Information about Dieppe
Take a ride round town on Jean-Louis Guillou’s "Petit Train" between April and September. It sets out on its hour-long journey from outside the Tourist Information Office but you can get on at any of its stops. (Tel: 0235 045608).
There is free parking on the seafront and along the quai Duquesne, by the fishing port. Otherwise, parking is for a maximum of two and a half hours in the main streets of the town, and for up to 24 hours if you were willing to walk a couple of hundred metres from the central zone: a veritable parking bargain.
No charge for street parking between 12.30 and 1.30pm when, like everybody else, the meter attendants are at lunch. Parking is free on Sundays and public holidays. There is a covered car park off the rue Claude Groulard, convenient for Shopi.
From Dieppe, you can get a train to Rouen or to Paris.Trains are comfortable and on time, but not too frequent for Paris and the last train back from the capital leaves at 8.22pm.(weekdays)
The last train back from Rouen is at 9.54pm Monday to Friday, 9.57pm Saturday and 9.41pm Sunday. Nearby towns, including Le Tréport, Eu, Veules-les-Roses, St-Valery-en-Caux and Fécamp, can be reached by buses from the railway station. Dieppe has a cheap and efficient local bus service, Stradibus. If you are using it for a number of journeys, buy a 7.10€ "carnet" of 10 tickets from the Café des Voyageurs, opposite the Tourist Information Office.
The No 2 bus, which stops outside the tourist office, will take you to Auchan, the main hypermarket. Taxis are not expensive. One firm, Boivin (0235 842578), has a people carrier that can take nine passengers. If you ring Radio-Taxis (0235 842005) for a taxi from the terminal to Auchan.
There is a fine beach walk over the pebbles and rocks to Pourville, nearly two miles to the west of Dieppe, but we can’t recommend it to you. We used to do it at low tide, feeling then fairly safe from falling cliffs or rising waters. But the cliffs have become very unstable and we have to say take the top road to Pourville, allowing 50 to 60 minutes. The view to the west from the last twist in the road is stunning. At Pourville, revive yourself with a visit to an elegant tea room or the oyster bar.
There is an occasional bus, or take a taxi, to return. For walkers and bikers, there are delightful routes through the adjacent forests. Also, the Avenue verte, a section of the future cycle path from London to Paris, can be followed from Dieppe to Forges-les-Eaux. Get a map or ask at the Tourist Office. Also you can explore the three river valleys that lead down to the sea: at Le Tréport (the Bresle), Dieppe (the Arques) and Pourville (the Scie). Every route out of Dieppe, except the road to Arques from next to the Town Hall, entails climbing a steep hill. Lazy cyclists are advised to ride out of town along the rue Thiers.
Transmanche Ferries carries passengers' cycles free. Otherwise, you can hire a bike at the cabin on the quai Duquesne after the bridge you cross into the town centre. In summer, bikes are on hire from the MJC leisure centre on the beach near the swimming pool.
At low tide, you will find sand at the western end of the beach, or at Pourville to the west and Puys to the east. The water is heated to 25C in the open-air swimming pool on the seafront, open daily from 1 June to 31 August. In July and August, you can hire canoes and surfboards on the beach at the MJC leisure centre.
The great thing about taking kids to France is that they can sit with you in any café or bar: the family is not regarded as an unwelcome presence as it still is in most British pubs. Ask for child-sized portions in restaurants.
One that is very child-orientated is the Ankara, in the rue de la Rade, where Danila will provide you with story books and toys. There is a children's playground at the western end of the seafront, where there is also a mini-golf open in summer. The MJC leisure centre on the beach by the swimming pool has children's activities in summer. There is bowling at the Belvédère, next to Auchan, and a skating rink (as well as covered swimming pools) at Ludibulle, a 15-minute drive to the east, at St Martin-en- Campagne.
The Castle Museum at the top of the hill at the west end of the town is a must visit. It is open every day, 10am-midday and 2-6pm, from June to September. From October to May, it is closed all day on Tuesday, and at 5pm instead of 6pm on all other days except Sunday.
It houses fascinating exhibits evoking Dieppe's rich history and maritime connections, and some fine works by Boudin, Pissarro, Blanche, Sickert, Braque and other artists who knew this town well. The ancient collection of ivory carvings, dating from when Dieppe imported ivory from West Africa, is unique. Unfortunately, there is no disabled access to the museum beyond the ground floor: the ancient building cannot incorporate lifts.
The Cité de la Mer in the rue de l’Asile Thomas, is a cultural venue for people of all ages. The exhibits explain how the tides and currents shape the coastline, and tell the history of boat-building and of the fishing industry along this Channel coast.
Allow 45 minutes for the visit which ends with a small aquarium. Guided visits with interpreter can be arranged in advance by phoning 0235069320. Open daily 10am-midday and 2-6pm, closing half an hour later in July and August. The long-closed Petit Théatre (B4) on the rue du Commandant Fayolle, with its exquisite but fragile nineteenth- century interior, has recently been reopened to the public and houses a museum of the 1942 Dieppe Raid. Check for opening times.
Get hold of the programme of the Centre Culturel Jean Renoir, or Dieppe Scène Nationale as it is now known (near the railway station). In summer it has a rich season of international films, and here they don’t go in for the appalling practice of dubbing. Films at other times of year too, and also theatrical and dance performances. There’s a fine library in the building too.
DIEPPE, with 35,000 inhabitants, is not famed for its night life. However, a number of cafés serve until midnight in the week and until 2am on Saturday night. The young scene, with a vast dance floor and bar comparable with what you can find in Brighton, is at the Abordage, beneath the Casino at 3 boulevard de Verdun. Good all-round present-day pop music, but expensive drinks. You won’t get in wearing trainers, warns Sean Avis, a practised visiting clubber from Brighton. The Verrazano bar at the Présidence hotel, next door, is open late. Dark and smoky.
Other late-night bars include the (not very) Scottish Pub in the rue St Jacques, which serves exotic beers at reasonable prices and sometimes has a tiny disco downstairs; the Rade in the rue of that name, which serves beer from the engine of a Harley Davidson 1200 motorbike; and the Cactus, favoured by young people, on the quai Henri IV: it offers full pints of beer and pseudo-Mexican cuisine in monster portions. OK for veggies.
New on the Dieppe scene is D’julz, described as "lounge bar and disco house", at 22 rue de l‘Epée. Expect techno music. Other spots on the night scene include the Speedo, a peaceful bar with sometimes Irish music on the CD player, in the rue Tête de Boeuf on Le Pollet island. It is recommended by discerning and civilised nightlifers who can congregate in its picturesque cellar. Closed Tuesday. The Boussole, meaning compass, is to be found, but not always entered, behind the anonymous green door with a grille at the quayside end of the rue du Boeuf. There has to be room and you have to appear acceptable to Bernard Françoise, the intellectual "patron". Eclectic music (you can choose it). Open from Wednesday to Sunday night.
Try also the cocktails of Philippe Galas at the elegant bar of the Hôtel de l’Europe, at 63 boulevard de Verdun at the port end of the seafront. Open to the public as well as hotel guests, with a nice breeze off the sea on summer evenings. Now open every night.
The Dieppe region is rich in gardens to visit and is a gardener's paradise., and the Tourist Office can provide you with a list of gardens and how to get to them. The most famous, Monet's Garden in Giverny,is within a 90 minute drive of Dieppe. Les Moutiers at Varengeville which was originally laid out by Gertrude Jekyll over a century ago is only 40 minutes away. Other gardens include the recently created Agapanthe at Grisneuseville, which has its own bilingual website, www.jardins-agapanthe.fr; Le Vasterival, with plants from all over the world at Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer; the Château de Bosmelet, whose kitchen garden is part of a listed site surrounding a Louis XIII period chateau; and the Jardin d’Annabelle at Beauval-en-Caux, ever expanding under the green fingers of Mr and Mrs Grout.
Book a ride in a helicopter (ring 0614221593). Or, if you are under 10 years old, it would be a better idea to try the go-karts in the children’s playground, behind the seafront swimming pool
Dieppe's 18-hole golf course, on the road west to Pourville, was designed by Willie Park Jnr in 1897 and is one of the finest in France. It has a bar, restaurant and magnificent views over the sea to the west. (0235 842505).
The hobby of canny shopper John Boyett, the Burgess Hill jazzman and sage critic of society’s foibles, is paying visits to his many friends in Dieppe. He recommends buying canned peas and carrots; wine vinegar; French mustard; posh jams; French car parts; soap ("savon de Marseille", rich in glycerine); bottles of oddly named whisky and gin at about 8€ a bottle at Auchan; melons, artichokes and "endives" (chicory) when in season; and DIY materials frm Brico Dépôt, at the Belvédère.
Several grocery and vegetable shops in the town centre are open on Sunday mornings. At 44 rue du Haut Pas, Monsieur Martinez has a grocer's shop, open from 8am to 8pm every day except Monday. Across the road is the cheap and cheerful Hôtel de l'Union, with a tiny shop attached, open on Sunday.
The Shopi supermarket in the rue de la Barre is open on Sunday mornings in summer. A smaller supermarket, Marché Plus on the quai Duquesne, is also open on Sunday mornings. Beware: Monsieur Olivier’s cheese and wine shop in the rue St Jacques, for many years a favourite Sunday port of call, is now closed on Sundays.
Make the best of it. The banks and most of the shops will be closed and many of the restaurants, too. You have more chance of finding places open in the afternoon than in the morning. Happily, museums are generally open on Monday, being generally closed on Tuesday out of season.
MOST churches are Catholic in a country where 80 per cent of the population have been baptised as such, although the majority of French people, like the British, are not regular churchgoers. The Dieppe area has a strong Protestant tradition, centred on the town of Luneray. The Protestant Eglise Réformée de France, formerly a Carmelite chapel, is hidden behind the facades of the rue de la Barre, 25 metres beyond the Shopi supermarket. Services are at 10am on Sundays and the priest is into gospel singing.
There is an Apostolic Church in Dieppe, at 23 avenue Jean-Jaurès, on the edge of town off the avenue Gambetta, and an Evangelical Church at nearby St Aubin-sur-Scie. A mosque, established by the local Turkish population, is to be found at the top of the avenue de la République (beyond J7) in Neuville. For a synagogue, you need to go to Rouen or Paris.
There is now something of a gay scene in Dieppe, although "coming out" is not much practised in the French provinces. The Mieux ici qu’en face bar in le Pollet, overlooking the port, is a friendly place to know (for gays and non-gays). It also puts on interesting exhibitions and sometimes has live music at night. A night bar frequented by people of various sexual orientations, is the Bousolle which has an anonymous entrance at the quayside end of the rue du Boeuf. But the gay scene in Dieppe is a modest one that can’t rival what’s on offer in San Francisco or Brighton.
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Hotels in Dieppe
Dieppe Port
Transmanche Ferries operate frequent Newhaven to Dieppe ferry crossings, with up to two sailings per day on board the Seven Sisters or the Cote d'Albatre.
The Dieppe Ferry terminal building is equipped with facilities such as a Cafeteria, Toilets and disabled facilities, games and amusements and the Wave shop.
Dieppe Ferry Terminal, Dieppe, Normandy, France 76200
Driving to/from Dieppe
Boulogne
Rouen
Paris
Le Havre
Le Mans
Orleans
Nantes
La Rochelle
Limoges
Brest
Lyon
Bordeaux
Grenoble
Toulouse
Marseille
Lourdes
Nice