Le Havre. Port city in Normandy on the mouth of the River Seine. Popular call of port for cruise ships, which is how we came to be visiting this French city for a day.
Actually, not even for a day. We’d booked a spa package back onboard cruise ship MSC Preziosa for the late afternoon. The spa was grand, but a bit of a mistake. Because Le Havre is a Normandy gem
If you google Le Havre, you’ll find people asking: Is Le Havre worth visiting? Let me tell you, yes! Absolutely. Here’s what we discovered.
Things to Do in Le Havre, France.
See Catène de Containers
This art installation created from shipping containers by Vincent Ganivet is a Le Havre landmark. A big, bold splash of colour on the waterfront. You can’t really miss it.
Explore Le Havre’s Signature Streets
Le Havre was all but destroyed in World War II, with just a few buildings in the city centre surviving. Post war reconstruction was the vision of modern architect Auguste Perret and he created a distinctive Le Havre look using concrete.
Perret became the King of Concrete, a pioneer in using it for both form and function.
Perret’s work on Le Havre helped the city achieve the title of the first Modern City of France and become one of only two post-World War II cities to be granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Le Havre: the city that made concrete chic.
Visit St. Joseph’s Church
An easy to find, free thing to do in le Havre. Also one of the most surprisingly beautiful: St Joseph’s Church
To get the full effect of this lighthouse-like church designed by Auguste Perret in the 1950’s, spend a moment taking in the Brutalist exterior before stepping inside. The concrete interior is softened by 12,768 tiny stained glass windows in every colour, every one hand blown.
My photo’s haven’t done this beautiful church justice, if you’d like to see more click here.
Easy to find, free to visit.
Explore the Le Halles Centrales Food Market
Le Halles Centrales is a small indoor food market located between the port area and the city centre. It’s a nice mix of speciality goods and day to day stuff alongside the butchers and greengrocers.
Get to Know Le Havre through the Place Names
Place names in Le Havre are an interesting business. Streets, buildings and public spaces are often named after Le Havre citizens of note or those who have a connection of some sort with the city.
If, like me, you’re a curious sort then it’s interesting looking up who they were and what they got up to.
FYI: Frédéric Sauvage invented the marine propeller whilst Old Francis I, known locally as Francois, was King of France for a bit.
I’ll be hunting for the streets named after women of note on my next visit.
Ride the Le Havre Funicular
Le Havre climbs up a hillside, with the upper and lower portions of the city connected by a funicular.
It’s great fun to ride and budget friendly at just 50c per journey. Tickets are purchased from the machine at the small station, it’s very straightforward but you can switch the language to English if needs be. Validate your ticket at the gate and hop on board!
At the top you can walk to a viewpoint, admire some of the older not-concrete French architecture or visit Fort de Tourneville, a fortress turned arts centre with a concert hall, exhibition space and cafe.
The funicular cars have lights on the front that make them look like they’re smiling. How nice is that?
The Town Hall, Gardens & Fountains
Facing out over a large square with gardens, fountains and fabulous scrap metal flamingo sculptures.
The Town Hall is a modern building, as most of the city is, proudly flying the French flag and sporting the French national motto in gold: Liberté, égalité, fraternité . From here you can look straight down Avenue Foch, known as “the Champs-Elysées of Le Havre” to the Catène de Containers and the sea beyond.
A pretty and pleasant spot, even on a cold February morning. I can imagine how it would come to life in Spring and Summer.
Other Things to Do in Le Havre, France
If you have a little longer in Le Havre, you could also:
- Visit the Perret Show Apartment: An original post war apartment, reconstructed exactly as it would have been. A showcase for life and design in 1950’s Le Havre.
- See Some Art: Le Havre is home to MuMa; a glass and steel building that is home to a renowned Impressionist collection. Makes sense, given that Monet started the whole Impressionism thing here in Le Havre.
- Have A Swim & Spa Day: The place I wish I’d known about. A swimming & wellness centre with indoor and outdoor pools, slides, sauna and Turkish Baths. Next time!
Is Le Havre Worth Visiting?
Absolutely, yes! In fact, I think it’s a very under rated French destination. It has it all- history, architecture, museums and wellness. The coastal location gives it a nice resort feel, even on a cold February day.
Add to that the friendliness of the Le Havre locals; people here are happy, proud of their city and keen to share it with you. Our experience has inspired us to plan a return trip in the future, and I hope this post inspires you to consider planning your own trip to Le Havre.
If you’d like to browse all that is on offer in Le Havre and beyond, Normandy Tourism is a great place to start.
We visited Le Havre as part of an MSC Northern Pearls cruise. If you enjoyed this post, you might like to read about what else we got up to in Amsterdam, Hamburg & Bruges.
Helen x
I’m convinced! Because we’ve never actually travelled to or from Le Havre we’d never actually considered it a possible destination. It’s now firmly on the list for when we’re travelling through France.
Le Havre is worth a look for sure 😊
It’s on the list, thank you Helen
Welcome, it is a lovely city ☺️
TBH, pretty much everywhere in France is lovely.
I’ve never been to Le Havre. In the days when we used to take car ferries we visited Cherbourg and St. Malo. You have painted an attractive picture of the town and your cruise sounded fun. Something else we’ve never done! Hope you have a good weekend Helen. M.
Thank you Marion, I only knew of Le Havre as a port so it was fun exploring it as a destination. Have a good weekend 😊
Good to see what the place looks like. A friend here moved back to her home there due to family circumstances and I always wondered xx
I would never have thought of visiting Le Havre but I do like what you’ve shown us here. In particular St Joseph’s church (which reminds me a little of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, Chicago – see my photos here: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/frank-lloyd-wright-in-chicago/) Also the show apartment would interest me, and I love a good market, especially in France!
St Joseph’s is beautiful, the exterior and interior are so different and yet it all works. I’d love to see the Perret show apartment too. Next time!
Never thought of it as a place to visit. Thank you for opening my eyes.
Thanks for coming along Sandra 😊
It does look interesting. Were you tongue in cheek about looking for the streets named after women which are usually few and far between?!
I didn’t spot a single street named after a female, but to be fair I only realised majority were named after people half way round. So next time -a Summer visit is penciled in- I’ll be on the hunt.
It was quite a contrast to Bruge and Amsterdam, found quite a few tributes to female figures there. Speaking of which, I hope your exhibition opening went well 😊
Thanks. It has been quite a successful first week, I am buzzing!
Looks lovely; you managed to squeeze a lot in in not even a full day! I like the sea container sculpture, and the church looks very interesting in its design. I’d never considered visiting, but I really should go and explore more of France!
Cutting the day short was a mistake, but we’ll get back. I’d love to see more of France too; so many places, so little time!
I haven’t visited Le Havre but went to Normandie before and it is a lovely french county. There are plenty of cities like that that have bad reputation but are actually worth visiting.
Absolutely! I say everywhere is worth a visit at least once. I’ve been looking at other places along the same stretch of coastline, it looks a beautiful part of France.
You have plenty of beautiful places to visit along the Atlantic coast of France 😊
Looks great, an intriguing place to visit. 🙂
It was a real wildcard of a place, but I liked it! A really lovely city.
Thanks for the great tips! I visited Le Havre last month and really enjoyed the architecture and waterfront walk. I’d also recommend trying local food near the port — especially the seafood. Looking forward to more posts about Normandy
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Hoping to head back to France later this year, Normandy is a wonderful destination.