Calais area for a day

[badgerade]

I've seen the sign for la coupole and always think it would be worth a visit. Unfortunately I don't think my wife would think the same, so will have to save it for another trip. Got me thinking about a day of ww2 'stuff' though, so thanks!

[tribalsurfer]

Had a rather lovely weekend a couple of years ago in Wimereux, small coastal town halfway between Calais and Le Touquet.

[Dog Star]

steveo3002 said:

Composite Guru said:

Get yourself here if you are into war stuff. Eye opening stuff on what the Nazis built to bombard the UK with missiles.

http://www.lacoupole-france.co.uk/


This place is an extension of the facility too.

http://www.leblockhaus.com/en/

anything else like that in the area ? sounds okay

I was going to recommend this - really good. I also went when it was about 35 degrees - so lovely and cool inside.

[hoegaardenruls]

gtidriver said:

Is it Saturday or Sunday that you are going??? Lots of France is shut Sunday.

Definitely be aware of this - most in no all larger stores will be closed.

If its Saturday, you might find the other Carrefour in Calais (Avenue Guynemer) will be quieter. I've stocked up their a couple of times recently, never had a problem, and it's still an easy drive to the Eurotunnel terminal. Save it for the way back from somewhere else though, as Calais isn't the nicest of places to visit.

[Shirt587]

Agree with everyone that says Calais is a sh*tehole.

With kids, Nausicaa in Boulogne is a total winner. I don't have kids but still think it's brilliant, and the number of toddlers I've seen standing transfixed under the inverted tuna pyramid is incredible.

Personal preference for shopping is actually Auchan Calais Grande Synthe, but each to their own. Auchan also all have a Flunch restaurant attached, where you can generally get an OK steak (not the usual PH three-inch-thick, seared outside but perfect inside sort of thing but very edible!) for <€10.

[pincher]

What did you do In the end OP?

[badgerade]

pincher said:

What did you do In the end OP?

Ah, good question.

We went to Boulogne for the most part. Parked in the free parking next to Nausicaa and then walked in to the town centre via the fish market. Then had a look round the market in the centre of town, bought some bread/cakes etc... (Potential highlight of the day was my horse loving sister-in-law marveling at how nice the joint of 'beef' looked on the butchers truck )

Then had lunch here: http://www.chez-jules.fr/

Reviews say the staff are a bit rude but that certainly wasn't the case in our experience. They were more than happy to help and coped well with my GCSE standard french skills and the food was really good.

The plan after that was to have a walk around the town a bit more but it started chucking it down with rain so we sought refuge in Nauticaa for a couple of hours. Glad we did as it was really good - I'd only been to Sealife in London but this was much better. (Less people and a better layout)

Last bit of the day was a stop off at Cite Europe for the supermarket to stock up on the obligatory cheap red for Christmas mulled wine, enough pain au chocolats to feed 50 people and a nice selections of cheese/meat etc.

All in all a great day, so thanks for all the suggestions