Jersey, hints and tips please!

[Rollingwiththehomies]

Hello, myself, DH and 2 DC are off to Jersey on holiday soon. Does anyone have any nice tips? I’m hoping for restaurant/beach/day out suggestions, grocery delivery etc. Or any food delivery/cocktail delivery etc. Anything at all that can make a holiday a good one! We are staying in the north-west but will be travelling around.

Tia

We did an island coach tour, not usually my thing at all, but it was excellent, really interesting, funny and informative.

@pontiouspilates

We did an island coach tour, not usually my thing at all, but it was excellent, really interesting, funny and informative.

Thanks, was it a hop on/hop off tour?

Definitely visit the war tunnels. You don’t need to have an interest in the war tobe moved by them. Every visitor is handed a “passport” of a real Jersey resident upon arrival. At the end, you find out what happened to that person.
Beauport Beach is one of the best things to do in Jersey if you’re after a beach day. It’s totally unspoilt and stunning.Plemont beach is gorgeous too.
Mont Orgeuil Castle is worth a visit and you can even abseil down the castle walls! It has various things to keep children interested, such as a princess and knights dressing up box as well as dungeons and towers to explore. Also, you could stroll down the Gorey Pier for some of the best views of castle and eat at the Jersey Crab Shack - they do yummy crab tacos.
Hamptonne Country Life Museum is a good trip. There are animals to meet and an adventure playground.
The Maritime Museum is really interactive and you can see, touch, hear and even smell exhibits. It’s a good rainy day activity.
The attraction that I think offers the best value for money and range of activities for children in Jersey is the aMaizin maze. You can easily spend the whole day there, there is so much to do. Choose a day when the weather is good - almost all of the activities are outdoor. Tamba Park is similar.
There are some great walks suitable for families with children in Jersey. My favourite is St Catherine’s Woods because of the stepping stones and rope swings.
St Ouen's Bay and St Aubin's Bay are good for kite flying when there is a breeze.

@Fivemoreminutes1 beat me to it as I was going to mention Plemont Beach which is stunningly beautiful. I’d also second the War Tunnels, which were fascinating.

There are quite a few walking tours suitable for all ages and free of charge around St Helier. Some are historical and some comedic. They are listed on the Eventbrite site,
From the slipway at La Rocque Harbour (next to Café) the National Trust do occasional guided rock pool clambering, once again it is free.

Hello!

I'm from Jersey and here is what I recommend with kids

Jersey zoo. Make a full day of it it's lovely there. Gorey Castle is brilliant as well

Beach wise long beach at gorey and St brelade Bay both have lovely beaches

Town is hit and miss unless you want restaurants. Maritime museum is brilliant as well

For walks you can do the railway walk from St aubins to corbiere and back. Highly recommend ice cream man at corbiere light House

Anything else you want to know drop me a message

Tamba Park has been closed for a few years now. Amaizin maze is definitely a full day thing

Our experience is you need s car.

Public transport is patchy, or was when we went.

Unless you're good at cycling in which case awesome!

We liked the orchid place :)

Have fun! It's very relaxing.

ericyoungorchid.org/

We also sponsor a gorilla in the zoo so say hello to him if you go!

There’s a good Thai restaurant on the beach in St Helier www.thaidicqshack.je/ . The war tunnels, zoo, museums and coach tour are all great.

Greve de Lecq is a stunning little beach on the north coast with a restaurant and gift shop, you could spend a lovely day there. Its very family friendly.
Definitely visit the zoo as well.

Sorry I’m late replying. Thank you so much, these are all great suggestions, I’ll get writing up our plans

I’ll be sure to say hello to your hamster @NiceGerbil

Oh I mean Gorilla 😂

We bought bus passes and got round the island on them. Probably helped we were staying in st helier though.

This was great:
www.jersey.com/events/bioluminescence-beach
Would look to see what else they do if I went again.

And would

There are many wonderful beaches. DH hired a car and we visited many of them.

The War Tunnels are fantastic, there is a restaurant and gift shop there and we took the opportunity to paint some pottery whilst we were there. DC really enjoyed that. Love Bird Pottery Studio (find them on Facebook, their website seems to be out of action), you can book a table and collect your fired pieces about 5 days later - or pay to have them posted home.

We were there for the Battle of the Flowers - amazing parade of floats. Not happening this year due to Covid.

Our apartment had a lovely welcome hamper of local produce from Waitrose, and we shopped there too.

@Sideorderofchips

Hello!

I'm from Jersey and here is what I recommend with kids

Jersey zoo. Make a full day of it it's lovely there. Gorey Castle is brilliant as well

Beach wise long beach at gorey and St brelade Bay both have lovely beaches

Town is hit and miss unless you want restaurants. Maritime museum is brilliant as well

For walks you can do the railway walk from St aubins to corbiere and back. Highly recommend ice cream man at corbiere light House

Anything else you want to know drop me a message

Thank you @Sideorderofchips , do you know if any supermarkets do deliveries? We’re hoping to pre order but can’t see any options.

We travelled from St Helier to the War Hospital by a vintage open top coach. It was fab when the roof rolled back.

Just back from Jersey a couple of weeks ago. Had a great time. Weather was fab so we made the most of the beaches - lots to choose from. We were staying in St Helier, but although there were plenty of buses, they weren't always at times to suit what we wanted to do so decided to hire a car. Was then v easy to get around, but you can only pick the hire cars up at the airport so may be worth booking before you go.

Agree with recommendations for the Zoo, St Brelade's and Gorey beaches. Watersports and RIB boat rides great too, but worth booking in advance. Occupation Tapestries at the Maritime Museum really interesting too.

Lots of good seafood eateries.

Open top bus thing wasn't running when we were there due to Covid, but otherwise very few covid restrictions/limitations.
Definitely intending to go back.

You are so lucky. I should be there now but DD too unwell so DH has gone on his own - for a fortnight! We visit annually.

You didn't say age of the DC.

Greve de Lecq probably my favourite beach wrt medium size, but does have loos, tea shops etc and big car park.
Other lovely beach is Ouaisne, much smaller and easier to keep an eye.

You can get combined tickets for Jersey heritage sites, though we often just take out membership so we can go to some more than once.

Jersey Zoo is pricey, and you may not see all the animals first time as the enclosures are animal friendly. On the other hand it is very good and compact, with really interesting keeper talks. We normally have a whole day there and then pop in for an hour or 2 every other day. (We are members).

You can get surf lessons at St Ouens Bay from a couple of places. The Watersplash does nice reasonably priced food.

Jersey Seafaris do ace tours but may be fully booked already and are £££.

Walking out to corbiere lighthouse along the causeway just as the tide is clearing from it is fun, especially if you have waterproof shoes.

And watch out for the cuddly animal in the hole in the tree near St Mary's. (!?!. Changes regularly.)

Try orderitje.com or first choice groceries for a delivery

We also went on the sea tractor.

Just as the tractor left solid ground and floated in the sea, the theme tune from James Bond 007 started. There were lots of very excited little girls and boys enjoying the trip.

Sea tractor? Do you mean Ducks / Amphibious vehicles that get you to Elizabeth Castle? They are fun.

I am in Jersey now and should be saying having a fab time if it wasn’t the cloud hanging over me (see my thread)

Devils hole, go at high tide. Pub at start of the path, Polish chief the tomato soup is spicy!

Plemont, a bridge too far for me . Hundreds of steps. But if you are mobile go at low tide. I read that there is a waterfall you can walk behind at low tide. Rings bells, I think I done that 30+ years ago on my first visit to Jersey.

Jersey zoo, the gorillas have a baby, so cute.

St Brelades Bay. We were incredibly lucky, went the first day of sand sailing go karting not sure what its called but DH and DD had a great time. The wind has to be strong, the tide out and the sand flat. Perfect conditions when we were there. We had evening meal at L’Horizon Hotel out on the terrace. Staff provide diners with blankets.

Bouley Bay. Pebble beach sea shelves steeply ,. Watched kids learning how to dive. Cafe on the beach Mad Mary’s recommendation the BLT and her special hot chocolate, 😋 wear scuba shoes if you can otherwise getting in/out the sea is painful.

We have gone with flow each day lived in the moment and found some real gems. The only day we had planned was a sea trip and the wind was too strong to sail and we were given a refund.

Oh one last thing. Covid testing at the airport. It can take a long time be prepared for the wait.

Have a lovely holiday

Thanks so much everyone for advice. We’re here currently and loving it. One of the things I will say is the bus service has been absolutely spot on. As long as you follow the timetable it won’t let you down and has been a great way of seeing Jersey.

The food has been honestly amazing! It’s expensive but the service and quality of food has made it all worth it.