Rouen - Honfleur - DDay Beaches, doable?

[cpgrneyes]

Our ship docks in Rouen at 7:00 am and sails at 9:00 pm.

 

We were thinking about heading to Paris, but decided to explore the area instead. I'm excited by everything I've read about Honfleur, and would love to spend a couple of hours there, then head to the beaches at Normandy for H, and hopefully still have a couple of hours back in Rouen to see the Cathedral.

 

We're willing to rent a car, but I'm not sure it's doable in 14 hours, and really don't know how to 'see' the D-Day beaches on our own.

 

Any thoughts?

[John Bull]

You don't quote your home town, my response presumes it's the American D-Day beaches that interest you. UK & Commonwealth beaches are closer.

(nb - car hire in France can be difficult on a sunday)

 

You can't do justice to both the D-Day beaches & Honfleur, the hour or two you want to spend in Rouen is also your safety margin to avoid missing the ship if you're delayed.

You'll have to either skip Honfleur or trim the Beaches to the bone - just Omaha/American Cemetery/Pointe du Hoc - and pray that delays don't screw-up time to look round Rouen.

 

Bear in mind that your "back on board" time will be 8.30pm or earlier, and it may not be possible to return the car at the quayside in the evening. Also of course, that after about 5.30/6pm you'll not be able to see or do much because most shops & sights will be closed.

 

Best if you follow this on googlemaps, I'll leave your search engine to tell you about the places.

 

D-Day.

Drive the fast A13 highway (tolls on part) towards Cherbourg. After 130 miles/2hrs 15mins, and about 28 miles before Cherbourg, peel off the highway to Ste Mere-Eglise, which sits alongside the highway.

The Airborne museum here is worth about an hour, plus a coffee in the village centre.

North-east out of the village on quiet country lanes for 6 miles to Ravenouville-Plage, at the western end of Utah beach, then east along the very quiet Utah beach-front road for 5 miles to the excellent Utah museum at La Madeleine, 20/25 mins from Ste Mere-Eglise. At least an hour at this museum.

This next drive is about 28 miles, 45 minutes: Return on country lanes via Ste Marie du Mont to the A13 at St Come du Mont, back towards Rouen on the A13, peel off at Osmanville & country lanes past GrandCamp-Masie to Pointe du Hoc, many guns & defence works here, and the clifftop heavily cratered. Worth 30/45 minutes here, longer if you want to check out other sights close by.

Continue for 8 miles/15 mins to the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-mere. This overlooks Omaha Beach. Allow a total of 60 to 90 minutes here.

From here you can continue for 12 miles/25 mins to Arromanches - small museum on the seafront & remnants of the Mulberry harbour in the bay - and then return to the A13. Or skip Arromanches & go direct from Omaha to the A13.

The A13 by-passes Bayeux, a lot of cruisers visit Bayeux- want to add a fourth dimension to your over-stretched day? :D

There's a large D-Day "Peace" museum in Caen, but you'll not have time for that either, so remain on the A13 as it by-passes the town.

Stay on the A13 to its junction with the A29 to Le Havre. This point is 72 miles/75 mins past Omaha or 66 miles/75 mins past Arromanches.

 

Honfleur

At this point you'll need to decide whether to

-take the A29 for 13 miles/20 mins to Honfleur, spend an hour there, then cross the Seine onto the fast A29 then N15 to Rouen, a further 54 miles/1 hour.

-or skip Honfleur & stay on the A13 direct to Rouen (mebbe stop off at very pleasant Pont Audemer). 44 mls/50 mins.

 

That's over 300 miles/over 6 hrs driving/over 12 hours total, including an hour in Honfleur.

 

Skip Honfleur & you'll trim about 90 mins.

Skip Ste Mere-Eglise & Utah & you'll trim 3.5 hours

You really need to skip something.

Lots of permutations, needs some thought & research to tailor your day to a practical schedule.

 

John Bull

[dogged]

Just back from Normandy - ship docked in Le Havre and we rented a car, drove to Caen, then drove along the coast stopping at Arromanches, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. Left the ship at 8am and got back at 7pm. We felt as though we just skimmed the surface and are planning on going back for a land-based vacation.

 

Car rental agencies may not be open when the ship docks - so a 7am start may actually end up being more like a 9am start. Our ship didn't sail til 8pm but the car rental closed at 6:30 so that was our limiting factor.

 

Rouen is a lovely non-touristy town - very different than Paris that you could enjoy in one day. The city centre is a warren of tiny winding streets with no vehicular traffic...I personally would not want to drive there. Rouen has very good shopping and lots of great restaurants as well as it's own sights. A side trip to Honfleur MIGHT be possible with Rouen - perhaps by train?

 

Personally I would focus on one area and 'do it right' versus racing all over Normandy and seeing it from the car windows.

[Keith1010]

I would try to go to Normandy Beach. We did that on our first visit to Roeun. I would not do this on my own. I would see if the ship has a tour and do it through them. It is a very long drive and much safer to do it through the ship as if you are running late the ship will wait for you. Plus having the tour guide is very important IMHO.

 

Keith

[TLCOhio]

Agree with Keith that the WWII beaches are very moving, beautiful and important. That is especially true if you had any family members serving with the US military during this period and/or if you are a student of history. Here are my background notes on this site:

 

WORLD WAR II LANDING BEACHES: The largest military landing in history took place in Normandy on June 6, 1944 with 130,000 troops landing that day on the beaches. Monuments, museums and bunkers are a living commemoration to the Battle of Normandy. The American Cemetery is located near Colleville-sur-Mer on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach (one of the landing beaches of the Normandy Invasion) and the English Channel. It covers 172 acres and contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations. The graves face westward, towards the United States. This cemetery is very moving and is maintained in an incredibly beautiful manner.

 

Below are three of my pictures from visiting there.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

 

 

 

 

[daryleann]

If I may, I would suggest you try to get a group of fellow cruisers together and do a Battlebus tour of the Normandy beaches (or something similar.) We had an absolutely marvelous day with them and I saw more interesting things (and I am not the history buff in our family ;)). Altho they meet in Bayeux, perhaps they would pick up a large (8) group closer to the ship.

Here is a link to the page that compares them: http://www.battlebus.fr/Tour_Prices.html

Like I said, just a suggestion.

[nyc texan]

Yes, this is doable but really depends on how much time you want to spend at the beaches. I did not want to spend all day at the beaches but we wanted at least to get a glimpse of our history in France. Our main goal was Omaha beach, the American cemetery and the war memorial at Caen. We were able to do all of this and also drive to Mont Saint Michel in the rental car.

 

We picked up the rental car around 8 am and dropped it off after-hours at a convenience store around 8 pm. Our ship did not depart until 9ish. There were several others that were returning cars after hours and we shared a cab back to the boat, which was just a 5 minute drive by cab. I can post later on which rental car company we used.

 

It was one of our best memories on the trip.

[williegirlcat]

If I may, I would suggest you try to get a group of fellow cruisers together and do a Battlebus tour of the Normandy beaches (or something similar.) We had an absolutely marvelous day with them and I saw more interesting things (and I am not the history buff in our family ;)). Altho they meet in Bayeux, perhaps they would pick up a large (8) group closer to the ship.

Here is a link to the page that compares them: http://www.battlebus.fr/Tour_Prices.html

Like I said, just a suggestion.

 

When we contacted Battlebus they indicated they would not pickup from Le Havre.

[jotabecu]

I think it is going to be tough.

We were recently in Le Havre, ship came in at 7am, we were at train station at 7:30am took the 8:02am to Rouen got there at 9 and stayed until 4 pm, had we gone anywhere else we would still be there.