Holiday in France

We finally have opportunity for me and my partner to have two full weeks off next year.

We would like to go to France but we have no idea which regions are the best. We will likely be flying there and then hiring a car for some touring. Any suggestions/ recommendations on where to go? We would like to stop in a few regions over the course of the two weeks.

Would like places that are less touristy (i.e. not Paris) with  good food, good wine. Don’t even mind if we end up bobbing over the border to Switzerland/ Italy.

Its a bit overwhelming when you start to research where to go so any recommendations would be great.

That’s quite the remit.

Can you specify when you’re planning to go because that will affect how busy places are?

Also, what do you like to do apart from food and wine – as that’s ubiquitous.

Also, are you planning on stopping in hotels? And how much driving do you want to do between places? Oh and where do you plan on flying in to?

I’m always a big advocate for Brittany – seems less touristy than the west coast, south Brittany has glorious beaches, the north more like Cornwall, a bit more up and down with lots of rocky coves. Don’t think we’ve had a disappointing meal, good cycle paths (although I don’t think that’s unique to Brittany), friendly people, and doesn’t take long to get there. 🙂

The area around Puy de Dome and Clermont Ferrand.

Not touristy at all, loads of amazing countryside (Volcanoes!), lots of lakes for swimming, very good cheese and wine region, relatively cheap gites, etc.

the SW is gorgeous, lots of great towns to visit and beautiful landscapes from the great river valleys of the Garonne and Dordogne up to the Pyrenees, it’s got everything, without having to drive miles, yes the coastal area can be busy in summer and some of the honey-pot towns, but equally like a lot of rural France it’s possible to get away from it all easily enough, fly to Bordeaux or Toulouse and take it from there! bon voyage

It’s all pretty fab. Even the bits you’d expect to be crumby like near Calais. Normandy coast is lovely and easy to get to.

Annecy is breathtaking. Pyrenees are wonderful on bike or foot.

Going to the Luberon next year. Looks beautiful, possibly a little bit touristy but I’ve never been to Provence and fancy giving it a try. And have a long overdue date with Mont Ventoux.

Time of year and what your interests are would help advise. Mountains/beaches/culture etc?

We have been looking at the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, in the south-eastern part of France for next year.

Fly into Nice and hire a car there. (Tip, hire the car on arrival over the internet. You’ll get local prices).

Base yourself in Nice, and there’s lots of things to do and see in that region, for example the Gorge du Verdon and Italy is just short drive away.

If you are a typical brit, i.e. struggle with the heat don’t go in August.

The area around Puy de Dome and Clermont Ferrand.

We loved the Massif Central / Auvergne area which Clement is at the north end of. Great walks, OK MTB (gravel and road would be better) and really lovely canoeing. We were aware it was a very ‘The French holiday here’ place, and heard very few other English speakers during the fortnight. Lovely towns and villages, really ‘off the beaten track’ places.

We stayed in a hilltop village, with one restaurant/ bar and a bakery, and just found it ace.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/matt_outandabout/z3n164Q0U8

I think France is like the UK in its diversity when you really get into it, almost every area is beautiful in its own way!

Without writing an essay on this, I have been making a Google maps list of towns I’d like to visit lately and here are the ones I’ve added in France:

Riquewihr

Eguisheim

Roussilon

Les beaux de Provence

Le Puy en Valey

I’ve lived in Grenoble and done most trips around Nice/Cote D’Azur. Nice is mostly because we’ve been going for biking trips out of season in the winter so it’s not busy, it is beautiful with the mountains coming straight out of the sea and all these fantastic little ‘villages perchés’ ( such as Éze, Gourdon, La Tourette, Peillon, Lucéram, St Paul de Venice) but I bet it’s not as fun in the summer when it’s 35° and full of tourists! The biking there is amazing though and you should hop over to Italy for good pizza, coffee and focaccia, France is rubbish at food in comparison. Don’t get too close to Monaco though unless you want to marvel at the mega rich.

We’ve done a bike packing trip through the alps before and found Les Queyras one of the most spectacular, not really any ski resorts and quite remote so felt less busy with tourists. You can hop over to Italy easily from there and explore around Monte Visio and The valleys up from Cuneo from there.

My old boss was a very proud Frenchman. He said the reason that France is so good it’s that it’s basically lots of different countries in a box called France.

Each area has different landscape character, different food and wine and they take on the characteristics of neighbouring countries.

Brittany is like Ireland or Cornwall, Alsace & Lorraine is like Germany (for obvious reasons), the SW is like Spain, the bit near Italy is surprise, surprise just like Italy. He said the only true French bit was the Auvergne area which is why the cuisine is very popular in Paris. The sheer variety of landscapes from the Atlantic west to the Alps is amazing, they’ve got everything (if you include French Overseas Dependencies they have it all)

Re: food and wine being ubiquitous. Well it is everywhere but the variation is amazing. The French have something we can only dream of ..terroir. Being of a place, they are rightly incredibly proud of local foods and traditions which here to produce really high quality cheese, wine etc etc.

As others have said, you really need to choose a time of year  and a region.

Some of our best holidays were based out of Nice, cycling about as far as Ventoux/Verdon Gorge/Barcelonette (probably not all in the same trip). We were incredibly lucky to have several conference trips over there in the late spring and could take our tandem and tack on a cycle touring holiday at the end. Wonderful cycling, countryside, food, weather. Happy days…

Thanks all for suggestions and posts so far, that’s really helpful.

I’d like to avoid the school holidays but also love the heat so am thinking beginning of June might be good.

We will be flying from Leeds Bradford so they fly to Bergerac, Chambery, Nice or Paris.

Would like to do some walking and also see some of the history – quaint towns etc. I’ve never been to the Alps either so if we could incorporate some mountains, that would be fantastic. Not really interested in going to any major cities. We have done lots of beach holidays up to now so just looking for something different. Wild swimming would be good. We might hire some bikes over there too rather than take our own over.

Really not sure where we are looking to stay – we tend to stay in Air BnB’s rather than hotels.

Annecy is stunning. Both the town and the mountains surrounding the lake.

I’d heartily recommend the SW… a couple of lovely cities, Toulouse and Bordeaux, lots of historic sites to visit (like much of France) and the Pyrenees on the doorstep. It has everything but apart from the cities…not the crowds of the Alps

You can also fly LBA to Limoges or Perpignan with Ryanair.

If you’ve not done a summer in the Alps, i’d be off there  – they’re my spiritual home, holiday in the Alps is the only time i feel like i’ve refreshed my mind (maybe not body which gets battered)..  loads o flovely villages,towns, lakes and mounain food – ooh the food nom nom nom..

Last year we flew to Toulouse and got a hire car. Chipps of this parish has some Airbnb gites in the eastern Pyrenees. Lovely little village, about an hour to the coast, or about an hour the opposite way and your up towards Andorra. We loved it. We also did Normandy a few years ago and had a great time. I think you’d struggle to have a bad holiday in France.

Have a look at the Rick Stein Secret France series he did. Will be on Iplayer I expect. It seemed like all the places he visited on that were lovely.

Have a look at the Rick Stein Secret France series he did. Will be on Iplayer I expect. It seemed like all the places he visited on that were lovely.

Well they would be. Has Simon Reeve done a series on France? I’d expect that to be a little less lovely.  😀

We will be flying from Leeds Bradford so they fly to Bergerac, Chambery, Nice or Paris

Go for Bergerac and enjoy the lovely south west would be my recommendation.

Another vote for Bergerac and the Dordogne. Loads of vineyards and some beautiful old villages to drive to – Eymet, Issigeac. Bordeaux is a roughly 90 minute train journey from Mussidan which is a few km from Bergerac. Ideal for a relaxing holiday.

Re: Dordogne – if you are unlucky, like we were, it can be overrun with moaning middle-class Brits. It’s a lovely place (basically the Cotswolds but very hot with nice food).  It’s the same old story though of walk or ride for 15 mins from the car park and you can escape from most people

I’d heartily recommend the SW… a couple of lovely cities, Toulouse and Bordeaux, lots of historic sites to visit (like much of France) and the Pyrenees on the doorstep. It has everything but apart from the cities…not the crowds of the Alps

We did Toulouse and Bordeaux this summer, and I’d add another vote for them.

crumpetswithsugar

We will be flying from Leeds Bradford

In that case you don’t need to go to France.

Otherwise just go to the Alps/Jura or the Pyrenees. Either is stunning & will really reset your grasp of a big “hill”

Did a nice tour this Sept/Oct. Drove over via the Poole Cherbourg ferry the the following route:

• couple of nights in Dinan
• La Rochelle for a week
• Libourne just outside Bordeaux for a week,
• Carcassonne for a few nights,
• Grasse for a week, visited Nice, Cannes and Antibes
• Long weekend in Toulon
• Couple of nights in Beaune then home.

Really nice and chilled as this was our first holiday abroad with our then 6 month old. So not as much nightlife as in years gone by, but lots of nice chilled lunches (mind out for the v strict french lunch hours, generally about 12-2pm and you can get great deals on menus of the day then), and fantastic wine.

All really nice places and different. Got out for a couple of amazing road rides when we were down in Grasse. Nice was ok, but I much preferred Bordeaux, absolutely loved that place. Beaune was worth a stop for a couple of days (more excellent wine and food).

Given more time and if we’d have gone a bit earlier in the year I’d have liked to seen the Pyrenees but weather was pretty mixed on the west so that prompted us to head east.

Driving around on the toll routes was an absolute breeze, you can just cover so much more distance and you don’t feel fried by the end of it. On our travelling days we generally drove for an hour/couple of hours mid morning during the first nap, then dived off and found a nice little bistro in a nearby village, lazy lunch then headed on in the afternoon to catch second nap.

If you’re in the Dordogne area then Perigeux is worth visiting for the historical attractions and maybe a canoe along the river.

You could have a look at https://trip.byway.travel/. They do plane free UK and European holidays (which isn’t what your after) but their build a trip function is pretty good.  You say what types of things you want to do and how long you’ve got and they suggest various possible trips.

They do of course want you to book the trip with them – but you don’t have to.  I have used them in the past and their hotel suggestions have always been good.

Impossible as others have said. France is twice the size of the UK and just as diverse. I’ve been visiting since 1980 and have yet to find a bit I don’t like (glossing over Paris banlieue). Though particular shout for the Basque corner. And Finisterre. And there’s loads of bits I’ve not and may never get to (inc Bergerac, those volcanoes. We’ve barely grazed the French Alps, this summer’s destination.

We usually drive but if you’re Jet2ing it from LaBIA, the airport on everyone’s lips  (Manc gives you more options eg Toulouse) , first questions are are you thinking of moving about or sticking with one base? Hiring a car? Bikes? 

You could fly to Nice, maybe spend a night or two there or up the coast (there’s a local train), then pick up a hire car and head north. Even just a few miles gets you to the village perche mentioned above, and some crazy limestone scenery. There’s good mtb and hiking, and swimming in the gorges (google found us some good spots to cool down. It was hot when we were there in August but perfectly manageable where we were staying at 600m . Or go a bit further to the Alps Maritime or Verdon (we spent 10 days once in Moustiers – fantastically beautiful).

Basically you could have many threads on the different bits of Provence