The cathedral Monet painted thirty times, a golden astronomical clock, two thousand half-timbered houses and the square where Joan of Arc's story ended. A private chauffeur takes you from your Paris hotel to the heart of old Rouen — and back — at your own pace.
Book a Rouen day trip ↗Capital of Normandy for over a thousand years, Rouen packs more history into a walkable old town than almost any city in France. Victor Hugo called it "the city of a hundred spires"; Monet set up his easel opposite the cathedral and changed painting forever; Joan of Arc was tried and executed here in 1431. Trains from Saint-Lazare exist, but a private chauffeur turns the journey into part of the day: door-to-door on the A13 along the Seine valley, with the option of a stop at Giverny on the way, and no timetable dictating when your evening ends.
Notre-Dame de Rouen, whose west front Monet painted in every light — with its Butter Tower and soaring lantern spire.
The gilded 14th-century astronomical clock astride Rouen's most beautiful street, lined with half-timbered houses.
The place du Vieux-Marché, the modern memorial church and the Historial in the palace where she was tried.
We collect you at your Paris hotel or address and drop you steps from the cathedral. Spend the morning between Notre-Dame and the abbey church of Saint-Ouen, take a long Norman lunch in the old town, then follow the rue du Gros-Horloge — under the great gilded clock — to the place du Vieux-Marché. Your chauffeur keeps the car close by throughout, so coats, cameras and shopping never weigh you down.
Travelling as a family or a small group? Our Business Van seats up to seven with luggage. Rouen also folds naturally into a wider Normandy plan — see our D-Day and Normandy coast trips and all our day trips from Paris.
Rouen is about 135 km north-west of Paris — roughly 1 h 30 to 1 h 45 by car door-to-door on the A13, depending on your pick-up point and traffic.
Its Gothic cathedral, painted more than thirty times by Claude Monet, the Gros-Horloge astronomical clock, some two thousand half-timbered houses, and the place du Vieux-Marché, where Joan of Arc was executed in 1431.
Yes — Giverny sits just off the A13, roughly halfway between Paris and Rouen. A popular full-day itinerary visits Monet's gardens in the morning and Rouen in the afternoon, all with the same chauffeur.
Yes — with day hire your chauffeur stays available throughout, repositions the car as you move through the city and drives you back to Paris whenever you wish.
Rouen Cathedral is a lesson in how long a great building can keep growing: begun in the 12th century, crowned in the 19th by a cast-iron spire that briefly made it the tallest building in the world. The Flamboyant west front — with its lacework of stone and the famous Butter Tower, funded by dispensations to eat butter in Lent — is the façade Claude Monet painted in more than thirty canvases between 1892 and 1894, at dawn, in fog, in full sun, proving that the subject of a painting could be light itself. One canvas from the series hangs a few streets away in the Musée des Beaux-Arts; inside the cathedral, look for the tomb holding the heart of Richard the Lionheart, Duke of Normandy before he was King of England.
From the cathedral square, the rue du Gros-Horloge runs west between leaning half-timbered façades to the Gros-Horloge itself — a golden astronomical clock of the 14th century mounted on a Renaissance arch, still showing the phase of the moon and the day of the week. Climb the belfry for rooftops and spires, then continue to the place du Vieux-Marché, where a soaring cross marks the spot of Joan of Arc's execution on 30 May 1431. The modern church of Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc beside it, shaped like an upturned ship, shelters superb 16th-century stained glass saved from a bombed church; the Historial Jeanne d'Arc, set in the archbishop's palace where her trial was held, retells the story where it happened. Save time too for the abbey church of Saint-Ouen — Rayonnant Gothic at its purest, with a celebrated Cavaillé-Coll organ — and the eerie, beautiful Aître Saint-Maclou, a half-timbered plague ossuary unlike anything else in France.
Between 1892 and 1894 Monet painted the west front of the cathedral in a series of more than thirty canvases, studying how light transformed the same stone at different hours and seasons. Rouen's Musée des Beaux-Arts displays one of them; others hang at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
A full day is ideal: the cathedral and Saint-Ouen abbey church in the morning, lunch in the old town, then the Gros-Horloge, the half-timbered lanes and the place du Vieux-Marché in the afternoon. A half-day covers the essentials at a brisker pace.
On the place du Vieux-Marché, on 30 May 1431. A tall cross marks the spot, beside the modern church of Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc with its 16th-century stained glass; the Historial Jeanne d'Arc nearby retells her trial in the very palace where it took place.
The single best reason to do Rouen by car rather than train: Giverny is on the road. Monet's house and gardens lie a few minutes off the A13, almost exactly halfway, and the pairing is irresistible — the water-lily pond in the morning, then the cathedral he painted in the afternoon. It is the closest thing to walking through an Impressionist's day. If that combination tempts you, see our dedicated Giverny day trip page, or simply tell us when booking and we will build the timing around garden opening hours and your lunch.
Rouen is also Normandy's natural gateway. Push another hour beyond it and you reach Honfleur's old harbour, the cliffs of Étretat or the boardwalk at Deauville; push further and you are among the D-Day landing beaches. Guests planning a night or two on the coast often use the Rouen day as a scouting run — or ask us to turn it into a two-day Normandy itinerary with the same chauffeur throughout. Prefer cathedral country closer to Paris? Chartres makes a gentler half-day alternative south-west of the capital.
We like to be on the A13 by 8:15 — the Seine valley does its best work early, with mist lifting off the river loops around Les Andelys. If Giverny is on the programme, we time arrival for the gardens' opening, when the water-lily pond is still glassy, then reach Rouen just as restaurants start seating for lunch. Our drop-off is a quiet side street by the cathedral square; from there the whole old town is flat and walkable, and we shift the car to meet you at the place du Vieux-Marché so nobody retraces their steps. One habit our regulars have taught us: be at the Gros-Horloge just before the hour, when the bell rings above the street. The drive home is the soft part — most passengers sleep from Vernon onwards.
All-inclusive private price: chauffeur, vehicle, fuel, tolls and waiting.
from 749€up to 3 passengers · full day (8 h)
from 939€up to 7 passengers · full day (8 h)
from 1039€up to 3 passengers · full day (8 h)
Indicative from-price for a private day trip; the final quote depends on your exact itinerary, dates and group size. Giverny stop and larger groups on request.
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