Scootoir

Hello, I am just beginning to plan travel for our anniversary trip in June 2017. DH and I have not been to France together for a few years and it's time to go back. We have visited the Loire and Normandie but not the area around Rouen and Honfleur. I am wondering if it would make sense to rent a car near Paris and drive to Giverny for the day then continue on to Rouen to spend a few nights. Using Rouen as a base I thought we might make a day trips to Honfleur and Beauvais but wonder what else we might see in the area if we had 4 or 5 days. We have visited Caen, Bayeux, Mont St. Michel and the D-Day landing beaches on previous trips.

I much prefer being able to take trains rather than rent a car (parking being one of the issues) but it doesn't seem that trains will reach the places we are considering. Any advice will be appreciated.

joannyc

Yes, do rent a car! Go to Giverny for a half day then go onto Rouen. Spend at least 2-3 nights in Rouen, there is much to see especially if you are a St. Joan de Arc fan or a foodie, and then there is the obvious cathedral!! And, lots of other sites.

On your way to Honfluer there is a lot too see also. So, assuming you are arriving late in the day in Honfleur after the site seeing along the way, I recommend 2 nights there. Gorgeous little town and, again, lots to see if you do the research.

kja

While I agree with joannyc that a car might be to your advantage in this area, I would note that you might want to wait until you are ready to leave Rouen before picking it up. You're traveling from the US, right? Many people are unaware of the mounting evidence that driving with jet lag is just as dangerous for you -- and for everyone else on the road -- as driving drunk. So find a way to spend a day or two recovering before you pick up your rental!

If flying into and out of Paris, consider taking a train to Rouen, spending at least 2 or 3 nights there (I agree with joannyc on that, too, and I'm not a particular fan of St. Joan de Arc!), then pick up a rental car for your further travels. Visit Giverny as a day trip from Rouen or, if the timing works, on your way back to Paris before returning the car at the airport (or sooner!) before your departure.

FWIW, I was glad I spent a night in Honfleur -- the glorious view of its buildings reflected in the waters of its harbor at night was truly memorable, and being there after daytrippers had left was a decided bonus.

In case you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend the <i>Michelin Green Guide</I> for the area.

Hope that helps!

FrenchMystiqueTours

There's plenty to see and do as day trips from Rouen if you want to make a base there. There's Rouen itself:

http://www.rouentourisme.com/en/

Monet's house and gardens in Giverny: http://fondation-monet.com/en/boutiq...mpressionnist/

Château Gaillard: http://www.lesandelys-tourisme.fr/en...teau-gaillard/

Le Petit Andely: http://www.lesandelys-tourisme.fr/en/

La Roche-Guyon: http://www.chateaudelarocheguyon.fr/...ding19563.html

Lyon-la-Forêt: http://www.paysdelyons.com/en/

Honfleur: http://www.honfleur-tourism.co.uk/

Etretat: http://www.etretat.net/office-de-tou...p?page=accueil

Route of the Abbeys: http://www.rouentourisme.com/en/abbeys-trail/

Route of Thatched Roof Houses: http://www.normandie-tourisme.fr/iti...0000501-1.html

The next link has an interactive map for sights and activities along/near the Seine in the vicinity of Rouen:

http://www.pnr-seine-normande.com/

West of Rouen and south of Honfleur is the beautiful Pays d'Auge region, cheese and cider country and one of the most scenic parts of Normandy with green rolling hills, pastures, lovely villages etc. You could drive from Rouen to the south part of this region and visit:

Le Bec-Hellouin: http://www.lebechellouin.fr/

From here you could use a Michelin map of the scale 1:150,000 and follow designated scenic roads (highlighted in green), such as starting around Cormeilles, through Blangy-le-Château and then west to Cambremer and Beuvron-en-Auge. A visit to Domaine Sainte-Hippolyte might be nice. Here's some useful links for that area:

http://www.produits-normandie.fr/14_...aint-hippolyte

http://www.beuvroncambremer.com/tour...auge-cambremer

http://www.calvados-tourisme.com/fr/...pays-dauge.php

http://www.pays-auge.fr/

http://www.lisieux-tourisme.com/

http://www.larouteducidre.fr/

Then of course there's:

Deauville: http://en.deauville.fr/

Trouville: http://www.trouvillesurmer.org/en

If you just want to wander and get lost on the day you might visit Giverny and nearby La Roche-Guyon there is some pretty countryside, châteaux and nice villages in this region, known as The Vexin Region. I wrote a photo report about spending a day exploring this region by car and it covers a lot of off the beaten path but beautiful and interesting things to see that most folks would miss. If you want to have a look at my photo report of The Vexin region here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/362xrle

Scootoir

Great stuff! Thank you.

Kja we would never drive anywhere after landing from a US west coast flight. On previous trips we have spent the first night in Paris and then took the train the next day to our first destination. I expect we will do the same on this trip but I will probably look into a car service that could drive us from CDG to Vernon/Giverny as an option.

FrenchMystique you have given me much to research--thank you.

kja

Glad to hear it, Scootoir!
Should be a great trip.

StCirq

scootoir, you don't need a car service. Just get yourselves into Paris to the Gare St-Lazare. It's an easy, cheap trip to Vernon, then a bus or 3-km walk to Giverny. But frankly, I wouldn't do it upon arrival in France after an overnight flight. Give yourself a rest and go the next day.

FrenchMystiqueTours

You could also take a taxi from CDG to Gare Saint-Lazare (fixed fare of 50€) and then take a train to Vernon and then the shuttle bus to Giverny or go direct from Gare Saint-Lazare to Rouen. Schedules and prices available 3 months in advance at either voyages-sncf.com or captaintrain.com. Tickets cheapest when purchased 3 months in advance but same day fares aren't too expensive for these destinations if you want to see what time you might arrive at Gare saint-Lazare depending on how long you need after landing to get into Paris. A car service or taxi from CDG to Vernon/Giverny or Rouen will be very expensive but if it's worth it to you for the convenience then go ahead. I would imagine the cost would be anywhere between 175€ and 275€ since they likely wouldn't have a return fare from Rouen to Paris.

Underhill

There's a good deal to see both in and around Rouen. We drove the "Abbey Road" to see a selection of churches; visited Lyon-la-Forêt, a picturesque village once home to Maurice Ravel; saw the magnificent ruin of huge Jumièges Abbey; and any number of pretty small villages and towns. My best advice is to get a copy of the Michlelin Green Guide to Normandy and choose one or two of the recommended itineraries. I could spend a month in Normandy and just scratch the surface of that beautiful region.

joannyc

If you don't rent a car to go to Giverny, what will you do with your luggage during your visit?

Neither the Vernon train station or Monet's Giverny site offer luggage storage. There may be a café in Vernon down the street from the train station that offers luggage storage.

Scootoir

I am thinking if we went straight to Giverny/Vernon from the airport we could stay a couple of nights at the start of our trip. Arrival afternoon/evening would be dinner and early to bed. On the first full day we could visit Monet's home and garden. After the second night we could take the train to Rouen and spend a few nights. I need to look into car rentals in Rouen so we could tour the area using Rouen as our base.

This all started because we had been considering a river cruise that includes Paris and Normandie. Since we have visited the D-Day invasion sites twice we thought we would skip that excursion and try to see something else in the area or spend the day on our own in Rouen. Then we started discussing what the trip would look like if we did it on our own. There are aspects of both that are appealing.

kja

Going straight to Giverney (or Rouen!) makes sense to me!

Scootoir

Might have hit a snag. I checked Europcar and AutoEurope and neither has cars with automatic transmission available in June from Rouen. It's been about 4 decades since I drove my sister's MGBGT. Mr. Wonderful drove us across parts of Normandie in a stick-shift Fiat many years ago but we both want an automatic now. I'll keep searching to see if we can do this. Now that I have seen photos of the cathedral at Beauvais I really hope there's a company with an automatic for us.

kja

You might try working through gemut.com to see if they can help.

joannyc

I just checked kemwel.com for random dates in June 2017 for pickup in Rouen and Vernon. They only offer manual transmissions also. You may need to rent at CDG to get an automatic.

joannyc

Just checked Hertz, Avis and Sixt. Hertz only has manual transmissions. Actually, couldn't even find anything for Avis in Rouen.

Sixt does have some automatic cars with automatic transmissions starting at $30.15/day for random June pick up/drop dates in Rouen. I used June 10 noon to June 17 noon.

Scootoir

Thanks so much, I will take a look at these.

billandcindy

Because we always want an automatic with GPS, we rented our car last July in Caen. The rental car agencies there had a much wider choice then elsewhere in Normandy. Then drove to Honfleur, which we used as our base for 5 days. A most wonderful city. (By the way, some great walks just outside the old town, along the beach to the south and the hills to the east.) On one of those 5 days, we drove to Rouen. Although we had visited Rouen a few times before (day trips from Paris), we wanted to see the Impressionist exhibition at the Beaux Arts museum there. Went to Etrêtat, too. So easy to see why so many Impressionists were attracted to that area! One place I would recommend -- which I picked up from a blurb in the NY Times last winter -- is Caudebec-en-Caux. Just a small city on the Seine, between Honfleur and Rouen. But, it has a newly opened museum focusing solely on the history of the Seine. Particularly interesting to us was the piece on the "tidal bore" -- a large wave that came up the Seine (against the grain,so to speak) and broke on the River's banks at Caudebec. There is even vintage films showing the massive crowds awaiting these waves, and, of course, dare devils getting too close to the breaking waves. Recently built levies have eliminated tidal bores.

Scootoir

Billandcindy,
Thanks for the info, looks like we want the same thing. We have rented cars twice in Caen over the years and been able to have an automatic trans. Did not want to go so far west this time but perhaps we'll have to consider it or find a plan B. Did you find it easy to park in Rouen? Where did you stay in Honfleur?

Scootoir

Oh FrenchMystiqueTours,

I have enjoyed your contributions to the boards here but I am afraid you have done me a great disservice. It wasn't enough that I wanted to go to Giverny, Rouen and Honfleur but now we have to find time for the Abbeys and Thatched Cottages, Le Bec-Hellouin and work our way through gallons of Calvados and plates of cheese.
;-)