Pontoise France
9
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
CroisiEurope (9 Cruises)
MS Déborah
9 Cruises
| 28 April | 6 days | One-way from Paris City to Pont-lEveque-Oise |
| 28 April | 7 days | One-way from Paris City to Pont-l'Eveque-Oise |
| 21 July | 6 days | One-way from Paris City to Pont-lEveque-Oise |
| 21 July | 7 days | One-way from Paris City to Pont-l'Eveque-Oise |
Frequently Asked Questions
On the Oise quays, at the foot of the upper town. Pontoise stacks its lanes above the river, so from the quay you climb toward the old centre through streets that quickly reveal the town's character.
Yes, but be ready to climb. Saint-Maclou cathedral, the Notre-Dame church and the remains of the ramparts all sit in the upper town above the quay. The climb is short but real; travellers with limited mobility are better off taking a taxi.
Two options that do not combine well. Either Pontoise itself: the upper town, Saint-Maclou cathedral, the Camille Pissarro museum and the Tavet-Delacour museum. Or the excursion to Auvers-sur-Oise, which takes half a day. Choosing means giving something up, but it beats rushing.
Camille Pissarro painted here for years: the calm river, the roofs packed on the hillside, the cathedral rising above the trees. Cézanne, Daubigny and Gauguin followed. The Camille Pissarro museum, in a bourgeois house on the heights, looks out over the very landscapes he painted.
By organised excursion or taxi, a few kilometres upriver. It is the headline outing of the call: Vincent van Gogh spent the last seventy days of his life here in 1890 and produced roughly seventy canvases.
The Auberge Ravoux and the spare room where Van Gogh lived, the church he painted, the wheat fields, and the cemetery where Vincent and his brother Theo lie. Few places in the world concentrate so much emotion in such a small area.
Yes, from mid-May to late October. Guided cruises head up the Oise on an Impressionist theme, linking landscapes painted by Daubigny, Pissarro, Cézanne and Van Gogh. Seen from the water, the slopes and washhouses match the framing of the canvases exactly.
The euro, and cards are accepted without difficulty. Pontoise is a busy prefecture town, not an isolated village. A little cash is still useful for the Saturday morning market.
French. The town goes about its life as a lively university prefecture without bending over backwards for foreign visitors.
May to October, when the Impressionist cruises run and the light on the Oise resembles the paintings. Late in the day, as the sun drops toward the river, the banks take on exactly the tones the painters recorded.
