Arriving in France late Sunday evening - anything open?

[tribalmango]

We are arriving at Montpellier airport at 9pm tomorrow, collecting a car and driving about an hour (west) to our rental, which is quite rural.

I am struggling to find somewhere we'll be able to pick up essentials for Sunday evening, Monday morning before we can get to a supermarket.

It looks like we might need to head into the city to find a convenience store.

Does anyone know?

@tribalmango There is a McDonalds close to the airport that is open until 1am. You can find it on Google Maps.

Get Happy Meals, selecting burgers and nuggets as an arrival snack and then fruit, yoghurt and smoothies as the sides, drinks and desserts and save them for a quick breakfast in the morning.

Another thing is that petrol stations that aren't on the motorway will often close the shop in the late evening leaving just the pay at pump with card open.

A couple of sachets of Batchelors Pasta 'n' Sauce will take no space in your luggage and will tide the teens over until the morning (after a sandwich on the plane and a decent size lunch).

Yes, I saw that. It's not the most direct route to our accommodation but looks like a good solution for hungry beasts!
Gawd.....Brits abroad! Arrive and head straight to MacDonald's

Carrefour first thing on Monday :-)

@tribalmango you say you're heading west from Montpellier. If you're going along the A9 motorway there is the Montpellier Fabregues service area just outside of Montpellier heading west.

There's a petrol station and shop on the north side (that's the side heading west). There are more shops and restaurants on the south side of the services. You can get over there by crossing the bridge over the motorway. There's a Casino Express supermarket and hotel on the other side. Unfortunately I can't see what time the supermarket is open until.

Be aware that these services are on a toll motorway so you might want to take this into account if you're considering making a detour.

We have put arriving in France off until Monday morning for this very reason op - sorry but past experience reminds me nothing is open

@Pomellata well that's me told. I have been in actual Montpellier a good few times on a Sunday night and always found restaurants open to eat in.

They may not be great that late but there may be something.

To be honest it is a short flight so it is probably best to have something to eat before flying out.

You could probably get a nice meal to takeaway from a local restaurant if you can't face fast food. My brother tells me the vending machine pizzas are pretty good, there are other vending machines around for fresh and cooked food too like fresh farm produce for your milk.

@Ginmonkeyagain it's just that around train stations in cities is always where the bad stuff happens, in France anyway; late at night could be a little dangerous. I would go out of my way to avoid it😬

I can't imagine wanting to go and actually get something to eat in a restaurant after I've just got off, what may be, a delayed plane. At that stage, you just want to get to your accommodation. So I agree, I would not want to go into the city to get something to eat.

This supermarket is open 24/7: https://magasins.supercasino.fr/supermarche/montpellier-ganges/CS812

Click on "Itinéraire" for driving directions. It shouldn't be too much of a detour from your drive west from the airport.

Be careful what you pack, and avoid fresh milk:-
From Govt website..
Taking food and drink into France
You cannot take meat, milk or products containing them into EU countriess_. There are some exceptions such as powdered baby milk, baby food and special foods or pet feed required for medical reasons.

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france/entry-requirements#:~:text=Taking%20food%20and%20drink%20into,feed%20required%20for%20medical%20reasons.

I always pack tea, coffee, sugar and uht jiggers into a Tupperware box. Failing the milk situation, you can sometimes get a pint of it at Boots in the airport. My dd15 drinks milk like it goes out of fashion. You cold chance it by seeing if there’s a petrol station along the way. You can easily do your route on Google maps, or get vino at duty free.
Monday morning will be fun getting stuff in. Everyone will be too tired when you land anyway.

French McDonalds are amazing - completely unlike their UK counterparts

Also a service station on a motorway

I'm not averse to McDonalds (it's a godsend sometimes as my kids are so fussy and they will reliably eat it) but I think it's a bit of a reach to say that French McDonald's is "amazing"! It's fine, it does the job, but it's basically the same as any McDonald's with some minor variations.

That puzzled me too! They feel very similar to me. Frites sauce rather than mayo.

It’s quite hard to find fresh milk at all in France. Lots of supermarkets only have uht.

I would eat before or on the plane, and if stuck there’s a McDonald’s six minutes drive from the airport. Everyone take snacks in their bags

And it’s a beautiful part of the world, you’ll love it

I know this used to be true but I’ve never had any trouble buying fresh milk at all in any supermarket. But in a smallish service station I wouldn’t be confident of it.

Thank you for the addition of ‘trim baller’ to my French vocabulary! I’m in France at the moment, and we had a complex two-car journey from Paris (with lots of luggage because half of us are subsequently going on a further holiday), so it was most useful.

He's en vacances at the moment apparently. Wetherspoons UK end and an airport meal deal each just in case. Hit a boulangerie /café hypermarket in the morning followed by a hypermarché.

You could take a bag of pasta and a jar of pesto, in your main luggage as back up, and then head to the shops in the morning

Arrived!
Flight delayed.
Boys fed at MacDonalds and all well.
Carrefour in the morning.

It's very warm. The rooms have ceiling fans 🪭

Freeze a pint of milk, wrap it well & put in your luggage, you can take a loaf with you, some jam & butter, freeze the butter to keep it cool, then next morning you can go to the markets & shops.