Harbour

Honfleur

Name: Honfleur
Address: Honfleur, FR

Honfleur, FranceCôte Fleurie and Alabaster Coast

Type: Harbour

Historic harbour at the mouth of the Seine in Normandy, on the south bank of the estuary opposite Le Havre, with yachts locked into the Vieux Bassin and the Bassin de l'Est.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach through the buoyed Seine channel, keeping clear of the deep-draught shipping lane to Rouen and Le Havre. Call Honfleur Port on VHF 17 before the entrance. The lock and Pont de la Citadelle open on a schedule tied to high water, typically HW minus 2 hours to HW plus 3 hours. Strong tidal streams run across the entrance, exceeding 3 knots at springs.

Practical

Around 120 berths spread between the Vieux Bassin, the Bassin de l'Est and the Avant-Port. Water and electricity on the pontoons, diesel at the fuel berth in the Avant-Port, showers and toilets at the capitainerie. Supermarkets, chandlery and all provisions within a few minutes' walk.

Ashore

The Vieux Bassin itself, with its slate-hung houses, is the main attraction. The Église Sainte-Catherine, a fifteenth-century wooden church built by shipwrights, stands 150 m from the quay. The Musée Eugène Boudin holds works by the local painter and his contemporaries. The Pont de Normandie viewpoint is 3 km east.

History

Honfleur was fortified in the fourteenth century during the Hundred Years' War and served as a base for raids on the English coast. Samuel de Champlain sailed from here in 1608 to found Québec. The harbour became the cradle of Impressionism in the 1860s when Boudin, Monet, Jongkind and Courbet painted at the Ferme Saint-Siméon on the hillside above the town.