Côte d’Opale
At this vast manta ray–shaped aquarium – one of the world's largest – huge tanks with floor-to-ceiling windows make you feel as though you're swimming…
Must-see attractions in Côte d’Opale
Côte d’Opale
Topped by a lighthouse and a radar station that keeps track of the hundreds of ships that pass by here each day, the 49m-high cliffs of Cap Gris-Nez are…
Côte d’Opale
Boulogne's hilltop Upper City is an island of centuries-old buildings and cobblestone streets. You can walk all the way around this 'Fortified City' atop…
Côte d’Opale
Southwest of Calais, just past Sangatte, the coastal dunes give way to cliffs that culminate in windswept, 134m-high Cap Blanc-Nez, which affords…
Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode
Calais
Innovative exhibits trace the history of lacemaking – the industry that once made Calais a textile powerhouse – from hand knotting (some stunning samples…
Dunkirk
Dunkirk's landmark 58m-high belfry – the bell tower of the original Église St-Éloi before it burnt to the ground in 1558 – was erected in 1440 and has…
Calais
In front of Calais' ornate Hôtel de Ville stands the first cast of Rodin's famous sculpture Les Bourgeois de Calais (The Burghers of Calais; 1889), which…
Dunkirk
Constructed in 1560, the Église St-Éloi was refaced with a neo-Gothic façade completed in 1889. It's dubbed la cathédrale des sables (cathedral of the…
Calais
This broad, gently sloping sandy beach stretching for 8km is safe for swimming and gets packed in summer.
Calais
Inaugurated in 1925, Calais' Hôtel de Ville (city hall) melds Flemish and Renaissance styles, as does its 78m-high, Unesco-listed beffroi (belfry) topped…
Côte d’Opale
The cultures of five continents meet inside the Château-Musée, housed in a 13th-century fortified castle. Egyptian antiquities (some brought here by…
Dunkirk
To learn about the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk, stop by this non-profit museum. In addition to a 15-minute film, there are scale models, and evocative…
Dunkirk
Set inside a 19th-century tobacco warehouse, this museum will delight fans of maritime history and, especially, model ships. During school holidays you…
Côte d’Opale
Designed by French artist Alain Godon (b 1964), this 9.5m-high sculpture made from polystyrene on a metal frame, coated with beach sand, depicts an…
Côte d’Opale
Popular period songs play as you stroll past dozens of life-size tableaux of WWII military and civilian life at this museum. The dashing but wildly…
Côte d’Opale
WWII hardware including a massive, rail-borne German artillery piece with a range of 86km is displayed at this well-organised museum, housed in a colossal…
Dunkirk
Rising 63m high, this automated, first order port lighthouse is the highest of its kind in France (its beam can be seen from 60km away). The lighthouse…
Calais
Children can splash in the shallow, clear waters of Calais' cabin-lined city beach (patrolled by lifeguards in summer), while its fine sand is ideal for…
Calais
Housed in a massive concrete bunker built as a German naval headquarters, this WWII museum displays thousands of period artefacts, including weapons,…
Côte d’Opale
To encounter the city's long-time commercial bedrock, commercial fishing, head to the quay used by small fishing boats. Hungry seagulls dive and squawk…
Côte d’Opale
Nowadays this 1913-built beauty is Le Touquet's Palais de Congrès (convention centre), but in the town's early-20th-century golden era it was the high…
Brasserie Artisanale des 2 Caps
Côte d’Opale
Historic farm buildings deep in the countryside house one of northern France's best artisan breweries, established in 2003. Sample and buy here, or look…
Côte d’Opale
The house where General José de San Martín, the exiled hero of Argentine, Chilean and Peruvian independence from the Spanish, lived from 1848 until his…
Côte d’Opale
Just south of Ambleteuse along the estuary of the tiny Slack River, the area's wind-sculpted sand dunes are covered with – and stabilised by – clumps of…
Côte d’Opale
The Haute-Ville's minor basilica is locally referred to as a cathedral, although it's never held that status. Its towering 101m-high dome, visible from…
Côte d’Opale
Built between 1777 and 1780 as a private mansion, the Hôtel Desandrouin (also known as the Palais Impérial) was later used by Napoléon in 1803, 1810 and…
Dunkirk
Honouring over 4500 British and Commonwealth soldiers ‘with no known grave’, this memorial is next to the British War Graves Section of Dunkirk's town…
Côte d’Opale
Boulogne-sur-Mer's red-brick town hall was built in 1734, but its 37m-high square medieval belfry dates from the 12th century. It's free to climb the…
Côte d’Opale
Cast in bronze, this statue atop a small pyramid commemorates the pioneering Boulogne-born Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (1821–81), founder of Cairo's…
Côte d’Opale
This 13th-century gate, modified in the 17th and 19th centuries, is at the northeastern end of the Haute-Ville's rue de Lille.
