hank

[CathyCruises]

Just from the one day we spent touring the WWII sites from Le Havre I found Normandy to be beautiful and someplace I'd like to return for a land-based vacation.

 

Definitely worth it. The area is dotted with great b&b's that are very reasonable and so picturesque--can't even describe how much we enjoyed it.

 

At one particular place, a beautiful old manor house set in acres of cultivated ground, the host asked us if we wanted to see what was in his barn. So we trooped out, he opened the doors, and there stood a WWII Howitzer in perfect condition, 25' long, polished and gleaming, tires looked new! Apparently someone wanting to start a museum was collecting artifacts, and asked the local farmers to store them in their barns until he got it built. The little towns and villages are so charming, the food so fresh and authentic--really a fantastic vacation spot.

[Turtles06]

Definitely worth it. The area is dotted with great b&b's that are very reasonable and so picturesque--can't even describe how much we enjoyed it.

 

 

Thank you! I assume the best way to see this area is to rent a car? Neither of us speaks French, which concerns us a bit for that type of touring. Years ago, we rented a car in Champagne for a couple of days, and found it stressful because we don't speak French. (That is a part of France where most folks don't speak English.) With the caveat that I'm absolutely not one of those Americans who expects people in other countries to speak English (and am pleasantly surprised when they do), what is it like in Normandy? Should we be concerned about renting a car, driving around, and not being able to speak French?

 

Is there a good alternative to doing this totally on our own?

[saatuk]

Honfleur - took the ship excursion, but left the guide and walked around by myself. Really enjoyed it and accidently found a butterfly greenhouse (past the main part of town headed towards the Seine). Lovely church, and I don't usually bother with them. It probably would have been cheaper to take a taxi.

 

From Le Havre - I haven't seen anyone yet mention Mont St Michel. Being close enough to get there was one of the main reasons I booked one of those cruises. It's a bit of a trek, but the Mont is a special place.

[CathyCruises]

Thank you! I assume the best way to see this area is to rent a car? Neither of us speaks French, which concerns us a bit for that type of touring. Years ago, we rented a car in Champagne for a couple of days, and found it stressful because we don't speak French. (That is a part of France where most folks don't speak English.) With the caveat that I'm absolutely not one of those Americans who expects people in other countries to speak English (and am pleasantly surprised when they do), what is it like in Normandy? Should we be concerned about renting a car, driving around, and not being able to speak French?

 

Is there a good alternative to doing this totally on our own?

 

We rented a car and although DH speaks French, we could have been just fine without knowing any. The particular B & B I mention above is run by an English couple and almost everyone we encountered spoke way better English than we spoke French.

 

We rented our car in Le Havre. Normally we are road warriors, going long distances every day. But after 5 days in Normandy, we were startled to find that we had only gone about 200 miles. I really highly recommend it--you will not be disappointed.

 

The place above is just outside Bayeux, called Le Manoir de Herouville, you can find it on Trip Advisor with fantastic reviews. We also stayed at another great spot, interestingly named Le Grand Hard, just outside of St. Mere Eglise by Utah Beach--the rooms weren't as great but the grounds and restaurant on site were wonderful.

[Turtles06]

We rented a car and although DH speaks French, we could have been just fine without knowing any. The particular B & B I mention above is run by an English couple and almost everyone we encountered spoke way better English than we spoke French.

 

We rented our car in Le Havre. Normally we are road warriors, going long distances every day. But after 5 days in Normandy, we were startled to find that we had only gone about 200 miles. I really highly recommend it--you will not be disappointed.

 

The place above is just outside Bayeux, called Le Manoir de Herouville, you can find it on Trip Advisor with fantastic reviews. We also stayed at another great spot, interestingly named Le Grand Hard, just outside of St. Mere Eglise by Utah Beach--the rooms weren't as great but the grounds and restaurant on site were wonderful.

 

 

Thanks for all this great info!

[Denny01]

We did Honfluer on our own and shared a taxi with another couple. I think it was $50 round trip. That is not bad compared to walking to/from the bus station and it may be spotty service, at least according to the earlier posters.

 

The price could be more now. We just stepped off the ship and found a taxi. Honfleur is not that far at all.

 

Well worth it and beautiful place. I must have taken a photo of a 100 doors. Neat!

 

Nice places to eat around the small harbor.

 

Den