Gitelink - a selection of
self-catering holiday cottages for hire directly from the owners.
No
fees !
With Gitelink book 🏠
directly with owners, avoiding the commissions and
administrative
fees charged by many online holiday rental agencies and websites.
Some properties may or must be booked through a booking
portal that does not charge any fees to the
customer.
A selection of
self-catering holiday cottages for hire directly from the owners.
Best
rates,
no extra
fees ! Gitelink works directly
with owners,
or else only
with booking sites that do not charge the customer extra booking fees,
administrative charges or credit card fees.
The Gitelink selection
An introduction to northeast France
The
Hauts de France region, covering
the old regions of
Nord -
Pas-de-Calais and Picardy , includes the French part of
the
historic
area of Europe known as Flanders - today divided between France and the
Low Countries, plus the French part of the historic Artois
The region is divided down the middle between two departments, the Pas
de Calais to the southwest, and the department of le Nord to the
northeast, along the Belgian border.
The Nord
department, capital Lille, is the most heavily industrialised
department of France, and the most densely populated area outside the
Paris region. Lille itself is a vibrant city that has reinvented itself
as the central point on the Paris - Brussels - London high-speed rail
network. It has historic quarters and some fine museums.
The Pas de Calais, by contrast, is largely rural, its chalk
hills
and valleys very reminiscent of the landscape of eastern Kent, to which
it was once joined, many thousands of years ago. This department has
seaside resorts, and small country towns; in terms of population
density, it is one of the the least populated areas within 100 miles of
greater London.
Picardy
covers the area between Nord
– Pas-de-Calais and the Paris region. The south of the modern
region is
not part of the historic area of Picardy, and is economically part of
the greater Paris area. In the east, Picardy is a very agricultural
area, and one of the most important French production areas for sugar
beet and cereals. At the heart of the battle zones during the
First World War, it is an area that today offers many a sombre lesson
in history.
Getting to the north of
France
Lying in the triangle between Paris, London and Brussels, Hauts de
France is very accessible from all directions.
Come by road
By
road:
Enter this region directly at the Calais ferry port or Channel Tunnel
terminal, or from the border with Belgium. The whole area is
easily accessible via the A 16
or A26 motorways from Calais, or the A1 / A2 motorways from Belgium and
Holland via Reims, or directly from Belgium.
See
Driving
in France
Come by train
Access by rail: Eurostar from London or Brussels to Calais or Lille,
TGV from Paris to LIlle or Calais
Come by plane
Though
there is an airport in Lille, it is not much served by international
flights, except for outbound tourists. The closest airports for this
area are Paris CDG and Brussels
Gites in other regions -
clickable map