Toronto, Canada’sBata Shoe Museum recently announced the launch of their new spring exhibition called Exhibit A: Investigating Crime and Footwear. It opened on April 18, 2024 and will run for a total of 18 months.
23.04.2024 - 10:35 / lonelyplanet.com
There is so much more to the small town of Calais in northern France than its port where cross-Channel ferries join the dots between dazzling white-chalk cliffs in Dover and the Côte d’Opale, and Brits on booze runs stock up on "cheap" French wine at hypermarchés to drink back home.
The English ruled Calais for almost 200 years, from 1347 until 1558, and rich, turbulent histories seep out of every caramel-yellow brick, UNESCO-listed belfry and dot of sand. Calais beach – a seemingly endless swathe of powder-soft gold ribboned with several hundred ancestral beach huts from the 1940s – is breathtaking. Kids love it! Ditto for the new Front de Mer (seafront) following its spectacular, €46 million makeover in 2021.
Traveling in France with kids? Here are some of the country's best family experiences
Don’t just zip in and out. Linger to fathom contemporary Calais’s metamorphic shift from place of transit to "seaside cool" place to be – a flashback to the glamorous belle époque when fashionable chalets de plage popped up on the beach, only to be destroyed with much of the town in WWII. Trade soulless supermarkets for weekly farmers markets (Wednesday and Saturday mornings on place d’Armes) and specialist wine and cheese shops like La Maison du Fromage et des Vins (1 rue André Gerschel) where shopping includes dégustation (tasting) and stinky, silk rounds of Dôme de Boulogne, Sable de Wissant and Fleur d’Audresselles evoke flavors of the surrounding mer (sea) and terre (land).
Lunch-laze over lavish seafood creations at Le Grand Bleu or traditional bistro fare at Histoire Ancienne on Calais’s shop-clad main street rue Royale. At old-school Café du Minck, across from the harbor where fishers still sell their catch in the historic seafaring quarter of Courgain Maritime, sample Calais’s unique contribution to Hauts-de-France’s prized gastronomic heritage with smoked herrings and t’chien d’mer (sun-dried dogfish shark) washed down with a summertime rosé or picon-bière (beer with a dash of Picon bitters). À nous guifes! (that’s "Cheers!" in the local ch’ti dialect).
Plan your visit to this often overlooked destination with our guide to Calais for first-timers.
Traveling beyond Calais? Here's our guide to getting around in France
Summer – June to early September – is heaps of fun. Sand-sculpture competitions, outdoor film screenings, "bubble football" and a smorgasbord of music concerts, evening markets and cultural events spill along the seafront (Digue Gaston Berthe) and two main squares (place d’Armes and place du Grand Théâtre). Local artists and artisans sell handcrafted jewelry, sun hats, espadrilles, all sorts from a dozen pop-up chalets by the beach during Calais’ annual Village d’Été (April to
Toronto, Canada’sBata Shoe Museum recently announced the launch of their new spring exhibition called Exhibit A: Investigating Crime and Footwear. It opened on April 18, 2024 and will run for a total of 18 months.
"I can't wait for my trip to France — I'm planning to visit all the tourist traps!"… is not something you'll typically hear a Paris-bound traveler say, even if their itinerary consists entirely of the top recommended things to do in every guidebook — the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame — and little else.
Good hotels are in the business of cherishing their guests. Hotels - at the highest end - are all about curation, which makes the products they sell in their shops particularly desirable, whether fashion, furnishings or art. Here are some presents that every mother will love.
An amazing part of traveling is discovering a new place, but there’s something special about returning to a beloved destination—which also speaks volumes about what makes a place stand out as one of the best.
Fragrance is superb at creating a sense of place - and they are powerful sensory weapons for luxury hotels. Whether it’s a flickering, highly fragranced reminder of a perfect holiday, a signal of a forthcoming trip or an opportunity to dip into a beautifully curated world, these candles will help your mother dream of her next vacation.
The turn off is small and miss-able, shielded by trees and shrubbery even at the start of the year. As we start up the winding, rutted driveway, I anxiously reach for the Tarte Tropézienne my partner Laila and I picked up in Cannes and placed—carelessly, in hindsight—in the backseat of our rented Renault. The layered dessert is both for research and pleasure: I’m here to write my cookbook, le SUD: Recipes from Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, and La Tropézienne is one of the recipes I’m aiming to perfect.
Trains and wine make natural partners, be it a glass of crisp white over a leisurely lunch in a restaurant car while cruising through the Alps or a rail itinerary that meanders through a region noted for its fine wines. Many of Europe’s most prized wine regions lend themselves naturally to exploration by rail.
There are many reasons to head to France in 2024—the Olympic Games in Paris, the Euro 2024 football competition or an Impressionist festival—but many will be heading to Normandy to commemorate the 160,000 Allied troops who landed on its beaches in World War Two in the biggest military seaborne invasion in history.
Even if you’re an experienced jetsetter, traveling is rarely (if ever) a truly comfortable experience. So why not give the mom or maternal figure you love this Mother’s Day clothing that feels terrific—and is also kind to the planet—with these eight alphabetically-listed picks from sustainable, organic, and eco-friendly brands? Better yet? All the items included in this gift guide are easy to pack and versatile so you can wear them in ways more than one.
This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.
The Gili Islands: the scenery around here is what most envision when they drum up mental imagery of "tropical paradise". This idyllic archipelago might be tiny in regards to landmass, but it's anything but small when it comes to stunning marine life, friendly vibes, and gorgeous views. You'll get a wildly different experience depending on where you rock up onshore – seeing as Bintang-fueled day parties, epic undersea experiences, and stunningly tranquil hideaways all coexist in unique harmony across this chain of islands.
Northern France’s counterpart to the famed Côte d’Azur, one insanely scenic stretch of coast has it all.