For weekend city breaks to Calais the Bonsai hotel is a good choice. Tiny rooms but ideal location and budget prices. Located right opposite the main station, a few minutes' walk from the centre of the town of Calais. Most important - free parking facilities for those who travel by car.

Quai Du Danube, Calais, 62100
www.hotelara.com/france/calais-accommodation.html

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The Café is the best in Calais for lunch or for a wee drink. The staff are friendly and professional - it is not sloppy student service. Okay, Calais is definitely not the most beautiful place in the world but this place makes you really feel that you are in old France. It is simple and unpretentious.

Fantastic mussels and chips (and the chips are hand cut, none of the frozen crap), excellent steak tartare and plat de jour/ grillade.

The square in front of the café was partly destroyed twice in the two world wars and they threw up bits of concrete, but the café is an original - benches and wood panelling. We go every time we visit our journalist friend who works for the local tele.

The staff try their best to speak English, although a svp and a merci goes a long way.

They have a simple kids' menu but I really advise mussels. They might find it strange, but they will always remember it. My kids eat anything, at least once without force - then it gets more complicated.

I'm sort of regretting this as it has almost been an English free zone.
Watch out for the lovely old girl who drinks a coffee and then sings a chanson or two on Sundays - she loves Scots.

All in all, if you have an afternoon or a booze cruise - this is the best of Calais. And you can walk along the front after and see the White Cliffs of Dover on most days. Go up to the lighthouse!

Place Armes. Walk down from the station towards the sea and after the "grey" tower (not the townhall)on your left.

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Even though for many people Calais is a place to bypass en route to Paris or Lille, this hostel is clean and safe with modern facilities (bar, library, games room) and is the only cheap hostel in the town.

The double rooms are satisfactory, though admittedly they are tiny. The staff kindly put me up for a couple of nights on a camp bed despite the fact that there were no rooms available and I was stranded with nowhere else to go.

Breakfast is provided. The hostel is only 5 mins walk from the beach, and 10 mins from the town centre and train station.

Av. du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, 62100 Calais
Tél : 00 33 3 21 34 70 20
Fax : 00 33 3 21 96 87 80
Take the free bus from Calais ferry port to the main town square and go straight up the main road to the beach (going over a canal and passing a caravan site). The hostel is well signposted.

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An excellent hotel for overnight stays; very good value.

I booked on the internet; I was surprised to get an automatic extra 5% discount off their already low price of €36.

We arrived well after midnight, via the Eurotunnel, but their reception was still open, as was the bar.

Our room was clean and fresh; bed a bit firm, but that's what I like anyway. There was an extra bunk bed sideways over our double bed, perfect for our 7-year-old boy, who loved it.

The self-service buffet breakfast was really great value for only €5 extra each (children seemed to be free), with a big choice of fruits, breads, toast, cereals yoghurt etc - much better than most French breakfast offerings.

2 Quai du Danube, Calais, Pas-de-Calais, 62100

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