Brittany Ferries ship in the Le Havre harbour

Le Havre – The Ferry

Le Havre used to be a busy ferry station, with two ferry operators going to the UK and Ireland. But that has been reduced to one operator going to Portsmouth in the UK. Which is strange, since Le Havre lies geographically the closest to Paris, the main motorway (A13) and the ferry station lies almost in the city centre making it ideal for day or weekend visits.

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Brittany Ferries operate either one or two sailings per day (depending on the month). One sailing is during the daytime, the other is a nighttime sailing.

Ferry terminal building in Le Havre
Ferry terminal building in Le Havre

The ferry terminal building lies 10 minutes walk from the city centre, next to the fishing harbour and market. If you have an hour or so to spare, 2 minutes walk is the fabulous Ship Owner’s House museum (Maison de l’Armateur).

Above to the right on the photo you will see an airbridge, connecting the building to the actual ferry ship.

Airbridge connecting terminal to ferry in Le Havre
Airbridge connecting terminal to ferry in Le Havre

This airbridge connects “walking” passengers (meaning passengers without a car) to the ferry. It’s quite a walk above the busy harbour roads, and you will notice a lot of barbed-wire. This is the latest “fashion’ to keep illegal immigrants from boarding the ferry.

Car checkin for the Le Havre ferry
Car checkin for the Le Havre ferry

Further up the road, towards the Docks shopping centre, you will find a roundabout giving you access to the car and caravan checkin for the ferry. You can see the checkin road on the map at the start of this article.

Ferry terminal building entrance in Le Havre
Ferry terminal building entrance in Le Havre

The terminal building has a large car park and a bus stop with a free shuttle bus that brings you to the central Le Havre railway station.

Inside the ferry terminal building of Le Havre
Inside the ferry terminal building of Le Havre

Inside the building, although very modern, it’s disappointing. The use of the big building for the passengers is almost nothing – it’s all offices; there is no restaurant, no bar, no shops – just one coffee vending machine, two customer service counters and a few seats.

Conclusion

Despite being located in a big city, almost in the city centre and close to a main motorway, the number of sailings is low, and therefore the number of passengers are low. Is it a chicken or egg situation? Would a better ground-service bring more passengers, or do they need more passengers to increase their service. If you look at Ouistreham, which lies 10-15 minutes by car from Caen and even further from the motorway, it has 3 daily sailings but a nice terminal building with restaurants and a bar.

Click here to access the Brittany Ferries web site.

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