Why the far north of France is more than just a place to pass through

Local France

06-03-2025

You've probably passed through northern France at some point - whether it was on the Eurostar between Paris and London, or driving along the A16 or A26 - but you may not have taken the time to stop.
The region, now known as Hauts-de-France after the map of France was redrawn in 2016, was previously known as the Nord-Pas de Calais and Picardie regions.
The Nord-Pas de Calais area has historically been subject to cruel stereotypes, evoking images of rusting factories and rain-sodden terrain filled with locals who speak an unintelligible version of France. You may think that it has barely changed since Emile Zola wrote Germinal 140 or so years ago.
That pretty brutal image isn't necessarily accurate. Except, maybe, the bit about the French. Let us explain, with our passnotes on the region and its people.
Why they're called Ch'tis
It's because of the way people who hail from this part of France speak. In fairness, it's not the most popular accent in France — in a 2022 study by French online dating service Meetic, the accent limped in fourth, behind Parisians in third, the second-placed south-east French and holiday favourites the south-westerners.
The term first appeared during the First World War, in reference to the Picard accent of the northern French soldiers. It has a slurring quality – 'Ça va' is pronounced 'sha va', while words beginning with 'ch' often come with an unexpected t-prefix, so 'chien' becomes 'tchien'.
Meanwhile, the word Ch'ti itself comes from how these soldiers would say 'It's you' – Ch'est ti.
Hooray for Ch'tillywood
L'Amour Ouf and En Fanfare have been box office hits, and garnered 20 César nominations between them. But they're just the latest in a long line of French – and Hollywood – hits filmed in the region.
The pioneer was the 1993 version of Germinal, a tale of a 19th-century miners' strike. Despite the film's box office success, its coal-streaked, deep-shadowed, melancholy grit did not go down well with local officials, who feared its impact on the image of a struggling region they were desperate to rehabilitate.
Fifteen years later, however, Danny Boon's Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks) – a comedy that made no bones about playing on regional French stereotypes – was received rather differently.
Today, the area is something of a rising cinematic star – and, ironically, the grit and gloomy weather that it's often mocked for have worked in its favour. It's estimated that a third of all movies shot in the region have been filmed since 2013. It's also home to hit TV crime drama HPI, which has been remade in the US as High Potential.
'If we had filmed HPI in Brittany, the series would have been radically different,' the show's producer Pierre Laugier, Franceinfo. 'Hauts-de-France has a very strong visual identity. The investigations take place a lot outdoors, and we have identified a wide variety of settings in the region, which can evoke Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian exteriors.'
And Six Days' director Juan Carlos Medina said the industrial architecture of Roubaix and the atmosphere of the Dunkirk sea wall gave him 'the shot that sums up the whole film'.
'On one side, the sandbar, on the other, a Blade Runner-style building, the immense Arcelor Mittal complex. Paradise on one side, hell on the other.'
You're not selling it that well...
It's not all industry and rain, honestly. The day after the first episode of HPI was broadcast on TF1, the head of Pictanovo – a Tourcoing-based association whose purpose is to promote and support audiovisual and cinematographic production in the region told France info that he fielded, 'several calls from producers [saying], 'But actually, it's beautiful where you live!''
They're not wrong. Outside the old industrial areas, many of which are now worthy heritage sites (the Bassin Minier is a World Heritage site, where you can climb a 'black mountain'), you'll be charmed by gently rolling rural northern France, for all that it bears the scars of two World Wars.
Bergues – where Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis was filmed – is genuinely pretty. Regional capital Lille has long been underestimated as a place to visit, live and work, but is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
On the coast, Le Touquet, where the beautiful people of Paris once played, is art deco style writ large. The cobbled streets and historic citadel Montreuil-sur-Mer make it a must-see. Calais is much more than a place to catch a ferry.
And Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez, the Dunes de Flandre, and the Baie de Somme are all listed as Grand Sites de France. The Audomarois marshes have World Heritage status, and the Parque Natural Regional de Avesnois is a physical reminder of times past.
Smarter than average
A stereotypical Ch'ti is one thing – not helped, it has to be said, by the reality TV show Les Ch'tis – but around 100,000 students call this part of France home, during term time at least, and they attend one of seven universities or 24 engineering schools in the region.
But, yeah, it's rainy
There's no getting away from the fact that it rains a fair bit up north. It's not the coldest part of France, but its oceanic climate means that it has relatively mild, wet winters and cooler than French-average summers.
Further inland, the chance of frost and snow increases.
And it can be windy, too.