Nice towns to stay around 2 hrs from Calais?

End of the summer, when all the madness has died down (??) me and my other half are thinking of putting the bikes in the car and using the eurotunnel. Find a place to stay for a week with a bit of cycling and walking, few drinks and meals etc.

Bruges would be excellent but already done that. Where else is good? Anywhere to the north of Ardennes?

Folkestone?

St Valery sur Somme was nice when I went there a few years ago.

Le Touquet is a nice town. We went there for the day/night from the Eurotunnel.

We like Boulogne sur Mer

We’ve stopped off in Rouen and Arras en route to Calais as a handy stop over before the morning ferry. Both are interesting and have good history, architecture and food.

But if you liked Brugges then Ghent would be my suggestion. Great city, really interesting, easy to get about by bike and Belgian beer!

Saw the OP, went to check how far Ghent was, came back, too late 🙂

Depending which route you take to Belgium (and your interests…) there’s an excellent museum ‘La Coupole’ near Saint-Omer. It’s one of the sites they used for the V2 rocket launches in WW2.

Ghent is lovely as a city. For the cycling, take the train* to the likes of Oodenarde and ride the Flandrien Classics area. Can I come please? 😁

*or ride down the Schelder river towpath, depends how many miles you want

Arras is nice and Riems for a bit of bubbly tasting/cellar tours as well, although about 2 1\2 hours away from Calais.

Honfleur?

Second for Honfleur.

Bruges is a shithole

Châlons-en-Champagne 3 hours from Calais if your Alps bound
nice town, we often stop and use the skatepark with the kids.

Usually stop in Rouen the day before getting the chunnel for no other reason that it’s about as far as I can get in one day (sole driver) and leaves about 90 mins to go in the morning.
Looks like a great city but I’m always too knackered to enjoy it, have always meant to take an extra night there.

Bruges is a shithole

It’s a fairytale town

Bruges is a shithole

Sounds like someone who lived and worked in either Assebroek or Sint-Kruis.

^ sounds like some people never watched the film.

Bruges is nice , Ghent is very nice , and bigger. Lille is surprisingly nice. Oostende really is a shithole.

Poperinge and Ypres were a great stop when we went following Le Tour, only 1hr from Calais.

Head to Champagne and cycle round the vineyards.

I’ve stayed in Ghent a couple of times for Tour Of Flanders and it’s lovely. I’d recommend it.

A couple of suggestions, Zeeland, in the Netherlands. Just North of Zeebrugge, through the tunnel. Loads of lovely little towns and villages. Upmarket seaside towns, loads of accomodation, and places to eat. It’s flat though, so may not suit all, but my OH loved it. I can recommend a B+B in Renesse if wanted.

Then, around Flanders, anywhere in a triangle of Ghent, Brussels and Roubaiux. We were there last year for a Sportive, it was excellent. Loads of small hills, loads of cobbled roads and loads of lovely cheap beer in each village.
I think Belgium is very under rated for a short break holiday. We try to go at least once a year, and thoroughly enjoy it every year.

ferme libert has a nice cheeky uplift. Its about that far

Le Crotoy was a lovely spot for a couple of nights this July gone. Lot’s of nice restaurants, fresh fish stalls. If you go for an explore you can forage your own samphire too.

Good thread this.

Good thread this.

Posted 9 hours ago

Ditto. Le Crotoy looks rather lovely.

If the crossing to Dieppe is an option, the town itself is nice with excellent restaurants. There are some lovely seaside towns along the coast. You could take the train to Rouen. And there’s some lovely quiet roads and bike paths down towards the Seine.

Actually just hit me how desperate I am for a week in France 😔

You could take the train to Rouen.

I prefer the road to Rouen.

Have actually stayed there two or three times on the way up and down. Once when the kids were little on we were in an Etap or similar, we ate at chinese they thought was the best place in the world as you had to go over a little bridge with carp and coloured lights to get in, and you could eat out of hollowed out pineapples, and there were free sweets. They were also amused by the fact I had to stop four times for urgent and painful bowel evacuation next morning on the way to calais.

Have also stayed in the middle in proper hotels, and it’s nice for a wander. Generally prefer the portsmouth crossings though with some great places round St Malo – Dinnan. But not eurotunnel.

Mers les Bains is very pleasant with lots of cycling in the area (country lanes, coastal bikepaths, canal paths) and some good walking. There’s a great website with local routes but can’t remember the name of it………

Ypres for the Menin Gate and other WW1 cemeteries, utterly humbling.

Don’t forget to go the the Germany one… very sombre.

Good luck

Ghent. And Oudenarde for the museum. Back via Ypres.

Another vote for Reims.

Slightly south,  but Bethune is also nice and not far from Ardennes

Another vote for Ghent. We camped on a huge site next to a man made lake (name escapes me), had a beach and slide and stuff. It was pretty good. Ghent itself is very nice as well.

If you want to treat yourself to a lovely final evening on the way home, this place is fantastic. Excellent rooms, wonderful food and a great wine list.

https://lacourderemi.com/

Here we go:

https://www.baiecyclette.com/circuits-velos/

cycling routes in the Baie de Somme.