Somewhere for the weekend... Calais

WHY GO NOW?

WHY GO NOW?

Christmas celebrations are already well under way in Calais, with elaborate lights and decorations around the town centre. A highlight will be Father Christmas's parade, which takes place on Sunday. Père Noël will arrive in a flying machine, landing on St Pierre's church in Place Crèvecoeur at 11am. He and his elves will then be accompanied by a marching band and singers as they walk through the town centre from Boulevard de l'Égalité, along Boulevard Jacquard and into Rue Royale. Besides the stalls along the route selling decorations and Christmas gifts, there are plenty of festively-decorated shop windows competing to be voted the best in town. An open-air skating rink in the Place d'Armes, complete with snow-covered Christmas trees, will remain in the square until 4 January (open 9am-7pm from Monday-Friday, 9am-8pm on Saturday, and 10am-8pm on Sunday; entrance €3.50, £2.50).

DOWN PAYMENT

In midwinter, Eurotunnel (08705 353535, www.eurotunnel.com) picks up business. A car and its passengers can travel from Folkestone to Coquelles, 10 minutes' drive from the centre of Calais, through the Channel Tunnel in 35 minutes. Fares are flexible; day-trips for Sundays, for departures after midday, cost £34; a two- or three-day return costs £129. The ferry services are offering similarly good deals. P&O Ferries (08705 202020, www.poferries.com) has a flat fare of £10 for each day that you stay away, to a maximum of five days. This covers a driver plus car, with up to eight passengers costing an extra £15. Hoverspeed's SeaCat (0870 240 8070, www.hoverspeed.com) is slightly faster; a return ticket for a car and five passengers currently costs £116, with day-trip tickets starting at £39. SeaFrance services (08705 711711, www.seafrance.com) has three-day returns for £75, and day trip tickets for £38.

You can also travel by train from London Waterloo on Eurostar (08705 186 186, www.eurostar.com); if you stay away a Saturday night, the lowest fare is £55 return. The station served is Calais Frethun, from which you take a local train to Calais Ville.

INSTANT BRIEFING

The core of Calais is almost an island, surrounded on one side by the harbour basin, and elsewhere by the canal. At the middle is the Place d'Armes, the centre of the town in medieval times. Bisecting the inner area, from the seafront in the north to the highway in the south, is the main boulevard, which passes Calais Ville railway station on its way across town. The tourist office is close to the canal at 12 Boulevard Clémenceau (00 33 3 2196 6240, www.ot-calais.fr). It opens 10am-1pm and 2-6.30pm daily except Sunday.

REST ASSURED

The George V at 36 Rue Royale (00 33 3 2197 6800) is right in the heart of the main shopping area. Double rooms start at €64.50 (£45), with an extra €8 (£6) per person for breakfast. The Holiday Inn at 6-10 Boulevard des Alliés (00 33 3 2134 6969, www.holiday-inn.com/calais-nord) is well-situated for anyone arriving by ferry, since it faces the harbour entrance. Rooms start at €110 (£77), with an extra €11 (£8) per person for breakfast. Hotel Belazur is a comfortable two-star hotel on the main Place d'Armes (00 33 3 2134 5375). Double rooms here cost €46.50 (£33), singles €38 (£27), and breakfast is an extra €6 (£4.50) per person. Anyone who likes the idea of a sea view - you can even see the white cliffs of Dover on a clear day - should try Hotel Kyriad Plage on Digue Gaston Berthe (00 33 3 2134 6464) where doubles start at €50 (£35) and singles at €48 (£34), with an extra €6 (£4.50) per person for breakfast.

MUST SEE

All that remains of medieval Calais is the watchtower in the Place d'Armes. Since this is closed to visitors, the best place for a panoramic view over the town and its harbour is the lighthouse on Boulevard des Alliés (00 33 3 2134 3334), which is open 2-5.30pm on Wednesdays, and 10am-noon and 2-5.30pm at weekends; entrance costs €2.50 (£1.75).

Rodin's sculpture of the Burghers of Calais comprises a cluster of figures huddling in front of the ornate Town Hall. The work commemorates the siege of the town in 1347; at the moment the statues are dwarfed by a festive Ferris wheel. Several of Rodin's other works are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle at 25 Rue Richelieu (00 33 3 2146 4840). It opens 10am-noon and 2-5.30pm from Monday to Friday, until 6pm on Saturday, and 2-6.30pm on Sunday; entrance costs €3 (£2).

Close to the Town Hall, the Parc St Pierre is a pleasant place for a stroll. The vast concrete bunker in the centre contains the Musée de la Guerre, an interesting collection of Second World War memorabilia - the Germans used Calais as a place from which to launch bombing raids across the Channel in 1944.

The museum is currently closed but will reopen in the spring; when admission will cost €6 (£4.50).

In the heart of Calais is its largest church, Notre Dame, a large, late 13th-century structure. In 1921, the French statesman General De Gaulle was married to a local girl here.

MUST BUY

The people of Calais shop in the main boulevards, especially Jacquard and Lafayette. Two food stores in the heart of town are worth seeking out. La Maison du Fromage et des Vins, on the corner of the Place d'Armes at 1 Rue André Gerschell (00 33 3 2134 4472), is more of a delicatessen than just a wine and cheese shop. The Patisserie au 6 Bourgeois de Calais at 59 Rue Royale is the place to go for cakes and home-made chocolates.

Although Calais' hypermarkets normally close on Sundays, they will be open on the two Sundays before Christmas from 10am-7pm. Coquelles, the district around the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, exists solely for shopping. The choice here includes Auchan (00 33 3 2146 9292), which usually opens 8.30am-10pm Monday-Saturday, and the Cité Europe complex on Boulevard du Kent (00 33 2 1464 748 www.cite-europe.com), which is open 10am-8pm Monday-Thursday, till 9pm Friday and 9am-8pm on Saturday. The largest hypermarket in the centre is Carrefour.

MUST EAT

Little seafood is actually landed in Calais these days, but most of the restaurants still major on fish. Le Channel at 3 Boulevard de la Résistance (00 33 3 2134 4230) remains a popular place to eat for locals as well as British visitors, as does its neighbour La Sole Meunière (00 33 3 2134 4301). Down a side street nearby is La Pléiade at 32 Rue Jean Quéhen (00 33 3 2134 0370), open from Tuesday to Saturday. Also highly recommended is L'Histoire Ancienne at 20 Rue Royale (00 33 3 2134 1120), whose menu contains a good selection of traditional dishes; the restaurant is closed on Sundays. Le Saint-Charles in the Place d'Armes (00 33 3 2196 0296) is also worth seeking out for its extensive menu of French specialities.

INTO THE NIGHT

In addition to a good choice of bars, Calais also has a casino at 59 Rue Royale (00 33 3 2119 1664), which is open from 10am-3am daily. A number of dinner spectacles are held on Saturday nights, and also on New Year's Eve.

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