Brittany

[noby]

Looking at possibly going to Brittany in the summer. Family holiday (3 kids under 5); one week; getting the ferry from Cork and staying in a Gite or chalet.

Anyone have any advice or opinions?

[OneRedArmy]

In the past if you hadn't got the Cork ferry booked by Sept for the following summer you wouldn't get on it. Its that popular during the school holidays. Not sure if thats the same now?

Brittany is nice enough but the weather is no better than Ireland. Id go 5 or 6 hours south where there are less Brits and Irish and a better chance of decent weather.

In Brittany its nice around Quimper and Concarneau but down south of Nantes around La Rochelle is nicer.

[noby]

Thanks for that. Ideally I wouldn't want to drive more than a couple of hours with the kids (one being a six month old), so Brittany is a kind of compromise.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Go for it. Kids'll have a blast. Ye'll get to chill.

Did it summer 06 with a one year old and we'd a grand time.
We stayed in the Morbihan region having flown into Nantes.
If ye're getting the ferry to Roscoff I'm guessing ye'll be staying in the Finistere (sp) "department"/County/Province (I'm assuming you want to keep time behind the wheel to a minimum).

You're never more than 30 or 40 minutes from a beach no matter how far inland you stay, countryside is great, plenty to see and visit, the gite we stayed in was lovely and had it's own pool (as many do). It was unheated and I was still able to swim in it in May!

You'll be fairly able to fill a car with essentials before leaving Ireland anyway -but if you don't just make sure you get into the first supermarche you come across and load up with anything you think the kids'll need (nappies? calpol? ...whatever) as the Bretons ...just like their French overlords - do not buy into our 24 hour convenience culture. Exceptions to this I noticed would be Spar and Lidl who do indeed seem to open longer. These tend to be in bigger provincial towns and cities though. Gites tend to be a couple of miles outside quaint little villages where the bakery opens from 9am to 11am maybe 11.30am and then mysteriously shuts again.

[paul_oshea]

Brittany is nice enough but the weather is no better than Ireland. Id go 5 or 6 hours south where there are less Brits and Irish and a better chance of decent weather.

I used to do this as a child every summer ( father spoke french ) to either brittany or normandy, there was a huge difference between the weather in normandy and brittany, the weather was always good and warm ( nothing like Ireland ) when we went to brittany, when we went to normandy it was much like south east england ( same as Ireland except lot less rain )

From a childs point of view ( as i still think like one ) brittany is way way better, but cities such as amiens and aras have some great architecture, but to be honest its not the place ( normandy ) at all for kids and I always hated going to normandy, brittany on the other hand, had lots of amenities for kids, had loads of young kids my age at the time from loads of different countries, not just ireland so its an enjoyable place and a good learning experience for a child.

[Lev Yashin]

Looking at possibly going to Brittany in the summer. Family holiday (3 kids under 5); one week; getting the ferry from Cork and staying in a Gite or chalet.

Anyone have any advice or opinions?

DONT!!! she is gone mad and she might try and abduct your kids!!!

[the 12 th man]

Brittany is well worth a visit but as advised earlier I found the weather a bit of a let down.I stayed on a Camp/Caravan site on the "Cote De Granit Rose" and I had 2 small kids at the time and they enjoyed every minute of it.

There's plenty to do and see and with great roads and road signage you can get around easily.

[noby]

Just a quick update: we've opted for a fly/drive, flying to Lorient and staying near Névez, which looks to be close by.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Sounds like a good plan. I checked the ferry prices and frankly they're outrageous. Lorient is conveniently proximate to the coastal areas. It's closer to where I stayed last time out. Advice on getting into the first SuperU or Intermache you see stands though. Don't presume on them being open.

[noby]

Cheers. Now that we're flying we won't be able to load the boot up with supplies, so a stop off to stock up is certainly on the cards. There wasn't much price-wise between the ferry and the flight/car hire.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Cheers. Now that we're flying we won't be able to load the boot up with supplies, so a stop off to stock up is certainly on the cards. There wasn't much price-wise between the ferry and the flight/car hire.

. I suppose if you're away for a fortnight that's true enough.

Anyway there's loads of nice places down around the gulf of Morbihan. Ye'll have a great time.

[BohsPartisan]

Cheers. Now that we're flying we won't be able to load the boot up with supplies, so a stop off to stock up is certainly on the cards. There wasn't much price-wise between the ferry and the flight/car hire.

I'd still have gone for the ferry. Its a great way to start/finish your holiday and as stated before you can really stock up on the wine etc. Brittany is lovely anyway. Went there a few times with the parents as a teen and it still has fond memories.

[noby]

Well it was kind of a toss-up in the end. The ferry would be an adventure in itself, and like you say a good start/finish. On the other hand, the flight gives us two extra nights in France.