Topic: Port of Le Havre

What is Le Havre like to visit? Is there a particular part of the town to see? How far from where the ships dock.

It's walkable and very French:

Cruise Passengers’ Guide to Le Havre | Trifter

QUOTE:

What is Le Havre like to visit? Is there a particular part of the town to see? How far from where the ships dock.

It is not the best place to visit and its main influence is the docks although there is an esplanade to walk along but it's a fair trot from the ship.

You would be much better advised to go to Honfleur and spend the day there in that very attractive little harbour town. .......Neil

The town is a very long walk from the docks. The port usually lays on a free shuttle service which makes 4 stops. Two at different points in the town for the shops, one for the park and one for the beach and museum.
There is not much actually in the town, the shops are not very exciting, there is a small indoor mall. As Neil suggests a trip to Honfleur would be a better option.

We have been to Honfleur before and were thinking of getting a cab to Harfleur instead.

Has anyone been to Harfleur before? I've had a look at google maps and a few other sites and there are quite a lot of older buildings and an interesting church. Unfortunately the main museum is closed on tuesdays but it looks as though it might be a pleasanter place to potter around than Le Havre instead.

I'm finding it difficult to find out much information so any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.

Get the No.20 bus from the central bus station and visit the twin seaside towns of Deauville and Trouville (can be seen from your ship). Both are very 'Art Deco' towns which grew in the 1920s as playgrounds for wealthy British and French, now enjoying a regeneration with the British and still loved by Parisians for they are the nearest seaside towns to Paris.

Dave

QUOTE:

Get the No.20 bus from the central bus station and visit the twin seaside towns of Deauville and Trouville (can be seen from your ship). Both are very 'Art Deco' towns which grew in the 1920s as playgrounds for wealthy British and French, now enjoying a regeneration with the British and still loved by Parisians for they are the nearest seaside towns to Paris.

Dave

Thanks for the suggestion, Dave. I might just go to Deauville as I have heard of it before as being a fashionable resort in the past. I think it gets a mention in Gigi as somewhere the parisian folks went to on a weekend in the early 20th century.

Having now been to Le Havre, I thought I'd post my views. We have visited Honfleur before and in the end we just thought we'd have a look at Le Havre itself.

The ship moors at an industrial dock. We took the ship's shuttle bus into town but a couple we met said they walked and it only took then 15 minutes. However that 15 minutes would have been spent walking through the dock roads and would not have been scenic.

Le Havre hasn't got a great reputation but it isn't as bad as we feared. There aren't any old buildings as the place was largely flattened in the war but the new buildings have been put up around some nice squares and gardens. There is a lovely square with big fountains right in the centre of the town. We walked from here along a tree lined path to the beach. Being only April, nothing much was happening at the beach but there was a marina on one side and a long promenade on the other. The beach itself was shingles - when we were there the tide was right in and there was no sand but when we set to sea the next morning the tide was out and we could clearly see an expanse of wet sand between low and high tide levels.

There were cafes with outside seating areas in some of the squares and on some of the bigger pavements.

Le Havre is a not unpleasant place to stroll for a few hours. Nothing much of historical or architectural merit that we saw but we had a pleasant afternoon pottering around.