Gravelines beach at low tide - our stop before the ferry to England

Why is the beach in Gravelines almost a kilometre wide at low tide? It is because of the tides: on this coast the sea level changes by 5-6 metres between high and low tide, and the beach is very flat, so the sea goes back a long way and leaves a huge sandy plain. We saw it for ourselves in August 2019, on the first day of our trip to Great Britain, when we ran around Petit-Fort-Philippe beach with our four kids.

Gravelines is in northern France, a short drive from the ferry port in Dunkirk. That is why we chose it for our last night before crossing to Britain. You can find the plan of the whole trip in our post UK road trip with kids.

From Poland to Gravelines in one go

We left on Saturday at 15:30 and drove through the night, without stopping for a night on the way. The first part was 550 km in 6.5 hours, the second 978 km in almost 11 hours. That is over 1,500 km in our gold Ford Tourneo Custom, packed for three weeks of camping.

We arrived at Camping des Dunes on Sunday at 10:45. Check-in started at noon. We put up our tent and spent the rest of the day resting after the night drive.

Camping des Dunes in Gravelines

The campsite is right by the sea, behind the dunes. We booked it on pitchup.com, like most of the places on this trip. Only when we arrived did we find out that there is a nuclear power station next to the town. You can see its buildings from the beach.

Fun fact: Gravelines power station

Gravelines nuclear power station has six reactors and is the largest nuclear power station in France.

Petit-Fort-Philippe beach at low tide

We walked to Petit-Fort-Philippe beach. It was low tide, and between the dunes and the water there was almost a kilometre of flat, hard sand. The kids started running straight away, and we ran with them like crazy. After a whole night in the car, we could not imagine a better place to stretch our legs.

At high tide the water comes almost up to the dunes, so the same beach looks completely different a few hours later. It is worth checking the tide times before a walk, especially with kids who like to go far from the shore.

The next day: the ferry to England

The DFDS port in Dunkirk was only a short drive away, and in the morning we were taking the ferry to Dover. How it went, and why we ended up on the ferry without sandwiches, you can read in Dunkirk to Dover ferry and the White Cliffs.

A few months earlier we had spent a May holiday near Paris (May holiday in France with kids).

Practical info

• Getting there: from Poznań, Poland, to Gravelines we drove 1,528 km in about 17 hours, in one go.
• A night before the ferry: Gravelines is about 10 km from the ferry port in Dunkirk, where DFDS ferries leave for Dover.
• Campsite: Camping des Dunes is right next to the beach. We booked it on pitchup.com. When we were there in 2019, check-in was from 12:00.
• Beach: wide and flat at low tide, great for running and playing in the sand. You can find tide times for Gravelines on French tide websites (for example maree.info).