POPPING over to France from the UK couldn’t be easier, and there are plenty of pretty cities and towns to explore along the Opal Coast.
The spot in the north of France is known for its natural landscape, beautiful beaches and being home to lots of charming seaside destinations like Boulogne-sur-Mer.
When Brits usually take day trips, it’s usually to bustling cities like Paris or Amsterdam.
But if you fancy somewhere quieter, then the Opal Coast is a great option, especially as it’s so easy to get there by car.
To get there, you can travel by Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais which takes around 35 minutes.
From there, it’s a 30 minute drive to the city.
Brits can also take the ferry from Dover to Calais which takes 90 minutes and drive from there.
Boulogne-sur-Mer, once an ancient town, is a city that is still used as a major fishing port.
The old centre is a great spot for mooch around thanks to its pretty cobbled streets and quaint shops all surrounded by medieval walls.
The popular Boulogne-sur-Mer’s beach is common with sand yachters as well as kite surfers too.
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Thanks to it being a fishing port, there are plenty of restaurants around serving local specialties like pickled herring, mackerel, and mussels.
According to Tripadvisor, the most highly-rated seafood restaurant in Boulogne-sur-Mer is Le Chatillon.
There, those who enjoy seafood can get a seafood platter from €38.90 (£34.26) which has half a crab, four langoustines, six organic pink prawns, whelks, grey prawns and five superior oysters.
A trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer doesn’t have to break the bank either, according to Numbeo, you can buy a bottle of wine there from between €5-8 (£4.40 to £7.04).
Domestic beer cost €2.06 (£1.81) and a meal at an inexpensive restaurant is around €16 (£14.09).
If you’re looking for a place to amuse the kids, check out Nausicaá – Europe‘s largest aquarium where you’ll find tropical fish, sharks, sea lions and penguins.
One day tickets start from €30 (£26.41) for visitors over 12, and €23 (£20.25) for those between three years old up to 12.
History buffs should check out the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, which was originally built as a church and later transformed into a cathedral.
It’s 100 meters tall and from there you can get a great view of the city.
Not to mention that lying underneath is the largest crypt in France where you’ll find over 400 artefacts like paintings and beautiful wall murals.
The cathedral is free to enter, with a small fee of around €6 (£5.28) to enter the crypt.
Hear more about Nausicaa from one writer who visited…
Nausicaa, the French National Sea Centre, is Europe’s largest aquarium. It doubled in size in the summer of 2018 with a giant new tank housing thousands of tropical fish, manta rays and, yes, sharks.
But that barely scratches the surface — or beneath the surface — of what you can see there. That tank is certainly impressive. It is 65ft wide and 16ft high, and took a month to fill. As a veteran of many such outings, I have never seen anything like it.
Nor had the kids: Ten-year-old Miles and Ava were entranced by the quantity and variety of everything on show.
But even the sorts of things they had seen before — the touch tank with the smaller rays, glass tunnel (yet more sharks), penguins and sea lions and hundreds of clown fish — it is like every aquarium you have ever visited, rolled into a gigantic piscine extravaganza.
Marine conservation is the overarching theme, but it is never rammed down your throat. You can even have a nice fish lunch in one of the cafés. Being French, they take this very seriously. And naturally, there is a good selection of wine.
For more on France, here’s a town that looks more like Italy – with Roman buildings and huge music festival.
Plus, for daytrips, one Sun Travel Reporter tested out the extreme-daytripping trend to Paris.