French Harbor/Seaside Town?
 

We are planning a 6 week stay in Paris to celebrate my husbands 70th birthday and our 47th anniversary. We're thinking we'd like to take a 2-3 night trip to a French oceanside town or city. We'd like a charming town/city with a nice harbor, and some great seafood restaurants.

We'd prefer to travel by train from Paris--maybe 3 hours each way maximum trip length. An alternate plan would be to rent a car and tie this trip in with one to Mont St. Michael--any possibilities there?

Any ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks,
TVQ

Honfleur would be good. We loved La Maison de Lucie.

do you want industrial, fishing or a yacht marina

Honfleur has a marina, a fishing harbour with a small marina next door, these second two are in the main basin surrounded by the tourist restaurant.

You might look at La Rochelle, marina and fishing port with more of a locals tourist restaurant scene.

Sticking to trains is tricky on the ocean (not sur about Med side). I guess you know the stories of the "fleurs de France" so I'll not waste time on that, Harfleur is sunk inside Le Havre now, and little in Le Havre is worth looking at (art aside).

Barfleur is lovely but not on the train and is fishing and yacht but no marina. St Vasst ditto

Ouistreham is fish and yacht, not a pretty place the fish is fresh in the restaurants.

Dinan has a small yacht harbour but is up a river.

Deuville and Trouville are beyond the pale.

Fecamp can be nice and is on the train.

You'd need to check trip advisor for restaurant scales.

Most Brittany ports would be getting too far away.

Hi thevacationqueen

I agree that Honfleur fits the bill very well.

Good idea to take the car and have a look around along the coast and maybe even stop in at Rouen. This may help, from my trip up there in the summer:

http://peter-horrocks.tumblr.com/pos...ms-of-normandy

Best

Peter

Check out St Malo - a 3-star Michelin port town.

We found Port-en-Bessin to be a nice, small fishing port town with some nice restaurants (restaurant quality is so subjective) that we enjoyed.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran..._Normandy.html

A quick train to Caen or Bayeux, rent a car and you'll have easy access to all of the D-day sites, Bayeux, MSM, is 90 minutes drive. All depends upon whether you want to get a hotel and stay for 2-3 days or want to include some touring with it.

I think Honfleur would be a good place, but it isn't on the ocean, if that's a must. Neither is Deauville, for that matter, it's on the English Channel, but Honfleur isn't even really on that, it's on the crique de Rouen, which is basically the mouth of the Seine river. It does have a harbor, though.

Port-en-B would be nice too

St Malo might just be too far, there are two marinas, one in the inner harbour and one near the ferry port, but the good restaurants are inside the walls, so close (but behind 10 metre thick walls, there used to be a restaurant built into the main north gate, not sure if it is still there but the views were good.. Still a nice place to stop.

Yup

Honfleur or St Malo would be my recommendations.

Both are lovely. Seafood is exceptionnal in St Malo (or Dinard and Dinan very close).

mvg.

Given your preferences, Honfleur would be the best option. A most charming historical town with picturesque harbour, many seafood restaurant and lovely hotels.

The train goes to Deauville-Trouville (2 hours from Paris), from there it is 16 km (10 miles) to Honfleur, so easily doable by taxi. Deauville and Trouville are classic seaside resorts with beaches, grand hotels (which have seen better times) but no harbour. IMO, Honfleur has more charm.

one of D and T has a harbour (the town to the west) but not worth visiting, really where silly old buffers go to lose money at the casino.

I recommend La Rochelle.

Another voice for Honfleur.
With my congratulations on both celebrations!

Honfleur is a great suggestion. You might also look into Cancale.

WOW--thank you all for the great replies! Just the kind of information I was looking for, and I'll be "researching" each location suggested.

TVQ