Christmas Shopping - Day trip to France

[AnotherOne4]

Has anyone ever done a day trip to France, for Christmas shopping? Where did you go, what would you recommend etc.

Didn't go for Christmas but went to Lille for the day in June - only 90 minutes from St Pancras.

It's a beautiful little city, I believe they do a Christmas market and there is a massive shopping centre basically attached to the train Station.

Where in France are you likely to go?
Calais doesn’t have shopping until you get further in.
I’d hit a hyper marche and buy lovely French food in pretty tins or just the weird flavours of sweets / chocolates etc that you can’t get here. Also French cosmetics/ beauty lines. And wine obviously. French fizz is soooo much cheaper. Bring your own bags - none at checkouts.
Personally I’d make sure I had a lovely lunch over presents though!

If you take your Christmas shopping seriously, you’ll find it hard to find a more inspiring city in Europe than Lille. It has a large and famous Christmas market selling almost anything you can think of. There are plenty of regional food specialities such as cheese, macarons, biscuits, and local sweets like babeluttes. There are lots of great gift ideas, especially if you’re looking for something different.
The old city looks stunning with its twinkling lights and every year shop windows compete to be the most original with wonderful displays.
Near the Eurostar station, there’s the Euralille shopping centre which is like Lakeside or Bluewater.
Shops are generally open until 7pm.

It depends what you want to do OP, and how you are doing the crossing. Lille is great if you are getting the Eurostar and have no car. If you want a Christmas Market like that and you do have a car, you can do Arras in a day trip, which I think is nicer.

If you are more focused on hypermarkets, sephora etc, the easiest way to do it (again with a car) is to get Le Shuttle and go to Cite Europe the shopping centre on the other side. Drive off the train and five minutes later you're there.

There are other hypermarkets in calais if you go on the ferry, and some good restaurants. If you want a bit of a tourist experience AND shopping, you could fit in lunch and a mooch around boulogne with hypermarkets, or go to Wimereux and have a look in the little shops, walk along the digue and there are lovely places to eat. You could do the shopping in Calais before the ferry back.

Personally I prefer Le Shuttle, but I get seasick and prefer 35 minutes and quick loading to Dover and a longer crossing. It's generally more expensive though.

Thank you for the replies :)
I'm trying to persuade other half to go, but I have to plan it all. I know, 100% that he will moan it's a long day, he's tired etc (as all blokes do) But I think he'll enjoy it once there.
I'm going to go off and google all the ideas you have given me :)

If we did Lille with a car, what is the best/easiest way to do the crossing?
Also, what about parking in France. Is there a Christmas market and hyper market within easy distance to which ever way we do the crossing?

We are going via the Shuttle in a few weeks time.

We went to Calais a few weeks ago for the first time and went to Cite Europe, which is a big shopping Centre with a Carrefour supermarket. I found the carrefour supermarket too big just to wander around aimlessly (we had our children with us and they were quickly bored). When we go again, I'm going to research beforehand a few types of items i would like to buy eg cold meats, cheeses, breads etc and visit those aisles specifically.

There is also a designer outlet next to Cite Europe, but we didn't go.

We also visited Calais town. It was very quiet and many shops were shut despite it being a Saturday, so we didn't stay long. It may just be that we werent in the right area though. We ended up going to the beach, which the children loved (we planned this).

For our next trip, we are planning on going to Boulogne and see what's around there.

We travelled via the Shuttle. The crossing is about 45 minutes and you go through border controls before you get on the Shuttle, so you drive straight onto the road on the other side. I haven't driven abroad before so I liked the idea that Cite Europe was right next to the terminal. As it was, the driving was fine, so I'm feeling confident with going to Boulogne!!!

I was on this thread a few weeks ago, and Lille didn't get good reviews - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_advice_tips/3692646-Eurostar-to-Lille-tips

If you are going via car, the Shuttle is easiest as a pp said - you do the passport/security checks on this side, and then drive straight off the train onto the motorway.

Driving from the ferry terminal isn't too difficult, but I'd have your sat nav on. There are plenty of hypermarket type places in calais that are easy to get to.

Cite Europe is only a few minutes from the Shuttle. Loads of parking and lots of places to eat. There is a very good wine/beer/spirits shop there - Terre de Boissons. You'll find some great presents there.