The Opal Coast ( ; ) is a coastal region in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, popular with tourists.

Geography

The ''Côte d'Opale'' is a coastal region in northeastern France, in the departments of Nord and

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

. It extends over of French coast between the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

border and the border with

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

. This coastline faces the

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, and is situated directly opposite the chalk cliffs of southeast

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which at the closest point are only away. The Côte d'Opale is composed of many varied landscapes including

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

es,

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

and

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

s. The coast is marked by the presence of two large

promontories A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

situated between

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

and

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

: the

Cap Gris Nez Cap Gris-Nez (literally "cape grey nose"; ) is a cape on the Côte d'Opale in the Pas-de-Calais ''département'' in northern France. The 'Cliffs of the Cape' is the closest point of France to England – from their English counterparts at ...

(literally "grey nose cape" in English), reaching an elevation of above sea level, and the

Cap Blanc Nez Cap Blanc-Nez (french: kap blɑ̃ ne, literally "Cape White Nose" in English; from Dutch ''Blankenesse'', white headland) is a cape on the Côte d'Opale, in the Pas-de-Calais ''département'', in northern France, culminating at 134 m. The clif ...

(literally "white nose cape" in English), which reaches . These capes are the closest points to England on the entire French coast. CGN03 10x15 entre deux caps

Cities

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

Dunkerque Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Berck Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve. Geography Situa ...

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (; pcd, Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache; vls, 't Oekske, older nl, Het Hoekske), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a population of 4 ...

* Sainte-Cécile-Plage * Hardelot-Plage *

Équihen-Plage Équihen-Plage (; vls, Ekingem) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A fishing port and farming village situated some south of Boulogne, at the junction of the D236e and the D119 road ...

Wimereux Wimereux (; vls, Wimeruwe) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Wimereux is a coastal town situated some north of Boulogne, at the junction of the D233 and the D940 roads, on the b ...

* Audresselles *

Ambleteuse Ambleteuse (; vls, Ambeltuwe) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. History Ambleteuse began as a hamlet of a few huts in the middle of the dunes, from which the derisory name of “carcahuttes" (huts made from old-b ...

Wissant Wissant (; from nl, Witzand, lang, “white sand”) is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Wissant is a fishing port and farming village located approximately north of Boulog ...

* Blériot-Plage *

Bray-Dunes Bray-Dunes (; vls, Bray-Duunn) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on the Belgian border, with Adinkerke being the closest Belgian town. It is the northernmost commune and the northernmost point in all of Fra ...

Other
communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...
of the coast

From south to north: *

Merlimont Merlimont () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Merlimont lies on the coast of France, facing northwards to the English Channel. Long, wide sandy beaches and huge sand-dunes are the ...

* Cucq *

Saint-Étienne-au-Mont Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (; pcd, Sant-Étienne-au-Mont; obsolete nl, Sint-Stevensbergen, ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France near Boulogne-sur-Mer. Besides the main settlement Saint-Étienne-a ...

Le Portel Le Portel (; vls, Turbodingem) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Le Portel is a tourist, fishing and light industrial town situated about southwest of Boulogne town centre, at t ...

Audinghen Audinghen (; Dutch: ''Oudinghen'') is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming commune, comprising several hamlets, some north of Boulogne-sur-Mer, at the junction of the D940 and th ...

* Escalles *

Sangatte Sangatte (; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department on the northern coast of France on the English Channel. The name is of Flemish origin, meaning hole or gap in the sand. Engineering Sangatte is the location for the Channel Tunnel's Fr ...

* Marck * Oye-Plage * Grand-Fort-Philippe *

Gravelines Gravelines (, ; ; ) is a commune in the Nord department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa southwest of Dunkirk. It was formed in the 12th century around the mouth of a canal built to connect Saint-Omer with the sea. As ...

Leffrinckoucke Leffrinckoucke (; nl, Leffrinkhoeke; vls, Leffrinkoeke) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry Population Twin towns Leffrinckoucke is twinned with: * Węgorzewo in Poland In popular culture The end scenes of ...

Zuydcoote Zuydcoote (West Flemish and nl, Zuidkote) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. Heraldry Population Gallery Zuydcoote - Eglise Saint-Nicolas 2.jpg, Sai ...

Arts

Many artists have been inspired by the coast's landscapes, among them the composer

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

, the writers

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, and the painters J. M. W. Turner,

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (Lille 4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917 Paris), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France. Biograph ...

Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007) was a French painter. Artistic life Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris,The School of Paris (1945–1965) by Lydia Harambourg. ...

and

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 18248 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summa ...

. It was the painter who coined the name for this area in 1911 to describe the distinctive quality of its light.''Le Touquet-Paris-Plage à l’aube de son nouveau siècle'', éditions Flandres-Artois-Côte d’Opale, 1982, p.22

References

External links

Travel Guide of the Opal Coast / Côte d'OpaleAccommodation on the Opal Coast / Côte d'OpaleCôte d'Opale through photos : You will love it !Côte d'Opale : Tourism, shopping, B&BLe Cap Blanc NezLe Cap Gris NezLe Grand Site des 2 CapsSlipping on Côte d'Opale : B&b, Gîtes, Hôtels ...

Tourism in Boulogne sur Mer and the Boulonnais area
(in English)
Cape Blanc NezCape Gris Nez
Landforms of the Pas-de-Calais Cliffs of Metropolitan France Tourist attractions in Hauts-de-France Tourist attractions in Pas-de-Calais Opale Landforms of Hauts-de-France {{PasdeCalais-geo-stub