NE France cities

Are you thinking Northwest? I would think Amiens and/or Lille on the way to Bruges, Reims on the way back from Brussels - or reverse the order.

Someone here mentioned Arras at some point. I've never been there, but Google's photos show a very impressive central square.

Hi,

You are referring to northern France, ie from Paris to the Belgian border. This is the one region in France where I've spent the most time. Reims is considered east of Paris Cities I would recommend in northern France are Amiens on the Somme , Arras, and Lille.

This is the region that experienced the horrors and slaughter of WW1, if you're interested in pursuing that. The small towns/villages show that too, such as Cambrai, Albert, Peronne, Beuavais, Frevent, Douai, St Pol, Vimy, etc. Compiegne is also interesting since it was the site of the Armistice signing in 1918. Of the three cities listed, I like Amiens the best, but Arras is loaded with the history on WW1 since it was the General HQ for British in WW1.

The city hall in Arras has the tourist office located on the ground floor which offers information of the WW1 sites in the area, very poignant, as the countryside is dotted with British and Commonwealth WW1 cemeteries.

Lille all the way. There's plenty of excellent museums (one of the best art museums in France) and the surrounding cities have some great sights.

Senlis is worth a stop, although maybe it's too close to CDG (about 20-25 minutes).

Amiens! Beautiful town with a cathedral that is worth seeing.