A New Area
We planned to spend two whole weeks in France in 2024 for our main summer holiday. There were three main drivers for that. Firstly, Kas had entered a triathlon at Alpe d’Huez. Secondly, the kids wanted somewhere with a beach. And finally, I wanted to colour in a few new French Departments and possibly visit Monaco for a whole new country.
A Place to Stay
We took two days travelling down and another two coming back, so there were lots of places we stayed.
- On the way down we stayed at the Hotel Lac d’Orient in Mesnil Saint Pere. It was functional, and plenty good enough for what we needed.
- In the Alps, we stayed at the lovely Appartement Beryl at Le Manoir in Bourg d’Oisans.
- In Nice we stayed at an apartment on Rue Meyerbeer, really close to the beach. It was privately owned and leased by a holiday letting company. It was not as nice as it looked in the photos.
- On the way home we stayed at the Logis Hotel Chalet du Mont Roland, which had an excellent restaurant.
Getting There
We took the cars down. Both of them. Kas needed to carry a bike, so we weighed the cost of taking two cars against the cost of buying roof rails and bike carriers for one car. It was about evens. Anyway, having two cars would give more operational flexibility once actually in France.
The Caches
To be honest, it wasn’t primarily a caching trip. The French Alps are a bit spartan on that front, and whilst I could have toured around whilst in Nice, I also didn’t have the energy for much. So the caching was more about doing odd caches in good locations, rather than hardcore caching. I managed to colour in about 6 new departments in the south-east corner, and I visited Monaco, which counts as a whole new country.
Extras
We went up and down a few mountains. And I had lunch with my boss one day. He lives in Grenoble and it seemed a shame not to take the opportunity.
Individual Posts
Here is the day-by-day account of our fortnight in France in 2024.
Serre Chevalier
Nice – Old Town
Nice – The Castle
