Things to do in Northern France
-
A
Le Bouchon
The decor is a bit sparse but the traditional French cuisine is good value. The mouth-watering dessert list encompasses the French classics, including Forêt Noire (Black Forest chocolate cake; €9).
reviewed
-
B
La Lune des Pirates
Hosts cutting-edge concerts a dozen times a month.
reviewed
-
Hortillonnages
Amien's market gardens – some 3 sq km in extent – have supplied the city with vegetables and flowers since the Middle Ages. Today, their peaceful rieux (waterways), home to 10 working farms and countless water birds, can be visited on 12-person boats whose raised prows make them look a bit like gondolas. Available later (to 6.30pm) if weather and demand allow.
reviewed
-
C
Galerie du Vitrail Claude Barre
Ever wonder how stained glass is designed and put together? You can see firsthand at this workshop, whose artisans fill commissions from churches and private collectors.
reviewed
-
Exploring the City Centre
The best place to begin a discovery stroll through the Flemish heart of the city centre is the Vieille Bourse, a Flemish Renaissance extravaganza ornately decorated with caryatids and cornucopia. Built in 1653, it consists of 24 separate houses set around a richly ornamented interior courtyard that hosts a used-book market; old postcards, comic books and CDs are also on sale. In the warm months locals often gather here to play échecs (chess).
Just west of the Vieille Bourse is place du Général de Gaulle, where you can admire the 1932 art deco home of La Voix du Nord (the leading regional newspaper), crowned by a gilded sculpture of the Three Graces. The goddess-topped …
reviewed
-
Citadelle
This is the only way to see the inside of the Citadelle, usually a closed military zone. Sign up for the tour (in French) at least 24 hours ahead and bring a passport or national ID card.
reviewed
-
D
Ciné St-Leu
An art-house cinema with nondubbed films, some in English.
reviewed
-
Chés Cabotans d'Amiens
A theatre whose stars are all traditional Picard marionettes. Great fun even if you don't speak Picard or French.
reviewed
-
E
Cathédrale Notre Dame
The largest Gothic cathedral in France (it's 145m long) and a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1981, this magnificent structure was begun in 1220 to house the skull of St John the Baptist , shown – framed in gold and jewels – in the northern outer wall of the ambulatory. Connoisseurs rave about the soaring Gothic arches (42.3m high over the transept), unity of style and immense interior, but for locals, the 17th-century statue known as the Ange Pleureur (Crying Angel), in the ambulatory directly behind the over-the-top baroque (18th century) high altar, remains a favourite.
The octagonal, 234m-long labyrinth on the black-and-white floor of the nave is easy to miss as…
reviewed
-
F
Café Bissap
An ethnically mixed crowd, including students, sips rum cocktails and West African beers (eg Guinness Foreign Extra, brewed in Cameroon) amid decor from the Senegalese-born proprietor's native land. The soundtrack is African, Caribbean and Latin American. Super-friendly. Opens at 6pm during school holidays, including July and August.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Beachfront
The unique attraction at Calais' cabin-lined beach, which begins 1km northwest of place d'Armes, is watching huge car ferries as they sail majestically to and from Dover. The sand continues westward along 8km-long, dune-lined Blériot Plage, named after the pioneer aviator Louis Blériot, who began the first ever trans-Channel flight from here in 1909. Both beaches are served by buses 3, 5 and 9.
reviewed
-
Battle of the Somme Sites
Tailor-made itineraries with a private guide.
reviewed
-
Wazemmes
A number of edgy (and undercapitalised) cafés are tucked away around the periphery of place de la Nouvelle Aventure in Wazemmes, site of the Wazemmes food market.
reviewed
-
G
Tourist Office
The tourist office runs various guided tours.
Citadelle (adult €7; h3pm & 4pm Thu-Sun) This is the only way to see the inside of the Citadelle, usually a closed military zone. Sign up for the tour (in French) at least 24 hours ahead and bring a passport or national ID card.
Vieux Lille (adult €7; hin English 10.15am Sat) Departs from the tourist office.
Battle of the Sommesites (half-day per person €44) Tailor-made itineraries with a private guide.
reviewed
-
rue Solférino
There are heaps of cheap eats along this lively, student-dominated street, about 600m west of the Palais des Beaux-Arts.
reviewed
-
rue Royale
This street, just northwest of L’Illustration Café, is the place to come for ethnic cuisine (couscous, Japanese etc).
reviewed
-
rue Masséna student zone
Lille has several drinking and nightlife areas. Especially on Friday and Saturday nights, in the rue Masséna student zone, a university-age crowd descends on dozens of high-decibel bars along rue Masséna (750m southwest of the tourist office) and almost-perpendicular rue Solférino (as far southeast as Marché Sébastopol). London-style excess is not unknown here.
reviewed
-
rue de la Monnaie
This street and its side streets are a good place to look for quirky, moderately priced restaurants.
reviewed
-
rue de Gand
This street is home to a dozen small, moderately-priced French and Flemish restaurants.
reviewed
-
Burghers of Calais
Rodin sculpted Les Bourgeois de Calais in 1895 to honour six local citizens who, in 1347, after eight months of holding off the besieging English forces, surrendered themselves and the keys to the starving city to Edward III. Their hope: that by sacrificing themselves they might save the town and its people. Moved by the entreaties of his consort, Philippa, Edward eventually spared both the Calaisiens and their six brave leaders.
Calais' cast of this world-famous work can be found in the formal garden in front of the Flemish Renaissance–style Hôtel de Ville (built 1911–25), whose Unesco World Heritage–listed belfry is being renovated; by the time you read this, it…
reviewed
Advertisement