The unconventionally striking port city of Le Havre, Normandy, is a survivor, rebuilt virtually from scratch after the Second World War. It bears little resemblance to the Monet paintings you’ve seen (the artist moved to Le Havre aged five), but instead looks like a contemporary art gallery, with rainbow-coloured shipping containers, geometric sculptures and a concert hall inside a building shaped like a volcano.
Too often overlooked by tourists passing through en route to Honfleur or the cliffs of Étretat, ultra-modern Le Havre rewards travellers looking for somewhere a little different. Artisan breweries overflow nightly, there’s a distinctly global restaurant scene and the city has the distinction of having achieved Unesco World Heritage status in the shortest time after reconstruction.
