Question 1

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

Rouen's public transport network, Astuce, covers the city by bus and metro. A single ticket was €1.80 and a 24-hour pass €5.90 in the 2025 to 2026 fare year. Fares may have changed since, so check before you go. The metro stops at the main railway station and at Palais de Justice, the two stops for the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Rue du Gros-Horloge is paved with cobblestones, so wear flat shoes in the old town. Honfleur is about 60 minutes from Rouen, Giverny about 50 minutes and the D-Day beaches about two hours, so each is a long outing.

Question 2

What to Eat

Accepted Answer

Rouen's best-known dish is canard à la Rouennaise, a rare-roasted duckling whose sauce is made with Bordeaux wine, shallots and the bird's blood. The mirliton is Rouen's small tart in flaky pastry, with a cream flavored with vanilla, orange blossom or almond. Sucres de pommes are apple candies from Rouen. Neufchâtel is one of Normandy's four protected cheeses, with Camembert, Pont-l'Évêque and Livarot. In Normandy the cheese course comes after the main dish and before dessert. A trou normand comes between courses: apple sorbet with calvados, the local apple brandy, over it.

Question 3

Tipping and Currency

Accepted Answer

Restaurant prices in France nearly always have tax and a 15 percent service charge built in. When a meal has been especially good, people add 2 to 3 percent or leave the coins from their change. For taxis, 10 to 15 percent of the meter is the guide. France uses the euro.

Question 4

The Cathedral, the Gros-Horloge and the Museums

Accepted Answer

Rouen Cathedral is open every day, though only from 2 pm on Mondays. The cathedral opens at 9 am from Tuesday to Saturday and at 8 am on Sundays. It closes at 7 pm, or 6 pm on Sundays and public holidays. The Gros-Horloge is a Renaissance arch over the street with a clock face on each side, each with a single hand. Inside are the clockwork, which dates from the 14th century, and the oldest of the town's bells, and the top gives a view over the rooftops. The Gros-Horloge is open Tuesday to Sunday, in the afternoon only from October to March. Full-price admission was €7.85 in October 2026; check before you go. The Historial Jeanne d'Arc, in the archbishop's palace beside the cathedral, stands where both of Joan's trials were held. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 7 pm, the last tour starts at 5:15 pm, and full-price admission was €12. The permanent collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts are free. The museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm and closed on Tuesdays.

Question 5

History

Accepted Answer

Rouen was the English headquarters in France when Joan of Arc was brought here as a prisoner. Joan was born in 1412 in a village in Lorraine and led Charles VII to his coronation at Reims on July 17, 1429. Burgundian troops captured her at Compiègne and sold her to the English. She was interrogated in a tower of the castle of Philip Augustus, and her trial for heresy opened on February 9, 1431. She died at the stake on Place du Vieux-Marché on May 30, 1431, and her ashes went into the Seine. A cross stands where the pyre was, near the Church of Saint Joan of Arc. A second trial, held at the archbishop's palace 25 years after her death, heard 114 witnesses and cleared her name in 1456.

Question 6

Traveling with Family

Accepted Answer

The Gros-Horloge has an audio guide for children aged 6 to 12, themed on Alice in Wonderland, in French and English. Children under 6 enter the Gros-Horloge free, and the reduced rate for ages 6 to 18 was €4 in October 2026; check before you go. The Historial Jeanne d'Arc sells a family ticket for two adults and two children under 18, which was €36. The Historial tells Joan's story as a staged show with projected images and sound, not as rooms of display cases.

Question 7

Accessibility

Accepted Answer

The Gros-Horloge visit does not suit anyone with reduced mobility. The Gros-Horloge shop keeps a space for visitors with disabilities, and reception has a guide booklet in Braille and large print. The Musée des Beaux-Arts has an entrance for disabled visitors at 26 bis rue Jean-Lecanuet. The Historial Jeanne d'Arc lets disabled visitors, and whoever is with them, in first. Rue du Gros-Horloge, a main street through the old town, is cobbled.

Question 8

Shopping

Accepted Answer

Rue du Gros-Horloge, a main street of the historic center, has many stores. Rue Eau-de-Robec is given over mostly to independent shops, restaurants and bars, with no large chains. Rue Damiette, between the Church of Saint-Maclou and Place du Lieutenant-Aubert, is the antiques district, with artisans' shop windows as well. Rue Saint-Nicolas has small local stores. Shops in France are closed on Sundays in principle, with exceptions, so do not count on Sunday shopping.

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