Le Harve/Paris/Cherbourg

[jmlstix]

Sailing Eclipse on Oct 31, Le Harve on Nov 1 (France Holiday) debating if we should stay overnight in Paris, then leave early in the morning, stop at

American Cemetary, and Omaha Beach, meeting the ship in Cherbourg for

a 5pm sailaway. We would hire a taxi or tour company for the trip to Cherbourg. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[John Bull]

Sailing Eclipse on Oct 31, Le Harve on Nov 1 (France Holiday) debating if we should stay overnight in Paris, then leave early in the morning, stop at

American Cemetary, and Omaha Beach, meeting the ship in Cherbourg for

a 5pm sailaway. We would hire a taxi or tour company for the trip to Cherbourg. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Yes, it's certainly very do-able, though I'm doubtful whether it'd be worth the cost. You'd need an OK from the cruiseline, which should not be a problem.

This would give you a much longer day/evening in Paris, but since the US D-Day beaches & sites are easy to do on a tour from Cherbourg the extra time in Paris is all you would achieve for the extra expense of food/accommodation/long one-way road trip.

Journey time for the 220 mile drive to Cherbourg from central Paris would be in the order of 3.5 hours, so if you left Paris at 7am you'd have about 5.5 hours plus a safety-margin for the minor detours and stops for Omaha and a few other places. Much the same time-scale as a day-trip from Cherbourg.

The drive from central Paris is on fast but mainly boring highway (much of the early part is toll-roads) so you'd see little unless/until you deviate, and you'd arrive at your first sights - Arromanches or Omaha/American Cemetery at around 9.30 am - about the same time as if you did the same from the ship at Cherbourg, little more than an hour away. Then continue along the coastal lanes to Pointe du Hoc, before cutting back to the main highway (A13) towards Cherbourg with a stop at Ste Mere Eglise & perhaps a 15min deviation from here down lanes to Utah beach.

 

A minor advantage travelling from Paris is the opportunity to spend some time at the Caen Peace Memorial museum just a few hundred yards off your route. Or to deviate from the main A13 at Caen to Pegasus Bridge, the eastern-most D-Day objective (taken by glider-borne commandos just before midnight 5th June), then along the British/Commonwealth beaches of Sword, Juno & Gold, to Arromanches. These are all a little too far for most cruise-ship excursions out of Cherbourg. But you may be a little too early at these places, the lanes are half the speed of the main A13, and stops here would be at the expense of stops in, say, Ste Mere Eglise and Utah.

Perhaps worthwhile for a Brit or a Canadian, less so for an American.

 

 

John Bull

[jmlstix]

Thank you for the detailed information. I'm still not sure what to do. My

one visit to Paris was mid Sept. We walked around the City until after

midnight. I'm not sure we will be able to do this as this trip is Nov 1st.

Can you recommend a tour/taxi guide that will drive

us to what sites we can see before driving to Cherbourg? Any comment on the weather?

I am the planner, and feel responsible for making this trip amazing.

My sister has never been to Paris, so I think the expense of staying over

night in Paris will be worth it. Sounds like it is doable. So now I need to

get planning. Any other advice will be welcomed. Thanks, Libby

[John Bull]

Thank you for the detailed information. I'm still not sure what to do. My

one visit to Paris was mid Sept. We walked around the City until after

midnight. I'm not sure we will be able to do this as this trip is Nov 1st.

Can you recommend a tour/taxi guide that will drive

us to what sites we can see before driving to Cherbourg? Any comment on the weather?

I am the planner, and feel responsible for making this trip amazing.

My sister has never been to Paris, so I think the expense of staying over

night in Paris will be worth it. Sounds like it is doable. So now I need to

get planning. Any other advice will be welcomed. Thanks, Libby

 

Hi, Libby,

 

Best start with the weather. It's pretty variable but November will be chilly, often grey skies, sometimes misty esp near the coast. And dark before 6pm. So strolling til midnight isn't really on the agenda.

Not my favourite month in north-west europe.

 

All Saints Day is a bank holiday, but I doubt it will have a major impact on your visit to Paris, it's not like a summertime long weekend. It'll be much like a sunday, traffic in Paris will be easier, but public transport (eg Paris metro, or train Le Havre-Paris) will be on a more limited timetable. I don't know what effect the holiday will have on admission to the various sights.

 

If you choose to overnite in Paris, consider taking the train next morning to Bayeux to meet up with a D-Day tour company or local private hire car, to take in the D-Day sights. A tour company will be pretty expensive unless you can tie in with a scheduled tour - difficult cos you want to finish at Cherbourg. A local private hire taxi company will be cheaper and drivers will know the sights. Bayeux is just 15 mins from Arromanches (the D-Day Mulberry harbour), 20 mins from Omaha/American cemetery, and just over an hour to Cherbourg by the direct A13 main highway.

 

But I can't help thinking that esp at that time of year its highly debateable whether extending your time in Paris by a few hours is worth the expense or the complication. Might it not be better to spend the money fixing up a private day tour of Paris from Le Havre to get max value out of the limited time there? - you might find sharers via the roll-call.

And I'm sure you could join a roll-call group to tour the D-Day sights from Cherbourg.

 

Your cruise starts in Southampton - are you planning to spend a few days in England ahead of your cruise?

If not, have you considered flying USA direct to Paris? - spend a couple of days there, then join the ship at Le Havre subject to the cruiseline's OK. There are permanent french immigration/customs staff at Le Havre

 

JB