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 regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

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 Kan ...

, 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 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. Hist ...

. 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 ...

, 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 shell ...

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, fl ...

s, swamps,

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 environme ...

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 ...

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

promontories A promontory is a raised mass of landform, land that projects into a Upland and lowland, 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 erosion, er ...

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. The p ...

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 C ...

: 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 D ...

(literally "grey nose cape" in English), reaching an elevation of above sea level, and the Cap Blanc Nez (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 C� ...

* Dunkerque

Famous seaside resorts

From south to north: *

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 Situ ...

* Le Touquet-Paris-Plage * Sainte-Cécile-Plage * Hardelot-Plage * Équihen-Plage * Wimereux * Audresselles * Ambleteuse *

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 Boulogne ...

* Blériot-Plage * Bray-Dunes

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, religious, ...
of the coast

From south to north: * Merlimont *

Cucq Cucq (; unofficially also: ''Cucq-Trépied-Stella-Plage''; vls, Kuuk, lang) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Cucq is made up of three villages: Cucq itself, the second village of ...

* Saint-Étienne-au-Mont * Le Portel * Audinghen *

Escalles Escalles () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A small village located west of Calais, at the junction of the D243 and D940 roads and at the foot of Mont d'Hubert (). Population Pla ...

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 F ...

Marck Marck may refer to: Surname * Érard de La Marck (1472–1538), prince-bishop of Liège * Jan van der Marck (1929–2010) Dutch-born American art historian, and museum curator. * John T. Marck, Beatles biographer who suggested that "Real Love", ...

Oye-Plage Oye-Plage (; vls, Ooie, lang) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Oye-Plage lies about east of Calais, on the junction of the D219 and the D940. The commune is nearly a mile from t ...

Grand-Fort-Philippe Grand-Fort-Philippe (; nl, Groot-Fort-Filips) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. History The commune of Grand-Fort-Philippe was created in 1884, but the town had existed for a long time before that. Heraldry Demography ...

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

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 Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

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. Biograp ...

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'Opale