The Pas-de-Calais is just a few miles from England. It's from here that you'll take the ferry across the Channel, and it's also from here, on a clear day, that you'll see the cliffs of Dover in the distance. No huge towns, but a few medium-sized ones where you'll succumb to the charm of Flemish architecture. Calais is the most important, but also Boulogne-sur-Mer, with its red-roofed brick houses, its belfry and its port, the largest in France. Arras is a great place to stroll, with its two Baroque squares, citadel and belfry, both UNESCO World Heritage sites.

In Lens, stroll through the Louvre-Lens museum, opened in 2012. Like the rest of the département, the town was deeply affected by the First and Second World Wars.

Pas-de-Calais is a first-rate cultural destination. Hard hit by the First World War, you'll find many relics and monuments to that era.