Travel from Le Havre to Paris
 

My wife and I are taking our two daughters and their husbands on a transatlantic cruise in April. Our ship spends one day at Le Havre. They have never been to Paris, so we are contemplating taking the ship tour to Paris, but the thought occurred to me that we might be able to rent a van and driver in Le Havre and be able to get around and see more in Paris than would be the case with a bus load of people. Has anyone done this before? And where would you go to arrange such a trip?

Driving arounf Paris is seriously dangerous to your wealth & health (physical & mental).

If you have ANY other option don't drive.

Have you considered the train?

Hi R,

Train schedules, prices and tickets are at http://www.voyages-sncf.com/

((I))

Good question! I consulted the French yellow pages for Le Havre, which yielded two results:

One of these companies has a Web sites. Their advertising suggests that custom tours can be arranged for groups as small as 4 to 7 people (so you might in the latter case be paying a bit of a "premium." No English-language option on the Web site. You could send an e-mail query in English to both and see what that produces.

The web site URL:

http://www.cars-perier.fr/

And the other's e-mail address (This is the one that mentions as few as four people, and my guess is that it's a smaller company):

[email protected]

That's a longer drive than you might think, and driving in Paris is a definite headache. Taking the train, however, would be a nice way to see the Normandy countryside, and once in Paris you could have a guide on tap to show you the sights in the time you have available.

Hi Underhill,

I don't think rine504 is thinking about driving. I think he wants to be whisked to Paris in comfort by someone who will also show him and his family the sights - and why not?

We were on a cruise and pulled into Le Havre about 4 years ago. We rented a car and drove to Etretat, FeCamp, and Honfleur. Since then I understand they don't do one-day rentals in Le Havre.

Several people on our cruise took the cruise tour to Paris. For them, it was a long, long day. Others took local transportation and spent the day in Honfleur.

You could take the train to/fro on your own, but if you miss the ship, it's your own fault.

My recommendation would be to leave Paris for another trip and take a day trip to Honfleur and have a nice, relaxing day. ((b))

Take the tour from the cruise. You could easily miss your outbound connection and have a whole 'nother problem.

Honfleur is lovely. A very good option. Visit the Boudin art museum. Walk the cobbled, winding streets. Marvel at the 17th-century Old Harbor and the great wooden church built by ships carpenters. Have lunch at the P'tit Mareyeur or the Absinthe or its lower-priced sister restaurant the Grenouille. For the first two, reserve.

Thanks for the advice on Le Havre to Paris. I'll give it serious thought.