Historic hotels · Calais
Best Historic Hotels and Stays in Calais
Historic hotels in Calais come with a caveat that the Pas-de-Calais wears openly: the town was largely rebuilt after 1945, so the history is in the streets rather than in the bedrooms. The belfry of the town hall carries a UNESCO World Heritage listing, Rodin's Six Bourgeois stand in front of it, and the Tour du Guet still watches over Place d'Armes. Holiday Inn Calais Centre Car Ferry is the address in this selection, a modern hotel placed within walking distance of all three, which is the honest way to stay close to the past here.
Calais carries its past unevenly, and that is part of its character on the Opal Coast. The belfry and the Tour du Guet stand among post-war blocks; the Cite de la Dentelle et de la Mode occupies a nineteenth-century lace factory; the Second World War museum sits in a German bunker in Parc Saint-Pierre. Rodin's Burghers commemorate the siege of 1347 in front of a town hall finished in 1925. The layers do not blend, they sit side by side, which is more interesting than a preserved centre would be.
Updated July 25, 2026
Where to stay
Stays in Calais
What survives of old Calais, and where do you sleep to be near it? The town lost most of its centre in the war, so the answer is not a chateau or a coaching inn but a short walk. The belfry, Rodin's bronze burghers, the Tour du Guet and the Courgain Maritime fishermen's quarter all sit within a few streets of one another. A hotel beside them buys proximity to the history rather than a share of it, and in this part of the Pas-de-Calais that is the real currency.
The Opal Coast's most convenient base for the old town is Holiday Inn Calais Centre Car Ferry at 6 Boulevard des Allies. The hotel stands near Calais-La Plage and the Dragon de Calais, with the city centre, the belfry of the town hall recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Rodin's Six Bourgeois all within walking distance. The Cite de la Dentelle et de la Mode is a quarter of an hour away, and the lighthouse and the casino stand a few metres from the door. It is a modern four-star hotel, not a period building, and it does not claim otherwise.
Its rooms suit a walking itinerary through this part of the Pas-de-Calais. The hotel is made up of double rooms, family rooms and suites, air conditioned in season, each with tea and coffee making facilities, a desk, a private bathroom with bath or shower, a flat-screen television with satellite channels and free WiFi. Breakfast is served overlooking the harbour and the restaurant runs a dinner selection from Monday to Thursday. Calais public transport is free throughout the city, so the museums in Saint-Pierre are reachable without moving the car from its space.
For interiors with genuine age on this coast, the town's one real candidate sits elsewhere. Hotel Meurice on rue Edmond Roche keeps antique furniture, a wrought-iron staircase with a brass banister and an elegant facade, with each room individually decorated, and it stands five hundred metres from Gare de Calais-Ville. Anyone booking Calais for period atmosphere rather than proximity to the monuments should weigh that address against this one, because the Opal Coast rarely offers both qualities in the same building this close to the ferry port and the shuttle terminal.
A traveler's take
History-minded travellers get the most from a base beside the belfry, since Calais rewards walking more than it rewards a grand hotel lobby. The Six Bourgeois, the Tour du Guet and the lace museum can all be covered on foot from Boulevard des Allies in an afternoon. The honest trade-off is architectural: this selection offers a modern hotel next to old stones, not an old hotel, and anyone expecting period rooms will be disappointed.
Calais
Local tips
- 1Start at the town hall to see Rodin's Six Bourgeois and the UNESCO-listed belfry together, they stand in the same square a short walk from the hotel.
- 2Use the free city buses to reach the Second World War museum in Parc Saint-Pierre, it occupies a wartime bunker and rewards an unhurried visit.
- 3Book the Cite de la Dentelle et de la Mode for the afternoon, the working Leavers looms explain the industry that built nineteenth-century Calais.
- 4Walk out to the Courgain Maritime and the lighthouse before dinner, the old fishermen's quarter sits between the harbour and the beach.
- 5Take breakfast overlooking the harbour at Holiday Inn Calais Centre, the view over the working port is the most honest history lesson in town.
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Frequently asked questions
Historic hotels · Calais
Not in the sense of period chateaux or coaching inns. Calais was heavily rebuilt after 1945, so the historic interest is in the streets. Holiday Inn Calais Centre Car Ferry is a modern hotel placed within walking distance of the UNESCO belfry, Rodin's Six Bourgeois and the Tour du Guet.