Annual French summer holiday base for family - French immersion

[livelaughcryatwork]

Hello,

My little family and I (husband and 8 year old son) are looking for an annual August holiday location in France. We are all learning French and would love to have one place that we go back to every year for French immersion and memorable childhood summers for our son. Hubby and I will be working (mostly half days) and we would love our son to make friends that also spend their summers at the same location.

What we are looking for: somewhere where families repeat visit every year, not too touristy (our goal is French immersion), sun but husband is adverse to very hot weather (he doesn’t cope in 30 degrees), enough to do for a month (day trips, local amenities, cafes, restaurants etc), we won’t have a car so walkability/bikeability is a big plus as is public transport, ideally not heaving with people (although we live in London so can handle crowds but would rather not be fighting for a spot on the beach). Ideally we would like our son to attend 1/2 day activities (sailing, kids club or similar activities) and then one of us would spend the other 1/2 day with him.

Places we have considered: Île de Ré (Le Bois), Southern Brittany (Gulf of Morbihan), Angers (for the lake and access to Loire Valley). I’ve only been to Paris so have no first hand experience with any of these areas.

Any tips would be appreciated! I’ve been trying to use ChatGPT to narrow down places but it just agrees with everything I say! I need some real life input!

I would look carefully at the holiday club situation. Nephews all have to be registered in the town as citizens to access the state run holiday clubs and the private ones are limited and much more expensive.

Biarritz has surf schools and French language schools. Lovely vibe. The weather is quite varied.

We love lots of the places mentioned here! Le Touquet area will be cooler (avoid Berck and we aren’t fans of Boulogne sur Mer either). The area around Saint Valery is lovely too.

Further south, definitely try La Tranche sur Mer but I think some weeks in August that will be too hot for you. The lake at Angers is brilliant. And we loved the river and Angers itself too. The area around Vannes to Quiberon also lovely but particularly busy in August.

I’d highly recommend doing a three or four stop road trip around these areas this summer and the deciding your preferred location ready for next summer.

We have a house in the southern French alps. It can get over 30 but it’s rare. It’s also not an area frequented by lots of Brits, other than our friends who’ve been introduced to the area. It’s fab and the kids (now young adults) love it. They can speak French, both did GCSE (9s) and one got an A at A level, but they haven’t got many local friends. I wish we were better on that front.

When I was at school my French exchange family from Normandy had an apartment in St Jean de Monty and they took me there a few times. Sounds like it may be what you are looking for. It’s La Vendée.

Brittany is ideal for a longer trip as more laid back, cooler, etc . La Baule area is great though I stay inland. What I don’t know about is public transport because we always drive from the U.K., so easy, we take the overnight ferry to st malo. I’ve personally only been in Paris without transport, every other trip I have had either the car or the motorcycle. Other places I love are Avignon (baking hot) and Le Puy.

I do love the vendee too, have stayed in La tranche sur mer many times but it’s 30 ish in summer, perfect for me but not if you are heat averse. Also I did attempt to use public transport once and gave up and called a taxi. Could have improved because that was a while ago but it was good for bikes

So you're thinking about living in a French village and putting kids in local holiday clubs? THe challenge with this is as pp mentioned - all those local clubs and camps are very popular, they give priority to local residents and at least the ones in our region are booked out in 2 seconds flat when the booking opens in early june.
What about a campsite? French are very territorial and yes many families tend to return to the exact same place year after year. And while there will be other tourists, all campsites I have been to are majority French and all activities are in French. Campings in Biscarrosse were very nice - weather still reasonable, but they were by the lake, so water was warm.

Second Biscarrosse; we go every year to the Yelloh camping at Les Rives. Lots of French, and also Irish families (we go first week of French school hols).

It's complex to get to though by public transport. We take 2 trains, and then an expensive taxi.

That’s a good point about campsites. The few times we’ve been (a while ago) as soon as we arrived a couple of French kids would be over asking the boys to “jouez au foot”.

Tours (Loire Valley) is supposed to have the "purest" French in France, so easier to learn. I've always found the Breton accent pretty tricky.

There's certainly a lot to do in the Loire Valley, and it has a good (flat!) network of Voies Vertes for cycling, and a good train network- also, although there's lots to visit and it has plenty of holidaymakers, most of the towns are "real" places and not resorts.

It might get pretty hot in summer. I would previously have said that it had the perfect climate, but now that we have climate change....😬 Having said that, last time we went to our favourite campsite in N.Brittany a couple of years ago they were recovering from a 38 degree heatwave, so...🤷‍♀️

Consider the Presqu'Ile de Guerande. It's just past the southern edge of Brittany so technically is Loire Atlantique, but most of the towns seem to consider themselves Breton still. We've been many times and it is very French, despite being sandwiched between Brittany and Vendee which are popular with British visitors. We rarely see any other British there. There are some good beaches (eg La Baule) which have kids clubs on the beach, sailing schools etc.

I would also think about using campsites as suggested above as there will be more people around to converse with. Try and look for ones where the reviews are mostly written in French.

Thank you so much for all your replies. I have been busy looking at all the places mentioned and it looks like I have well and truly missed the boat this year as everything is pretty well booked up but I’m planning for next summer now!

We have narrowed it down to La Baule, Carnac, Arzon and Sarzeau. Main factors are being within walking distance of shops, restaurants and a beach. We will be working most of the time so don’t need lots to keep us entertained but a sailing school and a kids club for our son is a must.

We will probably have a car by this time next year so we will be able to drive which will make things slightly easier!

Does anyone have any insight into any of these areas?

Only that the Golfe du Morbihan is very sheltered, and we found the sea very warm, wirh many jellyfish.

My sister lives in France and we spent some time in Carnac last year. Its completely gorgeous, but very much a holiday place - lots of English people as well as from other European countries. I think you could easily find your son befriending other English people. I suppose it depends what your priorities are, for a holiday its fab, for immersion there are probably better options.

@dicentra365 thank you this is very helpful! French immersion is the main goal so we’ve ruled Carnac out (as beautiful as it sounds).

Look at Normandy or Brittany (northern) with the added advantage is it’s really easy to drive there via Portsmouth ferries, even I will drive the short distance on the right. The only problem is that fewer families opt for the same location these days, i know quite a few french families and they prefer the hotel experience these days and say self catering in the same gite is old fashioned

La Baule is where a French friend of mine has lived and worked with her family for many years. She studied English here as a teenager and says there are many English tourists there. It’s chic and upmarket from recollection when I’ve visited. I’ve done a few sports there but apparently it’s good for teens with a teenage beach club, horse riding, excellent water sports and vast coastal paths perfect for clicking. It also has adventure parks and escape games. Put La Baule teenagers into good and AI gives answers. My friends kids are pre teens, eldest I think is 11. let me know if you’d like me to PM my friend for more info.

Google not good!

La Baule definitely has shops, restaurant and beach within walking distance. My friend also rents out either her house or a holiday home at La Baule so PM me if you’re interested (it’s probably booked up now).

Lots of hotel resort and beach and sailing clubs and campsite clubs for kids in La Baule. Average peak summer daytime temperatures are 23-24 degrees in July and August rarely exceeding 27-30 degrees on standard summer days.

If the sailing school is all in French, they surely won’t want to take an English speaking 8 year old. It wouldn’t be safe as he won’t understand the instructions?

I think you either need somewhere touristy enough that the classes are done in English and French - for example, the surf schools around Biarritz or the Alpine activities clubs in Morzine. But then it’s not so immersive.

Or you need a different sort of club, one that is just childcare so language not so crucial, or a language school. There are various places with kids’ immersive language schools which could work well - at least for a few years until his French is good enough for French sailing lessons.

The only thing about Biarritz is it gets hot there. I’ve been (half French friend has a flat there). His early teen daughter also found it a bit boring (but then that’s maybe her age, she speaks fluent French and English).

La Baule according to AI has several premier schools offering English speaking coaches or bilingual staff.

From a general Google most sailing schools (and would presume other activities too) offer English speaking courses which is reassuring. Obvs OP would like her son to understand in French too but that should come over time with progression in the language and the activity.

I personally wouldn’t want my child with just English speaking children on holiday, because how will they learn and improve their French (and this is related to other countries and languages too) otherwise.

That’s true about heat. I wasn’t thinking Biarritz specifically, more nearby areas such as Hossegor which has lots of surfing.