Alexandre Gauthier's two-Michelin-starred table occupies a striking site where an 18th-century ferryman's cottage meets Patrick Bouchain's angular metal-roofed pavilions. The dining room looks onto open kitchens and surrounding greenery, setting the stage for radical, seasonal cooking that draws on foraged ingredients, game, and the nearby coast. A Green Star confirms the chef's commitment to mindful sourcing. Garden huts extend the stay.
Chef William Elliott holds a Michelin star at this glamorous dining room within the Westminster hotel, where dramatic animal-themed tapestries hang against velvety black and ochre walls. His seafood-driven menu showcases Audresselles lobster paired with cherries, almonds, and aceita di terga vinegar—a signature that exemplifies his inventive approach to noble ingredients like caviar and langoustine. The terrace overlooks La Canche lighthouse.
A country inn with polished rural character, Auberge du Moulinel occupies the quiet stretch between Le Touquet and Montreuil-sur-Mer. The kitchen operates with exacting standards—ingredients carefully sourced, bread baked daily, ice cream churned on premises. Signature plates like lobster salad, pigeon prepared two ways, and Grand Marnier soufflé showcase a chef committed to traditional French craft executed with precision.
Reservation-only dining in the pastoral countryside near Le Touquet, Le Clos de la Prairie operates with deliberate intimacy. The chef's cooking follows seasonal rhythms and contemporary sensibilities, resulting in plates that feel both grounded and current. Summer months open access to a terrace facing open meadows—a bucolic setting where the unhurried pace matches the kitchen's thoughtful approach to each course.
A Franco-Mexican love story plays out on the plate at Le Mezquité, where chef Julien Szyndler applies techniques from his wife Laura Flores's native Puebla to ingredients sourced from his own northern French terroir. Pork slow-cooked over mesquite wood emerges as cochinita pibil; duck arrives draped in complex mole poblano. The smoking process and house-made salsas anchor a fusion menu that feels personal rather than contrived.
Near Étaples marina, chef Pierre Chavatte's Bib Gourmand table delivers generous, sauce-driven cooking in a contemporary wood-accented room with the kitchen as theatrical backdrop. The prawns with spinach, black garlic, and cashews demonstrate his precise hand, while red mullet arrives lifted by a fragrant bouillabaisse-style broth. Warm, sincere, and indulgent—ideal for those seeking creative bistronomy without pretense.
Local foodies crowd this address a few streets back from the seafront, drawn by a kitchen that shifts fluidly between tradition and invention. The menu tracks the markets and seasons, yielding unexpected combinations—foie gras paired with corn and smoked eel among them. Fusion here means confident flavor marriages rather than gimmickry, delivered with genuine warmth.
The suffix was added in 1912 to emphasize its role as a fashionable beach resort for Parisians. The name distinguished it from the fishing village of Étaples nearby and signaled its ambitions as a sophisticated seaside destination, complete with casinos, golf courses, and grand hotels catering to the capital's elite.
The seafront along Boulevard de la Mer and the streets immediately behind it offer the closest access to the sand. The southern end near the lighthouse provides quieter stretches, while the central beach near Place de l'Hermitage has easier access to restaurants and the thalassotherapy center.
Grey and harbour seals can be observed year-round in the Baie de Canche, though sightings are most reliable at low tide when they haul out onto the sandbanks. The colony has grown steadily since the 1990s, and guided walks from the Maison de la Baie offer the best viewing opportunities without disturbing the animals.
Created from pine forest and dunes in the 1880s, this resort town on the Opal Coast became the seaside escape for British aristocrats crossing the Channel and Parisian industrialists seeking weekend retreats. The influence shows in the architecture: Anglo-Norman villas with carved balconies line the avenues, while Art Deco facades from the 1920s dot the town center around Rue Saint-Jean.
The beach stretches twelve kilometers, backed by the Canche estuary where seals gather at low tide. Inland, the pine forest offers shaded walking and cycling paths. The dining scene gravitates toward seafood — sole, turbot, and grey shrimp landed at nearby Étaples — while the covered market on Place Jean Monnet supplies regional cheeses and produce. Golf has been played here since 1904, and the sporting tradition extends to sand yachting on the wide tidal flats.
