Le Havre - Private Tours

[cheftgc]

Looking for information on private tour guides from Le Harve to the Normandy Battle Sites. All comments and advice will be appreciated.

[WooKeef]

Looking for information on private tour guides from Le Harve to the Normandy Battle Sites. All comments and advice will be appreciated.

I am looking as well. We recently confirmed on the Best of the Med for Next September 13th. We have been to Paris so thought to visit the Normandy beaches and Mount St. Michel.

I hope you hear from someone!

Woo

[nparmelee]

I'm looking at overlordtour dot com right now. Friends recommended them to me. Anybody on these boards use them?

[WooKeef]

I'm looking at overlordtour dot com right now. Friends recommended them to me. Anybody on these boards use them?

I am interested to see what you find out about them...anxious to book the tours.

[edinburgher]

There is much info and links on this board already about touring and transport from Le Havre.

 

If you scroll through previous posts you will find them easily as this isnt a hugely busy board, eg pages 2, 3, and 4 have many posts with lots of helpful info on both private and taxi tours as well as public transport info.

 

Alternatively, if you "SEARCH THIS FORUM" using key words such as "Le Havre" or "Normany beaches" etc its likely that you will get many results containing these words and you can browse through these for info and ideas.

 

And the Le Havre Tourist Info office is extremely helpful. You will find reading earlier posts that they are dockside with lots of info, maps etc, also good at replying to enquiries by email.

 

Normandy is lovely. We have enjoyed our cruise stops there, most recently this May/early June.

[edinburgher]

On our return I posted up to date info and prices which you will come across on your search.

[Foxhill]

Edinburger:

 

Did you use Le Havre Taxi? I believe I read one of your posts where you set forth the various itineraries and the costs. Do you know whether they are just a driving service or whether they actually have a "guide" who can speak about the area of the tour and attractions?

 

Your information has been very helpful in our planning.

[paul929207]

As an alternative, you might consider renting a car in LeHarve. We have done that twice. We went to Honfleur, the beaches, Caen & Bayeau.

 

Paul

 

PS. We do not speak French, and had no problems.

[Foxhill]

We had thought of renting a car since we are in Le Havre for such a long day. Unfortunately, we are in port on a Sunday and all the rental car agencies are closed on Sundays. Seems that even public transportation is cut back on Sundays. In such a well visited port it would not seem a problem to secure private guides, but so many of them are geared toward tours to the Normandy Beaches and Paris it is difficult to find someone who will tour in other areas.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[edinburgher]

The only taxi tour we took was to Honfleur, (Sept 05) and this only because the timing of the ships (delayed) arrival meant that we were too late for the Honfleur buses that afternoon and could not go the following day as we were heading to Rouen, by train.

 

The driver, on this occasion at least, was French speaking with only minimal English. He tried with his limited vocabulary, but no way could he be described as a proper driver/guide. Thereagain, its only a short drive to Honfleur then its walkabout in this extremely pretty small town. Not a lot of info required for this. I speak some French. I translated.

 

On our next visit (this spring) we took the local bus to the Alabaster Coast, ie Etretat, and on return spent a couple of hours in Le Havre itself.

 

Before sailaway I picked up the taxi info sheet at the Tourist Info Office dockside to post here on CC on our return as I thought it might be helpful to others to have uptodate prices for this year.

 

A private guided tour with an English speaking guide may be better for you. On the other hand, there is a huge amount of info on the beaches and memorials in guide books of Normandy, also on the internet. A little advance research (and some downloading or copying of info) may be all you need to take with you, then you only require a taxi tour with a driver with limited English. They are fixed itineraries and duration, but are also flexible. If eg on the day itself you wanted to extend your tour and include other places/stops its simply a case of negotiating with the driver. pre-booking before your arrival would mean negotiating with the company.

 

It may be an idea to compare prices, duration etc with both taxi tours and private tours before deciding which would suit you best. And for the beaches and so on, it might be an idea to read up a little in advance as the various beaches attract different nationalities. And of course you may have personal reasons for visiting particular beaches. Its not uncommon for present day generations to have a different nationality from their fathers, grandfathers etc who were involved in the landings. A little research before contacting companies would ensure you see what may be important to you personally, rather than a "general" tour.

 

Hope this helps.

[edinburgher]

FOXHILL,

 

If you look at the taxi tours list you will find theres actually lots of tours on offer, not only Normandy beaches and Paris.

 

We didnt bother with Paris as had been there before. Our calls there have been welcome opportunities to explore this wonderful region. It has much to offer. Our first visit was a Sat afternoon (not arriving until 3pm!) and overnighting through the Sunday before sailing early evening Sunday. We used public transport on the Sunday. It may be more limited than during week days, but if you check online timetables before you leave home, you will know the timings and should not have any difficulties.

[Foxhill]

I have done extensive researching of Normandy. Library; local bookstore; this web site and many, many others, including all the tourist offices in the areas we are interested in seeing.

 

You mentioned that you had gone to Etretat and the Alabaster Coast. That is our area of interest, but to also include Fecamp and the Benedictine Museum and then back to Honfluer before returning to Le Havre and the ship. One of the circuits offered by Le Havre Taxi is that exact itinerary. Since you went to Etretat, what are your feelings about this area? Have you been to Fecamp and the Benedictine Museum?

 

I tend to do a lot of reading about areas we are to see so I have some knowledge of the history and attractions. I would be even more prepared with information if I knew that the taxi driver was simply that and not a "guide".

 

When I corresponded with the taxi company they said to tell them if we wanted an English speaking driver. We intend to book a tour before we leave for the cruise. I will be asking those questions when we finally book a tour, but thought you might give some insight. Your posts are always so informative.

 

Thanks again. :)

[edinburgher]

Thank you Foxhill. Some people on CC do extensive research, otherrs seem to do little or none at all, so I usually give more info than might be needed.

As there were only 2 of us (its not top priority for sightseeing if you have not been to the area before) we had opted to use public transport. The company which runs this route (continues to Fecamp) is (or was last year) the only Normany company not to have an online timetable. I emailed Le Havre Tourist Office and they emailed back approx times, but followed this up by sending an actual paper timetable by post. We studied this before leaving, reading it in conjuction with the online timetable for trains to Fecamp. Very few trains. We had thought maybe one way by bus, and return either by bus or by train. We also read up on Fecamp and Etretat and decided that Etretat should be our priority, in part because it is supposedly more attractive, in part because the only sight of note in Fecamp, the Benedictine Monastery tour, got a rather so-so review in our guide book. And I think the tour and tasting ran to either 1 hour or 1hr 30 total. I cant remember exactly. We thought we should be "flexible" on our day.

We were lucky with Etretat. It was the most glorious day, colours of sky, sea, alabaster, rocky beaches etc very vivid and stunningly contrasting. You could also see for miles Our current screensaver is one of the photos we took that day from the top of one of the cliffs!!

If you opt for the bus it drops you in the little square right next to the Tourist Office and approx 3/4 mins walk from the sea front. We walked up both cliffs and strolled along one of them. You get the best views of the formations from high up. On one of them theres also a memorial to two airmen who were last seen flying over there. Its in the form of an aeroplane. Theres a car park there, so a tour would be able to drive up that particular cliff using the road, leaving you only one to climb. We also strolled around the town centre which is very compact and has some interesting and attractive houses and public buildings. By then it was a little late to continue onto Fecamp, especially if including the abbey tour so we caught the 1pm bus back to Le Havre and did some sightseeing there instead.

The bus takes approx 1 hour from Le Havre as it comes off and on the main road to go through the villages along the way. In a car its likely you will take only 1/2 hour max to Etretat, probably sticking to the main road. We have travelled widely and its not a hugely scenic route when compared with some we have experienced elsewhere in the world. Pleasant enough, but not especially scenic as you dont get close enough to the sea until Etretat. The weather made the difference. The colours were stunning. On a drizzly or foggy day I dont think it would have the same impact. When we went to Honfleur it was drizzly and misty, but it made little difference there. An altogether different type of scenery.

This coast is prone to mist/fog/drizzle. It can change quite quickly especially inland. We left the ship in this to head for Rouen on the train, and minutes later, away from the coast, the sun was shining.

 

Hope some of this is helpful.

[eldercruser]

Last year (2005) we used John Flaherty (www.handmaidtours.com) for an exceptional all day tour of the Normandy battle sights. He couldn't have done a better job for us. Recommend him highly.

[normandy44]

Looking for information on private tour guides from Le Harve to the Normandy Battle Sites. All comments and advice will be appreciated.

 

 

There are also illegal companies on the web. May I suggest to you to go through an official website like the link with the tourism office of Le Havre. It is www.lehavretourisme.com and go to the English version Then you go on

"contact us" and you fill up the form with your request. In France such a big tourism office is made to answer to a question like yours. Good luck.

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Thank you all for the wonderful information. Could someone tell me how far away Honfleur is from La Havre? Happy Sailing, Joy

[Boatdrill]

According to MapQuest, Le Havre is about 20 minutes from Honfleur.

[Hebe]

We have been to this area 3 times and have used private tour companies.

 

I have two that I would recommend.

 

Pierre is just wonderful -- he can cover the beaches as well as Paris or the small towns on the Normandy Area. We probably covered several ships tours within in the same day.

 

You can contact him directly at

dejeammes@ifrance.com ; pierre@dejeammes.com

 

If he is booked -- I have also used this this service (coordinated by Manu) who I can also recommend

manu@parismyway.com www.parismyway.com