Discover beautiful countryside, dramatic architecture or indulge in fashion shopping and fabulous food, fresh from markets, great restaurants or warm from the bakers. And of course there is so much more, museums, art galleries, people watching. For what to see and what to visit in France in 2012 follow here France holiday attractions 2012. To find out what events are on in France in 2012, see our social calendar for France 2012, follow here villa holiday events in France 2012.
Our hand picked villas in France, cottages, chateau and gites either have a swimming pool or are near to the beach so it’s easy to relax and for children to be happy. Many of our French chateau have private tennis courts as well as a pool. Our chalets and apartments in the mountains offer exceptional skiing holidays in superbly appointed chalets and luxury apartments (many with shered pool).
Traveling to France
Travel to France is easy and there are a wide range of options. France is the predominant destination for self drive holidays with car ferry companies such as Brittany Ferries, P & O, Seafrance and LD Lines offering short (Dover to Calais) and long sea crossings (Portsmouth to Saint Malo, Cherbourg and Caen), Plymouth to Roscoff and St Malo, Poole to Cherbourg, Cork to Roscoff). Eurotunnel offer an option for drive on drive off using the train and the channel tunnel.
The TGV fast train is becoming an increasingly popular option as connections improve. You can pick up your hire car direct from the station.
There are numerous fly drive options with low cost flight operators offering a wide range of flights from regional airports.
Flying times to our French villas: France is well serviced by low cost and scheduled flights. The main airlines flying to France are Easyjet, Ryanair, Flybe, Jet2, Thomsonfly, Aurigny, British Airways. The following are the average flight times from London.
Flying times for French villas in Brittany: Flights from London to Brest (BES 1hr 10 minutes) London to Dinard (DNR 1hr 10 minutes).
Flying times for French villas in Dordogne: Flights from London to Bordeaux (1hr 35 minutes), London to Bergerac (1hr 40 minutes), London to Limoges (1 hr 30 minutes).
Flying times for French villas in south of France, Cote d'Azur, Provence and Languedoc Roussillon: Flights from London to Nice (NCE 2hrs), London to Marseille (MRS 1 hr 55 minutes), London to Toulon (TLN 1hr 45 minutes), London to Nimes (FNI 1 hr 50 minutes), London to Montpellier (MPL 1 hr 45 minutes).
Flying times for French villas in Corsica: Flights from London to Figari (2hrs 20 minutes)
France weather
The weather in France is generally good although there is a big difference between the Mediterranean climate in the south of France and the more temperate north. Temperatures in the south of France often hit 30 degrees centigrade in July and August, it is less in June and September and although still lower in April, May and October there are still beach temperatures. In the north of France average temperatures peak around 25 degrees in the height of the school summer holidays and drop down for the low season, in southern Brittany the gulf stream helps maintain the warmth.
France snow
Snowfall for France is exceptionally good with the northern Alps enjoying deep snow covering through the winter months. The southern Alps get slightly less but plenty of sunshine although some resorts like Isola 2000 enjoy exceptional snow conditions. The Pyrenees are less reliable but still have a pretty impressive snow record.
France time
France lies in the Central European Time Zone and Central European Standard Time (CET) is one hour ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time. So France is an hour ahead of the UK.
France food and drink
French cuisine is recognised as arguably the best in the world. If you like your food and drink then there is nowhere better as the produce is just excellent. You have fabulous wines, Cognac, seafood and fresh produce sold, beautifully displayed in charming markets and shops in the towns and villages throughout France.
Eating out in France
There is nothing like a good meal out in France. For the gastronome it is paradise as you can find great restaurants everywhere but they are also very good for families as there is a long standing culture of welcoming children into a restaurant. The veriety is vast as there are so many regional differences and equally there is something for all budgets, wherever you go to eat out in France.
France holiday books to read
There are many to go at, we recommend Peter Mayle - A Year in Provence, Joan Harris - Five quarters of an Orange and Chocolate for light, entertaining reading. James Pope-Hennessy - Aspects of Provence for a taste of the south though the real master is Marcel Pagnol with Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources. Classics include Emile Zola - La Bete Humaine, Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities and Victor Hugo - Les Miserables.
Rent a villa in France, what to expect: Most of our rental villas in France have linen and towels included in the French villa rental. You will usually have to pay a security deposit and sometimes France villa rental involves paying a local change-over or cleaning charge. All these items are detailed on the France villa rental page for each villa under what is or is not included in the French villa rental price.
We have an unrivalled range of France villas, cottages, gites and ski chalets, including comfortable villas, chalets, luxury apartments and chateaux, if you want to rent a French barn or even a fort on a private island in France we have it, supported by over 20 years of in depth experience offering ski apartment, chalet and villa holidays in France. Our selection process for our accommodation in France is rigorous and we refuse many prospective apartments, chalets, gites, cottages and villas in France with pools to maintain our standards. Book one of our french villas, cottages, gites, chalets or luxury apartment now using the quick search at the top left of this page. We offer an unrivalled range of France villas, luxury gites, country cottages, french ski chalets and luxury ski apartments.