Le Havre port on a Sunday... and renting a car

[Sandy R]

Emailed Le Havre tourism as to whether Rent A Car and/or Sixt was open on Sunday. I heard back from Clement Parmentier, Cruise coordinator Ass't of Le Havre tourism. He said yes, both will be open... that Rent A Car has an office in the Cruise Terminal of Le Havre and Sixt is about a 15 minute walk from the terminal.

 

After reading the CC boards, I was under the impression that neither car rentals were open on Sunday.

 

Does anyone have first hand experience with renting a car on a Sunday? It would make our plans so much easier if we could rent a car.

[Hlitner]

Well, far be it for me to question the locals but if these places are open on a Sunday it is a nice change. Because we have been in Le Havre on a Sunday and the Rent-a-Car desk was totally desserted and the nearby rental car agencies (to which we have walked in the past) were also closed. So I just looked on the Sixt web site and it shows that nearby office is closed on Sundays. In your situation we would simply try to reserve a car at one of those locations and see what happens. There are some agencies around Europe that will open on Sundays for cruise ships, but we have never found one in France.

 

To be honest, we do not depend on local tourist offices for that type of info but rely solely on direct contact with particular offices. Tourist offices are great for getting brochures or getting a last minute hotel reservation, but often have no clue about what is happening next door!

 

Hank

Edited June 15, 2015 by Hlitner

[Hlitner]

I should have added that Sixt does indicate they will do 24 hr service "upon request" so you may want to explore this option. We have used a similar type service in Livorno, Italy (on a Sunday) a few years ago and had to pay an extra fee to get a car on a closed day.

 

Hank

[cboyle]

Yes, you can rent a car in Le Havre on Sunday. However, you cannot do it online.

 

Contact Julien at le_havre@rentacar.fr; he will tell you what is available and the price.

 

The office at the cruise ship dock is only open on Sunday when cruise ships dock there.

 

And yes, we have reserved a car before for a Sunday in Le Havre.

[Sandy R]

cboyle... thank you for your first-hand information. Our ship will be docked at the Le Havre terminal for the day. According to your experience, that means the Rent A Car office will be open. That certainly makes renting easier! I will definitely contact Julien.

[toyota123]

Hi Sandy....thought I would let you know that we were in Le Havre port yesterday (Friday). It was a ghost town...we drove out of the port at 9:30 am and drove back in about 8:30 pm. The whole port area looked as if no one ever worked there and many closed down businesses. It was kinda creepy. I would be sure to book with a really reputable company and confirm and reconfirm. Hope this helps.

[Sandy R]

Toyota... thanks for update. We'll be there on a Sunday. Hoping to get a taxi to Honfleur, if we can't rent a car.