Places to go near Calais - Semi Daytrip

megakid · 26 Sep 2008 at 10:18

Me and my girlfriend have booked Wednesday off next week (1st Oct) and have hired a car and booked a ferry from Dover to Calais - just for the day.

We arrive in Calais about noon and are leaving at 7pm so that gives us 7 hours in and around there. I know Calais isn't the most romantic place - hence this post - where around Calais is a nice place to take someone?

She's quite girly, would love a small quaint french village or something similar. And yes, I've already reserved an hour to go to the Cite Europe mall - she's a shopoholic so should love it.

Thanks all!

scorza · 26 Sep 2008 at 10:49

Boulogne - a quaint little French town 20 minutes down the motorway from Calais.

ScarySquirrel · 26 Sep 2008 at 10:50

I think St. Omer is near. It's alright there.

waso_dude · 26 Sep 2008 at 10:50

The Cash and Carry!

Get Drink, get her drunk, ENJOY!

yermum · 26 Sep 2008 at 10:56

Ifyour girlfriend is a shopaholic, 1 hour is not enough. You could go to Marques Avenue, near Cité Europe which she may prefer.

http://www.marquesavenue.com/index_site.php?lang=fr

Nausicaa in Boulogne is a really good place to visit too:

http://www.nausicaa.fr/index.php?lg=en

For lunch, we have been to this restaurant many times:

http://www.fra.cityvox.fr/restaurants_boulogne-sur-mer/au-cote-d-argent_57028/Profil-Lieu

...........and never had a bad meal.. Fairly pricey, but fantastic food if you are a bit of a foodie

neocon · 26 Sep 2008 at 11:40

I've already reserved an hour to go to the Cite Europe mall

you'll probably need 2-3 hours

Rotty · 26 Sep 2008 at 11:42

yep Bolougne is nicer, Calais is a serious ****hole

scorza · 26 Sep 2008 at 11:50

If you do go to Boulogne then please do watch out for the priorite-a-droite system. There's a junction on the main high street up the hill that uses this system and it catches so many people out (French and English) it's crazy. I don't want to put you off, but a little care and attention is necessary.

megakid · 27 Sep 2008 at 03:18

Great thanks all - Boulogne it is - and I'll bare that difficult junction in mind scorza (thanks for the warning

).

Looks nice a fairly nice drive through the park along the coast road as we're in no real rush.

Azagoth · 27 Sep 2008 at 03:29

The WWII Cemetery! Anyone who goes to Northern France should feel obligated to visit the graves of the people who died to give them the right to visit Northern France.

A2Z · 27 Sep 2008 at 05:29

Rotty said:
Calais is a serious ****hole

So true, sucks even more when you're stuck there for the night as there are no more trains going anywhere

megakid · 2 Oct 2008 at 08:44

Thanks guys - got back late last night and it went down a treat.

The drive between Calais and Boulogue is wonderful - on the D940 (coast road) - the views are wonderful and there's the odd WWII bunker there - fantastic stuff. Boulogue smelt of fish...literally - everywhere we went, but apart from that it was great.