Archive for the ‘French Holidays’ Category

Taking a French holiday is one of the most popular summer activities for British families and the Dordogne is no exception to the country’s convenient, cosmopolitan appeal. Yet though the region has plenty to offer all year round, for families with younger children then there are few better times than now – during the French school holiday.

Whilst parents and older children are well catered all year round by the Dordogne’s rich history, fine foods and vintage wines, over the next few weeks seasonal activities launched for younger children will give the region a special draw for a limited time. Online news website Sud-Ouest presents a list of some of the major events in the Dordogne’s major municipal centre, Perigueux.

Known for its sporting facilities, Perigueux is offering children between the age of seven and 12 discounted or free use of table tennis, mini hockey and handball facilities as well as access to canoeing and climbing courses. However the city council isn’t just hoping to boost access to physical past times but also to cultural activities.

Between July 15 and August 15 the Perigueux Tourist Office is offering children aged 6-12 the chance to explore the city through guided workshops. The programme sees kids visit the Mataguerre tower, the medival town, carry shields like the historic pages of the medieval era, before delivering a final report on the city’s history to the office.

The town’s museum, Vesunna, is also offering youngsters the chane to explore the archeological techniques that are used throughout the Dordogne to reveal the area’s rich heritage. Childreen betwen the ages of seven and 14 can take part in both workshops and laboratoy searches from 1600 onwards for an entrance fee of just one euro.

Home to a range of stunning waterways and canals, a boating holiday is ideal solution for those wanting a French holiday with a twist.

The River Lot is one of the best locations appealing not just to boating novices, but also to those more experienced in sailing. The river, which meanders through some of the country’s most breathtaking countryside, offers visitors the chance to see a wide range of plants and bird species.

The village of St-Cirq Lapopie is highly recommended to prospective visitors, describing the area as ‘a real artist’s haven’, the village offers visitors a ‘chilled out hippie vibe’. An area well known for the honey coloured homes, Travel Bite recommend it as a great place to pick up local craft work.

Although the community offers a unique insight into the past traditions of France, travellers wanting to learn a little more, may benefit from sailing a little further along the river to the Pech-Merle Caves. Described as a ‘must see’ on a French boating holiday, the caves feature drawings from prehistoric times.

Whilst on boating on the River Lot, holiday makers should be sure to taste the local delicacies of foie gras and Cahors wine. The river has lots of places for holiday makers to stop off. The town of Arcambal sells the regions own brand of beer, known as Biere d’Olt and for those not attracted by the thought of beer, the region is renown for producing some of the world’s best truffles.

Regardless of where along the river path you decide to go and stop, a French boating holiday offers you a new way to explore the country’s beauty.

Those about to embark on their annual French holiday are in for a treat, as the country prepares for the Fête de la Musique.

The festival started in France in 1982 and was instantly popular. This has led to it being celebrated in more than one hundred countries around the world including Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago and Australia.

The festival takes place on the longest day of summer each year and this year’s celebrations on June 21, will be the 29th time the event has taken place. Organisers say the theme of this year’s festival will be ‘Women in Music’ and nine young dancers from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, are set to travel to France for the event.

A cultural project was organised by the Beaconsfield Twinning Association, which saw Beaconsfield twinned with Langres, a town in the Dijon region of France. The group of girls aged between 11 and 15 will perform three dance pieces created by their ballet teacher as part of the celebrations in Langres.

Teacher and choreographer Annik Coatalen, was cited in the local paper Bucks Free Press as saying:”The girls have all worked very hard to pull together a demanding and exciting programme. We are very excited to have the opportunity to show what we can do before an international audience.”

Whilst in Langres, the girls from Baylins Ballet Barn, will stay with local families in the medieval walled town.

 Beaconsfield Twinning Association chairman, Deborah Sanders said: “The Twinning Association has a long history of promoting cultural exchanges and youth exchanges and this is a wonderful opportunity to do both.”

The recent flight suspensions because of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano may have hit airline’s hard, but it has brought a booking windfall for rail and ferry companies. 

As airports slowly resume to normal, French rail and ferry companies are hoping to turn the sudden rush of business, into prolonged growth, cashing in on the cynicism of flying.

Paul de Rosen, Lines Director for the biggest passenger ferry operator out of the port of Marseille, SNCM, told the BBC: “Normally, 10% of our customers are totally new to our database, which means they haven’t gone on a ferry of ours for at least six years. Now, in the weeks since the end of the ash cloud crisis, that figure is 20%.”

Mr de Rosen believes that even the threat of the returning ash clouds is enough to stop consumers using air travel to reach destinations. He said to the BBC: “Totally new customers are booking on ferries for summer holidays, because they want to travel with their car, which they believe is a way to maintain their autonomy on holiday if something should go wrong.”

Train operators are also optimistic that their recent business boost is here to stay. Michel Leboeuf, head of long distance projects at SNCF, the French national train operating company believes the high- speed TGV train is an effective competitor with planes, so those with French holidays booked need not worry.

One passenger told the BBC “It’s easier to get to the station than the airport. It’s fast, easier to work on board and more relaxing, usually with fewer delays.”

The European Commission admits that the ash cloud caught them out. “We saw that when one transport mode went down, passengers found it hard to shift to rail and boats. Anything we can do as regulators to open up options, for instance, make it easier to take a train instead of a plane we will be trying to do as an urgent priority,” said Helen Kearns, spokeswoman for transport at the Commission in Brussels.

Last Monday elected officials from the Dordogne‘s central municipal authority came together with others throughout the Green Perigord area to discuss the future of tourism in the Aquitaine region.

Attended by nearly 120 people and dozens of officials, the meeting laid out the concerns of many of those involved in the regions tourism industry. A key concern for many is the competition between local tourism offices and internet sites that market the regions attractions, such as the prehistoric artwork of the Lascaux caves or the many country and river side activities throughout the Dordogne’s idyllic valleys.

During the course of the meeting though several interesting figures were published – revealing just how popular the Dordogne is as a tourist destination. Each year nearly 2.9 million visitors visit the region, placing it firmly in top place for the position of Aquitaine’s most popular department among tourists.

The area’s natural beauty appears to attract visitors from France as well as those from further afield. Some 60% of these 2.9 million annual visitors are from France itself, demonstrating the rare beauty of the unspoiled and historic department.

The popularity of the Dordogne is largely responsible for keeping Aquitaine in the coveted position of Frances fifth most popular tourism area. In the wider region there are 179 tourist offices and 280 tourist sites, many of which are open all year around. Each year some 35 million euros is invested in the tourism trade by regional authorities, helping to develop and maintain the many attractions and keeping the countryside and towns in a state of picturesque perfection.

One of the Dordogne‘s greatest features is in its simple rural beauty and its rich heritage. Still although these attractions – or at the very least the fine foods and wine on offer – draw adults from across the world to a French holiday in the region, for the younger and more easily distracted generation they can wear a little thin.

So, families on a French holiday who are looking for ways to distract the kids in between trips to medieval châteaus or markets will be pleased to hear that Perigueux boasts a new activity.

From this week, visitors to the Dordogne’s departmental capital will be able to hunt each other down and trade fire as part of a friendly (or not so friendly) game of Laser Quest.

Laser Quest Perigueux, located at 39 Rue des Dames Combe, should be opening its doors later this month. Aimed at everyone from young teenagers to “team building” business outings,, the new attraction offers a startlingly futuristic form of entertainment for the otherwise bucolic department.

Decorated in a style described by Sud-Ouest as midway between Total Recall and 2001: A Space Odyssey, the new Laser Quest features 450 square meters of labyrinth game environment built on the grounds of a former supermarket. Up to twenty people can compete among the futuristic battlefield which features multiple levels and a maze of corridors and obstacles to take cover behind.

For 20 minutes of play the new attraction charges eight euros per player. There is no age limit for participants – upper or lower.

France is the second most popular destination for British tourists, according to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA).

Despite a drop in the number of people looking to book a French holiday, the statistics show it is still a very popular area with tourists.

The most loved French destination was Paris, which draws tourists who are attracted by the culture and landmarks of the capital such as the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysée and Arc de Triomphe.

Dordogne was another of the destinations noted for its popularity. Perhaps it’s the region’s picture-perfect countryside, its culinary heritage (fois gras and the black truffle hail from Dordogne) or the hundreds of castles that attract floods of visitors each year.

Another popular area attracting thousands of tourists is the Cote d’Azur. Known synonymously with the French Riviera, it’s still the playground of the rich and beautiful, bordering with St Tropez, Monte Carlo and Cannes. The lavish lifestyles of the past aristocracy also make the Loire Valley and appealing area for visitors, which has been listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO

ABTA believes people are still enamoured with France because of it’s diversity and good value for money; there are a number of destinations on offer to suit various budgets.

Sean Tipton, ABTA spokesman, said that passengers are likely to head to the south of France because it’s often less expensive to fly here than take a train. He said: “In terms of visitor numbers from the UK it”s only a few years ago that Spain overtook France as the number one most popular foreign holiday destination and it is still number two.”

In 2008, France was the most visited country in the world, with almost 80 million international tourists. Paris was the single most visited city in the world in the same year, with 15.6 million visitors.

The recent eruption of a volcano in Iceland could cause troubles for anyone who planned to fly to a French holiday this weekend.

Volcanic ash driven into the air across Europe has grounded flights across the continent and all flights in UK airspace have been severely effected. Although flights are expected to resume in the next 36 hours, as practically all commercial traffic has been grounded for two consecutive days, airlines are warning that there is a substantial backlog of passengers to clear before normal services can resume this weekend.

The BBC reports that the disruption could resume later in the weekend after an initial gap. It is expected that prevailing winds will drive the bulk of the ash plume across the north of Europe, towards Scandinavia, in the next 24 hours. However, the BBC’s weather forecaster Mark Taylor says that later in the weekend the winds will return to a northwesterly direction and will increase the risk of ash back to the UK airspace.

Flights have been grounded because the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand contained in the immense ash cloud are capable of blocking aircraft’s jet engines. Currently a limited number of flights are running from Northern Ireland, the western isles of Scotland and Glasgow and Prestwick airport, though these are strictly limited to North Atlantic flights.

Air travel is the only means of transport that has been effected by the ash cloud – so it is still possible to take the Eurostar, the channel tunnel or make a ferry/hovercraft crossing over the weekend. These services are likely to be busier than normal though.

Anyone who has gone on a French holiday in the past few years may have noticed a strange phenomenon taking place across the country: the spread of English into the French language.

The spread of contemporary English terminology like “Chat”, “talk,”, “newsletter”, “tuning” (the motoring slang rather than the radio term) and “buzz” (internet craze) among the French youth is causing concern among the conservative French linguistic community. The Independent reports that in response, government agency L’Academie Francais has announced its own, officially approved Francophile terminology.

Believed by many to be an effect of exposure to the world wide web (otherwise known as “La Toile”) and the prevalence of English terms to describe popular phenomena online, La Academia Francais has been concerned for some time over the perceived corruption of their language.

The French are notoriously protectionist of their language; ever since L’Academie Francaise was established in 1635 to act as an official authority on language, the French language has resisted natural development of language in favour of a more official approach.

Understandably, this organisation was troubled the spread of Anglicisms. In response, the government held a competition for students and school children to identify French-sounding terms for these modern terms. The final list will be considered for entry into French dictionaries.

From now on, those on a French holiday can expect to hear trends and popular crazes referred to as “Ramdam” rather than “buzz”; the practise of “tuning” up a car as “bolidage“; online “chat” as “éblabla“; “newsletters” as “infolettre“; and the simple “talk” as “debat”

From now on: the use of “Le Buzz” to describe trending online rumours, topics or crazes; the use of “le tuning” to describe the act of modifying cars; and everyday “talk” will now be referred to as “débat”.

Of course, whether or not these words are accepted from Paris to the Dordogne has yet to be seen. In the past similar initiatives have seen success – replacing “software” with “logiciel” and “walkman” with “baladeur” – whilst others have proven a massive flop, such as the attempt to replace “hacker” with “Fouineur” or “smiley” with “Frimousse”.

Fishing enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that the fishing season officially commences this weekend in most areas of France.

The season starts on March 13th and ends on September 19th or October 3rd, for those warmer areas of the country, according to The Connexion.

Those on French holidays will be spoilt with the choice of fish available, from salmon and trout to more elusive fish like the pike – whose season doesn’t begin until April, but runs later until January.

Both locals and visitors to picturesque French rivers and lakes will need to make sure they have a valid permit. Such permits can be purchased from AAPPMA fishing association branches, which are widely accessibly in most French departments. They can also be bought in tabacs, or bars, for those who wish to partake in a spot of last minute fishing.

If you don’t have the patience to catch a fish yourself, France is famed for its fish restaurants, cooking up delights such as crayfish, rockfish and seabass – washed down with an obligatory glass of wine.

No matter whether you are visiting the Brittany, the Dordogne or Normandy, France is home to a smörgåsbord of cafés, bars and restaurants, where one can fully take in French culture.