Disembark in Le Havre to Paris

[ritaly]

Need advice and without search have had little success. I have requested permission, know to book SNCF senior rate. Need to know about

1. Taxi from port to train 2. Train to paris hotel 3. Getting to CDG to fly home

4. What arrondissement for 3 night first time Paris visit. Thanks!!

[Hlitner]

It is about 1 1/2 from the ship to the train station (too far to walk with luggage). So you will need a taxi from the port and these can sometimes be scarce or not want to take the short haul. So give yourself a little extra time to get to the station (less then 10 min once you are in a taxi). Once in Paris you will arrive at the Gare St Lazare Station which is in the 8th Arrordissment. From there you can use a taxi or Metro (although this can be a real pain if you have luggage) or possibly the RER (a regional commuter train system) to get to your hotel. As to which hotel (and Arrondissment) this is an age old question with no clear answer. Much depends on what you want, your price range, etc. As long as you are near a Metro station you can get around Paris unless you prefer walking (the best way to see and enjoy Paris). Personally, we love the smaller hotels in the 5th and 6th which are on the Left Bank. But there are plenty of others that prefer the Right Bank (some want to be near the Champs Elysee and others might like the Marias). Since we have our personal bias our recommendation would be a cute Left Bank hotel possibly close to the Blvd St Germain or near the Luxembourg Gardens. But we tend to avoid the large Western Style hotel chains....which many others prefer. If you prefer the Right bank and have the big bucks we love the area along the Rue de Rivoli (not far from the Louvre) because it is a very central location. The Marais (which I previously mentioned) is a little further out on the Right Bank (moving away from the Arc de Triumph) and has quite a few reasonably priced smaller hotels. This Marais area has become somewhat of a trendy right bank neighborhood with many eating venues, boutiques, etc.

 

Hank

[jdavid]

We plan to disembark at Le Havre and stay in Paris for five days after our British Isles Cruise. Would love to take the train into Paris then taxi to our hotel. May not leave ship and take the train until afternoon as our hotel check in is not until 3pm anyway. Hope it a an interesting train ride and can enjoy the countryside. Hopefully we can get our train tickets on line in may or June

[ritaly]

It is about 1 1/2 from the ship to the train station (too far to walk with luggage). So you will need a taxi from the port and these can sometimes be scarce or not want to take the short haul. So give yourself a little extra time to get to the station (less then 10 min once you are in a taxi). Once in Paris you will arrive at the Gare St Lazare Station which is in the 8th Arrordissment. From there you can use a taxi or Metro (although this can be a real pain if you have luggage) or possibly the RER (a regional commuter train system) to get to your hotel. As to which hotel (and Arrondissment) this is an age old question with no clear answer. Much depends on what you want, your price range, etc. As long as you are near a Metro station you can get around Paris unless you prefer walking (the best way to see and enjoy Paris). Personally, we love the smaller hotels in the 5th and 6th which are on the Left Bank. But there are plenty of others that prefer the Right Bank (some want to be near the Champs Elysee and others might like the Marias). Since we have our personal bias our recommendation would be a cute Left Bank hotel possibly close to the Blvd St Germain or near the Luxembourg Gardens. But we tend to avoid the large Western Style hotel chains....which many others prefer. If you prefer the Right bank and have the big bucks we love the area along the Rue de Rivoli (not far from the Louvre) because it is a very central location. The Marais (which I previously mentioned) is a little further out on the Right Bank (moving away from the Arc de Triumph) and has quite a few reasonably priced smaller hotels. This Marais area has become somewhat of a trendy right bank neighborhood with many eating venues, boutiques, etc.

 

Hank

Thanks for the great information Hank, will probably look for left bank small hotels....unfortunately many hotel sites list by areas rather than arrondissement and have me confused....so are Latin Quarter, St Germain des Pres and Luxembourg all left bank...how about near Sorbonne?

[ritaly]

We plan to disembark at Le Havre and stay in Paris for five days after our British Isles Cruise. Would love to take the train into Paris then taxi to our hotel. May not leave ship and take the train until afternoon as our hotel check in is not until 3pm anyway. Hope it a an interesting train ride and can enjoy the countryside. Hopefully we can get our train tickets on line in may or June

Thanks for tip, will choose my train so I can be assured of getting taxi to station and not arrive until close to check in time!

[Got2Cruise]

Thanks for the great information Hank, will probably look for left bank small hotels....unfortunately many hotel sites list by areas rather than arrondissement and have me confused....so are Latin Quarter, St Germain des Pres and Luxembourg all left bank...how about near Sorbonne?

 

If you look at the "zip code" the last numeral tells you the arrondissement. We stayed at the Hotel Verneuil which is in St. Germain des Pres and fell in love with the area. You can walk almost anywhere, or catch transportation, and not touristy at all.

[Hlitner]

We plan to disembark at Le Havre and stay in Paris for five days after our British Isles Cruise. Would love to take the train into Paris then taxi to our hotel. May not leave ship and take the train until afternoon as our hotel check in is not until 3pm anyway. Hope it a an interesting train ride and can enjoy the countryside. Hopefully we can get our train tickets on line in may or June

 

If you are talking about this spring or summer you might want to look at the SNCF web site. Just yesterday, we noticed that nearly all the direct trains (between Paris and Le Havre) are no longer showing on the web site after early May. We are not sure why! It is unlikely that nearly every train is booked so we suspect a problem with the SNCF computer system or possibly that that there is scheduled track maintenance that is going to disrupt rail traffic. We know about scheduled maintenance between Rouen and Caen...but cannot find any info about Le Havre-Paris. We did try to call RailEurope (since they have a toll free number) but their hold time is over 3 hours :(.

 

Being a very independent traveler and knowing the importance of a "Plan B" we did reserve a one-way rental car so we can drive from Le Havre to Paris (we are renting an apartment in Paris. We do not recommend driving in Paris where traffic is awful and parking nearly impossible....but sometimes one has little choice.

 

Hank

Edited March 16, 2014 by Hlitner

[jdavid]

If you are talking about this spring or summer you might want to look at the SNCF web site. Just yesterday, we noticed that nearly all the direct trains (between Paris and Le Havre) are no longer showing on the web site after early May. We are not sure why! It is unlikely that nearly every train is booked so we suspect a problem with the SNCF computer system or possibly that that there is scheduled track maintenance that is going to disrupt rail traffic. We know about scheduled maintenance between Rouen and Caen...but cannot find any info about Le Havre-Paris. We did try to call RailEurope (since they have a toll free number) but their hold time is over 3 hours :(.

 

Being a very independent traveler and knowing the importance of a "Plan B" we did reserve a one-way rental car so we can drive from Le Havre to Paris (we are renting an apartment in Paris. We do not recommend driving in Paris where traffic is awful and parking nearly impossible....but sometimes one has little choice.

 

Hank

 

I do not think you can actually make a reservation until three months before the date of travel. We ran into that in Italy a few years ago when we wanted to book between Venice and Rome.

[Hlitner]

I do not think you can actually make a reservation until three months before the date of travel. We ran into that in Italy a few years ago when we wanted to book between Venice and Rome.

 

We are well within the 90 days and the train schedules are posted. And somebody else here on CC managed to get a RailEurope person on the phone (yesterday) who said they think the schedules are complete for the next 3 months. And, as I said, the direct trains to Paris (from Le Havre) seem to disappear by around May 10. There are some indirect trains but they can take over 5 hours for the trip to Paris. We are monitoring the situation and hope that things change.....but everyone should beware and check the schedules before they make any assumptions.

 

Hank

[ritaly]

We are well within the 90 days and the train schedules are posted. And somebody else here on CC managed to get a RailEurope person on the phone (yesterday) who said they think the schedules are complete for the next 3 months. And, as I said, the direct trains to Paris (from Le Havre) seem to disappear by around May 10. There are some indirect trains but they can take over 5 hours for the trip to Paris. We are monitoring the situation and hope that things change.....but everyone should beware and check the schedules before they make any assumptions.

 

Hank[/quote

Hi Hank and others

Just booked my train from LeHavre to Paris this morning before looking at boards. My date in May 2 and I had no problem got senior 60+ rate of 36E for two one way tickets, printed them and hoping I'm good to go! Chose the train around 12 ish to give us plenty of time to disembark and get to station with ease....probably could have made 10 but with 8 scheduled arrival wanted to be safe! On to hotels next... Really trying to keep cost around $200 am I making a big mistake first time Paris and don't want to be disappointed...only three nights...all suggestions greatly appreciated

[Hlitner]

[/quote

Hi Hank and others

Just booked my train from LeHavre to Paris this morning before looking at boards. My date in May 2 and I had no problem got senior 60+ rate of 36E for two one way tickets, printed them and hoping I'm good to go! Chose the train around 12 ish to give us plenty of time to disembark and get to station with ease....probably could have made 10 but with 8 scheduled arrival wanted to be safe! On to hotels next... Really trying to keep cost around $200 am I making a big mistake first time Paris and don't want to be disappointed...only three nights...all suggestions greatly appreciated

 

That is consistent with our research. We saw no problem until May 8.

 

Hank

[jdavid]

My Trip is in August therefore I expect I will not be able to book a train until May. What is approx. cost per person for those who booked in may. When we booked an Rome Venice train a few years ago there were competing lines and deals were plentiful depending on what date and tiem. Maybe this isn't the case with this trip.

 

We are well within the 90 days and the train schedules are posted. And somebody else here on CC managed to get a RailEurope person on the phone (yesterday) who said they think the schedules are complete for the next 3 months. And, as I said, the direct trains to Paris (from Le Havre) seem to disappear by around May 10. There are some indirect trains but they can take over 5 hours for the trip to Paris. We are monitoring the situation and hope that things change.....but everyone should beware and check the schedules before they make any assumptions.

 

Hank[/quote

Hi Hank and others

Just booked my train from LeHavre to Paris this morning before looking at boards. My date in May 2 and I had no problem got senior 60+ rate of 36E for two one way tickets, printed them and hoping I'm good to go! Chose the train around 12 ish to give us plenty of time to disembark and get to station with ease....probably could have made 10 but with 8 scheduled arrival wanted to be safe! On to hotels next... Really trying to keep cost around $200 am I making a big mistake first time Paris and don't want to be disappointed...only three nights...all suggestions greatly appreciated

[Hlitner]

My Trip is in August therefore I expect I will not be able to book a train until May. What is approx. cost per person for those who booked in may. When we booked an Rome Venice train a few years ago there were competing lines and deals were plentiful depending on what date and tiem. Maybe this isn't the case with this trip.

 

 

The fares vary depending on the actual train, time of day, day of the week, your age, etc. But a 2nd class ticket is normally about 20 Euros each way. If you are 60+ you can get a nice senior discount.

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

Just wanted to post an update on the direct trains from Le Havre to Paris. We had previously posted that these trains did not show-up on the SNCF booking site after early May. The trains have now magically appeared on the SNCF site so I guess it was just a glitch in their booking system.

 

Hank

[wwinfl91]

We used a company called "City Airport Taxis" to get from Le Havre to our hotel in Paris and had a good experience. The driver was Cuban and spoke very good English. He arrived with a van which turned out to be a real blessing. We had contracted for the trip to cost 364 euros for my wife and I and our 4 pieces of luggage.

 

When we got off the ship we ran into an older (we are in our late 60's) couple who wanted to go to Paris but who hadn't made any advance reservations to get there. They asked if they could join us in the van as the local drivers wanted 500 euros to take them there.

 

We arranged with our driver to add two people and their luggage for a total of 500 euros for the 4 of us. That saved them 250 euros and us a little over a 100 euros and both of us were at our hotels in Paris early afternoon.

 

Here is a link to the company.

 

http://www.city-airport-taxis.com/

 

By the way please don't mention the driver adding the extra passengers as I'm sure he didn't inform the company of the arrangement.

 

But do ask for the Cuban driver if you want an interesting and pleasant trip.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Hlitner]

Just keep,in mind that the train from Le Harve to Paris (Gare St Lazare) only costs about 20 - 35 euros (varies depending when u book and which train). Add about 12euros for a taxi to the Le Havre Train station and whatever a taxi costs to your hotel in Paris and the cost is less then 50 Euros per person.

 

Hank

 

 

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[jdavid]

We booked our train today from Le Havre. Leaves at 11:58 am and we arrive in Paris at 2:10 p.m. Cost with booking fee was $80 cdn. for two. Our Hotel check in is 3pm so this should be perfect timing. Gives us the morning aboard the ship to have a nice breakfast and late snack at International Café before we leave.

[Hlitner]

We are taking the train tomorrow. Our tickets, bought on the SNCF site, cost exactly 15 Euros for 2nd class or about $21 US.

 

Hank

 

 

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[travelfun2014]

thank you all for the great information. my husband and I are also cruising on Princess Cruises on August 14-British Isles. We are following our fellow travelers and getting off at Paris, as well- thanks for the great idea.

we are working on getting from the ship to Paris and will be planning a day trip to Normandy. please let me know if you have a tour company for Normandy.