Calais guide and accommodations

City Areas

Virtually the entire town was destroyed by heavy bombardments during World War II, so there is little in Calais that pre-dates the war. For most visitors, the town is simply a place to pass through en route to other destinations.

 

The town centre is dominated by its distinctive town hall, built in the Flemish Renaissance style and visible well out to sea. Directly in front of the town hall is a cast of the statue Les Bourgeois de Calais, by Auguste Rodin.

The German wartime military headquarters, situated near the train station in a small park, is today open to the public as a war museum.

Immediately to the west is the Côte d’Opale, an extremely scenic cliff-lined section of coast that parallels the White Cliffs on the British coast and is part of the same geological formation. On clear days, the buildings of Calais can quite readily be seen with the naked eye from the British shore, 33 km away.