Top Que Faire à Arras — Complete Guide 2026

1. Grand'Place

The Grand'Place of Arras is, quite simply, one of the most magnificent civic squares in Europe. Stretching 184 metres long, it is surrounded by 155 Flemish baroque townhouse facades — each with its own gabled roofline, arcaded ground floor, and distinct character, yet together forming a harmonious architectural ensemble that has few rivals anywhere in France or Belgium.

The square dates to the 11th century, when Arras was a wealthy market town trading in cloth and grain. The current facades are largely 17th and 18th century in style, though many were painstakingly reconstructed after severe damage during World War I. Under the arcades, you will find shops, cafés, and restaurants — it is a living square, not a museum. The Saturday morning market fills the entire space with stalls. In July, the Main Square Festival transforms it into one of France's biggest concert venues.

2. Place des Héros

Connected to the Grand'Place by a short street, the Place des Héros is the smaller of Arras's twin squares and in many ways the more intimate. It is dominated by the Hôtel de Ville and its UNESCO-listed belfry, giving it a more vertical, dramatic feel than its larger neighbour. The covered market hall on one side sells regional produce daily (except Mondays), and several restaurants with terraces line the edges.

The name — Heroes' Square — dates from the post-war period and honours those who fell defending the city. Despite the solemn name, it is a cheerful, everyday gathering place where locals meet for coffee, browse the market, and cross paths on their way to work. Together with the Grand'Place, it forms an urban ensemble that is unique in northern Europe.

3. Belfry of Arras (UNESCO World Heritage)

The belfry crowns the Hôtel de Ville and stands 75 metres tall — a symbol of civic pride that has watched over the city since the 15th century. The current structure is a faithful reconstruction: the original was destroyed by German artillery during WWI and rebuilt between 1924 and 1932 in its original Gothic style. It is inscribed as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France UNESCO World Heritage site.

A lift takes you partway up, with stairs for the final section. At the top, panoramic views extend across the baroque rooftops, the Citadelle, the plains of Artois, and on clear days toward the coal mining basin around Lens. The carillon (set of bells) plays melodies at regular intervals — listen for it from the squares below.

4. Les Boves

Beneath the Grand'Place and Place des Héros lies a network of chalk tunnels carved from the 10th century onward. Originally quarried for building stone and later used as cellars by the merchants who traded above, the Boves were expanded over centuries into an interconnecting underground city. During World War I, they served as shelters for soldiers and civilians; during World War II, they hid Resistance fighters.

Guided tours (45 minutes, in French with English audio guides available) descend 12 metres below the Hôtel de Ville into this atmospheric underground world. The temperature is a constant 11°C year-round — bring a layer even in summer. The tunnels are well-lit and accessible, though the descent involves stairs. Booking is recommended in peak season (July–August and Christmas Market period).

5. Musée des Beaux-Arts

Housed in the magnificent Abbaye Saint-Vaast — one of the most important Benedictine abbeys in northern France — the Musée des Beaux-Arts holds an impressive collection that spans medieval religious sculpture, Renaissance and baroque painting, and 19th-century French art. Highlights include works by Delacroix, Corot, and Jordaens, as well as a remarkable collection of Arras porcelain and faience.

The building itself is as compelling as the collection. The 18th-century classical abbey, with its stone cloisters, grand staircases, and vaulted corridors, provides a dramatic setting. Allow time to wander the architecture as well as the galleries. Temporary exhibitions rotate through dedicated spaces on the upper floors.

6. Citadelle Vauban

Northwest of the city centre, this massive star-shaped fortress was designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban in 1668 after Louis XIV conquered Arras from the Spanish Netherlands. Vauban was the greatest military engineer of his age, and the Arras Citadelle is one of his finest works — a geometric masterpiece of bastions, ravelins, and moats designed to withstand siege warfare.

The Citadelle is still partly used by the French military, so interior access is limited, but the exterior ramparts, moats, and surrounding parkland are open to walkers and joggers. The Mur des Fusillés (Wall of the Executed) within the grounds is a sombre memorial marking the spot where over 200 French Resistance members were shot during the German occupation in WWII.

7. Cathedral of Arras (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Vaast)

Arras's cathedral is unusual — not a Gothic masterpiece but a neoclassical church built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to replace a medieval cathedral destroyed during the French Revolution. The result is a vast, austere interior of Corinthian columns, pale stone, and barrel vaults that feels more Roman than French. It forms part of the Abbaye Saint-Vaast complex and is free to enter. The contrast with the Gothic and baroque architecture elsewhere in the city makes it a fascinating architectural counterpoint.

8. Carrière Wellington

This is one of the most powerful WWI memorial experiences in France. In preparation for the Battle of Arras in April 1917, New Zealand tunnelling companies extended existing medieval chalk quarries beneath the city into a vast underground network capable of sheltering 24,000 soldiers. On 9 April 1917 (Easter Monday), troops emerged from the tunnels to launch a surprise attack on German positions.

The guided tour descends 20 metres underground into the original tunnels, where you see soldiers' carvings, graffiti, the underground hospital, and the names scratched into the chalk by men who knew they might not survive. The museum is named after the Wellington quarry — itself named after the capital of New Zealand by the Kiwi tunnellers who built it. Allow at least 1.5 hours for the visit.

9. Vimy Ridge Canadian National Memorial

Located 12 km north of Arras on the crest of Hill 145, the Vimy Ridge memorial is one of the most significant and moving war memorials in the world. The twin white limestone pylons — representing Canada and France — rise 27 metres above the ridge where Canadian troops captured a heavily fortified German position on 9 April 1917 in what many consider a defining moment of Canadian national identity.

The memorial bears the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France and have no known grave. The surrounding 100-hectare park preserves the WWI battlefield: you can walk through Canadian and German trenches (reconstructed but on their original lines), explore preserved tunnels (free guided tours led by Canadian university students, April–November), and see shell craters still visible in the landscape. The Moroccan Division Memorial and other national memorials are nearby.

10. Mémorial Britannique de la Bataille d'Arras

Near the Citadelle, this British memorial commemorates the nearly 35,000 British, South African, and New Zealand soldiers who died during the Battles of Arras (1917) and who have no known grave. The Portland stone memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, sits in a quiet garden setting. It is one of hundreds of Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites in the area — the density of WWI memorials around Arras is extraordinary.

11. Louvre-Lens

A satellite museum of the Louvre in Paris, opened in 2012 in the former coal mining town of Lens, 18 km south of Arras. Designed by Japanese architects SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa), the museum is a striking glass-and-aluminium pavilion set in a landscaped park on the site of a former mine. The Galerie du Temps — a single 3,000 sq m gallery presenting 5,000 years of art in chronological order — is the centrepiece, displaying 200+ works from the Louvre's permanent collection on rotating loan.

The permanent collection is free to enter. Temporary exhibitions (which have featured everything from ancient Rome to Renaissance portraiture) carry a separate charge. The museum café has excellent views over the park. Allow a full morning or afternoon.

12. UNESCO Mining Basin (Bassin Minier)

The Nord–Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape stretching across 120 km of former coalfields south and east of Arras. The inscription recognises the exceptional testimony of a 300-year coal mining industry — including slag heaps, miners' housing estates (corons), pithead frames, and cultural institutions. Key sites near Arras include the Centre Historique Minier in Lewarde (30 minutes south-east), the largest mining museum in France, housed in a former colliery with original equipment, a recreated mine gallery, and exhibitions on miners' lives.