Hauts-de-France

Hauts-de-France, formed in 2016 from Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy, is the France that most travellers cross on the way to somewhere else, and that is their loss. It has a long coast, a deep layer of history and some of the warmest welcomes in the country. Lille, its capital, was Flemish, Burgundian and Spanish before it became French in 1668, and the whole north still looks as much towards Belgium as towards Paris.

On the Opal Coast the chalk cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez look straight at England across the narrowest part of the Channel; further south, dunes and wide beaches lead to the Bay of Somme, where the tide goes out for kilometres and seals rest on the sandbanks. Inland, Picardy has two giants of Gothic architecture, the cathedrals of Amiens and Beauvais, and Flanders has its brick belfries, giants that parade at carnival time, and a mining basin whose slag heaps are now green hills on the World Heritage list.

The region also carries the weight of the First World War. The Somme, Vimy Ridge and the Chemin des Dames are lined with cemeteries and memorials from dozens of nations, and visiting them is one of the most moving things you can do in France. For a Paris-weary traveller, the attractions are open landscapes, uncrowded coastal walks, beer brewed in former abbeys and a lack of pretension that feels like a holiday in itself.

• Chalk cliffs of the Opal Coast
• Tidal flats and salt meadows of the Bay of Somme
• Dunes and wide beaches of the Côte d’Opale
• Marshes and floating gardens around Saint-Omer and Amiens
• Green slag heaps of the former mining basin
• Forests of Compiègne and Retz

Facts

• Created on 1 January 2016 from Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy; the Conseil d’État approved the name Hauts-de-France on 28 September 2016.
• The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2012.
• Amiens Cathedral has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981.