Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Friendly forumite advice requested please!


I am planning a summer holiday for myself and my two children (5 and 9) for the end of August - taking the Eurostar down to Marseille. So far I've just booked the train tickets - I've been looking at airbnb and campsites for accommodation, but would really appreciate some pointers from people who know the area and have been on holiday there before. Ideally I'd like to avoid hiring a car and go somewhere we can reach by train - either one place or a couple of different destinations as we are going for 10 days. I'm after somewhere near a nice sandy beach, maybe with a pool as well, as cheap as possible as I'm on a strict budget. I've been looking at Presqu'Ile de Giens and some places near Marseille like Bandol and La Ciotat but I've no idea what they're really like. Can anyone help?

sanity girl Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Friendly forumite advice requested please!

>

> I am planning a summer holiday for myself and my

> two children (5 and 9) for the end of August -

> taking the Eurostar down to Marseille. So far I've

> just booked the train tickets - I've been looking

> at airbnb and campsites for accommodation, but

> would really appreciate some pointers from people

> who know the area and have been on holiday there

> before. Ideally I'd like to avoid hiring a car and

> go somewhere we can reach by train - either one

> place or a couple of different destinations as we

> are going for 10 days. I'm after somewhere near a

> nice sandy beach, maybe with a pool as well, as

> cheap as possible as I'm on a strict budget. I've

> been looking at Presqu'Ile de Giens and some

> places near Marseille like Bandol and La Ciotat

> but I've no idea what they're really like. Can

> anyone help?


We stayed at the very pleasant Hotel de la Gare, directly opposite the train station (strangely enough!) in Toulon, which was very handy for the train(s) to Marseilles, Frejus and the bus to Hyeres. The beach at the latter is lovely, so if you could get somewhere around there it would be great.

landsberger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> sanity girl Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Friendly forumite advice requested please!

> >

> > I am planning a summer holiday for myself and

> my

> > two children (5 and 9) for the end of August -

> > taking the Eurostar down to Marseille. So far

> I've

> > just booked the train tickets - I've been

> looking

> > at airbnb and campsites for accommodation, but

> > would really appreciate some pointers from

> people

> > who know the area and have been on holiday

> there

> > before. Ideally I'd like to avoid hiring a car

> and

> > go somewhere we can reach by train - either one

> > place or a couple of different destinations as

> we

> > are going for 10 days. I'm after somewhere near

> a

> > nice sandy beach, maybe with a pool as well, as

> > cheap as possible as I'm on a strict budget.

> I've

> > been looking at Presqu'Ile de Giens and some

> > places near Marseille like Bandol and La Ciotat

> > but I've no idea what they're really like. Can

> > anyone help?

>

> We stayed at the very pleasant Hotel de la Gare,

> directly opposite the train station (strangely

> enough!) in Toulon, which was very handy for the

> train(s) to Marseilles, Frejus and the bus to

> Hyeres. The beach at the latter is lovely, so if

> you could get somewhere around there it would be

> great.


Thank you, that's helpful.

We visited Cassis when my first was 8 months old - my brother was living in Marseilles at the time and we wanted somewhere handy for visiting him but a holiday for us too. There is a tiny little beach as I recall and it's a pretty wee town (some great restaurants) but for the ages your kids are they might get bored after a few days, depends what they are into. I still have good friends in Marseilles and can ask them where they go for beaches etc if you like?

Belle Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We visited Cassis when my first was 8 months old -

> my brother was living in Marseilles at the time

> and we wanted somewhere handy for visiting him but

> a holiday for us too. There is a tiny little beach

> as I recall and it's a pretty wee town (some great

> restaurants) but for the ages your kids are they

> might get bored after a few days, depends what

> they are into. I still have good friends in

> Marseilles and can ask them where they go for

> beaches etc if you like?


Yes please, that would be great if you could ask. I have been looking at the area around Le Pradet, just east of Toulon, which looks nice, but it would be great to have some local insight.

We also visited Cassis a couple of years ago and thought it was amazing, really pretty and you can get a train from Marseille directly. If I remember there were 3 beaches, 2 were small but one was a decent size.


We stayed in this place, booked via AirBnB, didn't hire a car as everything was walking distance.


http://www.villacassis.com/en/home/

Hi I spent a year living in Sanary Sur Mer when I was younger, which is very near Cassis. It's a lovely little town with a pretty centre, but no beaches to speak of. I think (from admittedly very old memories!) that if you want sand and beach cafes you have to go either towards Nice or down towards Spain. But there are lots of little rocky coves which could be fun, and also lots of big campsites a little way inland where you could probably find cheap simple chalet-type accommodation and lots of kids activities. I would avoid Toulon itself.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Honestly, the squirrels are not a problem now.  They only eat what has dropped.  The feeders I have are squirrel proof anyway from pre-cage times.  I have never seen rats in the garden, and even when I didn't have the cage.  I most certainly would have noticed them.  I do have a little family of mice which I have zero problem about.  If they stay outside, that's fine with me.  Plus, local cats keep that population down.  There are rats everywhere in London, there is plenty of food rubbish out in the street to keep them happy.  So, I guess you could fit extra bars to the cage if you wanted to, but then you run the risk of the birds not getting in.  They like to be able to fly in and out easily, which they do.   
    • Ahh, the old "it's only three days" chestnut.  I do hope you realise the big metal walls, stages, tents, toilets, lighting, sound equipment, refreshments, concessions etc don't just magically appear & disappear overnight? You know it all has to be transported in & erected, constructed? And that when stuff is constructed, like on a construction site, it's quite noisy & distracting? Banging, crashing, shouting, heavy plant moving around - beep beep beep reversing signals, engines revving - pneumatic tools? For 8 to 10 hours a day, every day? And that it tends to go on for two or three weeks before an event, and a week after when they take it all down again? I'm sure my boys' GCSE prep won't be affected by any of that, especially if we close the windows (before someone suggests that as a resolution). I'm sure it won't affect anyone at the Harris schools either, actually taking their exams with that background noise.
    • Thanks for the good discussion, this should be re-titled as a general thread about feeding the birds. @Penguin not really sure why you posted, most are aware that virtually all land in this country is managed, and has been for 100s of years, but there are many organisations, local and national government, that manage large areas of land that create appropriate habitats for British nature, including rewilding and reintroductions.  We can all do our bit even if this is not cutting your lawn, and certainly by not concreting over it.  (or plastic grass, urgh).   I have simply been stating that garden birds are semi domesticated, as perhaps the deer herds in Richmond Park, New Forest ponies, and even some foxes where we feed them.  Whoever it was who tried to get a cheap jibe in about Southwark and the Gala festival.  Why?  There is a whole thread on Gala for you to moan on.  Lots going on in Southwark https://www.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/parks-and-open-spaces/ecology-and-wildlife I've talked about green sqwaky things before, if it was legal I'd happily use an air riffle, and I don't eat meat.  And grey squirrels too where I am encourage to dispatch them. Once a small group of starlings also got into the garden I constructed my own cage using starling proof netting, it worked for a year although I had to make a gap for the great spotted woodpecker to get in.  The squirrels got at it in the summer but sqwaky things still haven't come back, starlings recently returned.  I have a large batch of rubbish suet pellets so will let them eat them before reordering and replacing the netting. Didn't find an appropriately sized cage, the gaps in the mesh have to be large enough for finches etc, and the commercial ones were £££ The issue with bird feeders isn't just dirty ones, and I try to keep mine clean, but that sick birds congregate in close proximity with healthy birds.  The cataclysmic obliteration of the greenfinch population was mainly due to dirty feeders and birds feeding close to each other.  
    • Another recommendation for Niko - fitted me in the next day, simple fix rather than trying to upsell and a nice guy as well. Will use again
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...