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Tourism in Valenciennes
Take advantage of your stay at the Brit Hotel Notre-Dame to discover the attractive town of Valenciennes.Made up of just over 41,000 inhabitants, it is an important economic hub in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region. It is a resurgent city, notable for the reopened second-largest museum of Flemish Art in France, and the construction of one of the most beautiful theatres from the late 19th century.Valenciennes will have no secrets from you after you read this page! Now for an overview of everything to see/do in Valenciennes and its surroundings.
Visiting Valenciennes
There are a few monuments not to be missed when visiting the city. Discover the pretty Hôtel de Ville or the Basilique Notre-Dame du Saint-Cordon (impossible to miss, it is located just opposite the hotel). The Saint Géry church and its belfry, built in 1850 in the romantic neo-gothic style, is also a building to be discovered.
Art lovers can visit the Fine Arts Museum and admire some prestigious collections of painters and sculptors from the region. You can also enjoy the beauty of the famous Scaldian houses. These timber-framed houses, built between the 13th and 16th centuries, once housed flax weaving looms.
Lovers of literature and old manuscripts can visit the Valenciennes media library, a former Jesuit chapel. This building has retained its charm of yesteryear, with Louis XIII style windows and Louis XVI garlands.
Discovering northern France
In Valenciennes, discover the "coron des 120", a typical line of workers' dwellings that came into being during the industrial revolution of the 18th century. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining basin is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a "Living Cultural Landscape".
Looking for greenery, peace and quiet? Go for a walk in the Parc de la Citadelle and its "écluse des repenties". This vast park is home to the remains of this lock, which served as a defence for the city of Valenciennes over the past centuries.
The Scarpe Escaut Regional Nature Park is also worth a visit during a stay in Valenciennes. Created in 1968, it is the oldest French regional park. Agricultural landscapes, spa towns, woods and forests elegantly make up this exceptional natural area.
