I am no music aficionado, but my partner is. When I saw Louie Vega, the American DJ, record producer and remixer, who plays house, salsa, afro-beat and jazz, at Love Supreme Festival, I inquired if he was going to play Mambo No. 5.

That’s Lou Bega. The two are quite different.

When I once said that I couldn’t hear the tune in what I have learned is called ‘modal’ jazz, I was told it’s because my ears can’t hear it, not that there isn’t one.

However, I am a big believer that live music is as much about the atmosphere as it is about the sound, although I draw the line at rock. In other words, it’s worth going to almost any gig, even if you’re never heard of the performer, if only for the experience.

The atmosphere and the environment were contributing factors for me for the Winter Jazz Festival in Le Touquet. It combined what I call ‘jiggly’ music with my favourite place, so it was a win win. Any excuse to go to Le Touquet and I am there, with nobs on.

Unlike my radio presenter partner and media friends we were away with, I’d not heard of one single artiste at the festival, but was excited to give it a go.

Le Touquet is so damn good at keeping its events calendar jam-packed. The tourist office ensures there’s a constant flow of things going on, if eating, drinking and being generally merry in what I believe is the happiest town in Europe (possibly the world) is not enough for you, or it’s too blustery down on the beautiful beach.

When is Le Touquet Winter Jazz Festival?

Held this year over five days in February, jazz is a regular genre in the Le Touquet music scene. Held at the world class Palais de Congress (virtually opposite the Westminster Hotel in the centre of town), this lovely venue hosted music by the Arnaud Delerue Duo, Marcio Faraco Quintent, SAË and jazz trumpeter Nicolas Folmer, who played tunes and sang lyrics to music by Michel Legrand, singingly enchantingly in French and English.

I know nothing about jazz, but my three companions do and all thoroughly enjoyed the music, as did the packed auditorium.

I’ve also been to Le Touquet when stages have been set up on corners of the streets and jazz bands have played, much to the merriment of Les Touquettoise!

What is there to do in Le Touquet?

If you’re stuck for something to do between gigs, contact the tourist information centre, whose staff can offer you guided tours of the inland lighthouse with its approx 250 steps and brilliant views. While our menfolk walked to the top of the lighthouse, my friend and I drank to the bottom of our glasses at nearby Algy’s Bar, which is also a great haunt for people (and dog) watching.

Other offerings in the calendar include a lantern tour of the town at night, guided tours of the museum, accompanied trips to the forest which wraps around the town and even a tour to demonstrate the British influence in the town. Bring your own bike to the latter (you can rent them in town).

How we got there

Once again, we got from Folkestone to Calais speedily and safely via Le Shuttle – our preferred mode of transport. It would’ve been a ghastly, choppy trip by ferry, given how blustery it was on both sides of the Channel. In the tunnel, it only took us 35 minutes, making home to Le Touquet do-able in around four hours.

Where we ate

For the best brunch in Le Touquet, don’t think about going anywhere else than Opaline. Housed in one of Le Touquet’s pretty mansions, think Instagram-worthy food and setting, but with none of the over-the-top twee-ness that makes anyone over 30 feel too old to cross the threshold. The staff there undoubtedly speak better English than I do too.

You walk in to be greeted with a beautiful display of patisserie that the French do so well. If you can tear yourself away from taking photos of the cakes, walk through into the simple, but very tasteful salon and be seated. Large windows fill this room with light and there’s the option to sit outside in the pretty garden if it’s warm enough.

So called because Le Touquet is the pearl of the Cote d’Opale, due to its vast pinky white sands, Opaline is just around the corner from former President Macron’s wife’s summer home, Villa Monejan, which is above an estate agency.

Don’t miss out on the Opaline brunch, served from 11 am to 3.30pm. It’s hands down the best brunch I’ve ever had. Suppliers are local and products are seasonal. Dishes are homemade and several products are organic. Sandwiches, salads, breakfast and desserts are served outside of these hours.

The menu is substantial, but I always opt for the Opaline brunch (€32), comprising:

• Orange juice so very fresh that you can smell it being squeezed before you taste it
• Hot drink of your choice (the jasmine tea is delicious and the grand cafe creme belongs in an art gallery)
• Breakfast pastry (they have croissants so good that they don’t need jam or butter on them)
• Soft boiled egg with soldiers (what is it about French butter which is so bloody irresistible?)
• Your choice of small avocado toast with feta and pomegranate or houmous burrata toast
• 18 month old Comté 
• Your choice of smoked salmon of grilled bacon 
• Your choice of dessert – we chose the religieuse café (an iced choux bun filled with cafe fondant) and St Honoré (a choux bun filled with crème pâtissière and vanilla chantilly)

I don’t eat cheese, so they left that off my plate and gave me both the avo and hommus toast instead. Opaline is so good that I’ve already booked to go back in two months.

Perard is undoubtedly one of the best – if not the best – restaurants in Le Touquet. However, I’ve not been for a few years because I developed a nasty lobster allergy and was fearful. With an epi pen in hand, I went back in February and enjoyed not only the food, but the warmth and charisma. 

Whoever got it into the British mindset that French people are cold was clearly lying. I find London much more unwelcoming.

Perard is known for its famous fish soup which found Serge Perard created in the 1960s. Fish is king here and the oysters are the plumpest and freshest you’ll ever have. 

While the fruit de mer looked incredible and was served in a small boat (the plateau prestige comprises half a lobster and crab, three langoustines, six oysters, whelks, prawns and common grey shrimps, for €66.50 per person), our table of four opted for the three-course set menu (€46 per person).

Starters included bottomless famous fish soup (the charming waiter came back and offered to ladle more of this delicious brick red liquid into bowls at the table, but my friends had to decline as portions were so substantial that they feared they wouldn’t eat their mains), smoked salmon or six oysters.

Main course was a soft and delicious sea bass fillet with vegetables. One of our table isn’t a fish eater, so he was offered a huge salad with goats cheese croutons and a thick slab of perfectly-cooked steak.

The piece de resistance were the crepes Suzette, beautifully flambeed at the table by the charismatic Lucas, who displayed endless showmanship and flair.

I am so glad there was no need for the epi pen on this visit, although I did have more than one close at hand, just in case, and I got my dinner guests to read the instructions on how to use them. So good it is, I’ve booked to revisit in April.

The hotspot for Sunday lunch in Le Touquet has to be Brasserie Les Sports on Rue de St Jean, where the likes of Serge Gainsbourg and Harrison Ford have also dined. Booking is recommended as even at 12pm on a wet February lunchtime, it is heavingly popular.

Don’t be put off by ‘steak à cheval hâché minute’ on the menu. This has always been extremely off-putting to me in the past, but it actually translates as steak with ‘horseback egg’, as opposed to actual horse meat.

I can say with authority that the steak tartare mi-cuit hâché minute, which means ‘half cooked’ (€20.50), the moules a la creme (€17), which is what thickly buttered French bread was surely invented for – dunk and you won’t stop – and the perfectly seasoned small, whole rotisserie chicken (€24) were all delicious.

Staff here are confidently friendly too. One member of staff, in charge of assembling the establishment’s famous steak tartare and flambeeing anything that warrants flambeeing in the middle of the restautant, was keeping a group of French children happy and amused by letting them help with the cooking while their parents took photos.

Our waiter jokingly (I think) said a firm ‘no’ when I asked if my tarte aux pommes could come with pistachio ice cream, instead of vanilla – yet it arrived with what I wanted.

Where we drank

My favourite drinking spot in the whole of Le Touquet is the tabac/newsagent/bar called Le Quento, nestled in the Quentovic part of town. It’s 5-10 mins from the centre and frequented by locals. We were invited to join a game of table football by one French chap who wanted to improve his English language skills. If you go, tell Matthieu that Vanessa sent you!

I also grabbed an Aperol spritz in art deco Le Westminster, the hotel where Ian Fleming apparently took inspiration for his first James Bond novel. As lovely as it was in front of the faux log fire on a wet February day, €26 for my spritz and a diet Coke felt like too much to me, especially when you can buy a bottle of Picpoul de Pinet at nearby Carrefour for under €4. The bedrooms have apparently had a major revamp though, which is good, as it felt tired on the two occasions I’ve stayed there.

Worth a second mention is Algy’s Bar, where you’ll be warmly greeted and they won’t reply in English when you try your hand at French. A great spot for a St Germain Spritz.

Le Touquet has my heart and I’m counting down the days until I return in two months.