Family Beach holiday in South France, Any recomendations please?

Hi everyone,

not sure if Ive put this in the correct place.

We are looking to have a weeks beach holiday in the summer to the South of France travelling from Lugano by car.

This will be our first time France for a beach holiday, we prefer somewhere not too crowded but with a nice beach ( can that be possible?).

Has anyone got any recommendations where to go please and things to do, we have 2 children aged 10 and 13.

Thanks in advance

Avoid Cannes, it's a shithole and the surrounding beaches are either stony or crowded. Villefranche-sur-Mer, however, is a small town close by which seems to be quite nice. A friend's parents have a house and spend most of their time there.

Thanks Paddy, I will

I don't fancy the super Touristy over crowded places

Just a nice bucket spade sandy beach and some nice little old towns.

Alternatively, drive down to Genoa or Livorno and catch a ferry to Corsica. We had a great 2 weeks there last Summer, first near Porto Vecchio, then in Calvi.

Summer homes get occasionally bombed, so be sure to stay in a hotel over a house.

Seriously? We stayed in two holiday home whilst we were there, neither of which were bombed, or had been in the past. Stop ridiculous scaremongering.

I agree with this.

There have been problems with bombings on Corsica in the past but it was never really a big problem for tourists.

If they were going to Beirut or Kabul that would be a different story.

Do you call assassinations in the past of French police and police chiefs, and bombing campaign from the mafia on that island against French rule for years now, although less in the last two scaremongering?

When I was there, which was in the off season there were several un occupied homes blown up. I even visited one the day after.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120704-...aratism-villa/

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/piss-...r-holiday-home

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...purchases.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21473100

http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/chronol...?groupId=22004

And this is just English links, I can add far more to French ones. Please don't assume that I would make something like that up.

We used to go to the little seaside town of Hyères when I was a kid. Haven't been for perhaps 20 years so maybe it's a bit more developed now but I have very happy memories of being there.

The bombings are in particular against French tourists, but any foreigner looking to take property there is also a target. So if you rent a holiday home, then expect the worst. I said stay at a hotel and you will probably be fine.

Back on subject...what kind of budget do you have, and would you prefer to stay in a private home or hotel?

Corsica could be a nice option, Im told it gets really windy though?

We went there for a holiday a few years ago and we really liked it.

It seems to have escaped the mass influx of tourists that a lot of the other Mediterranean towns suffer from and is a great place to use as a base for visiting the areas.

And as for the bombing of holiday homes on Corsica, they were usually pretty well planned attacks targeting specific people or companies.

I didn't say they didn't/won't happen just that they're not widespread massive problem you implied in the your first post.

We found the west side to be windy, plus it's very craggy and doesn't have very many sandy beaches, maybe a few secluded coves. There are also huge waves and it's not really great for little kids.

The east side of the island is more "beachy" and much calmer, wind-wise.

Although as a grown up, I actually preferred the wilder side of the island.

We've been to Corsica twice and enjoyed it both times.

So it was off-season and the homes were unoccupied. Why should the OP have to worry then? All we saw were a few shot-up or graffitied road signs.

Agreed. We spent the first week doing beachy things in the Porto Vecchio area, then drove up to the Calvi area, swam in the river, drove into the ills, that sort of thing. The citadel in Calvi is pretty impressive.

I spent time there as well. I don't see the problem weighing in the good with the bad.

My husband and I spent 2 weeks touring Corsica last year. I would highly recommend it, we stayed in most places as we toured the whole Island. For a family I would suggest Marina-di-lava in Golfe De Lava, 20167 Appietto we spent 2 days here. it was not over crowded and no need to drive anywhere as everything was within walking distance.