What can you do in the Hauts-de-France coalfield?

Visible from dozens of kilometres away, the slag heaps are the greatest curiosity of the Hauts-de-France coalfield. These artificial hills created by the accumulation of mine tailings are the only visible trace of coal extraction. These funny little mountains are made up mainly of shale and sandstone deposits. Their walls are sometimes covered with vegetation and trees, sometimes smooth and black like a volcano.

There are more than 300 slag heaps in the Hauts-de-France region, including the famous twin slag heaps at Loos-en-Gohelle, at 186 metres the tallest in Europe. Climbing them is possible and even recommended for an incredible view of Lens, the Bollaert stadium and the Canadian memorial at Vimy once you reach the top.

It was in Oignies that coal was first discovered in the Pas-de-Calais in 1842. It was also here that, symbolically, the last strip of coal was hauled up on 21 December 1990, marking the end of centuries of mining in the region. 9-9bis is a complete mining complex comprising the pit, the 110 slag heap and the De Clercq garden city. It is one of the great mining memorial sites.

The site has been converted into a cultural and artistic centre, focusing on creation, education and the promotion of mining's industrial heritage. Visitors can tour the impressive machine room, take in eclectic shows and contemporary music concerts at the metaphone, take part in tours and workshops, and see exhibitions...

Located near the town of Douai, the huge Lewarde Mining History Centre is the largest mining museum in France. It covers eight hectares of land on the site of the former Delloye pit, housing a rare and exceptional industrial heritage that attracts no fewer than 150,000 visitors a year. You can learn all about the origins of coal and the working conditions of miners through temporary exhibitions.

The day at Lewarde will be punctuated by three highlights. Firstly, the Fosse Delloye, with a tour of the buildings housing the extraction machinery, the lamp room and the administrative offices. Then, a guided tour of the bowels of the earth: with a helmet on, you'll spend an hour plunging into the narrow passages of the galleries used by the underground miners. Finally, there's a meeting with a former miner who will share with you his emotional account of the difficult working conditions of a job that no longer exists.

Residents of the Pas-de-Calais don't have to go to the Vosges or the Jura to ski. The town of Noeux-les-Mines has converted one of its slag heaps into a permanent ski slope at a height of 129 metres. Loisinord is the only permanent outdoor ski slope in Europe.

Covered in a kind of white carpet that is continuously sprayed by a misting machine, this artificial slope attracts thrill-seekers. Two slopes, a half-pipe, jumps, a mogul field, an acrobatic structure, pairs of skis and snowboards for hire, not forgetting the tug-of-war... all that's missing are the little chalets to complete the illusion!

It's impossible not to evoke Zola's novel in this presentation of the Nord Pas-de-Calais coalfield. More than 30 years after Claude Berri's 1993 film, a new adaptation of Germinal, this time as a series (broadcast on France 2), took us to the site of theformer Arenberg mining pit.

The Wallers-Arenberg mining site near Valenciennes was used as the setting for the film. The headframes that allowed the miners to descend into the shafts, the galleries, the lamp room, the hanging room where the miners hung their clothes from the ceiling... Everything has been perfectly preserved.

After the guided tour led by a former miner who played in the film, you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the mining towns and their identical dwellings - the corons - by climbing to the top of one of the headframes. It's a short step from the mine to the cinema.

• The Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield is just over two hours from Paris by car via the A1.
• Lens station can also be reached by train.
• Readers from the south of France or elsewhere who wish to come by plane will have to land at Lille airport.