Nice towns to stay in a couple of hours from Calais.

[BellaMoo]

We’re going to Efteling in the Netherlands in August for a few days (can’t wait!). We’ve been before and added on extra days in Amsterdam and Bruges both of which we enjoyed.

We’d like to do the same again and have a few days after Efteling in a nice town/city. Would love somewhere that is easy to explore on foot with children and not too far to get back to Calais for the ferry.

Any ideas?

Rouen?

Saint Quentin is good as a stop over place, in the summer they have a “beach” in the main square. It’s very pretty

Le Touquet, Baie de Somme, st Omer?

If your DC are old enough why not visit Ypres and the Somme WW1 sites?

Arras is lovely, Bruges is wonderful!

Sorry, just read properly that you've done Bruges. What about Antwerp?

Arras, Le Touquet, Wimereux, Montreuil sur mer, St Valery sur somme.

Towns, not cities. All lovely though.

Ghent. Nicer than Bruges, for my money.

We stayed in Aachen before our ferry, was full of historic sites (Charlemagne)

Ooh, and the Novotel in the centre has a pool, so there’s something for everyone.

We stayed in a gorgeous gite about half an hour from St Omer. It was only a 45 min drive from calais, enough to do close by to keep us busy for a few days.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/VacationRentalReview-g562728-d5438775-GITE_DES_CAGNIERS-Saint_Omer_Pas_de_Calais_Hauts_de_France.html

Another one for Antwerp. You’re about two hours from Calais from there. It’s great I love it.

Amazing suggestions. Thank you. Off to google (and tripadvisor!)

Also Laon, we did a stopover here to be close to Calais. It's a gorgeous medieval town and we stayed airbnb in one of the old buildings owned by the church. Good food, as is everywhere really in France!

Arras WW1 Tunnels, Thiepval, Beaumont Hamel......and so many more.....

De Haan on the coast is nice.