What to see in Honfleur ?

Honfleur derives its distinctiveness from the tension between an active port and a museum-town that Impressionist painters fixed in the nineteenth century. The Vieux-Bassin, surrounded by tall, narrow slate-roofed houses, hasn't shifted since Boudin and Monet-which accounts for both its charm and its footfall. The Norman town manages to be dense without being large, and each street between Quai Sainte-Catherine and the church of the same name tells something concrete about its maritime history.

Spring and early autumn offer the truest light, without the traffic gridlock that chokes the centre in July and August. Two days are enough to see the essentials without rushing. You arrive ideally by car from Caen or Rouen; the train doesn't serve the town directly. The classic trap: focusing only on the quay and missing the steep alleyways around the Lieutenance, which give a far more honest reading of the place.