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Northern European Cities excursion ideas


sirdaniel

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Hi all! Heading off on our first cruise (Anthem of the Seas) this May - we've got excursions booked for each port currently - Bruges, Oslo, Hamburg - except Le Havre. We're wondering what people would recommend for Le Havre? We've never been to France before so originally we were going to do Paris or Normandy but the distance is putting us off and we're thinking it's probably not worth the 6-7 hour round trip and we can return another day to either of those.

Also, for Oslo and Hamburg, our excursions last for a few hours and we will have another 5+ hours in port - anyone know if there's much to see in walking distance of the ports here?

Thanks!

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Welcome to the blog, sirdaniel !  I am with you on the long ride to Paris.  We were in Le Havre only once and unfortunately it was a Sunday so much was closed.  I do recall that we had a very nice day just walking around.  It seems that there was a nice open market that we enjoyed. Skip the long ride to Paris and do that another time !

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Omaha Beach is definitely a bit closer. Still probably a two hour drive (maybe a bit more if you're on a bus) each way, but four hours is better than the ride to Paris! I would still highly recommend it. 

 

Rouen is a nice little city (big town?) and it's about an hour by train straight from Le Havre. 

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6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Welcome to the blog, sirdaniel !  I am with you on the long ride to Paris.  We were in Le Havre only once and unfortunately it was a Sunday so much was closed.  I do recall that we had a very nice day just walking around.  It seems that there was a nice open market that we enjoyed. Skip the long ride to Paris and do that another time !

 

1 hour ago, Zacharius said:

Omaha Beach is definitely a bit closer. Still probably a two hour drive (maybe a bit more if you're on a bus) each way, but four hours is better than the ride to Paris! I would still highly recommend it. 

 

Rouen is a nice little city (big town?) and it's about an hour by train straight from Le Havre. 

Thanks guys! We're definitely going to skip Paris. Deciding between D-Day/Bayeux and Versailles as they're both a bit closer but my friend still wants to do something with some sort of historical or cultural interest! 

 

1 hour ago, Tporth12 said:

We will be on this sailing. We are booked for the excursion to see the Palace of Versailles. 

Fantastic! It's our first cruise - really looking forward to it.

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Versailles is incredible but I wouldn't say it's closer to Le Havre, it's essentially in the suburbs of Paris (you can get there on the Metro!). 

Rouen is beautiful.  The cathedral is historically where all kings and queens of France were crowned.  

Check local transport for Oslo and Hamburg, there are bound to be local buses into the city centre. Once there you will have plenty of options for sightseeing.  Or check the City Sightseeing buses - they often stop at cruise terminals when a ship is.docked and will take you to most major sights 

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Hamburg is beautiful.  We did not do an excursion-we just walked around the older part of the city.  The port is a little removed from the city, but there is a water taxi nearby (that sadly was not operational when we were there).  We had a great lunch at a beer place with a deck overlooking the river.  After that, we hopped on the train and rode the loop.  Some of it was underground, but most was not and it was a great way to see a lot of different aspects of the city.

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8 hours ago, Tira04 said:

Versailles is incredible but I wouldn't say it's closer to Le Havre, it's essentially in the suburbs of Paris (you can get there on the Metro!). 

Rouen is beautiful.  The cathedral is historically where all kings and queens of France were crowned.  

Check local transport for Oslo and Hamburg, there are bound to be local buses into the city centre. Once there you will have plenty of options for sightseeing.  Or check the City Sightseeing buses - they often stop at cruise terminals when a ship is.docked and will take you to most major sights 

Thanks! We went for D-Day Beach and Bayeux Tapestry in the end - it's closer to two hours, but that's better than three and a bit and my friend still wanted some historical interest involved.

Will definitely take a look! 

7 hours ago, Fairlynew said:

Hamburg is beautiful.  We did not do an excursion-we just walked around the older part of the city.  The port is a little removed from the city, but there is a water taxi nearby (that sadly was not operational when we were there).  We had a great lunch at a beer place with a deck overlooking the river.  After that, we hopped on the train and rode the loop.  Some of it was underground, but most was not and it was a great way to see a lot of different aspects of the city.

That's great to know - thanks! We've got an excursion booked to Medieval Luebeck but that gets back in at 2:30pm, leaving us with a while still to explore. 

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