Beauvais, France is a quaint town that has been around for a thousand years. The main cathedral in Beauvais, Cathedrale Saint Pierre (St Peter’s Cathedral), was built in the 1200’s. It is incredibly intricate, breathtaking, and enormous in the gothic style. It stands as the highlight of the city.

We arrived in Beauvais from Paris (about an hour and a half away by bus). We had a flight scheduled out of the Beauvais Tille Airport early in the morning to Rome, Italy. We didn’t want to risk missing our flight, so we decided to stay overnight in Beauvais and spend an evening exploring.

I am so very glad we did. We couldn’t have been more charmed by the city!!

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As I mentioned before, the Cathedral Saint Pierre is the highlight of the city that you can visit during the day from 10am- 5pm. Its Gothic architecture is intimidating and gorgeous. The cathedral has had a lot of struggles with its structure. It’s been through a devastating fire, not long after it was built in the early 1200’s, had parts of it collapse due to poor structuring, and was also damaged during WWII. But somehow it is still held together by scaffolding from the inside out. It truly is breathtaking.

Right next door to the cathedral, is the city museum, Musee’ de l’Oise (MUDO), as well as Eglise Notre Dame de la Basse Oevre (dating back to the 10th century) where the Bishops of Beauvais used to live. One of the more infamous bishops who lived there, Pierre Cauchon, was the man who condemned Joan of Arc to death.

We were lucky to snag an AirBNB just down the street from Saint Pierre in an area called the Cathedral District, where many of the homes were built in the 15th century!! I felt like we had stepped back in time in that little place! It was a 4 story apartment that had been around for hundreds of years. We loved the old charm of the place and were very happy that it had clean updated bathrooms and kitchen. When you looked out the window, you could catch a view of the back of the cathedral. Amazing!!

Place Jeanne Hachette, an area we found was the most fun, was just a block or two from the cathedral. It’s a huge pedestrian plaza that is surrounded by beautiful buildings and lined with restaurants, cafes, shops, park benches, a charming carousel and an expansive open space for kids to run around in. It’s a huge gathering place for festivals or other local events. We had such a fun time just walking around to see the chocolate shops and other fun stores.

When we arrived in Beauvais, we were very tired from traveling for many hours from the USA. We were also very hungry! In France they eat dinner closer to 7 or 8pm, and we couldn’t find restaurants that were open at 5:30pm. Luckily, there are boulangeries (bakeries) open most of the day where we were able to grab some croissants and sandwiches. Bon Appetit!!

If you have a chance to visit Beauvais, I would highly recommend it!! It is such a magical place!!