Next month, my New Zealand parents are coming over to the UK to stay, and we have planned a brief trip over to France. We’re taking the ferry from Dover to Calais and will then drive from Calais to Paris (we’re staying in a hotel in Poissy to be exact).
The most direct route is about 2 hrs 45 minutes according to Google Maps, but we all enjoy driving and aren’t in any particular hurry to get to Paris.
Does anyone have any route recommendations? or nice places to stop on the way? Is it nicer to go along the coast for a bit before heading inland?
I don’t know routes or anything, but I was on a tour that did exactly what you’re planning about two weeks ago. From what I’m remembering, it was a pretty easy drive (well, ride, for me) from the landing down to Paris. All major highway, not much to confuse you. I was surprised at how cool the ferry was, though.
Depending on how much of a diversion you want to make, Deauville is very interesting historically, and rather lovely. Rouen has a nice cathedral. And if you’re mega Catholic you could go to Lisieux and go and look at St. Therese’s arm too.
You might want to stop in Amiens , which has a beautiful cathedral (it only looks like the picture on the linked page during the summer night show. Unfortunate because it’s really stunning), some old half-timbered buildings, gardens on water (if you have time enough for a boat ride) and where you could eat in one of the restaurant along the river (quality of said restaurants is highly variable. There’s an excellent one where you can eat in a nice wall-enclosed garden, but it’s not cheap), Jules Verne’s house (somewhat interesting, but not a must-see and a little out of the way, IMO)
Close to Paris, you could also stop in Senlis (unfortunately it seems that there’ isn’t much to see on the website) , which has been a a gallo-roman town, and one of the capitals of the merovingian kings during the dark ages. There are still medieval (and at place older) walls, churches, houses, etc… I personnally don’t like much this city for reasons I can’t pinpoint (not the right athmosphere), but plenty of people do.
Or very close to Senlis, Chantilly , a rather nice town, with a beautiful castle appearing in the slideshow on the page I linked to holding a museum (paintings, books, furnitures) limited in size but with high quality artworks, an horse museum and nearby a park and a forest.
When I think about it, there are also various WWI memorials in the Somme area around Amiens (preserved trenches, war cemeteries etc…).
Also the medieval-looking castle of Pierrefonds, not long away from the town of Compiegnes (Regarding Compiegnes, there’s a second empire museum and museum presenting barouches, coaches, etc… in the local castle. It’s supposedly nice, but I never went there), in the same general area as Senlis/Chantilly. Really impressive but actually rebuilt almost from scratch for Napoleon III by the famous architect and medievist Viollet-le-Duc.
I’ve been told too that Arras, is beautiful (the flemish-style buildings surrounding its main square are supposdly exceptionnal), but I never went there, either.
As for the coast in this area, I don’t know it at all, though I’ve heard that the “baie de somme” (The Somme river’s estuary) is very beautiful.
