Dunkirk: set a course for your events
Choosing Dunkirk for your event means choosing a human-scale city that is dynamic and remarkably easy to reach. The city of Jean Bart combines logistical efficiency with a change of scene by the sea.
Dunkirk: a city of many faces.
Dunkirk has a free and singular state of mind — a surprising destination where you live things differently.
Set at the heart of a European crossroads, Dunkirk has everything going for it: its town centre, its port, its beach, its beautiful natural sites, its fresh sea air, but also its history and its wealth of initiatives. This is a region that never stands still, and it promises you a taste of the local streak of madness.
In Dunkirk, all five senses come alive… and you may well gain a sixth: a sense of celebration, thanks to the famous Carnival that sets the rhythm of local life for three whole months!
Everyone who has taken the plunge has left more than satisfied, so come and discover this spirit, this energy, this straight-talking character. Welcome to our home!
Hotel capacity to match your events.
With a hotel portfolio in full transformation, this maritime city offers a varied range of accommodation, combining functional modernity with authentic charm to meet every visitor's expectations.
From seafront hotels to prestigious town-centre establishments, Dunkirk hospitality comes in the shape of quality facilities, ideally located within immediate reach of the Kursaal and the business districts.
Between contemporary design and a warm welcome, the city's hotels promise a stress-free experience, guaranteeing delegates and leisure travellers alike a stay defined by comfort and conviviality.
Find all the essential information you need to organise your stay and make sure you don't miss any of Dunkirk's highlights.
Why choose Dunkirk?
The key strengths of your event destination.
Outstanding accessibility
Ideally placed at the heart of the London–Paris–Brussels triangle, the Kursaal is easily reached via the A16 and A25 motorways. Just 10 minutes from the high-speed rail station (Paris in 1 hr 40) and close to major sea and air hubs.
A unique seaside setting
The only convention centre in France with its feet in the sand. Standing on the seawall at Malo-les-Bains, it offers sweeping views over the North Sea, combining a calm working environment with bracing sea air for your delegates.
Services and hotel expertise
A dedicated team for tailor-made support. Enjoy a hotel offer of more than 1,000 rooms, including upmarket establishments just a few minutes' walk from the Kursaal.
A generous culture
A land of tradition and conviviality, Dunkirk offers a rich heritage: UNESCO-listed belfries, the Port Museum, and the unique spirit of the Carnival that fills the city with warmth and energy.
A Flemish art of living
Enjoy the celebrated friendliness of northern France. Between the long tables of the estaminets, walks along the finest beach in the north and a lively local scene, Dunkirk guarantees an authentic and memorable human experience.
Regional gastronomy
Savour generous cooking from land and sea: fresh fish from the coast, Flemish specialities reinvented by passionate chefs, all served alongside world-renowned local craft beers.
Nature and wide open spaces
On the Kursaal's doorstep, discover the Dunes de Flandre, listed as a Grand Site de France. An ideal playground for your team-building activities: land yachting, kitesurfing or hiking through the nature reserves.
Modular spaces
With 15,000 m² of multi-purpose space, the Kursaal adapts to every format: from an auditorium seating 500 to 3,000 to exhibition halls of 2,500 m², by way of our reception rooms with sea views.
Dunkirk: a land of resilience.
Heir to a generous and close-knit Flemish culture, the city of Jean Bart cultivates a unique way of life in which its sense of celebration and hospitality is matched only by the tenacity of its people.
Renowned for its daring in the era of the privateer Jean Bart, Dunkirk forged its identity through maritime challenges before becoming the heroic setting of Operation Dynamo in 1940.
Between its unspoilt coastline and its maritime heritage, Dunkirk asserts its character as a bridging city, uniting a glorious past with a constant ambition to reinvent itself.
The Dunkirk Carnival can't be explained — it has to be lived!
Colourful and quite unlike anything else, the Dunkirk Carnival is a highlight of the year, when a wind of revelry and celebration sweeps across the region for close to three months.
The history of the carnival is closely bound up with Dunkirk's maritime past, as its origins go back to the early eighteenth century. Dunkirk was then one of the great centres of the Iceland cod fishery, and each year before the fleet sailed at the end of March, the shipowner paid for a celebration in honour of those perilous, gruelling campaigns, from which many fishermen never returned.
This popular tradition has endured through the centuries to become the great festive gathering we know today, with its own strict codes — its bandes (carnival parades) and its bals (carnival balls).
Take advantage of the indescribable atmosphere of the Carnival to come and taste the Spirit of Dunkirk!
