Terrasse du Bastion de la Madeleine
Tucked into the old city ramparts near the church of Saint-Étienne, the grassy terrace atop the Bastion de la Madeleine offers one of the few elevated vantage points over Beauvais's rooftops — and a direct sightline to the soaring buttresses of the cathedral just 400 metres away. Almost no tourists find it.
A Rampart Walk with a Reward
The bastion is a remnant of Beauvais's medieval defensive walls, later reinforced in the Vauban era. A short path climbs from Rue de la Madeleine to the grass-covered top, where a bench faces north-east toward the cathedral's transept roof and the city's slate-grey skyline.
The view is especially rewarding at golden hour in late afternoon, when the limestone of the cathedral glows amber and the surrounding rooftops turn a warm terracotta. Bring a bottle of local cider from the market and settle in.
Pairing It with Saint-Étienne
The nearby Église Saint-Étienne is a beautiful and undervisited Romanesque-Gothic hybrid whose Renaissance stained-glass windows rival anything in the cathedral. The Tree of Jesse window (16th century) is one of the finest examples of Renaissance glass in northern France and is usually seen without a queue.
Combining the bastion terrace with a visit to Saint-Étienne makes for a perfect two-hour loop through the quieter, older quarter of the city — a part of Beauvais that feels genuinely medieval.
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