The Vieux Bassin is the picture-postcard heart of Honfleur — a rectangular enclosed harbour built in the 1680s and lined on its eastern side by the tall, narrow, slate-fronted houses that became one of the most painted views in Impressionism. Eugène Boudin, born here, and his pupil Claude Monet returned to this water again and again.
The basin is best in soft light — early morning, late afternoon, or fog. The restaurants and cafés that ring the western quay are tourist-priced but serviceable; the views from a corner table justify the markup. The Quai Sainte-Catherine, on the west side, is where most of the painters set up their easels.