Aibu to not understand why France is considered more upmarket than Spain or Portugal?

[Janesygal]

Just that.. It's right across the channel, our nearest neighbours so why is it considered more upmarket than Spain, the Spanish islands or Portugal?

I think you've misunderstood the point the poster was making in the boldened part of your post . She was trying to say that away from particular resorts on the Costas, that Spain is no different from France in respect of things that people were saying makes France more classy (for want of a better word)

She wasn't actually saying that she was looking for specific English produce and people herself .

Yep, I go one better and smuggle a giant block of cheddar past the Eurostar to feed my neurodiverse teenager. Aren’t you clever to have the measure of us!

We love Europe - camping and self catering. The idea of a package holiday, spending all day by a pool, having loud bars, English fry ups etc is not my cup of tea - but I get that it is other people's thing.

We did Spain last year - self catering in the Basque Region and camping in the Spanish Pyrenees. Lots to see and explore, Nice pool at the campsite, some amazing scenery. A far cry from the tourist resorts.

France is the same. We love doing stuff on holiday - and combine that with spending time at the pool and doing stuff, seeing stuff and exploring. And visiting the French supermarkets.

As people have said, I don't think there are places in France like Benidorm. There are certainly busy places and busy beaches - but also, Spain is more than just Benidorm.

My point was that in Spain, the vast majority of British visitors do go to those holiday resort traditional places. That's a fact. Not necessarily just Benidorm/Brits on tour type places but that whole stretch of coastline, the Balearics, Barcelona/Madrid. Of course you can go elsewhere in Spain, let's not be ridiculous, but the vast majority of Brits are visiting a very small part of Spain which has traditionally catered to the British market (e.g. menus in English everywhere you go).

However, in France, there is not one or even a few areas where Brits tend to go. My comment about vastness was really related to the spread of Brits in France rather than the size of the country. I'm not an idiot, I've lived in a few EU countries and I'm well aware of the size. We're in one area of France now that has a fair number of Brits because it's a traditional Eurocamp type destination but we're vastly outnumbered by French and Dutch so nobody is going to go out of their way to cater to the Brits over any other nation.