The village of Camiers itself is small and stands just inland from the dunes on the south-west and west-facing coast just north of Étaples.

In its highest part, the commune rises onto the Upper Cretaceous at 176 metres but most lies on the levelled marine sand which in the medieval period, was off-shore.

The coastal road, the D940 now by-passes the village to the west while the main traffic between Calais and Abbeville is carried by the Autoroute A16 on the higher ground to the east.

During the First World War the flat lands were the site of the huge base depot of the British army in France.

Through most of the war, close to it and part of the same complex, Camiers camp was the base depot, in France, of the Machine Gun Corps.