Le Havre tour question: Giverney plus Roen or Honfleur?

The tours I have seen seem to say you have to choose 2 of these three destination.. I had wanted to see all 3..We will be in Le Havre from 7:00 am to 8:00 Pm.. if we had to chose only 2 what do you recommend ( for those of you who have visited all three at some point..) or do we try to find a private car.. and do all 3, or will be be spending too much time in the car, and not see anything at all.. or perhaps we can visit 2 of them and just drive though the 3rd to get a look.. Anyone with tour or taxi experience.. cold use your advice and recommendations.. thanks

Giverny= Monet (takes some time)

Rouen=history (takes some time)

Honfleur=postcard photos (nothing else)

I'd pick Giverny and Rouen to enjoy and not be rushed and find a postcard with a photo of Honfleur harbor, pay the €1.50, and call it a day. :cool:

Michael

Driving time alone to go to all three would be over 4 hours. Plot the routes in google maps and then decide how much time you want to spend in the car.

Even with advance tickets you stand in line for Monet's Garden. In high season that takes time, but is worth it. I would suggest you take a tour with priority entrance.

Rouen is beautiful and takes time to enjoy its secrets. Honfleur is postcard perfection, a great place for a walk and a coffee. They are all worth the trip but impossible to do all in one day. We actually really enjoyed the post-war architecture in Le Havre and happily spent a day there. Tough choices.

Honfleur wins hands down for me for it's art galleries and beauty.

We did all three with a Viator tour. It was a bit rushed, but it is do-able. If I had to do it again, I'd probably just do two: Giverny and Le Havre. I would save Rouen for another visit, as it's the easiest one to do DIY-style. (Taxi/Uber to train station, and a pretty direct train trip to Rouen).

Giverny and Honfleur were the most unique. We enjoyed Honfleur because it is authentic yet simple. Have a nice meal, shop for Normandy based items, no rushing needed.

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We could do all 3 with a rental car....but it is a bit of a stretch. Rouen and Giverny do work for tours because of the routing. But Honfleur is off in another direction so will not generally be packaged in normal tours. It is possible to do Giverny and Rouen. But it is a hike from the Rouen train station into the heart of town....and from the Civerny (Vernon) station you would likely want to use the bus to get to Monet's home. The train is worthless when it comes to visiting Honfleur. For Honfleur you would need a taxi or local bus to get to and from Le Havre.

Hank

We were in Le Havre on a Sunday. The plan was to go to Honfleur but we were advised there were few public buses and it would be risky if there wasn't room on the bus back. We ended up spending a leisurely day in Le Havre and it was fine.

At the cruise terminal, I did see a taxi company advertising 3-hour tours to Honfleur.

I am someone who advocates NOT driving a lot from a port. So my choice would be to stay in Honfleur.

That's what we did when we docked in Le Havre. We had a lovely day there.

We chose to do a separate land trip to Normandy a few months later which gave us time to really see Rouen and the Normandy ports.

If you think you won't be back in the area again, then you have to decide if the travel time is worth it. But we spent three days in Rouen on our road trip, and another three in the Normandy Beaches area.

You just can't do that on a day in port on a cruise ship.

But you CAN see Le Havre or Honfleur ... what is your preference?

For musicians, the Maisons Satie in Honfleur is/are not to be missed.

Mura

We're headed this way next summer. Does anyone know if Uber is available in Le Havre for heading to Honfleur?

Any suggestions on HOW to get to Giverny from Le Harve port?

When we went to Giverny it wasn't from Le Havre, but we were on a car trip and so of course we drove. I believe you can get there by train but don't quote me. By car it's supposed to be about an hour and a half.

See here: https://www.trainline.eu/train-times/le-havre-to-vernon-giverny?gclid=CjwKCAjwuITNBRBFEiwA9N9YEK7pvhIpKRpHRAuibQ_HJmiUfaRaYFJG3HoVqpSLei0qWHG4VbRdexoC9_UQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNCkz57u9dUCFUi_swodAO4LoA

That long link translates to a ******* of yd2wtjks. (CC usually doesn't let me write out a *******.)

Apparently the train station is Vernon-Giverny. As I recall it's a short drive from Vernon to GIverny. You could probably get a cab. It looks like the train times are just under 2 hours or just under 3 hours, depending on what time you leave. That makes it hard but not impossible to see Giverny which is certainly one of my "not to be missed" places to visit.

Unfortunately Le Havre is really quite a way from tourist's usual Normandy destinations. That's why we did a car trip and took about a week for Normandy.

Mura