Find out what to see and do during your cruise stopover in and around the ports of call of Cherbourg, Honfleur, Caen/Ouistreham, Le Havre and Rouen. You’ll be spoilt for choice…
Cherbourg cruise port
The outcrop of granite cliffs overlooking the port gives your approach to Cherbourg a dramatic aspect, and the great embrace of the harbour roads – they say – are equally impressive. And on either side, spectacular sandy beaches and rocky inlets that characterise the 450km of coastline on the Cotentin peninsula surround Normandy’s ‘hedgerow country’.
On April 10th 1912 the largest ship then afloat in the world, the Titanic, left the largest “artificial” harbour in the world, on its way to the United States…
Cherbourg is a naval arsenal, a fishing harbour and ferry terminal, as well as a commercial port. There are lots of tours possible out of Cherbourg, to the Cap de la Hague headland on one side or the D-Day Landing Beaches on the other. Official multilingual guides are on hand to provide commentaries. Set in hedgerow country par excellence, the village Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the first town to be liberated on D-Day, is only 40 minutes away!
Another 40 minutes by coach and you are in Bayeux, a beautiful medieval town untouched by the Second World War.
In the port of Cherbourg, The Quai de France and the Quai de Normandie are both capable of receiving the largest cruise ships. These are secured areas, both conforming to ISPS rules, and tailor-made receptions can be organised in safety with tasting of local produce, and more as required.
Don’t miss
- The famous Cité de la Mer maritime museum and its Titanic exhibition
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg factory
- The Thomas Henry Museum, located behind the beautiful theatre on the central square
Le Havre cruise port
Your approach to the port of Le Havre is marked by a spire and a bridge, both modern, concrete and cutting edge. Your backdrop is the graceful arc of the Normandy Bridge that straddles the estuary of the Seine. Your destination is Le Havre, ideally positioned for maritime traffic between the North Sea and the Atlantic, the second port of France (the first for container traffic) and happy to receive the largest and smallest of ships 24/7. Le Havre also has two dedicated quays to receive river cruise ships in the old docks area, now a shopping centre.
Le Havre is the true birthplace of Impressionism! This is where Claude Monet painted ‘Impression, Sunrise’, which gave its name to the famous artistic movement.
Le Havre is the perfect starting point for trips up towards Rouen and evenParis. Its association with the liners of the past confers a great pedigree, and it remains the favoured port as “the gateway to Paris”, only 3 hours from the capital by coach.
The town is relatively young by Normandy standards, invented in 1517 as a deep-draught tide-free harbour, and re-invented by the architect Auguste Perret after the obliteration of the old town in 1944. On our approach the first thing you will see is the Church of Saint Joseph with its vertiginous 107m tall spire pierced by panels of coloured light. The inside on the church is truly breathtaking!
Professional accredited guides can accompany you to Etretat and the Alabaster Coast, to Giverny and Monet’s gardens, to Honfleur, Deauville, the Flowered Coast and the Pays d’Auge, and of course to Caen and the D-Day Landing Beaches nearby.
Don’t miss
- The MuMa (André Malraux Museum of Moder Art) with its Impressionist paintings
- The stunning church of St. Joseph
- The Volcano and its beautiful library
Rouen cruise port
The city of dreaming spires, the capital of Normandy, and the most wonderful approach along the meandering River Seine. Your cruise along the river begins by passing under the graceful archway of the Normandy Bridge at the estuary entrance, and continues upstream with the sinuous sinews of the river revealing chalk cliffs on the one side, and adding to the rich alluvial soils on the other. Running the length of it is the “Royal Road” where privileged souls could build beautiful south-facing properties in times past – or great abbeys and churches. You glide past villages and landscapes, Caudebec-en-Caux, the abbeys of Saint Wandrille, Jumièges, and so many views that have inspired Impressionist painters – you will be able to imagine yourself into their paintings! Then Rouen Cathedral itself comes into view… Thirty paintings later you have your Monet’s worth!
The riches of Rouen are hard to summarise: it was once one of the most prosperous cities of medieval Europe accumulated on the back of the textile industry and the river traffic on the Seine, over which it held a monopoly all the way to Paris. The immense glory of the west front of the cathedral looks down upon the Renaissance “Great Clock” (Gros Horloge) and its medieval street that leads on to the Old Market Square ever associated with the burning desire of the English to have done with Joan of Arc. Its cobbled streets invite exploration as your eye is led to the effusions of the flamboyant gothic churches of Saint-Maclou and Saint-Ouen. So many hidden treasures in its many museums, and “shop until you drop” should you choose…
The cruise terminal in Rouen has every facility for the reception of your passengers and the maintenance of your boat. There are 4 quays able to receive ships up to 270 metres in length, with an 8.4m freshwater draught. It is just a 30 minute walk to the city centre, but of course there is a shuttle laid on!
Don’t miss
- The medieval city centre with its half-timbered buidings
- Notre-Dame Cathedral, France’s highest!
- La Couronne, the oldest restaurant in France!
Honfleur cruise port
As your ship is drawn into the embrace of the Seine estuary your arrival is marked by the graceful and triumphant arch of the Honfleur cable-stay bridge straddling the river, the longest such bridge in the world when it was built!
Honfleur is able to receive cruise ships on the Seine itself, while river-cruise boats can moor in the locked tide-free area next to the medieval port. This is often described as the jewel in the crown of Normandy: it is so quaint it hurts.
Over centuries this was where you would have had to come for fish, for salt, for trade, for privateering. How could such a place have survived all those wars and sieges? What about that medieval wooden church? It is packed with monuments and heritage and all its associations with the sea and salt and the Impressionist painters who found their inspiration there. It has an impossibly beautiful townscape and it’s only a mile from where you dock.
Inaugurated in 2013, Honfleur boasts two dedicated docks and a terminal to receive cruise ships, QSH N°1 for ships up to 160 metres, QSH N°3, up to 260 metres long and both with a maximum draught of 9m. There’s a dedicated and secure area to ISPS norms for all facilities like customs desks, hospitality desk and areas where coaches and shuttles may gather are provided.
Don’t miss
- The ‘Vieux Bassin’ (old port) with its restaurants
- The Erik Satie museum
- The wooden church of St. Catherine
Caen cruise port
When you approach the coast of Caen, you are right there, with the D-Day Landing Beaches to one side, the “Flowered Coast” on the other, and then you cut into the Orne valley for an unusual inland cruise: you are already in the heart of Normandy!
The port of Ouistreham-Riva-Bella is a seaside resort serving the City of William the Conqueror. Here a tide-free canal, with only the one lock to secure its level for the 90-minute 10-mile cruise to Caen takes you along the verdant valley of the Orne. The historic Pegasus Bridge, the first place to be liberated on D-Day, lifts to the vertical and salutes you as you glide by: and may your great ship blast its horn by way of celebration!! Then past the fine eighteenth century château of Bénouville and the wooded grounds and park of the château de Beauregard on your way right into the city. You will dock only a 20-minute walk from the medieval city.
This smooth and settled approach is perfect for your passengers and for your ship. There are two bespoke quaysides dedicated to handling big cruise ships. In the Nouveau Bassin the quai Gaston Lamy receives ships up to 145 metres long and 24 metres wide, while the Calix quay welcomes ships up to 165 metres. These are secured areas, both conforming to ISPS rules, and tailor-made receptions can be organised in safety ex-quay.
Don’t miss
- The beautiful sandy beach of Ouistreham
- The Men’s Abbey (Abbaye aux Hommes) in th heart of Caen
- The Caen Memorial museum