Best known as a ferry terminal, Cherbourg-Octeville has more ropes: The Cité de la Mer museum, for example, will take you back to the golden age of transatlantic travel and is housed in a cavernous Art Deco ocean liner terminal.
Cherbourg also has the largest man-made harbor in the world, taking seven decades to complete and still guarded by sea forts at its entrance. Combining this with the solid Roule Hill and the town carries a harsh military atmosphere, but has a more peaceful side. The Cotentin Peninsula is a verdant chequerboard of apple orchards, cider presses, and châteaux with landscaped gardens. Discover the best things to do in Cherbourg-Octeville.
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1. La Cité de la Mer
Cherbourg’s showpiece is this great science and history museum inside the harbor’s former Transatlantic maritime terminal. This 240-meter-long Art Deco hall was finished in 1928 and in its time was full of amenities including its own post office.
The museum opened in 2002 and draws on its legacy. There was a space reserved for the Titanic, called into Cherbourg five days before it sank.
And on the military side of things you can board France’s first nuclear submarine, Le Redoutable, launched in 1967. Children will also be wild for aquariums, with 17 tanks (including the tallest European tank) containing 4,000 marine creatures.
2. Rade de Cherbourg
Anyone fascinated by seafaring will want to see more of the largest man-made harbor in the world. This was announced in 1853, after 70 years of working on a scale far beyond any other project in an era other than the construction of St Petersburg.
In July and August, there are four hours a day aboard the 82-seater Adèle. This boat departs from the Pont Tournant and makes a pick-up at the La Cité de la Mer, before sailing off into the 1,500-hectare harbor.
You’ll see the kilometers of seawalls and three fortresses, all the while getting amazing facts and figures about this record-breaking site.
3. Musée Thomas-Henry
Housed in a purpose-built gallery, the Cherbourg Canh Fine Arts Museum features a formidable painting from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The museum's patron in the 19th century was art patron Thomas Henry, who donated a collection including Murillo, Jacob Jordaens, Rigaud, Muffin, and Vouet.
A young Jean-François Millet, later of Barbizon School, came to paint these paintings. Years later, the museum acquired Millet's second-largest work, after Musée dieuOrsay in Paris. Also from the 19th century are sublime pieces by Boudin, Théodore Rousseau, and the Impressionist Paul Signac.
4. Parc Emmanuel Liais
Emmanuel Liais was the mayor of Cherbourg twice until the end of his life, but before that, he had learned everything from discovery to astronomy to botany. During his travels through Brazil and the Far East, he collected samples that he brought back to Cherbourg.
Many of the 400 plant species in the greenhouses at this botanical garden descend from these expeditions. The garden is free and is less than a 10-minute walk from Pont Tournable.
You can get acquainted with exotic species like African Encephalartos, have edible stems and can live for 1,000 years. Outside there are rhododendrons, palms, and a stunning Monterey cypress.
5. Basilique Sainte-Trinité
Among Cherbourg’s oldest buildings in this 15th-century church, which has seen a lot of conflict in its time. The church’s predecessor was destroyed in the 100 Years’ War, while this one needed a lot of reconstruction after being sacked during the Revolution.
When it was restored at the beginning of the 19th century it became one of France’s first Neo-Gothic churches. From Place Napoleon, you can explore impressive famous churches and carved churches.
Then inside there are very unusual reliefs above the arcades in the nave, which were carved in the 1400s and portray a Danse Macabre in memory of the plagues that had recently swept the region.
6. Musée de la Libération
Atop the Montagne du Roule, the highest point in the town is a museum dealing with the liberation of Cherbourg, which took place on 25 June 1944.
The site, 117 meters above the Channel, adds a lot to the attraction: The museum is in a fortress from the rule of Napoleon III, built at a time of raised tensions between Britain and France, and later fortified by the Germans who excavated tunnels in the hill.
The inner galleries recount life in Cherbourg during the war, as well as the events of June 1944 when it became the first major French port to be liberated by the Allies. As you leave the museum you’ll be confronted by a wonderful panorama of the historic harbor.
7. Batterie du Roule
The system of tunnels dug by the Germans under the fort is open to the public on a guided tour arranged by Cherbourg’s tourist office. You’ll don a hard hat with a headlamp and go into a network of chambers excavated to serve the heavy artillery installed here to defend the harbor.
The battery was classed as a French historic monument in 1995, and the reinforced concrete openings still look impenetrable more than 70 years after they were built. As you explore the tunnels you’ll be able to see bats hanging from the ceilings.
8. Parc du Château des Ravalet
On the eastern outskirts of Cherbourg, is an interesting Renaissance hotel on the picturesque campus. The Château was built between 1562 and 1575 using alluring blue schist for its material. This house is private but is not open on French heritage days many times a year.
The rest of the time it sets the scene for the gardens, which are open all year round and recognized as a “jardin remarquable”. The gardens as they appear now were landscaped in 1872, with winding paths, centuries-old trees, two ponds, a grotto, and an exquisite 19th-century greenhouse.
9. Local Gardens
Given the abundance of greenery on the Cotentin Peninsula you could spend a day hopping from one show garden to the next. Moments from Cherbourg are Renaissance Château de Nacquevill, with an English garden landscaped in a small niche with azaleas, fragrant flowers and a view of the ocean.
Meanwhile, Château de Vauville has a botanical garden with 1,200 different species from the southern hemisphere. These subtropical ferns, palms, and colorful flowers are nourished by a balmy microclimate and contrast with the dignified stone architecture of the castle.
10. Beaches
Cherbourg isn’t famed for its beaches, and a lot of the neighboring coast is windswept and wild. But on hot days there are a few bays not far away. Querqueville on the west side of the giant harbor wall of Cherbourg is the nearest family beach: This is a long sandy bay with playgrounds for youngsters, a bar and a restaurant.
You have to go a little further for the best in the area, Plage de Scioto. But a 20-minute drive is worth it, as this is a Blue Flag beach in a cinematic natural environment. There’s low, rolling surf that is monitored by lifeguards in summer and a generous sweep of golden sand to relax and play on.
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