Rouen & Honfleur in one day from Le Havre?

[shabingie]

We will arrive in Le Havre at 7 am on the Celebrity Eclipse & disembark from port at 9 pm.

 

We would like to rent a car (most likely through Rentacar.fr so we can pick it up at the cruise terminal).

 

Through reading, we would like to visit both Rouen and Honfleur. Is this trying to do too much in one day? We haven't read about anyone doing both.

 

We are open to your thoughts and suggestions.

 

Thanks!

[frenchrci]

Hi,

 

Le havre-Rouen is just 1hr.. So, time to get the car, you should arrive at 9am.

 

Rouen-Honfleur, 1hr too. And then, Honfleur-Le Havre, 30min.

 

You will have 4hr in each city. No problem ! :)

 

 

 

 

N.b: But.. Can i ask you, why "Rouen" ? :confused:

[John Bull]

No time-scale problem in that plan.

 

The boring but simple & direct autoroute to Rouen takes a little over an hour, though mebbe find a prettier route back if time permits.

I've found parking in Rouen difficult, though I've not visited tourist parts.

 

Honfleur is kinda in the opposite direction, though from Rouen to Honfleur you can cut the corner even if you stay on main roads - google also rates that journey at about an hour.

 

Honfleur is under 30 minutes from your ship.

 

I'd recommend that way round - furthest point first. And Honfleur is ok if you only have a half-hour to spend there, but you can laze & people-watch for hours over a nice bottle of red at an outside table of one of the waterfront bars & restaurants.

 

Rouen is easy by train, but Honfleur is not served by train and the bus service is very infrequent, so if you want to do both it'd definitely be better to use a car throughout.

 

Although your sailing is late, your time may be limited by the need to return the car during usual business hours, so be sure to check return times on hirers' websites.

 

And renting in Le Havre is more limited & may be more expensive on a sunday.

 

If you go ahead with the idea, you may be able to halve the cost by finding sharers on the Cruise Critic RollCall.

 

Have a great day, whatever you end up doing.

 

JB :)

[Hlitner]

We think the plan works fine. Our suggestion would be to immediately go to Rouen (in the morning) and then stop at Honfleur on the return trip (perhaps for a late lunch on the cute harbor). This is in keeping with our normal philosophy of going to your furthest point early in the day and then working your way back towards the port.

 

Hank

[Got2Cruise]

On our River Cruise we toured Rouen in the am and after lunch visited Honfluer. We were docked in Rouen. We enjoyed both.