Last summer, Nausicaá was a victim of its own success. And the local residents, who live near the beach of Boulogne-sur-Mer, still remember it. They have lived a nightmare, with big traffic jams. Some visitors spent more than 90 minutes in their cars the last mile to reach the National Marine Center.
For this season which is starting, the agglomeration and the city of Boulogne have taken the lead, by planning more signage and above all a free shuttle, starting July 7. Until now, all urban signage in Boulogne invited visitors to bring their cars as close as possible. However, there are numerous parking lots (5 in total), further away of course, but with spaces available and some are even free.
Visitors will be informed of their distance from Nausicaá and this is where the shuttle will take over, as in other very large tourist sitesunderlines Dominique Godefroy, vice-president of the agglomeration and president of Nausicaá: “In the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, you wait until the shuttle is full to make the trip, but I think we will respond to a demand in relation to the congestion that there may be. We will also encourage people to enter the city from different sides.”
And nothing will prevent visitors, upon leaving Nausicaá, from walking to stroll through the city: “This will also show people that there is a walk along the quays to do. And, above all, from Nausicaá they will be able to say to themselves “well, we can go somewhere other than the parking lot, especially towards the old town“, since there is not only Nausicaá in Boulogne, there are plenty of things to see!”
The full-scale test of these new products begins these days with the real start of the season. Last year, Nausicaá welcomed more than 910,000 visitors: a record since its opening in 1991.
