A one-time competitor in the cross-Channel passenger business, DUNKERQUE finally lost out in October 1997 to the heavyweights of Calais and Boulogne and the Channel Tunnel. Although this doesn't bode well for the future of its hotels, restaurants and shops, Dunkerque is still France's third largest port and a massive industrial centre in its own right, albeit now badly hit by unemployment; its oil refineries and steelworks produce a quarter of the total French output. If you fancy a closer look at all this industrial muscle, you could take one of the various themed boat trips from place du Minck, Bassin du Commerce, at the northern end of rue Clemenceau (March to mid-June & Sept-Dec first two weekends of the month; mid-June to Aug daily; the tourist office can provide a list of departure times or call 03.28.59.11.14; €5.34-7.47).
Frequently under a cloud of chemical smog and unstylishly resurrected from wartime devastation, the only reasons you might want to visit Dunkerque are to pay homage to the events of 1940 - in which case you should head straight for Malo-les-Bains - or to stop off if heading north from Calais. The only buildings of any significance to have survived the last war (or at least to have been rebuilt afterwards) are the tall medieval red-brick belfry that is the town's chief landmark (hourly guided tours: June-Aug Mon-Sat 9.30-11.30am & 2.30-5.30pm; July & Aug also Sun 10.30-11.30am & 2.30-3.30pm; €2.29); the much-restored fifteenth-century church of St-Éloi ; and, a few blocks south of the church on place Jean-Bart, the turn-of-the-century Hôtel de Ville , a Flemish fancy to rival that of Calais.
If, however, you are stuck with time on your hands, you could visit a couple of the town's museums to help while away the hours. The Musée des Beaux-Arts (daily except Tues 10am-12.15pm & 1.45-6pm; €3.05, first Sun of the month free), on place du Général-de-Gaulle near the post office, three blocks along rue Poincaré from the tourist office, has a good collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French, Dutch and Flemish paintings, with bits of natural history and a display on the May 1940 evacuation of Allied troops. The Musée d'Art Contemporain is closed indefinitely, but its sculpture park (daily: July & Aug 9am-8pm; rest of year 9.30am-5.30pm; free), beside the canal on avenue des Bains, is still open to the public. More interesting, especially for children, is the Musée Portuaire (daily except Tues: July & Aug 10am-6pm; rest of year 10am-12.45pm & 1.30-6pm; €3.81), at 9 quai de la Citadelle on the Bassin du Commerce, which illustrates the history of Dunkerque the port from its beginnings as a fishing hamlet, using models of boats and tools of the various trades associated with the port.
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