Central location in northern France for month stay

Rouen and Amiens are both beautiful cities in central/northern France. Both have quite a bit to do around them and include everything on your checklist that you listed. Rouen is about 1 hour 10 mins from Paris by train and Amiens is a little bit further. If it were ME I would stay in Amiens...a very picturesque town.

Bayeux is a wonderful and charming town that fits your criteria. Very friendly people, great outdoor market, good restaurants, shops, bakeries, very walkable, near the ocean and beaches, chateaux, 2 hrs by train to Paris. Lots of day trip possibilities. I'd love to spend a month there...

Can you be more precise what you actually mean with Northern France. So has it to be everything north of Paris, or can it include places around Paris too making it more easy for you to find a place.

I agree with the places mentioned by Susan and Anita. North of Paris Chantilly and Senlis are nice, walkable and have a good atmosphere. A bit more of the beaten track Soissons and Compiègne can be good places for a stay, both around 1h with the train from Paris. The same for Rambouillet and Fontainebleau, but are not located north of Paris.

Have to say that the weather must be a bit cooperative, a few weeks back I had a coffee stop in Arras but the rain made it a bit dull and so way lesser attractive as a year ago when the sunshine turned it into a lovely vibrant place.

I second recommendations for Rouen and Bayeux, both are very managable and nice places for tourists. Bayeux might not be the best access to Paris though but was a perfect home base for Normandy D-Day sights, St Malo, & Mont St Michel. Rouen is a little more accessible to Honfleur, Paris, & Giverny. I would personally choose Bayeux over Rouen but it depends what you want to see. I'd strongly recommend a car (with gps) for all day trips in that part of the country. Many things are not easy to access by train or overly time consuming to access for the time you'll spend there. If you choose either of those two cities don't miss the evening projection shows at the cathedrals if they still have them!

I loved Bayeux but I don't think it's particularly central and not easy to get to other locations without a car, but again that depends on what you mean by central location and northern France. Also, your post doesn't mention if you will be renting a car for any of the month. With just using public transportation, I would prefer a shorter train trip to Paris so I could go several times during the month and something more easily connected by train to other destinations. For larger places I would recommend Rouen, Amiens, Reims and for smaller places, the towns that Wil mentioned would all be convenient.

All towns/cities will have at least a weekly fresh market and often more frequent than that. Walkable shopping and restaurants will depend on where in each town you decide to stay.

I, too, like Bayeux and Rouen, but I would pick Amboise over both. It's not really "northern," but I think that a relative term. I have a current trip report going in the trip report section that gives details about our recent stays in all 3 of those.

Thanks all. We're looking for a place to stay and relax, with occasional day trips...not on the run everyday. Amongst the day trips, we'll probably be doing things like writing, taking photos, playing music, cooking...everyday stuff like that. Anywhere north, east, west of Paris, and perhaps anywhere about an hour's train ride south of Paris. We haven't been anywhere in the "north," but Paris and Chartres. (We hope to do other regions at later dates/years)

Hi,

Outside of Paris this is the area of France I have done several extended stays, ie, more than 4 to 5 days. I would suggest Amiens or Arras. Both are connected to Paris by going to Paris Nord. Arras to Paris Nord on the TGV gets pricey but it's a 40 mins ride compared to 2 hours on the TER train. Both Arras and Amiens are good walking towns, ie, from the train station to the centre ville. You'll see that you just might be the only Americans going through the Arras centre ville. Canadian tourists go to the Canadian memorial at Vimy, from which it's best to reach by car from Arras. If your interest is WW1, northern France experienced the horrors of it...Amiens and the Somme valley, Cambrai, Arras, Albert, Frevent, Lens, Bethune, St Quentin, Perrone, etc. The big German memorial cemetery is there too in the next village.

True about the weather, it is cooler on the whole even in the summer relative to Paris. I like northern France, find it fascinating going through those towns and villages. See the beach towns along the coast of the Pas de Calais.

Thinking a bit about Chantilly, not to big with a good atmosphere, lots of nice spots to relax, walking, restaurants, easy RER connection with Paris. Not too far from Auvers-sur-Oise, historic Senlis and think a bit harder to reach Royaumont Abbey.