Amiens
France
The largest Gothic cathedral in France, and a quarter of market gardens on islands in the Somme that are still worked by boat
Photo by Alin Gavriliuc on Unsplash
Photos by Alin Gavriliuc, Sarah Nikiforoff and Alin Gavriliuc on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
May to September (and the weeks before Christmas, for the market and the cathedral lit up)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 70mm in Dec
Where it is
49.89°N, 2.30°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Go into the cathedral on a bright morning, and come back after dark for the coloured facade in season
- Take the boat into the Hortillonnages rather than only walking the edge
- Eat on the Quai Bélu for the view of the cathedral over the water
- Drive the Somme memorials in one day — Thiepval, Beaumont-Hamel, Villers-Bretonneux
- Buy macarons to take home, because they keep
Amiens travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeEuros, and cards everywhere, including the boats into the Hortillonnages and the stalls of the Christmas market.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines around the cathedral, the rue des Trois-Cailloux and the station. Use a bank’s own machine and refuse the offer to convert into your own currency.
Avoid these
- independent machines that offer to charge you in your own currency
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- CIC
- Caisse d’Épargne
- La Banque Postale
Cards are taken everywhere. Refuse any offer to convert.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
SafeA safe city for a visitor. Saint-Leu fills with students on weekend nights and the quays along the canal are unfenced, so the risk late in the evening is the water rather than the people. The Hortillonnages are private gardens; the public path round them is open, the islands are not. The battlefields are farmland, and shells still come up in the ploughing every year — what you find in a field stays there.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the Quai Bélu late on weekend nights — the bars empty at closing time onto quays with no railing above the water
- the Hortillonnages — the gardens are private; stay on the public path and the boat
- the Somme battlefields — unexploded shells still surface in the fields; touch nothing and stay on paths
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodThe ficelle picarde is a pancake rolled round ham and mushrooms and baked in cream, and it is a starter here, though it eats like a meal. Flamiche is a leek tart. Macarons d’Amiens are nothing like the Parisian kind — dense almond paste, chewy, a biscuit to take home — and Jean Trogneux on the rue Delambre is where people buy them.
Travel tipsNightlife
A university city with one quarter where the evening happens: the bars of Saint-Leu, on the canals below the cathedral, full of students from Thursday on.
- Saint-Leu — the bars along the canals, and the centre of it
- Quai Bélu — terraces on the water facing the cathedral, for dinner and the first drink
- Place du Don — the small square at the heart of Saint-Leu
Closing: The Saint-Leu bars close at 02:00 by order of the prefecture. Restaurants on the quays stop serving by about 22:30.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Amiens
No Holistay rentals in Amiens yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Amiens on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle CDG
2hfrom the airport· 100 km as the crow flies
The RER to Gare du Nord, then the train to Amiens; about two hours in all, or an hour and a half by road.
Also worth pricing: Beauvais BVA — about an hour by road, with Ryanair and Wizz Air; without a car, the bus into Beauvais and a slow train on.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
