Opal Coast
Visit Berck-sur-Mer
The town of kites, and seals seen at low tide
- Kites
- Seals
- Authie bay
- Main beach
Photo: Txllxt TxllxT, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Berck-sur-Mer is the southernmost town on the Opal Coast, on the edge of Picardy, and the only one visited to see wild animals: the seals of the Authie bay can be watched all year round, at low tide, from the sand.
It's also the town of kites. Every spring, the Rencontres internationales fill the beach and the sky above it, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors — the biggest event on the coast alongside the Enduropale.
What to do in Berck-sur-Mer?
- The seals of the Authie bay
- The main beach and the esplanade
- The international kite meetings
- The dune belt and its trails
- Sand yachting on the hard sand
- The architecture of the former marine hospitals
3 activities to book
What activities to do in Berck-sur-Mer?
Our favourite
For wild animals
Les phoques de la baie d'Authie
Seals can be watched at low tide from the point, near the sailing club, binoculars in hand.
1 h · tide-dependent
For the hard sand of the main beach
Le char à voile
Berck beach is a ground for sand yachting, with supervised sessions.
Supervised session · booking required
To cycle the dune belt and the esplanade
Le cordon de dunes et l'esplanade à vélo
The esplanade and the dune trails can be followed on foot or by bike, right up to the bay.
1 to 2 h · on foot or by bike
Our 3 restaurants
Where to eat in Berck-sur-Mer?
Our favourite
To eat on the seafront
L'Esplanade
A restaurant on esplanade Parmentier, facing the beach.
Restaurant · 18 esplanade Parmentier
On the seafront too
La Plage
A restaurant on esplanade Parmentier, at the entrance to the beach.
Restaurant · 1 esplanade Parmentier
For a table in town
L'Atelier de Zadig
A restaurant opened in 2024, avenue du Général de Gaulle.
Restaurant · 29 avenue du Général de Gaulle
Our 3 places to stay
Where to stay in Berck-sur-Mer?
Our favourite
To sleep fifty metres from the beach
Au Gré du Vent
A hotel with a restaurant, a hundred and fifty metres from the centre and fifty from the beach.
Hotel · Berck-sur-Mer
For the pedestrian zone
Hôtel Le Voltaire
A hotel two hundred metres from the beach, near the pedestrian zone, with a bar and restaurant.
Hotel · Berck-sur-Mer
For a residence stay
Dormio Resort Berck-sur-Mer
A holiday residence nine hundred metres from the beach.
Residence · Berck-sur-Mer
Getting there and parking
By car, one hour from Boulogne-sur-Mer on the A16, twenty minutes from Le Touquet.
By train, Rang-du-Fliers–Verton–Berck station is on the Paris–Boulogne line, three kilometres from the centre.
Information about the town
The Authie bay closes off the coast south of the town. Two colonies live here — common seals and grey seals — visible every day at low tide, when the sandbanks are exposed and the animals come to rest. The meeting point is at the point, near the sailing club, and it's set by the tide, not by whatever time suits us.
The beach is huge and the sand is hard at low tide: that's what made it a ground for sand yachting and kite flying. The wind is almost always there — good news for traction sports, less so for a picnic.
For a century, Berck was a hospital town. The sea air was used to treat bone tuberculosis, and Dr François Calot founded an orthopaedic institute here in 1901, whose buildings, built between 1901 and 1906, are still in use today. Healthcare remains the town's leading activity — it's a place that lives off health as much as tourism, and it shows in its architecture.
Do you know Berck-sur-Mer? Your review
No reviews yet. Yours will be the first.
The form is unavailable at the moment. Send your review to the editors, we’ll publish it here.