Quai Sainte-Catherine

The Quai Sainte-Catherine

The Honfleur audio-guided tour has you walk along the Quai Sainte-Catherine, undoubtedly the most emblematic of the city, lined with tall narrow houses with slate façades.

Slate cliffs on the port

The houses of the Quai Sainte-Catherine reflect in the water of the Vieux Bassin. Some predate the creation of the dock and were integrated into the landscape when the city demolished its ramparts in the seventeenth century. Their verticality is surprising: sometimes only four metres wide, they rise over four or five storeys, like veritable cliffs of slate. Because of the slope, what is the ground floor on the quay side becomes the third floor on the street side, at the back, which gives crooked staircases and labyrinthine rooms. Today, the terraces, galleries and restaurants animate the quay.

What there is to see

The Quai Sainte-Catherine offers the postcard image par excellence of Honfleur: a row of tall listed slate houses, their reflections in the dock and the bustle of the terraces. Look up to grasp their astonishing verticality, then stroll between art galleries and restaurants. It is one of the most photographed places of the city.

Practical information

The Quai Sainte-Catherine borders the Vieux Bassin, in the heart of Honfleur. It can be walked freely on foot at all hours and on the level; the shops that animate it follow their own hours.

Why are the houses of the quay so narrow and tall?

For lack of space on the port, they rose in height, sometimes only four metres wide for four or five storeys.

What curious discrepancy do these houses present?

Because of the slope, the ground floor on the quay side corresponds to the third floor on the street side, at the back.