France is a nightmare

[Provenceinthesummer]

And you think it is bad in the U.K. come to France and see what a country on it’s knees really looks like.

We arrived hoping for a relaxing road trip and holiday. Every service station is littered with rubbish, most of them they have run out of food, loo paper and filthy tables and chairs so there is nowhere to even sit.

We finally arrive at a five star hotel to find out the restaurant is closed every day for three days - apparently the French F&B crisis is worse than ours! No chef, no waiting staff. They couldn’t even provide a basic room service menu. Every restaurant in the area also closes on the same days which was helpful.

Fawlty towers ensues as we try to meet basic needs of water and resort to the mini bar nuts for dinner. The gardens and pool are a mass of wasps and flies and the baking heat makes it an unbearable experience. I have never been to a hotel with no food anywhere in the world !!

Parched, starving and exhausted we check out the following day and find a hotel with food - all good apart from the fact there is no air conditioning and it’s 36c minimum here. It’s also rated five star apparently. Sleepless, exhausted and dizzy from the heat we drive in the car to ‘cool down’ and after a few miserable sweltering nights we decide to check out to next hotel - which promises great things like air conditioning and actual food only to find out the housekeepers are now non existent, all have covid. The number of people coughing and ill around the pool and in the hotel is alarming. The food is so bad it’s made me sick every night, kids are now refusing to eat anything else apart from crisps!

I haven’t slept for over a week - now facing a 12 hour grumpy drive home, I developed a severe sore throat and shakes overnight and it’s 39c! We have paid a fortune for this ‘ holiday’ and I can not wait to get home!! 🤨

We had a very similar experience on Corsica once - nice accommodation, but it felt like the hosts were only doing it for money and actually resented people staying there. Staff in restaurants were also rude.
But some friends of ours been to Corsica many times and absolutely loved it - I think it depends on the particular place you’re staying at.

That's good to Hear

We stayed in the Dordogne for a week and then later in my life in Brittany .
In Dordogne we made great friends with the Belgian Landlord of the local Bar in Villefrance de Perigord (spelling may be off) and one night the entire Belgian Football Team were in there as well . Great Night .
Rocamador (again, spelling) was a delight to see, as was Mount St Michel, Riems and Les Eysies (there is a Museum of Natural History there).

@Trinity65 well unless it's changed substantially since June!

Rocamadour is just breathtaking, I love the whole Dordogne region. We're actually going to Brittany for our next holiday so sounds like we've got similar taste.

Sounds like the absolute dream! 😋

If you don't want to fly, Spain and Italy are much further!

I have been to France many times and never had a bad time. Always found people really friendly and hotels good. Yes even in Paris.

Think you were just unlucky.

Thanks @ghostyslovesheets there’s a wine shop on site.

A shop that just sells wine…love the place already 😆

DH’s parents used to go and help over the summer in the eurocamps in France and Spain as something to do, and they loved them all!

oooh very excited to go now!!

Hilarious. We’re on week 5 of the school holidays here. 😂

I will say, a lot of that sounds like extremely bad luck, but I've been to almost every country in Europe and France is possibly my least favourite to visit. I've probably been 6 or 7 times to different areas across the country, different cities, north/south, rural, package holidays, diy, and none have been particularly good. I find the food often very poor and don't really understand how France has such an amazing gastronomic reputation, the people have been often not very nice and extremely impolite or unhelpful, wait staff in particular have been astonishingly rude, and the number of rail and air traffic strikes I've suffered through is ridiculous.

That time we went to santander, we went by ferry. Great compromise option between driving or flying to spain in my opinion.

Awww have a great Time
We stayed in a Lodge of the Chateau but forget the name of the village . I have a Woo about that if anyone is interested.
That was one Easter and it was cold but they had a lovely log fire with plenty of logs.
Weather was strange (just like here) as one day we went off to a Coastal town and on the way it actually snowed . By the time we got there, though, the sun was shining .

I was in north-west France earlier in June, and honestly experienced nothing like you describe. We also drove, and the service stations we stopped at were clean and fully stocked. Restaurants/cafes and shops we went in seemed fully staffed, full menus, and pleased to be welcoming tourists back again!

This.

Oh, mate.

Just seen signs above the m6 warning of heatwave in England and saying pack extra water.

I think you've been unlucky OP. Every country has good and bad which is why I get intensely irritated at people who slag off the UK whilst looking at other countries where they have been as visitors to the best parts.

I'm sorry you have had a shit holiday, and sorry you probably have covid now and the journey home too.

I hope you feel better tomorrow in your own lovely bed with the lush green UK summer outside.

You are truly #blessed
😂

Was just about to put this!
Good old Normandy 😍

Sorry to hear you've had such a terrible holiday and that you now have Covid, however to extrapolate from your experience: Come to France and see what a country on its knees really looks like is a bit OTT. Going to the south of France in the summer and complaining it's hot is a bit like going to Paris and complaining it's not by the sea. The autoroutes going south are notoriously busy at this time of year, but there are lots of lovely aires (not something you'd find in the UK incidentally) where you can picnic on a table in the shade. Pack some supplies for the journey back and do that - or turn off the autoroute and travel on the RN instead (something that has never been easier since the advent of satnav). Covid rates are currently higher in the UK than in France. I'd also point out that in the event you actually had to call on the French health service you'd be in for a very pleasant surprise. Find a pharmacy - say a cheery bonjour on entering (MUCH more important to the French in terms of manners than saying please or thank you) - and ask for some Doliprane to bring your DD's temperature down. Your hotel sounds particularly terrible - I think you should name and shame so we can all avoid it. Bon voyage for the journey home.

I am coming next week thank you all for the mustard information I'm going to bring some with me!

Def agree - used to stock up in suppository paracetamol when we were in Italy - much easier than trying to syringe calpol into an ill child.

Here are some pics from the Loire Valley today. Total nightmare.

Yep, the reason why we chose france was because I was heavily pregnant at the time and had 2 young kids. Didn't want to fly and didn't want to spend hours in the car. We spent a week in Wales that holiday too and it was much nicer.

I once stayed in the Hotel Bambi (i think) loft bedroom, one night of hell, it was like 35C in there! can't remember the town, Baume les Dames just been told.

But we were in France and Italy for 4 weeks and that was the only poor experience, aside the hotels restuarant was amazing.

Food? You have to be picky or you get chips with everything but try to use a bit of the lingo and we find the French people incredibly nice, Supermarkets to die for - so much choice, especially as most have meat and fish counters.

Our most recent trip (this year) was to Ax Les Thermes, where we saw the burning of Saint Joan follwed up by a fete at a nr by village, everyone was so nice.

Our BnB hosts even laid on a huge meal for us, they treated us like we were family, every local dish possible and helped out by lending us their car when ours got a water leak.

Whats not to love?

Oh my God, how terrible