DEAUVILLE or HONFLEUR for overnight stay?
 

Which city (DEAUVILLE or HONFLEUR) for 1 night stay? Any recommendation on the hotel? I would prefer ones with king size bed.

Btw, when the website states 'double bed' which is the dimension of the bed? Are they referring to queen size bed or full size bed? I suppose they are not referring to a king size bed.

Thanks.

Have not been to Deauville but loved Honfleur! I stayed at the Best Western property. All rooms have a great view of the harbor.

Like joannyc (again :-) ), I loved Honfleur, but haven't yet been to Deauville. I stayed at a B&B, La Cour Sainte-Catherine -- no views of the harbor, but my room had a HUGE bed. I wouldn't be surprised if the size of the beds there vary with the room.

I think that Honfleur is more picturesque because of the port. However, Deaville is better if you like to take long walks on endless beaches.

If you want to know the size of the double, check with the hotel. Don't assume it will be a US size bed. I think a double is 140 cm (which is way too small I think), kingsize would be 160 cm (still small).

As Kerouac says, Honfleur is much prettier. Deauville is more upmarket; expensive shops, luxury hotels.
La Maison de Lucie in Honfleur is very nice.

If you want to stay in Deauville try Trouville instead. European beds are a size down so a King in Europe is a Queen in USA.

Honfleur is the better bet to stay but not the better bet as Deauville has a casino

Double bed is a full size bed. Some hotels will have queen size bed - but this is fairly rare. I have seen US king size beds only a few times in very luxurious/expensive hotels in europe (a couple of times in castle hotels). Sometimes when they say "king size" they mean US queen size.

If this is important to you, you need to contact the hotel and confirm exactly what you want - and realize that may mean you are going for the most expensive rooms.

Where ever you decide to stay, try to have lunch at Brasserie Les Vapeurs. Trouville-sur-Mer. For the best oysters, head up to Le Chasse Marée in Barfleur.

Having visited both, I would say Honfleur is the more picturesque of the destinations and that would be my preference.

Another Honfleur. Where are you going from there.

If you are lucky there will be a mussel bar on the docks at Barfleur which is just fantastic value and the distance to the sea, maybe 10 Metres. ;-)

I prefer the Oysters in St Vaast

Just in case the links to Barfleur are not obvious, until Napolean came along the north coast had lousy harbours and the three best were, Barfleur, Honfleur and Harfleur (the flowers of france) of these Harfleur has been swallowed by Le Havre. Honfleur was a painter's colony in the 18&&s and Barfleur (being in William the Bastard's Norman Normandy) was where part of the invasion force left to capture England and off which the "White Ship" foundered, but is now a very traditional, peaceful, granite town with AC mussels.

I prefer Honfleur too. Not a fan of Deauville, actually.

Stu Dudley

Please have a look at www.bienvenueauchateau.com; we picked three of these private chateaux when touring Normandy. We stayed at Mortagne-au-Perche, Dieppe & Caen. The first night at M-au-P was closest driving from Paris, the second between Dieppe, Etretat, & Deauville, and the third in Caen as we made our way west. The prices were very reasonable, the accommodations luxurious and breakfasts home-cooked served at our convenience. We had lunch the first or second day at Honfleur. Don't miss Monet's painted cliffs at Etretat on your travels. These accommodations were splendid and memorable, IMO worth a look before you commit.

Stopped to see Deauville enroute to Honfleur. No contest, stay in charming Honfleur. Deauville is a large beach resort. In Honfleur, we enjoyed our stay at Hotel L'Ecrin where we were assigned a nice room in their more modern annex. Don't recall if bed was king or double. King beds are not common in Europe.

Just a thought about bed size.

I have just been mattress shopping in France, and find that the designations we were used to in the US appear to have no meaning here. Perhaps the people writing the English language copy try to adjust the metric sizes to the American designations.

In any case, bed sizes at 140cm x 180 cm, 160 x 200 cm, and, rarely in hotels, 180 cm x 200 cm appear to be the most common. I did see one mattress that was 200cm x 220 cm, but know of few hotels or private homes that can take such a size here.

just like being abroad Jeff :-)

Honfleur is more picturesque, Deauville more luxe. I think Deauville is the better bet for a large bed.

King sized bed in Europe = two twin beds -- we like to opt for these, as it usually signifies a larger room overall. Good luck Jeff801!

Robert, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest Les Vapeurs
in Trouville. I have a poster they gave me and had it framed. I saw the same poster in Rouen at a place by the big clocks.
At Les Vapeurs, an elegant French lady sitting next to me taught me how to eat my mussels, using an empty hinged mussel as a pincher to pick out the mussel.

Honfleur. Stayed at Cour. Ste-Catherine, as kja mentioned above and highly recommend. www.giaglis.com

Sorry; just tried the site I posted above, and it no longer works. They must have changed it to www.coursaintecatherine.com Family name is Giaglis, and that used to be the site.

@ grandmere: :-)

NewHere, I don't believe you even said how you were getting around the area. If you are driving, there are many more possibilities.

Another one for Honfleur! A charming town, beautifully sited -- just a great place to wander and spend some time.

And I also loved and highly recommend the Cour Ste-Catherine, which kja and grandmere mention. Very comfortable B&B, wonderful service -- only negative is that there's no A/C/

Another vote for Honfleur.

Someone on this board eons ago gave us a tip to look at the accommodation part of the restaurant L'Absinthe, and has the same owners as Restaurant La Grenouille and Le Bistro du Port.

My husband and I had this unbelievable attic suite, and our kids shared a really nice double there. We loved the location, too.

Their website that includes all is here: http://www.absinthe.fr/en/intro.php#/hotel.php


but it's one of those websites that makes you dig for info.

The following URL can give you a better overview and pics before you try to book directly with the hotel:
http://www.cybevasion.fr/hotels/fran...121327_en.html

Happy planning!
AZ

It's been 8 1/2 years since we were there, but I still remember our meal at Au P'tit Mareyeur, a wonderful small and classy restaurant. I had a bouillabaisse that was, hands down, the best I ever had. And service was topnotch.

Highly recommend!

In Honfleur, that is!

Std double beds are 140 cm in France, if it only says double that's probably what it is. It isn't too small, it's pretty much the exact same size as a double bed in the US. IN fact, it's about an inch more across (55 inches vs 54 as a std double in the US). Now if you really want a queen, that's a different story, but it isn't small for a double bed.

hi everyone,
thank you so much for your input on the two cities. sorry, i didn't get the chance to response earlier as we were stuck in the snow in the northeast and the kids were home all the time.
it sounds like honfleur is highly recommended by almost everyone. the reason why i thought of deauville is that we are actually spending the night at rennes. the following morning, we will go to mont st. michel hopefully we will leave there and drive to the d-day beach area early afternoon. i thought by the time we are done with the beach, deauville is probably the larger city to stop by overnight. i kinda want to spend the night where we can still walk around 8p or 9p at night. rather than trying to get the kids over w the jet lag, i think most likely they will still be on a US east coast time. are there places or restaurants that we can still go to in honfleur around 8p or so? i just don't want my room next door complaining my kids are too noisy.
as for the bed size, i'll double check w the hotel. we have little kids travelling w us, so king size bed are a lot easier for us. 2 single beds will work as long as i can move them side-to-side. are most beds moveable?
thank you all again.

>> are there places or restaurants that we can still go to in honfleur around 8p or so?<<

Sure - there are dozens of restaurants around the port in Honfleur that will serve dinner that early.

There are 9 "recommended" restaurants listed in my Michelin Red Guide in Honfleur. Only 7 in Deauville.


Stu Dudley

The yacht/small fishing boat port is a great walk around, plus you can walk out along the beach front or down towards the fishing positions. Lots to look at and plenty of fresh air

Your kids might enjoy the Satie museum in Honfleur. Especially the pedal-powered merry go round at the end!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio..._Normandy.html