Recommendations for northern France

Honfleur is always nice. It's about 4 hours driving. I've only driven there so I don't know about train connections. From there it's an easy drive to the D-Day beaches if you like that sort of thing. The weather won't be great, though. I like cold, blustery beach days, but I know that's not everybody's thing.

Get a map of Picardie and study up on any of the smaller towns along the rivers. They're all pretty well neglected by Americans and I've never figured out why. You can't go wrong with any of them. Brussels to Honfleur is closer to five hours of driving and that's if you start with one tank full and the other empty. It is not served by rail as far as I know.

Rouen is also a lovely little town and perfect for an overnight. Since it isn't on the coast the weather may not be as much of any issue.

'Rouen is also a lovely little town' Rouen is in the top twenty-five or thirty cities in France by poplulation and probably ranks higher by area. It's a regional capital. 'weather may not be as much of any issue' It's in the Seine Valley so weather tends to settle in, while even on the surrounding hills it's completely clear.
It's also where the river valley turns from generally east-west to more southeast (looking upstream) so the winter prevailing winds hit the place that's at the small end of a funnel.

When Ed speaks, we listen. He knows his roads and towns.

Annie, It is in the North that I find the most interesting, next to Alsace-Lorraine, in France and towards Belgium would recommend Amiens and Lille. For a smaller town ...Cambrai. If you're motorised it's a lot easier getting around in the villages and towns in the Nord Pas-de-Calais area. But I have only been in these places in the summer, generally the temperature is a few degrees cooler than that in Paris.