Rouen
France
The cathedral Monet painted thirty times, two thousand half-timbered houses, and the square where Joan of Arc was burnt
Photo by Barry Talley on Unsplash
Photos by Yevhenii Deshko, jimmy desplanques and jimmy desplanques on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
May to September
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 85mm in Dec
Where it is
49.44°N, 1.09°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk the rue du Gros-Horloge and the rue Martainville for the timber-framed houses
- Stand in front of the cathedral façade at different times of day, which is what Monet did
- Go into the Aître Saint-Maclou, which most people walk past
- Spend an afternoon in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which charges nothing for the permanent collection
- Day-trip to Giverny or the abbeys along the Seine
Rouen travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeEuros, and cards everywhere. Nothing here needs cash you would have to change for.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines all over the centre and at the station. Use a bank’s own machine and refuse the offer to convert into your own currency.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- independent machines that offer to charge you in your own currency
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- BNP Paribas
- Société Générale
- Caisse d’Épargne
Cards are taken everywhere. Refuse any offer to convert.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
SafeA safe, ordinary French city of a hundred thousand. Mind your phone and bag around the station and on busy nights in the bar streets, and that is about it. The half-timbered streets are cobbled and uneven, and the cathedral spire is the tallest in France — the climb is not open to the public, so do not plan on it.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Rouen Rive-Droite station — and the streets around it late at night, for bag and phone theft
- The bar streets on Friday and Saturday nights, which are loud and drunk rather than hostile
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodCanard à la rouennaise is the old dish, pressed duck with a blood sauce, and few places still do it properly. The everyday Normandy table is better: Neufchâtel cheese, which comes heart-shaped, cream sauces, cider, and the trou normand, a calvados in the middle of the meal. Sucre de pomme, the apple-sugar sticks, are the sweet.
Travel tipsNightlife
A university city’s evening: terraces and bistros in the old town, student bars after them, and a proper concert hall over the river.
- Place du Vieux-Marché — restaurant terraces, busiest in summer
- the Saint-Maclou quarter — bars in the timber-framed streets east of the cathedral
- Hangar 106 — the city’s live music venue, on the left bank
Closing: Most bars by 01:00 or 02:00. Restaurants stop serving around 22:00.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Rouen
No Holistay rentals in Rouen yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Rouen on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle CDG
2h 30mfrom the airport· 117 km as the crow flies
RER into Paris, then the train from Saint-Lazare, about two and a half hours in all.
Also worth pricing: Paris-Beauvais BVA — ryanair and Wizz Air; about an hour by hire car, and awkward without one.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
