Getaway to the Côte d’Opale & the Baie de Somme

Arrival at the hotel at the end of the day. Check-in, welcome drink and presentation of the programme.

Dinner and overnight stay.

After breakfast, departure for Le Crotoy, where a ride on a little steam train awaits you between Le Crotoy and Saint-Valery, before reaching the Picarvie ecomuseum, which recreates the trades and traditions of yesteryear, workshops and shops… in a typical reconstructed village. Lunch in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

After the meal, a boat trip aboard the “Commandant Charcot” lets you take in the landscape, the estuary, the nearby cliffs, the seals that live in the Baie de Somme and the distant sea horizon.

Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

After breakfast, departure to discover the Audomarois area.

A one-hour cruise on a fully commented route between land and water: the Marais Audomarois invites you on an enchanting journey. Tamed over the centuries, its waters trace gentle curves, the orchestrated branches of the River Aa. Covering 3,500 hectares, the marsh is not one but a mosaic of diverse landscapes: former peat bogs turned into ponds, wet meadows.

Lunch out.

In the afternoon, visit to La Coupole in Helfaut, a genuine underground city built in 1944 by the German army to launch V2 rockets at London. La Coupole is an exceptional site where the fate of Europe could have been decided.

Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

Early breakfast and departure for Bruges, the “Venice of the North”, one of the prettiest cities in northern Europe with its canals, houses and lively squares. Guided walking tour of the city.

Lunch in a Flemish restaurant in the heart of Bruges, then a boat trip on the canals. Free time for shopping.

Return to the hotel at the end of the day. Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel.

Breakfast and departure for Calais to admire the belfry and the statue of The Burghers of Calais, a work by Rodin. Tour of the town by coach.

Lunch at a restaurant on the coast.

In the afternoon, stop at Cap Gris-Nez, one of the most beautiful sites in the region, where the English Channel meets the North Sea.

Continue to Boulogne-sur-Mer for a panoramic tour to admire the rich heritage that has earned it the title of “Ville d’Art et d’Histoire” (Town of Art and History). The town also lives to the rhythm of its port, France’s leading fishing port and Europe’s leading seafood processing centre.

On the way back, stop in Étaples-sur-Mer to visit Maréis, a visit to the world of fishermen and small-scale fishing, at sea and on land.

In a former fish factory, share the life of the Étaples fishermen and board a reconstructed trawler, with an introduction to navigation in front of a simulator screen. Experience the thrill of a storm at sea and discover the fish caught by the Étaples fishing fleet in a touch pool.

Optional: Nausicaá instead of Maréis.

Return to the hotel via Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, the chic resort of the Côte d’Opale (panoramic tour from the coach).

Return to the hotel at the end of the day, dinner and overnight stay.

Departure after breakfast for Arras to admire its two squares which, together with the belfry, the town hall and 155 Flemish-style houses, form an architectural ensemble unique in Europe.

Lunch in the heart of Arras, then on to the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette hill near Vimy, home to the largest French military cemetery, where 42,000 soldiers who fell on the Artois and Flanders front lie at rest. At the centre of the national necropolis stand the lantern tower and the basilica.

On the way back, stop in Auchel to visit the mine, starting with an introductory film followed by a guided tour of the site led by former miners or children of former miners.

Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

Optional: Lewarde and the Centre Historique Minier instead of the mining museum.

Breakfast. Departure for Amiens and guided tour of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, a jewel of Gothic art, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest cathedral in France. Then the Saint-Leu district, superbly renovated and nicknamed the “Little Venice of the North”.

This former district of tanners, weavers and dyers is charming, with its small colourful houses lining the canals.

Lunch in the heart of Amiens.

Commented trip in a traditional “barque à cornet” boat through the Hortillonnages, a 300-hectare area in the very heart of the city, where pretty little floating gardens surrounded by waterways, formerly devoted to market gardening, follow one after another.

You will discover wonderful secret gardens, often adorned with charming huts or cottages.

Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

Departure after breakfast.