Tours from Le Havre without booking in advance???

[Meggie10]

With the extremely high prices being asked for by the cruise lines, I am trying to see if I can book a tour locally without having to book in advance (i.e. On the day). All the websites I have found want you to book in advance. I'm sure it must be possible. Does anyone know if there are minibuses or vans waiting on the quay?

 

Thank you in advance :)

[dln929]

Meggie, you'd have better luck asking this in the Ports of Call forum for France, with the extra info on where exactly you'd like to go. Paris? Honfleur? Entretat? My daughter and I were in Le Havre and there's a tourist info kiosk not far from where you get off the ship. We walked to town and the train station following the yellow lines, very easy. From there we took a local bus to the gorgeous little port town of Honfleur. It was easy to do. I suppose you could just as easily get a taxi to the station and from there take a train to wherever you'd like to go. But as to noticing any mini-vans for impromptu excursions, we saw none.

[Meggie10]

Thanks Deirdre,

 

I will give that a try. We are looking for a tour of the Normandy landing beaches and the English and American cemeteries. :)

[lucinjo]

With the extremely high prices being asked for by the cruise lines, I am trying to see if I can book a tour locally without having to book in advance (i.e. On the day). All the websites I have found want you to book in advance. I'm sure it must be possible. Does anyone know if there are minibuses or vans waiting on the quay?

 

Thank you in advance :)

 

Le Havre isn't a good place to get a tour on the day, unless you are looking to just go into Le Havre. It is better to contract ahead for a taxi service (google this, it is a Le Havre cooperative taxi) or private guide. Why do you want to wait until the day of? Be sure to check out your roll call, their may be folks looking for others to share tours. We loved our time in Le Havre. The first day we set up a taxi tour to Mont St. Michel. The next did an all day tour of the D-Day beaches. The taxi tour we paid in cash at tour end, D-Day tour we had to give a deposit ahead.

[Turtles06]

Thanks Deirdre,

 

I will give that a try. We are looking for a tour of the Normandy landing beaches and the English and American cemeteries. :)

 

Those are VERY popular, and I think you will definitely want to book not only in advance, but well in advance. For example, a highly regarded outfit like Overlord Tours (you'll see lots of recommendations for them in the Ports of Call forum for France) books up well in advance. (We used them, btw, and I highly recommend them.) I saw people on our TA Roll Call last year getting closed out, well before sailing.

 

I saw no one "hanging out" at the dock in Le Havre trying to give tours. This isn't the Caribbean. :) (Even if you could get someone "day of," wouldn't you want to know if they were any good?)

[dln929]

Thanks Deirdre,

 

I will give that a try. We are looking for a tour of the Normandy landing beaches and the English and American cemeteries. :)

 

Meggie, in that case, you'll probably get a ton of info on the TripAdvisor website. Try the Roll Call for your sailing, too, as other passengers might have the same idea as you. It's usually less expensive when you arrange private tours with other people on your sailing. Normandy is very beautiful and heart-stirring.

[Meggie10]

Why do you want to wait until the day of?

 

I want to wait until the day of because we have fallen foul of a pre-booking in the past with a no-show.:confused:

[Meggie10]

Meggie, in that case, you'll probably get a ton of info on the TripAdvisor website. Try the Roll Call for your sailing, too, as other passengers might have the same idea as you. It's usually less expensive when you arrange private tours with other people on your sailing. Normandy is very beautiful and heart-stirring.

 

Thanks Dierdre, I have posted same on France Ports (with a bit more info :):):)), and I am now looking at the Roll Call for our cruise.

[CathyCruises]

You can rent a car at the port and take your own tour--it's amazing. You can reserve through Europcar and not have to pay anything up front. It's an easy drive on small roads.

[pj-atsea]

On our cruise last year, we stopped at Le Havre and there were many small vans and taxis at the port which would give you a tour to many local places. We took a taxi to the small coastal and very picturesque village of Etretat. It was about 1/2 hr away from Le Havre. We spent about 2 1/2 hrs there and the taxi took us back. It was one flat rate but I cannot remember how much it was. I will try and look in my notes and see if I wrote it down. It was more than a train or bus but then we could set our own schedule.

[Turtles06]

I want to wait until the day of because we have fallen foul of a pre-booking in the past with a no-show.:confused:

 

A no-show by the tour operator/guide, or by someone else who was supposed to be in the group with you? The former is pretty rare when you use a reputable operator who comes highly recommended on these boards. I would think it would pretty much be the end of their business if they didn't show and you posted that on the internet....

[sailawaybellaluna]

Hi CathyCruises,

 

You can rent a car at the port and take your own tour--it's amazing. You can reserve through Europcar and not have to pay anything up front. It's an easy drive on small roads.

 

Do you recall how far the Europcar or Enterprise offices are from the port? Would we be able to walk there or does it require a taxi ride? We are looking to rent a car for the day and drive to Honfleur...

 

I'd appreciate any advice you have!