Cap Gris Nez from Ambleteuse

A loop from the old fort of Ambleteuse to Cap Gris Nez: go along the cliffs by the sea and return inland via the remains of blockhouses.

Details

91410
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 19.53 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 5h 55 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 128 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 129 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 59 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 2 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the Fort d'Ambleteuse car park on the beach.

(S/E) Take the GR®120 and follow the white and red markers. Walk north along the beach to the village of Audresselles.

(1) Here you have 2 options:
- at low tide, if you're careful, you can continue along the coast, leaping over the rocks,
- at high tide, you'll have to climb back into the village via charming little stone staircases.
Continue north through the village until you reach the rocky coast at Pointe du Nid de Corbet.

(2) Continue for a few hundred metres along the main road, then take the path on the left. Alternate slight ascents and descents along the cliff face. Reach Cran aux Œufs,

(3) Continue past Pointe du Riden, Cran Barbier, Cran des Silliers and Cran de Quette. Reach the entrance to the Cap Gris Nez site.

(4) Important note here: on the Cap Gris Nez site, the paths are fenced off and it is not possible to walk around them along the cliff to protect the site.
Take a few steps to the left to admire the view from the first lookout. Back at the crossroads, turn left to reach a crossroads with a central stone post at a car park.

(5) Turn left to make a small loop through the 2 lookouts. Back at the crossroads, turn left and pass between the blockhouses. Bend right and rejoin the GR®120.

(6) Turn right, due south, until you reach the D191.

(7) Leave the GR® here, turn left, then left again at the second junction with the D191. You'll come to a new crossroads, surrounded by blockhouses.

(8) Turn right onto the dirt track that leads straight on to La pointe à Chemise. Reach a crossroads.

(9) Turn left for a few metres and cross the road to the right. Continue along this road until you reach an imposing blockhouse in the Atlantic Wall museum.

(10) Keep to this path, bending left and then immediately right to reach the Haringzelles woods.

(11) Continue, then at the end of the wood, cross the D940 with care to take a small tarmac road which becomes a small paved road for bicycles. Resume on a new road.

(12) Turn right at right-angles into the village of Audresselles. Turn left into the main street. At the T, turn right and then left again, still on the main street. The last street on the right brings you back to the original crossroads.

(1) Continue in the opposite direction to the Vieux Fort Mahon car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 8 m - Vieux Fort Mahon car park - Slack (fleuve)
  2. 1 : km 1.86 - alt. 7 m - Audresselles
  3. 2 : km 3.34 - alt. 11 m - Pointe du Nid de Corbet
  4. 3 : km 6.13 - alt. 31 m - Cran aux Œufs
  5. 4 : km 8.06 - alt. 36 m - Cap Gris-Nez
  6. 5 : km 8.56 - alt. 45 m - Belvederes of the - Cap Gris-Nez
  7. 6 : km 9.86 - alt. 16 m - GR120
  8. 7 : km 10.35 - alt. 42 m - D191
  9. 8 : km 11.54 - alt. 49 m - Blockhouse crossroads
  10. 9 : km 13.05 - alt. 49 m - Crossroads
  11. 10 : km 13.98 - alt. 50 m - Museum of the Atlantic Wall
  12. 11 : km 14.45 - alt. 59 m - Haringzelles Wood
  13. 12 : km 15.49 - alt. 51 m - Cycle lane junction
  14. S/E : km 19.53 - alt. 8 m - Vieux Fort Mahon car park

Worth a visit

Between (1) and (2): take time to admire the rocks, the birds, and even the occasional seal that wanders by at high tide. Binoculars are worth taking.
Between (2) and (3) in fine weather, the English cliffs are clearly visible.
(3) Cran aux Œufs: note the gigantic egg-shaped rocks.
(4) Entrance to the Cap Gris Nez site: just as you arrive at the cape, you'll see the lighthouse and the CROSS building,
(10) Musée de l'Atlantique: this blockhouse housed the Todt battery and is now a museum.
::11: Bois d'Haringzelles: an artificial wood created by the Germans to conceal fortifications, with numerous panels explaining the history of the area and its flora and fauna.

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 44 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.7 / 5
christian mopin
christian mopin

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 27, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely alternative to the usual route – very convenient, though a bit too sterile for my taste – which really brings out the ‘countryside’ feel of this beautiful coastline; a family walk at Easter, in the spring sunshine

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User 16008420

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Dec 01, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very well.

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User 27817041

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 20, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

This circular is a real spectacle throughout the walk, with picture-postcard views and an extraordinary sea view, even when you stray a little from the path, with magical opal colours that justify the name of this coastline. An easy route for those who enjoy regular walking.
nB: sometimes you have to search a little with the directions given, and I recommend, for greater ease when walking, to bring a paper topographical map to avoid searching on your phone, which is just distracting when walking!
In any case, I highly recommend the Visiorando routes, which offer a real feast for the eyes and the mind on every route.

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Loslo.
Loslo.

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 15, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Great walk but needs updating.
We did it at high tide (high coef).
It was impossible to start from the dunes (in the extension of the dyke), so we had to pick up the path further on by going inland. In the end, we decided to continue inland along the edge of the Garennes nature park as far as Audresselles.
Two sections of path disappeared when the cliffs collapsed... a third will follow soon (around Cran aux Oeufs, Andinghen).
In the end, we covered 28 km.

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µµ
µµ

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 23, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A bit long for me, but great fun - the weather was perfect! There were lots of people arriving at Cap Gris Nez and the diversions part of the route wasn't great because of all the cars, the unsafe road for pedestrians and the noise from the engines.

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virgule
virgule

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Oscar Wilde

You're right, a landscape of fields can be very beautiful. So can a path deep in the woods.

I often get remarks about my tours like "boring path" "no view" "there's nothing to see".

In nature, I'm never bored.

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Benoît T
Benoît T

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 17, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very nice walk from Audresselles to avoid the dunes. However, we extended the walk a little on the GR120 as far as the hamlet of Chatelet to catch up with the route at point 5 on the Berniques path, which offers some very fine views of the coastline.
Contrary to some opinions, the return journey across the plain didn't seem at all monotonous (we did this walk in mid-July, at the very start of the harvest), with a pretty landscape of wheat fields and already a few harvested pieces with scattered balls of straw and the sea in the background...

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Jldaubresse @yahoo.com
Jldaubresse @yahoo.com

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 26, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The return journey through the interior was a little monotonous (long straights through flat fields); from the Todt battery we rejoined the coast.

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gerendo
gerendo

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 01, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Very nice walk, only one problem before arriving at the Gris Nez, the area is prohibited for possible risk of rockfall, so we must deviate to the right to find the access road to the cape, on the descent, the restaurant Le Margat is very pleasant.

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les tourterelles
les tourterelles

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 22, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A beautiful walk in fine weather.
If you have binoculars, it's ideal.
You'll never tire of this hike.
Bring a jumper (there's often a slight breeze)
The entrance to the cross has been closed for a week (take a diversion via the field on the left).

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François 59
François 59

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 16, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very nice walk, a little crowded at the gris nez site, which is logical, it's magnificent.
A 40 km per hour wind along the cliffs, just what you need to spice up the walk and really get into the atmosphere of the place.
Various curiosities, notches and remnants of the Atlantic Wall.
Top!

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jmb25
jmb25

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 18, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Done on Easter Monday with a lot of people around Cap Gris Nose but relatively few on the rest of the route.
Made a round trip along the coast with no inland return. On the outward journey at low tide with fishermen on foot sweeping by (high tide day) and return at high tide.
Saw a seal out of the water at the notch of the chicken.
In short, a beautiful walk.
Access via the dunes at Ambleteuse needs to be better signposted.

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Valou74
Valou74

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 02, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very nice walk, a little monotonous on the way back through farmland.
I spotted some seals and the scenery was breathtaking

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Mick81
Mick81

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 01, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very good walk. Alternating pebble beach, rocks then path to the cape. Return by land, path, woods, etc. Very nice.

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JPHERBAUT
JPHERBAUT

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 11, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A nice, fairly easy hike, not very popular at this time of year.

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