Hauts-de-France by Campervan with Dog and Cat: Itinerary, Tips and Useful Information

In this article we’ll take you with us to discover Northern France. We visited this region aboard our van from 10 to 15 September 2022, but you can follow this itinerary by car too. The weather wasn’t the best, as is usual in these parts, though a few sunny moments gave us incredible views. You might consider adding some of these stops to a trip through Normandy — in that case, head to the dedicated article about it.

Itinerary

In this section we’ll list all the stops of our adventure, with a short daily diary. If you want to read our itinerary in short, you’ll find it here, while if you want to know our thoughts on this region and especially the unmissable stops, you can click here.

Day 1: our first stop as soon as we crossed the border with Belgium was Dunkirk. The town centre isn’t exciting, and unfortunately the area near the landing beach doesn’t offer much worth noting either. Tower blocks, nothing more. A park with statues of various shapes and materials was nice, along with a series of red iron tulips reaching towards the clouds. A bit disappointed also by the amount of litter, we moved on to sleep in Bergues, just outside the walls.

Day 2: a medieval village of 4,000 residents, surrounded by walls, heavily bombed and stripped of its original charm, Bergues welcomed us with lovely sunshine. We decided to start our walk along the tree-lined corridor on the town walls, from which you can glimpse the rooftops on one side and the gardens surrounding the village on the other. After lunch, and after chatting with plenty of genuinely kind locals, we decided to get back on the road, taking a detour to the hamlet of Mannequebeurre, where an elderly man creates flower sculptures in his garden, there for every passer-by to enjoy. After a chat and some compliments with the friendly artist, we moved on to Gravelines, where you can visit a lovely park near the museum of drawing and printing, as well as stroll along the village’s perimeter walls. We stayed overnight for free on a quiet avenue overlooking the river as it flows into the North Sea.

Day 3: having bought fresh bread and croissants and made use of an excellent coin laundrette in the main square, after strolling along the quay we decided to head to Calais. Once we reached the city, though, we discovered a protest was underway, blocking the main road, so we decided to turn back and get moving again. The countryside that appeared before our eyes shortly after was a marvel. It felt like stepping into an Impressionist painting. Blue sky, white clouds, green or ploughed fields, the sea in the background. And then suddenly there it was, in all its splendour, the English coast level with Dover. Unfortunately the whole area is dotted with height barriers limited to two metres, so we admired a lighthouse and the surrounding beach from a distance and reached a handy free daytime car park at “Cap Gris-Nez”: the lighthouse isn’t the most beautiful, but nature takes centre stage all around. Small villages stand out to the left and right. The cliff lets you hear nothing but the sound of the waves below its height. As the first light of sunset appeared, we decided to move on to Boulogne. We stayed overnight for free just before the centre of Wimereux.

Day 4: after breakfast we headed out towards the seafront, where a no-dogs sign stopped us from going onto the beach, sending us instead inland into the village, dotted with small shops and restaurants. Caught off guard, we went back on board and moved to a daytime car park overlooking the coast, before heading to Boulogne’s town centre to visit the small historic centre in the upper part of the city, bounded by the walls. Our attention was caught by a small garden decorated with musical instruments, statues and benches painted to look like pianos. We then reached the Notre-Dame church, unfortunately covered in scaffolding for renovation works, and headed back soaked from head to toe. New destination: Hardelot Castle. The exterior is very fairy-tale-like, the interiors a bit too reworked, but it’s nice not to find it stripped of detail. We also visited the gardens, during a break from the rain. A short stop to stretch our legs through the streets of Étaples, before heading for the night near Berck, to admire the seals the next day.

Day 5: if you too decide to visit Berck beach, we recommend checking the tide times online. It’s reached either on foot in about twenty minutes from a handy car park in the town centre, or by parking at a campsite very close by. Of course it was raining and the sky was all grey, but in the distance, beyond a strip of sand, about fifty seals appeared. If you have good binoculars or a good camera lens, you might manage to admire their charming little faces. If you arrive at low tide, you can take a lovely walk on the rocks — just be careful not to slip! In the afternoon we reached Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, where, besides the rain, we were welcomed by cobblestones, houses with medieval façades, a church, a long river, boats beached on the shore, and few people strolling around looking for somewhere to have dinner. Reaching the harbour and crossing the railway, we stopped to admire various details; every window seemed to have a story to tell, every doorway some secret to hide. Leaving the fairy-tale village, we found a perfect free spot for the night in Ault.

Day 6: after a night lulled by the sea waves, we took a stroll through this somewhat abandoned village: coloured house walls, sloping roofs, on the doors charming signs quoting the names of places or artists. Behind us the sea, with low tide and white cliffs framing it. At the end, where the beach ended and the impassable rocks began, there was a teacher busy giving a lesson to his students. Leaving this magical little spot, we headed to the first village in Normandy, Le Tréport.

In Short

Below are just the stops. We always stayed overnight for free.

Day 1: Dunkirk

Day 2: Bergues - Mannequebeurre - Gravelines

Day 3: Calais - Cap Gris-Nez lighthouse - Wimereux

Day 4: Boulogne - Hardelot Castle - Berck

Day 5: Berck beach - Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

Day 6: Ault - Le Tréport

Roads

In Hauts-de-France the road situation is perfect.

Services and stops

We had no trouble at all finding water fill-up and waste disposal facilities for the van. We were always able to sleep for free, despite quite a few height restrictions for vehicles over 2 metres tall (sometimes even 1.90 m), especially near the beaches.

Travelling with your pet

To travel Europe with your pet you need to have:

• passport
• microchip
• valid rabies vaccination

Check whether your pet's breed is allowed in the country you're visiting. We recommend always being careful in crowded places, as people might be scared of your pet which is why we always keep our pets on a leash. In many cases a muzzle is required, so we recommend keeping one handy.

We recommend bringing a bowl (we use one that clips conveniently onto a backpack) and a water bottle if the day is particularly hot.

Reflections and ideal itinerary

Over the years we’ve learned to appreciate many sides of France, which is why, even in this area, despite the bad weather, we found places that stayed close to our hearts.

By campervan, car or motorbike, in our opinion the unmissable destinations in this region are:

• the lighthouses along the coast: on this scenic road you’ll see breathtaking views, and if you’re on a motorbike or in a car you can definitely make more stops, with no height restrictions in the car parks
• Boulogne: a genuinely characteristic town; if you’re heading south from the north, in our opinion it’s worth a stop
• Berck beach: we admit, watching the seals in their natural habitat moved us quite a bit
• Saint-Valery-sur-Somme: architecture, unmistakable little streets, small restaurants, views. This village too really has something special.

Our vlog

In the video below you can relive our entry into France, or find the full series about the country at this link  .

Our maps