Channel ports and the road to Paris
France > North > Channel ports
The millions of British day-trippers who come to this far northern tip of France every year are mostly after a sniff of something foreign; a French meal, a shopping bag full of continental produce, or more commonly a few crates of cheap wine. Until the end of the twentieth century the chief function of the northern Channel ports – dreary Calais, more appealing Boulogne, and Dunkerque, the least attractive of the three – was to provide cheap, efficient points of access into France from Britain. Since then, however, serious competition has been provided by the Channel Tunnel, emerging at Sangatte, 5km southwest of Calais. The "Chunnel", also used by the high-speed Eurostar passenger trains linking London to Lille, Paris and Brussels, has reduced the crossing time to just thirty minutes, with the efficient but pricey autoroute system waiting to whisk you off to your ultimate destination. Details of the various train and ferry crossings are listed in "Basics".For a much more immediate immersion into la France profonde – little towns, idiosyncratic farms, a comfortable verge to sleep off the first cheese, baguette and vin rouge picnic – the old route nationale N1, which shadows the coast all the way from Dunkerque to Abbeville before heading inland to Paris, is infinitely preferable to the autoroute. Interesting things to see en route include: the cathedrals at Amiens and Beauvais, the hilltop fortress at Montreuil, the remains of Hitler's Atlantic Wall along the Côte d'Opale and the Marquenterre bird sanctuary at the mouth of the River Somme. Immediately south of Dunkerque is the Flemish hilltop settlement of Cassel, a minor gem, while St-Omer is definitely day-trip material for the visitor over from Britain and its remaining old buildings and treasures make it far preferable to dreadful Calais.
Pages in section ‘Channel ports’: Dunkerque, Practicalities, Malo-les-Bains, Cassel, Calais, Cote d'Opale, South from Calais, Cap Gris-Nez, Boulogne-sur-Mer, South to Amiens, Amiens, Beauvais.
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