travelling down to south west france wtih my daughter...tips

March2012

we are looking at maybe hiring a car either from calais or going via brittany. as she is 11 i would like to see what people recommend as the best things to visit on the way.
1- option 1 : calais . visit nauticaa boulogne. then maybe paris (my daughter wants to see eiffel tower though i am not wild on paris and the idea of driving around there myself). i read on trip advisor that the opera is great to visit in Paris.
Then drive to the vendee to the puy du fou theme park. (but long trip down)

2- go via brittany: either st malo or roscoff. i know that st malo is worth visiting as went years ago. not sure about the rest but remember someone telling me about Carnac and Merlins forest. any tips welcome either way. thanks in advance
(as it is the two of us i dont like the idea of being too remote or that we get too bored. i do know when you are a family toghether seaside and remote areas are more fun)

jackieblack

Personally, with all the problems recently, I wouldn't even consider going anywhere via Calais!

Alfrescodave

How long do you intend going for? Your proposed itineraries already take up several days and that's only as far as the Vendee.

PeteDoff

jackieblack wrote: »

Personally, with all the problems recently, I wouldn't even consider going anywhere via Calais!

Do you read the Daily Express by any chance?

missbiggles1

Car hire's quite expensive in France - any reason you're not just taking your own?

knightstyle

Car hire in France is cheap! Just hire like the French do from a supermarket!
Why drive all that way? You can fly to many places in france from the UK.
If you want to drive look at Newhaven-Dieppe, much cheaper than Brittany Ferries. But hurry they are stopping later this year.
Agree with fitting in Puy du Fou it is worth a two day visit plus try to book the evening show. If you decide on a route then come back and I will give you ideas for places en route.

PeteDoff

As above,
Start with (google translate if needed) and Super U supermarkets.
GOOGLE IT!

jackieblack

PeteDoff wrote: »

Do you read the Daily Express by any chance?

I don't read any so called 'news' papers, never have done, but I do have several friends who have been caught up in long delays travelling to/from Calais and who wished they'd travelled via another port.
As staff appear to go on strike at the drop of a hat, and as it seems Calais, being the busiest port, is most severely affected when this happens, personally, if there is an alternative route available, I'd take that.

hollydays

I What time of year were you thinking of going?
What airports are near you?
Bolougne is not the nicest of places -avoid it if possible .
Could you fly into dinard?thats very near st. Malo and all the family beaches-they even have play equipment on some beaches in France .bear in mind there may not be lots of british people.

mandragora_2

St Malo is better if you're seriously planning on heading to SW France (Bordeaux or below is about 6 hours drive from St Malo). Roscoff is lovely if you're desperate to visit North West Brittany, but it's a 'long way over' to make your way to the main roads/autoroutes that will get you heading southwards quickly.

If you travel with Brittany Ferries, check out their loyalty discount scheme ' Club Voyage'; even paying the up front fee, you can save money on your trip. You can look into it online, but also I've always found their phone staff to be very helpful.

ETA - Just re-read your first post - it looks to me like you're trying to decide between basically northern France or going further down the coast. It really depends on your budget and what you're looking for in the trip.

Brittany and Normandy are lovely, but the weather is less assured than further south; think Devon/Cornwall in terms of weather, though it can be nicer. If you decide that's fine, then I'd definitely recommend the 'Contenin' peninsula - the sticky up bit that has Cherbourg at the top. What's nice about that is that it's a fairly narrow strip of land, with coast on three sides. With a bit of planning, you can locate yourselves somewhere which isn't too far from whichever coast happens to be in the lee of the wind, if there is one. Bayeux is a pretty town, and worth a visit; Caen has a great market on a Sunday. Your ferry crossing then could be cheaper, if you just wanted to explore that area - either Portsmouth/Caen or to Cherbourg from either Portsmouth or Poole.

(I love the St Malo crossing, as for us it saves us a couple of hours' driving but we then straight down to the South West, about 90 miles south of Bordeaux, so saving a couple of hours is worth paying the difference in ferry fares - our journey is in the region of 400 miles).

One nice trip might be to cross to Cherbourg, and return via St Malo?

Tarry

hollydays wrote: »

I What time of year were you thinking of going?
What airports are near you?
Bolougne is not the nicest of places -avoid it if possible .
Could you fly into dinard?thats very near st. Malo and all the family beaches-they even have play equipment on some beaches in France .bear in mind there may not be lots of british people.

Actually the old town and the sea life centre Nausicca is enjoyable in Boulogne. Although not been for a while.