Where In France With 18 Month Old

gaillimh

Hi.
Any recommendation for somewhere in France to stay for a week in late September?
It would be myself, wife & 18 month old daughter.
Just looking for somewhere nice to relax with some decent restaurants that won’t cost the Earth.
Just choosing France as we were there last year & the flight time is short.
But absolutely open to other places as well if anyone has specific recommendations.
Thanks a million

mfceiling

gaillimh wrote: »

Hi.
Any recommendation for somewhere in France to stay for a week in late September?
It would be myself, wife & 18 month old daughter.
Just looking for somewhere nice to relax with some decent restaurants that won’t cost the Earth.
Just choosing France as we were there last year & the flight time is short.
But absolutely open to other places as well if anyone has specific recommendations.
Thanks a million

South of france is lovely. Saint Paul de Vence is magnificent....loads of restaurants and kid friendly. Also went to Carcassonne one year....again child friendly restaurants and lots to see and do.

tringle

Are you flying and driving or flying and public transport. What airline do you hope to use? Are you looking for city break, resort, house rental, guesthouse, camping?

Sorry lots of questions but they make a big difference. I have found all of France to be child friendly in that they love children and welcome them but not all child practical. It is not normal to find baby changing facilities when eating out, but if you ask they will find somewhere for you. Not everywhere will have highchairs but they will remove a chair for a buggy or stack chairs for a toddler. Many places are not buggy friendly and you will see lots of French holiday makers with large baby carriers on their back.
September is a lovely time but also when French retirees travel.
If you take a buggy check with your airline about checking it in and getting it back. Travelled Dublin - Toulouse last Sept with Aer lingus, wheeled buggy through no problem, taken at plane and a sticker put on but not given back at plane Sreaming heavy toddler carried to luggage carousel to get buggy which took almost an hour. Opposite way Toulouse-Dublin walked with buggy and toddler to present boarding passes at security, had checked in online and only hand luggage, wasn't let through as buggy needed labels put on at check in desk. Check in insisted you had to queue for this so queued for an hour for a label to be put on buggy to wheel it through.
So just check airline policy?

All of France is lovely

tringle

South west has lovely people, great food and is cheaper than Provence. Fly to Bordeaux, Toulouse or Carcassone...depending on Airline and weather should be reasonable.
If you really want sun then you need to go Provence, fly to Nice. But more expensive and more crowded.

gaillimh

tringle wrote: »

Are you flying and driving or flying and public transport. What airline do you hope to use? Are you looking for city break, resort, house rental, guesthouse, camping?

Sorry lots of questions but they make a big difference. I have found all of France to be child friendly in that they love children and welcome them but not all child practical. It is not normal to find baby changing facilities when eating out, but if you ask they will find somewhere for you. Not everywhere will have highchairs but they will remove a chair for a buggy or stack chairs for a toddler. Many places are not buggy friendly and you will see lots of French holiday makers with large baby carriers on their back.
September is a lovely time but also when French retirees travel.
If you take a buggy check with your airline about checking it in and getting it back. Travelled Dublin - Toulouse last Sept with Aer lingus, wheeled buggy through no problem, taken at plane and a sticker put on but not given back at plane Sreaming heavy toddler carried to luggage carousel to get buggy which took almost an hour. Opposite way Toulouse-Dublin walked with buggy and toddler to present boarding passes at security, had checked in online and only hand luggage, wasn't let through as buggy needed labels put on at check in desk. Check in insisted you had to queue for this so queued for an hour for a label to be put on buggy to wheel it through.
So just check airline policy?

All of France is lovely

You're right I should be more specific :-)
Well we really just want somewhere that's nice to chill out in. Not interested in nightlife at all. Not looking for a city break this time either but open to all other suggestions re resort, house rental, guesthouse etc.
Probably our daughter is too young to get the benefit of a campsite (will definitely do that when she is a little older).
We would be flying and hiring a car, which we did on Ile de Re last year.
Ile de Re was lovely & our accommodation beautiful but I think we would have liked to have had a few more restaurants within walking distance.
An issue we found last year was that our daughter was sleeping during the ~2 hour window when the restaurants were open for lunch so this may present an issue again this year unfortunately.

We are essentially trying to decide between somewhere in France, Croatia and Spain but there are so many places in each it's really difficult to narrow it down to the best/most suitable places.
We would be hoping for nice sunny warm weather but don't want it to be hot & uncomfortable for the little one.
Thanks again for your reply.

tringle

Biarritz is nice at that time of year as are most places within Bordeaux/Toulouse/Carcassone triangle. Narbonne and Perpignan also nice. I would say check what flights are available as it is around the time of flight changes from summer to winter. Perpignan has direct flights from Dublin with aerlingus summer time is is a lovely small airport close to.the city.
For eating out lumchtime, the larger the town the more likely you will get something to eat. But to be honest we found it best to adjust our sleeping patterns.
For house rental try Abritel, the French version of Home away or Gite De France...lots of great places.
Wish I was planning a holiday now.

CelticRambler

If you want to really chill, look at the non-touristy centre - Berry-Limousin-Auvergne. Accommodation is usually dirt cheap (because no-one comes here!), there are loads of harvest-type festivals at the weekends that cost nothing to go to, and the weather is usually very warm (high twenties). During the week, you can head off on woodland/lakeside walks, visit one of the local attractions (e.g. the wolf reserve south of Guéret), or drive one of the numerous multi-village circuits. I'd recommend the Vallée de la Creuse, which spans the départements 23-36 - that's where I take all my visitors!