Visiting Mers-les-Bains (Northern French Coastline): I Spent 10 Days Here, Here’s What I Did

I wanted to visit the Northern French coastline for a long time, and this summer I have finally made it a reality.

For the first part of the trip, I wanted to find an apartment somewhere near the beach, in a nice, not so busy resort, that accepts us with a small dog and that offers a good location to visit several attractions nearby.

And that’s how I ended up in Mers-Les-Bains, one of the first seaside resorts ever established in France.

I’ll explain what I did around the area, places that are worth the detour and exploration and, most importantly, how to discover a more authentic side of France, where many locals choose to spend summer holidays. 

Many people combine Normandy with Brittany. Here’s my honest take on whether Brittany is actually worth adding to your itinerary.

Why did I choose Mers-Les-Bains?

I was extra excited for this trip, as this is the first longer trip where I take my dog along. 

Because I only started planning this trip about one month (or maybe less) in advance, I had a hard time finding accommodations to tick all the boxes for us, but as always, I am pretty flexible in my schedule and tend to make an entire itinerary based on where I’ll find good accommodations. 

If you’re new to my blog, you should know that for my longer road trips in Europe and around the world, one important thing for us is having good Wi-Fi, because both my partner and I work online. We don’t like the term, but we’re some kind of digital nomads.

We also needed a place with good parking, to safely park our car, and to be close enough to as many attractions as possible, close to supermarkets and stuff like that. 

And in the end, we found this beautiful renovated apartment in one of the gorgeous 19th-century buildings in Mers-les-Bains, and we really liked it here, although the wifi wasn’t great.

Unfortunately, after staying in multiple Airbnbs in France, my experience taught me that the internet connection is an issue in France. 

After many days of searching and scouting different resorts on the northern coastline of France, I found Mers-les-Bains, which met all our requirements, and the location was also great for the visiting plans I had in mind. 

After a week and a half of driving all across Europe (because that’s how long it takes to get from Romania to the Northern coastline of France), we reached Mers-les-Bains. 

Honestly, the entire place looked better than it did in the pictures, and I immediately fell in love with it. 

Although this wasn’t my first time in France (I probably visited at least 3 times before), this was the first extensive trip to one of the most popular countries in Europe. 

How to get to Mers-les-Bains

Mers-les-Bains is about 3 hours from Paris by car, or 2.5 hours by train (with a change in Abbeville or Le Tréport). 

The nearest train station is in Le Tréport-Mers, just a 10-minute walk from the promenade, and you don’t need a car from there. 

If you’re arriving from Calais or Rouen, it’s also easy to reach by car, and having a car makes it much easier to explore the smaller villages nearby.

All in all, having a car helps explore those more secluded beaches and villages, but you can also visit Mers-les-Bains using public transport (train from Paris). 

If you decide to rent a car anywhere in France, I strongly recommend reading my guide on driving in France before you do so. 

It’s not a way of saying you shouldn’t rent a car in France, but rather that’s just information you need to know (all of it is based on my firsthand experience) and that I wish someone had told me before I received those two speeding tickets. 

Best time to visit Mers-les-Bains (or Normandy in general)

From my experience, the best time to visit Mers-les-Bains is from late May to September, when the weather is warm enough for beach walks, and most local restaurants are open. 

I visited in June, and it was perfect for longer walks, although some days were windy during the first half of June. Most places only open starting around June 15. 

I’d say that June and early July are ideal if you prefer fewer crowds. 

Off-season, the town is much quieter, and most cafés and accommodations may close, but there are still shops open, as there are people living there all year long. And the coastline remains beautiful in any season.

Weather to expect in Mers-les-Bains

Weather additional information (good to know)

Ocean coastlines tend to be windier than other shores, so make sure to prepare for that. In summer, the wind calms down most days, and the summer breeze is more pleasant. 

However, the water is still cool during summer, so keep your expectations low, as this is the ocean and not warm water. 

The weather is generally moodier than, for instance, what you’d expect around the Mediterranean Sea. But that doesn’t mean you can have countless days during July and August of sunbathing days. 

The best time to visit is late June to September, with July and August as the peak summer months, with the most sunlight hours, less wind and rain. 

Mers-les-Bains beach (plage)

The beach looks stunning from the panoramic viewpoints from the cliffs (either from the Mers cliff or the Le Treport part), but from up close, you’ll see it’s full of pebbles and larger rocks. 

I believe these were put on the beach to preserve the area and not disappear completely, as the ocean keeps eating into the coastline. 

However, the tides offer significant changes on the coastline and at low tide, the ocean reveals very fine sand. You will still have to set your towel on the rocks, but you’ll be able to walk without hurting your feet on the sand. 

If you’re familiar with the northern French coastline, then you will find this beach very familiar to others around. 

Locals also rent or own small beach cottages, where they store sun chairs and sunbathe from the wooden decks built around them. 

I don’t believe it is absolutely necessary to get special footwear for this; you can simply wear your street shoes and walk on the rocks, but be careful not to slip or hurt yourself. I was able to walk around in sandals, so you should be ok. 

Note that the tide changes rather quickly, so when the tide increases again, make sure to keep an eye on it, as it can quickly rise, and waves may splash on your towel as you relax. 

This happens all the time to someone on the beach, as you always think the water can’t possibly reach you, until it does, and all your things get wet. Happened to me once in Portugal (which is also a coastline by the ocean).

Where to stay in Mers-les-Bains?

I think the best is to stay in the area around the promenade (Esplanade du Général Leclerc) or up on the cliff to get the view of the beach and Le Treport. 

The entire promenade is lined up with 19th-century Art Nouveau and Belle Époque buildings, and most of them are up for rental during the summer. 

I stayed in one of those houses (I stayed here), which looked really cool on the outside, but the interior was recently renovated and had almost all modern amenities.

I recommend this accommodation if you’re not a digital nomad looking to stay in a place with great wifi. Other than that, I don’t have any complaints, and the host was lovely (although we only communicated via the Airbnb chat). 

Unfortunately, the internet connection wasn’t great while I stayed there, but this is an issue in many different parts of France. 

To be honest, this was one of the biggest struggles for me when I was searching for accommodation during my trip in France. 

I ended up dividing my trip into four accommodations (two in Normandy and two in Brittany), excluding the short stay in Lille (which was a hotel). 

My recommendation is to book at least 1-2 months in advance, to make sure you get a place that ticks all your boxes (good WiFi, location, amenities that are important to you, like dishwasher or clothes washer, private parking, etc.). 

I had to compromise when I chose this Airbnb, as the location is superb, the price wasn’t the lowest, there was only public parking (which you have to pay for during the day during the summer season through the EasyPark app), and there wasn’t a washer for clothes. 

It was doable in the end, given that we only stayed for 10 days and they accepted us with our small dog (but France is a very dog-friendly country).

And many apartments lack a clothes washing machine, and you can find public ones at bigger supermarkets, so you can wash your clothes while shopping. 

I recommend booking a place in advance, as the area gets busy during high season.

I visited in June, and it was perfect, as there weren’t any crowds, but most of the restaurants and local places were open. 

Mind that the entire northern French coastline has a more chill vibe, restaurants open for lunch and dinner only, while some cafes stay open for longer.

It’s a place for those looking to truly relax; you won’t be bothered by loud music anywhere. If you want to party, then this isn’t the place for you. 

Most places like Mers-les-Bains have multiple campsites around, which get full during the summer. So you can choose to visit France, or do a road trip in France with a camper (which is a very popular thing to do), but you also need to make sure to pre-book your campsites in advance. 

Attractions and things to do in and from Mers-les-Bains

Mers-les-Bains 

• Esplanade du Général Leclerc
• Cliffs of Mers-les-Bains
• panoramic walk on cliff to Bois de Cise (Sentier du littoral par Mers-les-Bains)
• Drive to Criel-sur-Mer (10 km away) and do the short hike up to Falaises de Criel-sur-Mer

Le Tréport

• port area (Écluses du port)
• fish market (Poissonnerie Municipale)
• free funicular (Funiculaire du Tréport-Gare Basse)
• panoramic view from up the cliff (Falaise du Tréport)

Eu (Musée Louis-Philippe inside the Château d’Eu and the central part of the village)

The Somme Bay (Le Hourdel, Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, Le Crotoy)

Visit the neighbouring villages (Le Tréport and Eu). Together with Mers-les-Bains, this trio is known as an attraction in itself, with plenty to do. All three are lovely just to walk around (but they have more than that to offer). 

Supermarkets, parking and other logistics in Mers-les-Bains

The entire esplanade is sprinkled with small cafes, and then in the centre of the resort (which is within walking distance), you’ll find more cafes, restaurants, pizza places and bakeries. You don’t need a car to reach any of these. 

A popular restaurant is Restaurant Les Mouettes, right at the start of the promenade in Mers-les-Bains. 

I did most of my shopping at the nearby shopping centre (10-minute drive) at Auchan. In the same parking lot, you’ll find other shops, a pharmacy and a laundromat (use this one if you need it, it’s reliable). 

Parking is free in Mers-les-Bains outside of high season. However, during high season (15 June to September), it’s paid (except public holidays). But you can find specific maps of the paid parking area. 

For parking, I used the EasyPark app, which is convenient, as you can pay using your phone even if you are away from the car. Alternatively, you can also use the parking meters. 

If you don’t want to pay for parking, go to Parking Lagaliote, which is free all year round (400 spots, but it still gets busy during the summer). 

Visiting Le Tréport, France

One of the first exploration walks in Mers-les-Bains was to Le Treport, which is the village that is next to it, and it is within walking distance. 

We didn’t make this walk a goal of the things to do in Mers-les-Bains or Treport, but we simply explored it, and we ended up at the viewing point. 

Obviously, one of the main attractions in Mers-les-Bains is the promenade, which is always gorgeous, and even more so during late afternoon. We walked to see where it ended, and indeed, by the end of it, the alley was blocked, as this is the entry to the port area and smaller sailing ships and fishing boats. 

But we continued walking along the port area and found a nice pedestrian way to cross over towards Treport. 

Of course, you could drive there, but then there is a bigger detour. 

I really liked to discover the mechanism for the port (Écluses du port), which makes it possible for boats to come or depart while also allowing the free passage of pedestrians on top of the passing. 

This was the first time I had realised that the difference between the low and high tide on the French coastline is huge, and this is important to know because in some cases you might get stranded on different beaches if you don’t know the schedule of the tides. 

But don’t worry, in most places, these schedules are printed and displayed for visitors to see and act accordingly. 

Walking around at sunset was magical, the light was gorgeous, and all these Belle Époque and art nouveau buildings were simply stunning as we were walking towards the old part of Treport, towards the promenade and the fish market. 

Since it was already evening when I visited, the fish market was closed. You needed to come early in the day to buy a fresh catch, but the restaurants were open and seemed pretty busy. 

As I reached the other side of the beach, the side in Treport that we were seeing all the way from Mers-les-Bains, I admired the lighthouse and the area under the cliff. 

There’s also a free funicular that takes you to the top. But it only runs during the day. If you want to visit at sunset, you’ll need to walk up the cliff. 

The entire area is gorgeous with the most beautiful houses. Lots of them are for rent for tourists, but there are also a lot of people living here. 

The way up the cliff is quite straightforward, and the stairs take you there, and there are even signs. 

As I ascended, the panoramic views of the area made me gasp more than a few times. It was a bit challenging to climb all the stairs, but nothing someone with normal fitness levels couldn’t achieve. 

And we made it to the top of the cliff just in time for the most outstanding sunset. The view of Mers-Les-Bains and Treport is gorgeous, especially with the golden light at sunset. 

Visiting Eu

EU, a village really close to where we were staying, has this lovely castle. 

On my first visit there, it was already late in the afternoon, and the museum inside the castle was closed for the day. Since we were already there, we visited the church next door, Église Collégiale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Laurent. 

When you visit France, you’ll also visit a lot of churches, and most of them are free to visit. I find these French churches really impressive, and most of them are called Notre Dame, meaning “our lady” referring to the Virgin Mary, and have a dedicated chapel at the back of the church to the Virgin Mary. 

We visited the church and then strolled around the castle’s garden, which is free to visit and absolutely gorgeous in the summer, with all the roses in bloom. 

I came back to the castle the next day. After visiting the castle, the Musée Louis-Philippe inside the Château d’Eu, we explored the village of Eu a bit.

I was surprised to realise that some locals are actually related to the Irish, and some establishments were proudly displaying their Irish heritage.

Beyond its royal past, Eu turned out to be much more interesting than I expected. The town is one of the oldest in Normandy, with roots going back to medieval times. 

You can still feel that history as you walk through its narrow streets lined with 17th and 18th-century houses. The main square, Place Guillaume-le-Conquérant, is peaceful, surrounded by cafés and small shops that seem untouched by time.

One of the most striking buildings is the Town Hall, housed in a former convent, and the impressive Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent, which took nearly 400 years to complete. 

It’s a mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles — and inside, you’ll find the tombs of members of the Orléans family.

Eu also has a few small museums and a quiet park near the château that offers beautiful views over the town. It feels like a place that has seen centuries of history but still moves at its own slow, graceful rhythm, which I really loved because it offers another side of Normandy beyond the coast.

Le Hourdel

This is one highlight in the Somme department, where you can just park your car and rent a bike or walk all around this area, exploring the beauty of the Somme.

If you’re lucky, you might even find some seals around, sunbathing. I didn’t see any, but the info panels were warning tourists not to scare them.

It’s a gorgeous area, a perfect backdrop for photographers and nature lovers.

At the end of your visit, you can stop for a drink at one of the cafes near the lighthouse (where you should also park — Google Map location here).

Visiting Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

I drove to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a charming medieval village on the Somme Bay. It’s one of those places that immediately feels different — calm, romantic, and a little bit lost in time.

We parked our car in a paid parking area just outside the old part of the village, which made it easy to explore everything on foot. 

From there, we slowly walked uphill, leaving behind the modern houses and stepping into a maze of narrow, cobblestone streets lined with colourful half-timbered homes and stone walls covered in flowers.

It was late in the afternoon, that beautiful time of day when the light gets soft and golden. 

Most visitors had already headed to dinner, so it felt like we had the entire village to ourselves. Just me, my partner, and our small dog wandering through the quiet lanes, hearing only the sound of footsteps on the stones and the distant cry of seagulls from the bay.

The village has an unmistakable old-world charm. You pass little art galleries, tiny restaurants, and houses with blue shutters that look straight out of a painting. Many of them have climbing roses and hand-painted signs — small details that make Saint-Valery feel both authentic and cared for.

As we kept walking, we reached the upper part of the village, known as the Old Town, surrounded by ancient ramparts.

From here, you get amazing views over the Somme estuary — wide, open, and peaceful.

You can easily imagine why artists and writers were drawn here. In fact, William the Conqueror once gathered his fleet here before leaving for England in 1066, and Joan of Arc passed through the same streets centuries later, on her way to trial.

We stopped for a while at one of the stone viewpoints, just watching the light fade over the bay. The tide was low, revealing the vast sandbanks that make the Somme so unique. It’s a landscape that changes every hour — calm one moment, dramatic the next.

Then we wandered back down through the Cité Médiévale, the medieval heart of Saint-Valery, passing under the Porte Guillaume, the old stone gate that once guarded the town. Everything was quiet, the restaurants were softly lit, and it felt like walking through a movie set after everyone had gone home.

I am happy I decided to stop and explore for a bit, although we were already tired and hungry after this long day in the sun. 

Saint-Valery-sur-Somme is definitely worth a visit. Not just for its history, but for its atmosphere. It’s one of those rare places that manages to stay peaceful and genuine, even though it’s well-known and even tourist buses stop here during the day.

Other day trips from Mers-les-Bains

I also recommend adding Rouen and Amiens to the itinerary if you’re visiting this part of the northern French coastline. 

While these two cities aren’t on the coast, they are pretty close and make a perfect day trip. 

The cities are beautiful, very walkable (just park somewhere close to the centre and explore the area), with plenty of churches, museums, and cute neighbourhoods. 

Is Mers-les-Bains worth the visit?

Spending these 10 days in Mers-les-Bains felt like it wasn’t enough to see it all. 

At first, I thought I would not have a lot of spots to visit nearby, but it soon became clear to me that most attractions around aren’t that well-known because not a lot of guides talk about them.

Most information is in French, or you really need to dig for it. 

But if you’re interested in a place or a topic, you will find everything you need.

I really enjoyed spending time at the beach in Mers les Bains, although this is a pebble beach, or better said, a rocky beach, the beach reveals a very fine sand at lower tide, and it’s truly magical to walk on the sand. 

Food options are exquisite, both at local restaurants and at the supermarket, where you can buy everything fresh. 

Oh, I almost forgot about the self-serving pizza place. 

In France, you’ll find many automated ovens, no staff, where you pick your pizza, and in 10 minutes it’s done and ready to eat. 

This is a popular service in France, and it saves you from starving on Sunday when everything else is closed. The menu is only in French, so choose “chaud” for freshly baked pizza; otherwise, you will get it frozen. 

Overall, I ate good food, had great beer and wine, and had a lot of activities. 

We did a couple of longer day trips from Mers-les-Bains, one day trip to Rouen and another to Amiens. Both locations are about 1 hour away from Mers-les-Bains and are worth the day trip. 

I hope this guide for Mers-les-Bains inspires you to visit the northern coastline of France, where locals spend their summer holidays.

If you want to see the video from Mers-les-Bains on my YouTube channel, check it out here:

Little did we know that this short summer trip to France would extend to be one of my longest European road trips, and we ended up visiting many sights in Normandy and Brittany, including the famous Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel.

I am also beyond words after doing this north Brittany road trip itinerary, which only made me wanna go back and explore more of northern France.