Category: French History
Most visitors to France head straight for Paris, the Loire Valley, or the Riviera. Northern France barely makes the list. That's a mistake, and episode 597 of Join Us in France makes the case for why.
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Craig Anderson spent a week road tripping in northern France after a stint in Belgium, and what he found was a region packed with layered history, affordable travel, excellent seafood, and almost no crowds from North America. Here's what they covered.
You Need a Car
There's no way around it. Public transport won't get you to the Battle of Agincourt site, the French white cliffs, Napoleon's Column, or the quieter coastal towns. A rental car in this part of France is inexpensive — Craig mentions paying around 30 euros a day — and the driving is easy. No big-city stress, plenty of parking, and the freedom to follow the coast or cut inland as you please.
Dunkirk and Calais
The first stops heading in from Belgium are Dunkirk and Calais, and both deliver more than you might expect. Dunkirk has a relatively new WWII museum right on the coast that tells the evacuation story well — not through hardware and artillery, but through panels and narrative. It's manageable in size and almost everything is in English.
Calais has the beaches, the history of every would-be invader who ever stared across the Channel, and a surprise: the starting point of the Via Francigena, the ancient pilgrimage route that runs all the way from Canterbury to Rome. Craig stumbled on it by accident.
Boulogne-sur-Mer as Your Base
Craig based himself in Boulogne-sur-Mer for the week, and it's a smart choice. The old walled town is scenic, walkable, and historically dense — ramparts, a château, medieval streets. The lower port town has some excellent seafood restaurants. It's a working blue-collar city, not a resort, which keeps prices reasonable and the atmosphere genuine. Victor Hugo set parts of Les Misérables here, and Napoleon rallied his troops nearby before founding the Legion of Honor. History runs deep.
The Battle of Agincourt
Road tripping in northern France means passing through countryside that defined European history for centuries. The Agincourt battlefield site is one of the most affecting stops on the route. This is where Henry V's outnumbered English army defeated the French in 1415 — the battle behind Shakespeare's Henry V and the "band of brothers" speech most people know without realizing where it came from. There's a good museum on-site, everything in English, and the weight of being in the actual place is something you can't get from a book.
A Day Trip to Amiens
From Boulogne-sur-Mer, Amiens is about an hour and a half. The cathedral is UNESCO-listed and enormous — flying buttresses, soaring nave, and a treasury that holds what believers consider to be the head of John the Baptist. It's also Jules Verne's city. Craig wasn't planning to go but made the drive on a quiet morning and was glad he did.
When to Go and What It Costs
May through October is the sweet spot. Late October works fine for history and museums, though you'll miss the beach scene. Compared to Paris or the Riviera, northern France is noticeably more affordable — hotels, restaurants, and museums all come in well below what you'd pay further south or back home in North America.
Worth the Detour
This region rewards curious travelers who are willing to go slightly off the well-worn path. Whether you're coming from Belgium, the Normandy beaches, Champagne, or Paris, a week road tripping in northern France will give you history, coastline, food, and stories that stay with you.
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TranscriptCategory: French History