Things to do in Le Havre
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Le Havre
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, long light for cliffs and stained glass, everything open without August pressure.
Fullest summer, beach cabins and festivals, with peak crowds at Étretat and Honfleur.
Biennial Transat start in odd years, fine empty weekdays in even years.
Worst months, short days, wind and rain, reduced hours, but an empty MuMa and the lowest prices.
What's on
- Un Été au Havre late June to early October
Annual summer art season placing large installations across the Perret city.
- MoZ'aïque July
Free world music festival in the Jardins Suspendus.
- Les Grandes Voiles du Havre periodic, most recently July 2025
Tall ships gathering filling the basins, spectacular but not annual.
- Fête de la Mer et des Marins September
The port's own festival of boats and seafood in Saint-François.
- Transat Café L'Or Le Havre Normandie late October to November, biennial
The great double handed transatlantic start, long known as the Transat Jacques Vabre, with a race village in the Bassin Paul Vatine.
Best things to do in Le Havre
Musée d'art moderne André Malraux
A glass museum at the harbour entrance holding one of France's finest Impressionist collections, seen in estuary light.
Église Saint-Joseph
Perret's concrete church whose 107 metre tower pours coloured light from 12768 stained glass pieces over the altar.
Appartement Témoin Perret
A preserved 1950s Perret show flat that makes the rebuilt city human, visited on small guided tours booked ahead.
Maison de l'Armateur
An 18th century shipowner's house built around an octagonal light well, the old port's grandest surviving interior.
Bibliothèque Oscar Niemeyer
Niemeyer's curved free library beside Le Volcan, a calm circular living room at the heart of the Perret grid.
Le Volcan
Niemeyer's white volcano theatre, a national stage for theatre, dance, circus and music and the city's serious night out.
Les Jardins Suspendus
Botanical gardens in an old fort above the city, with world plant collections and the best free panorama in Le Havre.
Centre-ville reconstruit du Havre
The UNESCO listed rebuilt centre itself, best read on a slow walk from the Hôtel de Ville down Avenue Foch to the basins.
Where to stay in Le Havre
Perret Centre and Bassin du Commerce
first visit, all round base
Inside the UNESCO grid, walking distance to Saint-Joseph, MuMa, Le Volcan, the tram and the beach.
Seafront and Saint-François
sea views and dinner
Facing the beach and around the old basins, best for couples, summer stays and the city's evening streets.
Sainte-Adresse
quiet seaside stays
A small resort commune at the end of the beach, calmer and more residential, best with a car or the bus.
Station and Docks Vauban
one night stops and drivers
Modern chain hotels and aparthotels by the station and redeveloped docks, practical and good value.
Think twice about
- Immediate railway station fringe and Cours de la République
Can feel rough late at night with litter and drinking. Pass through for trains, base in the Perret centre or Saint-François instead.
- Port industrial roads east of the basins
No sights, heavy truck traffic and poor pedestrian provision. No reason to base or wander there.
Best restaurants in Le Havre
Jean-Luc Tartarin
The city's gastronomic summit facing Square Saint-Roch, precise starred cooking built on Norman sea produce.
Le Bouche à Oreille
The consensus mid tier favourite, a market cooking bistro with generous portions and a regulars' atmosphere.
La Voile Bleue
A small seafood restaurant with a local atmosphere, carefully cooked day fish and service reviewers praise warmly.
La Taverne Paillette
The historic brasserie institution, famous for seafood piled over its house choucroute in the port's living room.
Le Grand Large
A classic Norman seafood restaurant above the beach at Sainte-Adresse, the natural lunch after the Cap walk.
La Petite Gourmandise
A well reviewed centre city French table in the best moderately priced group, nobody's consolation booking.
Le Bistrot des Halles
A market bistro cooking old style dishes like pot au feu and cassoulet, with the centre's best value lunch formule.
Les Halles Centrales
The covered market of 22 traders, the city's larder and its cheapest great meal strategy for grazing and picnics.
Outdoor things to do in Le Havre
Falaises d'Étretat
White chalk cliffs, the Porte d'Aval arch and the Aiguille needle, walked on the GR21 clifftops above the pebble beach.
Golf d'Étretat
An 18 hole clifftop course from 1908 where the wind is always in play and the par 5 10th runs along the cliff edge.
Golf du Havre
The home 18 hole course ten minutes north of the centre, a parkland test with water hazards and a clubhouse restaurant.
Cap de la Hève
The lighthouse headland at the end of the beach walk where the chalk cliffs begin and the whole city comes into view.
Centre Nautique Paul Vatine
The city's sailing school on the Digue Nord, with dinghy, windsurf, paddle and kitesurf lessons and summer hire.
Honfleur
The preserved harbour town across the Pont de Normandie, slate houses around the Vieux Bassin and a wooden church.
Abeille Parachutisme
Tandem skydiving over the coast, with the port, the estuary bridge and the chalk cliffs in one freefall panorama.
Palais Bénédictine
Fécamp's palace distillery, the day trip pairing cliff walks and a working fishing port without Étretat's crowds.
Best hotels in Le Havre
Hilton Garden Inn Le Havre Centre
The city's flagship four star near Saint-Joseph, where a high floor sea view room is the best value upgrade in town.
Hôtel et Spa Vent d'Ouest
The independent top tier alternative, a four star hotel and spa on a quiet street a few blocks from the seafront.
Hôtel Mercure Le Havre Centre Bassin du Commerce
A reliable Mercure facing the Bassin du Commerce in the middle of the grid, walkable to every main sight.
Best Western ARThotel
An art themed hotel inside a Perret building in the UNESCO perimeter, in the restaurant streets of the centre.
Hôtel Carmin
The mid tier overachiever, a three star near the beach with the strongest review scores in its class in the city.
Oscar Hôtel
A small budget hotel in the Perret quarter decorated in deliberate 1950s style, five minutes from the Hôtel de Ville.
Hôtel Le Petit Vatel
The value workhorse two star near the beach and centre, clean and unpretentious at about half the flagship's rates.
ibis Le Havre Centre
The chain budget safety net downtown, a known room and breakfast within ten minutes of the Bassin du Commerce.
Is Le Havre expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €140 a person |
| Splurge | €300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Appartement Témoin Perret: weeks ahead
- Le Volcan: a few days ahead
- Vedettes Baie de Seine: a few days ahead
- Golf d'Étretat: weeks ahead
- Golf du Havre: a few days ahead
- Centre Nautique Paul Vatine: a few days ahead
- Abeille Parachutisme: weeks ahead
- Jean-Luc Tartarin: weeks ahead
- Book the Appartement Témoin Perret, Jean-Luc Tartarin and weekend tables at Le Bouche à Oreille and La Voile Bleue.
- Book Vedettes Baie de Seine sailings in season, Golf d'Étretat tee times and summer nautical centre lessons.
- Book sea view rooms early in Un Été au Havre and Transat weeks.
Is Le Havre safe?
- Stay on paths and back from chalk cliff edges at the Cap de la Hève and Étretat, and respect the wind.
- The sea is cold Channel water in every month. Supervised bathing areas are the safe swim choice.
- Emergency number is 112.
Le Havre travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Judging the Perret centre from a car window or on a grey Monday morning when much is shut.
- Quayside tourist menus in Honfleur on a day trip. Eat simply there or back in Le Havre.
- Étretat village at a summer weekend lunchtime, and expecting a sandy swimming beach in Le Havre.
Getting around Le Havre: public transport and more
- Walk the centre, use the two tram lines and LiA buses beyond it, and the funicular for the upper town.
- Trains run to Rouen in about 50 minutes and Paris Saint-Lazare in about 2 hours, buses cross to Honfleur.
- Do not treat Le Havre as Paris. Paris is a six hour round trip for about an hour in the city.
Who Le Havre suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Le Havre your trip
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