Alabaster Coast tour from La Havre

[ISABELLA]

Have anyone did this tour? Cruiseline or private? Please share your opinions.

Thanks

[Hlitner]

We drove over to Fecamp and Etretat a couple of years ago while we were docked in LeHavre on a port day. Having been to France many times on lengthy driving trips (and quite a few cruises) we had already done all the usual things in the LeHavre region. So, we rented a car and drove over to Honfleur for lunch. We than reversed course and drove east to see the Alabaster Coast. To be honest we were not very impressed with Fecamp but did find the views at Etretat to be nice. If you like looking at a beach with some cliffs at either end than you will love your day. That being said, I would not put the Alabaster Coast high on my list of places to see. In fact, the only reason we drove over to that area was that we had the time, did not want to go back to the D-Day part of Normandy, and figured the drive would be something new.

 

Hank

[ISABELLA]

Hank,

Over the years I used your great advices quite a few times and very much trust your experiences.

As you said, you 've been to France a few times and drove up and down the country - If not the Normandy beaches or Paris what would you recomend to see there - we will be in La Havre one day on the Jewel of the Sea?

Looking forward to you ideas.

Thank you again.

Isabella

[Hlitner]

Isabella, You can certainly explore the Alabaster Coast with a rental car (it is a nice ride from Le Havre. As I mentioned in the prior post, we really enjoy spending some time in Honfleur if nothing more than to enjoy lunch. But, Honfleur is the opposite direction from the Alabaster Coast (when driving from LeHavre) so duplicating our itineary does waste a lot of time just driving back and forth. We actually managed to drive from LeHavre to Honfleur, than on to Deuville, back to Honfleur (for lunch) and than all the way east to the Alabaster Coast. It was a lot of driving, but we had a very long port day since our ship did not depart until 10pm. But, given normal port days we would recommend either going west to Honfleur and Deuville, or heading the opposite way to the Alabaster Coast. Doing both in a port day can be a bit too much for most folks. It's fun driving the back roads and enjoying the countryside.

 

Hank

[bigwally]

Hank, who did you hire your car from and were they open late for returning it?

[ISABELLA]

Hank,

As, alsways, thank you for your kind suggestions and ideas.

We decided to hire a taxi tour for 4 hours with another couple. It will be our first stop of the cruise and none of us feeling like driving or doing anything extensive after a long day/ night traveling to the ship.

[Hlitner]

Hank, who did you hire your car from and were they open late for returning it?

 

We are currently traveling so I do not have any of my records at hand. We do not remember which rental car company we used in LeHavre, but it was one of the majors (probably Budget or Avis) and the rental location was a good 2 miles from the ship. We used a taxi to get to and from the rental car dealer and we were able to drop our car after hours by simply parking and dropping the keys in a slot (this is pretty routine for most of the major rental car dealers). We do not recall if there were any other dealers close to the port so you might want to post this as a separate topic.

 

Han