Found ourselves with a week off next week as a family, after my wife has managed to change some hospital shifts
All a bit last minute so thinking if cheap ferry to France and camp or cheap hotel somewhere in Northern France, we have done southern France and Alps quite a bit.
any suggestions for somewhere good to go for 3-4 days with 13 daughter other than Paris?
Was thinking of Lille with maybe a day in Paris.
Or somewhere like Amiens or Bayeux?
Open to any suggestions though..
We've been to Houlgate a few times. Lovely town in Normandy on the coast.
Normandy Beaches? The war museum in Caen is excellent. Bayeaux is worth a gander.
Just remember it will still be August, so may still be busy.
Northern France is big! I love the Alsace - great food, great wine, Strasbourg is a top city and the other towns like Colmar etc are unbelievably pretty. The Vosges mountains are nearby and very pleasant.
But Brittany is also lovely! Had a week in Chateaulin which was a great base to explore from.
Blois as a base then hire bikes and cycle to Amboise to visit the Léonardo graden.
Parc Asterix if you go to Paris, well she is 13.
Le Touquet or somewhere beachy.
<p>Thanks all<br />Lots of ideas there..</p>
Bayeux is a lovely town. They have summer festivals, markets and of course loads of war museums and cemeteries (which my 10 and 8 year olds were fascinated by). Lovely cycling in lanes to the coast too.
After a recommendation on here we stopped off in Fontainebleau forest as the last stay on our wee tour last week. Only had one day in the area but really enjoyed the trails round all the boulder fields/gorges in the forest. The kids could happily have spent a few days clambering over them.
Might be worth a look if you’re wanting to do any cycling while you’re there.
We went to Lille a couple of years ago, I’d not bother going again, there wasn’t really much there to see/do. Ypres is well worth a visit, not sure if a 13 year old would appreciate it but the Menin Gate and the Flanders Fields Museum are both very interesting.
We spent a week in Normandy a couple of years ago. Visiting all the DDay sites was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Really moving. Normandy was much, much more lovely than I expected.
I’ve also been to Brittany a couple of times, which is stunningly beautiful.
Suisse Normandie
Based on the distant memories of a holiday 30+ years ago: Beg Meil
Lots of fun crabbing at the harbour, boat rides round the salt farms, picking cockles at Concarneau, delving into local history in Quimper, MASSIVE surf at Les Sables...
One of my fondest memories.
I like Brittany - the south coast is noticeable warmer than the north. Good for surfing, interesting neolithic stuff around carnac. Cider, galettes - lovely
Scud, check out the destinations suggested on viamichelin before considering. Concarneau is over 700km from Calais (cheap ferry), and frankly a miserable full day's drive. I thought I was pushing the boat out with Blois, and having seen some of the other suggestions I withdraw Blois, there are things closer to the ports of interest suggested above. 130kmh on an autoroute costing more than the fuel wears a bit thin after a while, it's a holiday.
Depending on where you live, the Plymouth Roscoff ferry is a lovely way to access west brittany.
It's lovely (likewise Caen, St malo and Le Havre) but £705 for three days this weekend.
Would also recommend Blois. Lots of wine. Our young kids loved all the Loire chateaux's. I recall there being a great zoo there somewhere too.
Can't remember if it was a recommendation from here but we've been to Houlgate too. Enjoyed Bayeux, really good WW2 museum there and the cemetery just over the road is very moving. Also enjoyed a day at Falais, including a canoeing trip.
I love Brittany and the Aquarium in Brest is the best tourist thing I’ve ever been to
But too far if you’re starting in Calais
If sailing to Calais then what about Belgium.
Brugge/Bruges isn't too far and is worth a mooch around.
The beaches and dunes east of Dunkirk are a nice place to walk.
How about only taking bikes over from Calais, cycling the quiet canal side roads all the way to St Omer.
It's a lovely town and there's an amazing network of rivers in the area to explore by bike, or maybe a little boat.
We did an enjoyable 3 day gentle cycle, with the other 2 days being to Le Touquet and then back to Calais
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Depends where you are in the UK but personally I'd happily pay a couple of hundred quid for Portsmouth to Brittany over Dover to a lot of driving. Which is what we're doing end of this month. (Did Dover in July, Friday morning, took four hours to get our passports stamped and missed the boat. Never again. )
I prefer Brittany but the Vendée is equidistant for a bit warmer again. Venise vert is great for kids.
Bayeux was fantastic earlier this month, such a lovely town. And the dusty rug display was pretty good, though learned far more about it from a podcast on the drive further south than the actual museum. Lots of WW2 stuff around there if that suits, beaches, cemeteries, museums etc. the US and UK main cemeteries in particular are very arresting. Loads of nice beaches (non Op. Overlord related) too.
Nantes, it’s a very cool town
might not be quite northern enough though
Had a nice few days around Laon and the Chemin de Dames area a few years back. Typical low key french country side and villages, bit of history that sort of thing. Lovely evenings to drink rose and enjoy the quiet, plus also champagne country abounds
Le Touquet is very nice and close to Calais. Nice sandy beach and town with good bars / restaurants. Worth a trip on its own or as a stop on the way south.
We did the Day beaches a few years ago and that was very good, but I want to go back and have a go on an indoor blimp at the aeroplume
Check the weather, Norhtern France has been very much like the UK this summer - we had a week in the Vendee at the start of August and it was gale force winds and low 20s all week. Not the lovely sunny family holiday we'd planned. If you just want a change of scenery anything is good but personally, I'd head south.
Bookmarking for next years holiday ideas! 👍
Suisse Normandie
Tell me more (sorry for thread piggyback). Seriously looking at a week in the area next month. Was thinking of base around Clecy. Would take road bike to grab a few hours solo then walking/sightseeing with Mrs.
To OP, always worth considering the Dieppe crossing. It's a great town and I'd always plan a night there prior to continuing onward journey. Ferry is very reasonable too.
Thanks again all, after scouring ferries and last minute airbnb (my daughter won't do camping!) we have ended up with an apartment near Caen, striking distance to some of the D-Day beaches, my grandad landed on Gold, some nice coastline and 90 minutes to Mont Saint Michel.. We've spent a small fortune on house this year, so we were after cheap and cheerful and i did want to go to Brittany area but all the Poole/ Portsmouth ferries were now booked.
I see Caen is the capital of the Calvados region. That's convenient! Have a great trip 🙂
we had a week in the Vendee at the start of August and it was gale force winds and low 20s all week.
It wasn't that bad. We were in the Vendee that week too and it was mixed, some warm sunny days, and one really wet windy day. The week after was mint though, blue skies, 25degC and sunshine all week. The Vendee has a reputation for having much better weather than Brittany or Normandy which has been our experience (I've seen several references to it being like the French riviera but without the stifling summer temps...) I think they were just having an off week early August. It's a big French domestic holiday destination for a reason.
Amiens is really nice - network of canals https://www.visit-somme.com/amiens-and-other-tales/hortillonnages-maze-floating-gardens and a very impressive cathedral. Lots of restaurants and bars. Don't think I'd stay more than 48hrs though.
Thanks T3ap0t, i had looked about breaking up journey on the drive back with 3-4 hours in Amiens on way back to ferry
stingmered
we had a week in the Vendee at the start of August and it was gale force winds and low 20s all week.
It wasn’t that bad. We were in the Vendee that week too and it was mixed, some warm sunny days, and one really wet windy day. The week after was mint though, blue skies, 25degC and sunshine all week.
We looked at the forecast for the week after as we wound down the holiday, thanks for confirming our usual holiday weather luck.
We looked at the forecast for the week after as we wound down the holiday, thanks for confirming our usual holiday weather luck.
Been in that situation many times before... it sucks.
We looked at the forecast for the week after as we wound down the holiday, thanks for confirming our usual holiday weather luck.
Been in that situation many times before… it sucks.
Same here. After a rubbish French Holiday where a Parisian told us to "always holiday South of the Loire" we booked to go to the Vendee the following year and the weather was almost as bad. Spent nearly an hour on a teapot ride in a SuperMarche entrance lobby to entertain the 5 year old. The owner took pity after 3 goes and let us stay on for free!
That's a great part of France you've chosen Scud, but if you're in the same position next year I'd second all the suggestions of the Belgian coast made above. De Haan is, (IMHO) the nicest town that's on the beach and it's not far to Burges which is always worth a visit.
That’s a great part of France you’ve chosen Scud, but if you’re in the same position next year I’d second all the suggestions of the Belgian coast made above. De Haan is, (IMHO) the nicest town that’s on the beach and it’s not far to Burges which is always worth a visit.
Thanks, I am a huge fan of Belgium, hard racing and strong beer, done many events there and took family to Bruges/ Ghent and then onto a campsite near Dutch border a few years ago and loved it.
not got specifics on location, but if you're camping I really reccomend the Huttopia chain - can either pitch up or rent wooden huts, they all have pools, kids clubs, cafes and are relatively inexpensive
Bookmark here too. We've been camping in Brittany but other than that, only ever transited through these areas mentioned.
Have you visited Mont St Michel? If not - i'd add it to your list.
Its amazing to walk around and the night/after dark tours are well worth doing.
If you're in that area St Malo and Dinard are both lovely. We had a couple of really good holidays based in Pontorson before we got fed up with the unreliable weather and started going further south.
We stayed here -
https://vacances-seasonova.com/fr/camping/le-camping-haliotis/ Nothing spectacular but nice enough and sensibly priced.
If you're in Caen, the Louvre in Lens isn't too far and is worth a visit (free to enter as well)
Amiens is really nice – network of canals https://www.visit-somme.com/amiens-and-other-tales/hortillonnages-maze-floating-gardens and a very impressive cathedral. Lots of restaurants and bars. Don’t think I’d stay more than 48hrs though.
Agreed, except for the 48hrs bit. We stayed about 40 miles away at St Valery sur Somme, for a week. Plenty to do, in a very relaxed way. Off the top of my head, we visited Amiens itself and the zoo, Albert, some of the Somme battlefield, Nausicaa at Boulogne. I rode to the medieval battlefield at Crecy and around the coast a bit in the evenings. One rainy Sunday we just opted for the short trip into St Valery and spent a lot of the afternoon eating huge bowls of Moules Frites. It was a nice week, we were talking about spending a long weekend there a few days ago, in fact.
Apply for the French ulez.
It's cheap but worth getting just to avoid otherwise unavoidable diversions and lasts for the lifetime of the car
St Malo area for a week if weather is nice. Just west Dinard is lovely. Just east cancale and mt st michel are interesting. Good beaches etc in and around st Malo. Easy access to condor and Brittany ferries (not cheap though) plenty to do in around st Malo.
further south on the west coast we liked ile de re which is a great place to go if you take your bike as there are cycle routes/ lanes everywhere and nice towns, villages and beaches.