Hauts-de-France, châteaux north of Paris and a coast of cliffs.

What is Hauts-de-France?

Hauts-de-France is the northernmost region of the country, between Paris, the English Channel and Belgium. It brings together five départements: Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Oise and Aisne, with Lille as its capital. For a traveller arriving from Spain, the region has two very different faces.

The first is right up against Paris. The Oise département begins half an hour north of the capital and concentrates châteaux and royal forests: Chantilly, with its Condé museum, its stables and its cream; Senlis, a small medieval town with a Gothic cathedral; and Compiègne and Pierrefonds, with the palace of Napoleon III and Eugénie, its forest and a fairy-tale château rebuilt in the 19th century. All of this can be done in a day from Paris, by train or by car, and is very close to Charles de Gaulle airport.

The second is the real north: Lille, a Flemish city of squares with brick façades; Amiens, with the largest Gothic cathedral in France, a World Heritage Site since 1981; the belfries of the northern cities, also a World Heritage Site; the mining basin, with its slag heaps; and the coast, with the Bay of the Somme, its seals and its salt marshes, and the Opal Coast, with the cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez facing England. That calls for a car and two or three nights.

How do you get there from Spain?

By plane, the usual thing is to fly to Paris. From Charles de Gaulle, Chantilly is about twenty minutes by car, and by train, via Gare du Nord, less than an hour. Within the region there is also Beauvais-Tillé airport (BVA), in the Oise, with low-cost flights from several Spanish cities; it is far from Paris, but close to the châteaux of the Oise and to Amiens.

By train, from Paris Gare du Nord regional trains leave for Chantilly (25 minutes on the TER) and TGVs for Lille (about an hour). By car, the A1 crosses the region from Paris to Lille.

How do you combine it?

• A day trip from Paris: Chantilly by train from Gare du Nord, with the château, the Grandes Écuries and the park in a day. Closed on Tuesdays.
• On arrival or before flying: with a flight to Charles de Gaulle, Chantilly is the perfect afternoon on the first or last day, because of its closeness to the airport.
• A weekend by car: Chantilly and Senlis on the first day, Compiègne and Pierrefonds on the second, sleeping in Chantilly.
• A longer trip: Paris, the Oise and, heading up the A1, Amiens and Lille, or the Bay of the Somme and the Opal Coast.

When to go?

The climate is oceanic: cool, with rain spread across the year and few hot days. From May to September is the best time, with long days; the coast makes sense in summer. Châteaux and museums can be visited all year, and in December Chantilly puts on a Christmas equestrian show. In winter many places reduce their hours: always check the closing days.