Visit Arras

The famous Saturday morning market unfolds in the squares and around the boutique shops. It’s highly recommended as a place to buy local specialities – and there are lots to choose from!! Look for andouillettes (a type of sausage), chocolate rats, confit chicory and cœurs d’Arras – heart-shaped treats made from cheese or pastry (a tasty spicy biscuit version is available in the Thibaut pâtisserie at 50 Place des Héros). Also, don’t forget the artisanal beers – perfect for a tasting session with your friends when you get home. For a more durable and exclusive souvenir, head to 32 place des Héros, where Christelle Perrier keeps alive the craft of le bleu d’Arras, a unique 18th century French tradition of painting porcelain with blue motifs.

The Gothic revival belfry in Arras has had an eventful history. It stands 250 feet tall (75 metres) and is topped with a glistening crown on which a golden lion stands in homage to Charles V.

This is a chalk cathedral 20 m under the streets of Arras that was the theatre of a flash strategic battle. To surprise the German troops, the Commonwealth forces dug a network of tunnels in the town’s stone quarries among which are the Wellington Tunnels, dug by New Zealand tunnelers at an immense cost to life and material.

A stone’s throw from Arras’s magnificent squares and belfry (France’s favourite monument) is a definite must-see: the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Arras, housed in the 7th-century Benedictine Abbey of Saint Vaast.

The city’s impressive citadel is nicknamed belle inutile or “useless beauty” because it was built by Vauban to keep an eye on the locals rather than to keep enemies out. Today, it’s listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Away from the centre of town, it’s a lovely place to take a walk with friends and family. Tour the fortress to discover the fortified emplacements – walk in the footsteps of kings, along the moats and in the woods. With fresh air in your lungs and your imagination captivated by history, you can enjoy the slower pace of life in this green setting. Every July, the citadel hosts the famous Main Square Festival – a weekend of pop concerts headlined by world-renowned artists. Alternatively, enjoy intrepid tree-climbing year-round at the accrobranche.