Which ports best for self exploration?

[kmcgann21]

Bruge

Le Havre

Saint Malo

Lorient

Bordeaux

La Rochelle

Biarritz

Bilboa 

La Coruna

 

Which of these ports, in general, are easiest for self exploration? For example, port close to city center or shops, restaurants, points of interest. These ports are all new to us. Wanting to maximize our included excursions wisely. 
 

Thanks! My mother is my travel companion and mobility is slightly an issue. 

 

 

[Harters]

St Malo because of its small, but interesting, town centre. 

 

Depending on exactly where  the ship docks, and how long you're there for, Bordeaux lends itself to a self guided walking tour. I designed one for a cruise we'd planned but were cancelled, as we caught Covid a couple of days before boarding. I used GPSmycity.com, which allows you to select the sights you want to see and it then puts them in order for a walking tour for you. Excellent resource, IMO. 

[EJL2023]

Looks like from the shuttle thread that at least in Bruge and Bilbao that they have offered shuttle service from port to town center. 

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, EJL2023 said:

Looks like from the shuttle thread that at least in Bruge and Bilbao that they have offered shuttle service from port to town center. 

Also looks like shuttle La Rochelle in past and in La Corunna it docks close to the city. 

[Sny]

Bruges.  Take a taxi from the port and have the driver pick you up for return at a set time.  Most drivers will not have you pay until they return you to the port.  There are bus and horse drawn carriage rides for tours (also canal tours; but you have to walk a bit to them).  There are plenty of restaurants on the square, with outdoor seating.  So. when you are too tired to walk more, take a seat and order refreshments (highly recommend Belgian beer and mussels).

[NeilWM]

The Bruges shuttle doesn’t take you to town centre. All buses, shuttles, etc take you to a massive car park where there is a reasonable walk to Bruges

[Vineyard View]

Looks like some great ports. What itinerary is this?

[LHT28]

We took a taxi  with some pax from the ship into Bruges & the driver picked us up at a specific time for the return to the ship

Le Havre there was shuttle into town & we wandered around had lunch

they have some shops   & the war Memorial as well as  some other things if you are interested 

 

St Malo  you can walk to the walled city from the tender port drop off area

We had arranged a trip to MSM  & Dinan   it was  a great trip  again with a group from the ship

we had 2 vans  of 8 each

[kmcgann21]

25 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Looks like some great ports. What itinerary is this?

French Fascination on Marina, Sept 2024. London to London. 

[Vineyard View]

18 minutes ago, kmcgann21 said:

French Fascination on Marina, Sept 2024. London to London. 

Thank you. It looks like a fantastic itinerary. 

[Harters]

6 hours ago, kmcgann21 said:

French Fascination on Marina, Sept 2024. London to London. 

I'm sure it will be  a great trip. We've twice looked at previous versions of that broad itinerary (hence my comments at post #2). First time we caught Covid two days before boarding so were cancelled. This year, we were waiting for a medical "all clear" so we could get travel insurance - and the day before that happened, it got  waitlisted. We might well have had a third attempt and be joining you but, instead are looking at a transatlantic.  For us, there's lots of appeal in being able to drive to/from the port. It does always make me chuckle when I read O describing it as "London" - Southampton being a city some 80 miles from the capital. 

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, Harters said:

For us, there's lots of appeal in being able to drive to/from the port. It does always make me chuckle when I read O describing it as "London" - Southampton being a city some 80 miles from the capital. 

It may have something to do with the airport city  people have to fly into  in order to get the ship in Southampton,, Civitavecchia, Le Havre

it is not just Oceania  that  lists  them  like that

Just guessing

[elmsliebev]

19 hours ago, kmcgann21 said:

Bruge

Le Havre

Saint Malo

Lorient

Bordeaux

La Rochelle

Biarritz

Bilboa 

La Coruna

 

Which of these ports, in general, are easiest for self exploration? For example, port close to city center or shops, restaurants, points of interest. These ports are all new to us. Wanting to maximize our included excursions wisely. 
 

Thanks! My mother is my travel companion and mobility is slightly an issue. 

 

 

Le Havre is about a 20 minute walk to the town. It's a lovely town even though much of it was flattened in WW2. There is a concrete church (St Joseph's) which has amazing stained glass. 

 

La Rochelle is very cute though if there's an excursion to the Venise Verte (Green Venice) or Ile de Re or Oleron, I'd take that - my favourite part of France, not least for the oysters! 

 

Bilbao is one of my favourite cities. We had almost a week there after a day from a cruise. The ships dock quite a way out though the place they dock is a lovely little fishing village in itself. There's a big square lined with tapas restaurants, a great food market and the Bilbao transporter bridge is definitely worth a look if you're interested in anything mechanical/engineering. 

 

It's a great itinerary! 

 

[Harters]

38 minutes ago, elmsliebev said:

It's a lovely town even though much of it was flattened in WW2

It was disappointing to read about all the WW2 damage. My local Territorial battalion (similar to an American National Guard unit), landed there in November 1914 before going in to action a couple of weeks later and, in 1915, spent several months in and around the town. I'd hoped that there might have still been some buildings from the period that had been mentioned in the accounts. But, no, everything was gone

[halfapair]

Copenhagen, Denmark

Gdansk, Poland

Los Cabos, Mexico

Puerta Vallarta, Mexico

 

[kmcgann21]

3 hours ago, halfapair said:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Gdansk, Poland

Los Cabos, Mexico

Puerta Vallarta, Mexico

 

Thanks, I was looking for which of the ports I listed was most suited to self exploration. 

[Harters]

7 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Just guessing

I'm sure you're right. It's just that, when you live in a small country, 80 miles is a heck of a distance. And this is a small country - none of us live more than 70 miles from the coast. 

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Harters said:

I'm sure you're right. It's just that, when you live in a small country, 80 miles is a heck of a distance. And this is a small country - none of us live more than 70 miles from the coast. 

Here  we go by time 😄

it is 2hr to closest major airport for us 

[Hanoj]

The ones that aren’t missed.🫢

[JoePDX]

For Bilbao I assume you will dock in Getxo.   When we were there on a Celebrity Cruise there was a port operated bus that took you to the center of Bilbao, dropping off a couple blocks from the Guggenheim.  I believe it was 12€ for a round trip ticket.   You can also Google the subway route which if I remember correctly leaves from about a 10 minute walk from the port terminal.   Bilbao is easily walkable and quite lovely.   We spent a few hours at the Guggenheim and then wandered the city center and had a nice lunch.

 

Not sure of the logistics of getting to Bordeaux from the port as we were on a land trip, but Bordeaux is easily walkable.   The Museum of Wine (La Cite du Vin) is very interesting, showing the history of the wine trade in Bordeaux.  If offered as an excursion, the Lascaux II Caves are incredible, despite being a re-creation of the original caves which have been closed to the public since 1963 to ensure they are preserved.

 

As others have noted Bruges is easily handled on your own.   Be sure and take a canal boat ride to see the homes and buildings from the water.   Many years ago when we were there on a cruise we took a train from Zeebrugge to Bruges, I believe it is less than 15 minutes and then a 10 minute or so walk to the city center.

 

LeHavre is easily walkable - but keep in mind mostly post WWII era buildings as the port was heavily bombed.   We took the train to Rouen - a lovely alternative and easily walkable.   With Joan of Arc history.   Honfleur might be an option too.

 

Joe

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by JoePDX

[Mura]

On 7/30/2023 at 10:35 PM, LHT28 said:

We took a taxi  with some pax from the ship into Bruges & the driver picked us up at a specific time for the return to the ship

Le Havre there was shuttle into town & we wandered around had lunch

they have some shops   & the war Memorial as well as  some other things if you are interested 

 

St Malo  you can walk to the walled city from the tender port drop off area

We had arranged a trip to MSM  & Dinan   it was  a great trip  again with a group from the ship

we had 2 vans  of 8 each

When we were in Le Havre in O's early days we took the opportunity to spend the day in Honfleur. We had personal reasons for wanting to be there (!) but it was a special day.  We took a cab there which wasn't cheap even then, but took the local bus back.  That entailed a bit of a walk back to the port (15 minutes?) which could be a problem for someone with mobility problems, of course. We've always wanted to spend time in Le Havre itself but whenever we've been there we've always been heading out of town!  But Honfleur is well worth a visit ...

 

Mura

[marilynfaye]

I'm going to piggyback on my friend Mura. Honfleur is delightful. My daughters and I will be docking in Le Havre at the beginning of September. Because it's a Sunday public transportation is not running to Honfleur so we are taking the Bee Bus.