A Normandy day trip from Paris: Rouen, Honfleur, Étretat and Deauville

All the options at a glance

Normandy is a large region. The D-Day beaches are further west and need a day of their own: see our guide to the D-Day beaches from Paris.

Rouen, Honfleur, Étretat or Deauville?

• Rouen, the capital of Normandy, about 1 h 45 from Paris by car. The cathedral Monet painted more than 30 times, the Gros-Horloge clock, streets of half-timbered houses and the Old Market Square where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431.
• Honfleur, a small harbor town at the mouth of the Seine. Tall narrow houses around the Old Harbor, the wooden Church of St. Catherine and the streets where Eugène Boudin and the young Monet painted. The best place for lunch.
• Étretat, with its white chalk cliffs, natural arches and the “Needle” rising from the sea. The cliff paths give one of the great views in France. About 2.5 to 3 hours from Paris, or 45 minutes from Honfleur across the Normandy Bridge.
• Deauville, the elegant seaside resort: the boardwalk with beach cabins named after movie stars, grand villas, the casino and boutiques. Trouville next door has a lively fish market.

What fits into one day

With a car, two or three towns fit comfortably. The classic route with a private driver:

• 8:00 am: pickup at your Paris hotel.
• 9:45 am: Rouen, the cathedral and the old town.
• 12:45 pm: Honfleur, lunch by the Old Harbor.
• 3:15 pm: Deauville and the boardwalk.
• 6:00 pm: back in Paris.

Other good combinations: Honfleur and Étretat for the coast and the cliffs, or Rouen, Honfleur and Étretat on a longer day. Art lovers can start with Giverny, on the way to Rouen, from April to early November.

1. The train

Rouen is the easy one: trains from Paris Saint-Lazare take 1 h 10 to 1 h 30. Trains to Trouville-Deauville take about 2 hours. The coast is harder. Honfleur has no station, and neither does Étretat: you need a regional bus from Le Havre or Deauville, or a train to Bréauté-Beuzeville and a bus for Étretat.

By train, one town per day is realistic. Linking Rouen and the coast on the same day is where a car makes the difference.

2. A coach tour from Paris

Day tours from Paris often combine Rouen, Honfleur and Étretat, or Giverny and Rouen, for roughly €150–250 per person. Expect a long day, a large group and set times at each stop.

3. A private driver

Your chauffeur collects you at your hotel and the route is yours. At ALEGA it works like this:

• A Mercedes with an English-speaking chauffeur, water and Wi-Fi on board, and free child seats on request.
• Rouen, Honfleur and Deauville in 10 hours, with about 4.5 hours of driving in total. Étretat instead of Deauville, or as an extra stop on a longer day.
• Your chauffeur drops you in the center of each town and picks you up when you are ready.
• Prices for 10 hours: €1,090 per car for 1 to 3 people, €1,190 for 4 to 7. With a licensed English-speaking guide: €1,790 and €1,890.

The price is per car, not per person. For a group of five, €1,190 comes to about €240 each, for three towns that are hard to link by train.

A taste of Normandy

• Seafood in Honfleur and Trouville: oysters, mussels and the day’s catch.
• Cider and Calvados, the local apple brandy. Farms in the Pays d’Auge, inland from Honfleur, welcome visitors.
• Cheese: Camembert, Pont-l’Évêque and Livarot all come from this part of Normandy.

Which option should you choose?

Tips from our drivers

• Pack a windbreaker. Coastal weather changes fast, even in summer.
• Stay back from the cliff edges in Étretat. The paths are steep and not fenced everywhere.
• Book lunch in Honfleur on summer weekends. The harbor terraces fill up quickly.
• Mind the Sunday traffic. On summer Sundays the motorway back to Paris gets busy in the late afternoon, so we leave a little earlier.
• May to September is the best season, but Normandy is lovely all year and much quieter in winter.

FAQ