 Poster: A snowHead
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Contemplating a summer holiday in 2 locations... splitting time between mountains and beach.
Driving from UK, thinking France, but any suggestions for good combinations of mountain location (ideally with lake) and then coastal destination.
Family of 4, 2 kids aged 9 and 6.
Any suggestions?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Basque Country.
Bilbao, San Sebastián, the local mountains, and great food.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Annecy, then somewhere like the Frejus area.
Did it a few times when mine were that kind of age. Plenty to do in both areas, obviuosly depending on your expectations!
Edit: One of my favourite weeks on the south coast in a campsite lodge around Agay. Lovely quiet area (a few years ago!)
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@Adam123, the Lac Serre Poncon is just South of Briancon, near Embrun. Reasonable drive down to Med or Languedoc from there.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Adam123, depending on how much driving you want to do, you could look at Austrian Tirol/ Italy Dolomites/ Slovenia, and from there down to the coast in either Italy, Slovenia or Croatia.
It would be a lot more driving than a France trip though.
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| GlasgowCyclops wrote: |
The Basque Country.
Bilbao, San Sebastián, the local mountains, and great food. |
Or just north of there . Pyrenees then French Atlantic coast.
Hendaye, St Jean de Luz, Biarritz etc.
Lovely area.
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| swskier wrote: |
@Adam123, depending on how much driving you want to do, you could look at Austrian Tirol/ Italy Dolomites/ Slovenia, and from there down to the coast in either Italy, Slovenia or Croatia.
It would be a lot more driving than a France trip though. |
Another alternative would be the Austrian Salzkammergut (76 lakes, mostly drinking water quality, spectacular mountains/scenery, plenty of water sport/hiking/cycling activities and very typical Austrian towns and villages). The area is the Austrian’s second favourite holiday destination. I may be a bit biased, but it actually is one of the most beautiful areas.
Then a 4.5 hour drive to Grado (Italian beach resort between Venice and Trieste). Croatia also has a stunning coastline in the North, but of course is a bit more of a drive.
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@Adam123, I live in Serre Chevalier and will be spending two to three various stays down at Lac Serre Poncon / Embrun, maybe even a couple of nights this weekend, then 4nts 20-24th May and two weeks June 1 - 15th,
Ironically we've never stayed overnight there, but I've cycled around there many times ( the lake is a 74km stunning loop on a road bike) and have kitesurfed (not brilliant) a few times, and usually end of the season we do a road trip to Southern Spain, and this year I was considering going a lot further afield, but Serre Poncon ticks so many boxes, especially for Wing Foiling as I'm on a bit of a mission to crack my Foiling manoeuvres before returning to UK.
https://www.serreponcon.com/ It's only 14km from the ski station of Les Orres and you can clearly see the pistes when on the lake.
Down there would be marvellous for kids, just so much going on all around the place. If you have bikes then it's superb, if not there are various places where you can hire, plus loads of schools for sailing, windsurfing, kayaking etc etc etc
In fact you might not need to go to the beach, but should you want to it's not too long a drive to the Med etc
I'm staying at the top end where there is the Plan D'Eau, which is a body of water that is full all year whereas the main lake is dry all winter with the Durance filling it up now, so by the end of May it will look like the bottom of the two photos.
And take a look at the opening video on the Home screen of this website from a school that operates on the left side of the photo above and will give you an idea of what it all looks like.
https://www.spot-wingfoil.com/
And this is where we are staying - in their chalet/cabins
http://www.camping-embrun-clapiere.com/
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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As noted, Basque Country springs to mind immediately. We try to go to the Hossegor area every year for a beach fix, with day trips down to San Sebastien area and points west, but we have also hiked in the Pyrenees as a few days' add on. There are some amazing huts just a few hours' hike from "civilization" in the Pyrenees. There are probably areas with lakes, too.
Alternatively, another trip we did was a week in Samoens (which has a smallish lake), then we drove straight across France to Hossegor, then up to the Perigord/Dordogne for a few days. A great combination of mountains/beach/country. You could do a similar trip from Annecy.
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@Adam123, Tignes, then head south to Ste Maxime.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Adam123 wrote: |
Contemplating a summer holiday in 2 locations... splitting time between mountains and beach.
Driving from UK, thinking France, but any suggestions for good combinations of mountain location (ideally with lake) and then coastal destination.
Family of 4, 2 kids aged 9 and 6.
Any suggestions? |
This suggestion isn't right for you because you want to drive* but for other people, the best place I have found to combine mountains and beach is Corsica. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Gorgeous and largely unspoilt. Fantastic mountains and wonderful beaches.
*technically you could drive to South of France and get on a ferry but that's a bit of a mission...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Adam123, So much to choose from.
As @swskier, has suggested the Dolomites followed by a trip to Istria would be lovely but it will be a long drive. I've done it on my motorbike and really enjoyed the change from the dramatic moutains to the karst scenery and the Istrian towns with their Roman/Venitian/Austrian influences. It will be very hot in the summer, however.
But my choice would be the Pyrenees for mountains, either Cirque de Gavarnie or the Ordesa National Park in Spain (spot the lammergeier) then either to the Basque coast or my preference the Lanquedoc coast. Gruissan or some of those old ports such as Sète (where much of the wine in France is imported and they have some interesting festivals) . Its a lovely wild coastline. Then perhaps potter back through the Camargue (white horses and bullfights), Nîmes (the amphitheatre and Pont du Gard) and finish up driving over the Millau Viaduct on the way home.
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@jedster,
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the best place I have found to combine mountains and beach is Corsica. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Gorgeous and largely unspoilt. Fantastic mountains and wonderful beaches.
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Whilst I personally find it hard to tear myself away from the foothills of the Alps in northern/inland Provence, in the area around the Ventoux, I do also agree with this.
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You know it makes sense.
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How very strange - this is exactly the holiday I have arranged for our (family of 4) this summer!! Arranged it back in December as I like to get things out of the way! This is what we're doing in case it offers inspiration (we like to cater for all our interests so rugged week plus resort week):
We are driving to Bourg St Maurice for a week (glamping at Huttopia - stayed there a number of years, perfect location and
accommodation ranges from camping to cabins with everything in between). Easy walk to funicular (free in summer and free resort buses) to take you up to Les Arcs or you can park for free (5 min drive). Taking a drive of 45 mins gets you to Tignes Le Lac and you get your lake - could stay there instead.
Moving on to Ile D'Oloron - island off the west coast connected by bridge - for a week in a resort - not been there before but have been to Ile De Re (island above it) which is absolutely gorgeous (been 3 times so fancied a change) - note that this is a long drive from the mountains (9 hours) so I've got an airbnb half way for the night. If you didn't fancy island life, the West coast has lots of lovely resorts/places to stay.
I'd also advise that most French resorts have a Saturday changeover day (some do Saturday and Wednesday) so you need to factor that in if looking at a resort. Huttopia is great as you can arrive any day and I think it's only a minimum of 5 nights in summer.
Following Ile D'Oloron, we're driving a few hours and stopping near Puy Du Fou to go there for a day - this 'theme park' is absolutely amazing (do not take this advice lightly - see Tripadvisor - you will not regret going and your family will thank you for it) - we went years ago with the kids and going again as they're teens now. So excited.
Anyway, don't want to go into more detail as this might not float your boat (or anyone else's). I always do tons of holiday research before booking anything and it's all DIY. If you want further info or more detail on anything PM me.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Tue 7-05-24 14:15; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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This summer I'll be doing the reverse, driving to 4 days on the Atlantic coast at Vieux Boucau (the Med is boring- may as well go to a lake) and then another 5 days at Luz St Sauveur in the Pyrenees : Pic du Midi, Gavarnie, Tour de France on the Tourmalet 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Can highly recommend Puy Du Fou - we've been twice.
We've done two holidays on the Vendee coast - both great.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In the summer holidays I'd avoid the Med coast; too hot, too crowded. Nightmare to park your car. Corsica sounds wonderful - never been - but it sounds wonderful!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Origen, I've never had a problem west of the Rhone but perhaps things have got worse in recent years.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think things have got worse, and my experience was mostly east of the Rhone. The last few summers have been crazy hot down there - I was in Provence for a few weeks but wouldn't have gone to the cost. Even a bit of market shopping in town was only tolerable before 0830 in the morning.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| kettonskimum wrote: |
How very strange - this is exactly the holiday I have arranged for our (family of 4) this summer!! Arranged it back in December as I like to get things out of the way! This is what we're doing in case it offers inspiration (we like to cater for all our interests so rugged week plus resort week):
We are driving to Bourg St Maurice for a week (glamping at Huttopia - stayed there a number of years, perfect location and
accommodation ranges from camping to cabins with everything in between). Easy walk to funicular (free in summer and free resort buses) to take you up to Les Arcs or you can park for free (5 min drive). Taking a drive of 45 mins gets you to Tignes Le Lac and you get your lake - could stay there instead.
Moving on to Ile D'Oloron - island off the west coast connected by bridge - for a week in a resort - not been there before but have been to Ile De Re (island above it) which is absolutely gorgeous (been 3 times so fancied a change) - note that this is a long drive from the mountains (9 hours) so I've got an airbnb half way for the night. If you didn't fancy island life, the West coast has lots of lovely resorts/places to stay.
I'd also advise that most French resorts have a Saturday changeover day (some do Saturday and Wednesday) so you need to factor that in if looking at a resort. Huttopia is great as you can arrive any day and I think it's only a minimum of 5 nights in summer.
Following Ile D'Oloron, we're driving a few hours and stopping near Puy Du Fou to go there for a day - this 'theme park' is absolutely amazing (do not take this advice lightly - see Tripadvisor - you will not regret going and your family will thank you for it) - we went years ago with the kids and going again as they're teens now. So excited.
Anyway, don't want to go into more detail as this might not float your boat (or anyone else's). I always do tons of holiday research before booking anything and it's all DIY. If you want further info or more detail on anything PM me. |
We did something a bit similar a few years back. Went to our flat in Les Contamines and then across to Brittany stopping in the Loire for a night on the way. Good holiday but was rather a lot of driving. I didn't budget for quite how far it is from Quimper to Calais - big place France!
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Not sure how much driving you want to do, but if you want to minimise the driving, then a couple of mountain options could be the Vosges, or Massif Central. After the Massif Central, then you could head west to the French Atlantic coast, or north-west to Brittany. After the Vosges I'm not so sure; there are beach options in Belgium or North-East France, though I've never stopped there for the beaches.
If going to the Massif Central / Atlantic or Brittany, then it's worth checking the ferry options to e.g. Caen. Thinking about it, Jersey or Guernsey could be an alternative coastal option
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^^^ Massif Central is very underrated. Not sure about lakes but there are river beaches and canoeing available on the Ardeche
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This is an interesting topic. Where and when would be a good for the following please?
Great mountain scenery
Weather that is not hot (I get enough of that at home)
Good hiking trails
Decent dining
I'm guessing sometime in the autumn but would think a lot of places close down after October?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@sbooker, If you went to somewhere like Chamonix, it never really closes down, unlike many ski resorts in interseason. The only issue you'd start potentially running in to is snow starting to fall at higher levels on the trails, but it's unlikely to cause too much problem.
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| sbooker wrote: |
This is an interesting topic. Where and when would be a good for the following please?
Great mountain scenery
Weather that is not hot (I get enough of that at home)
Good hiking trails
Decent dining
I'm guessing sometime in the autumn but would think a lot of places close down after October? |
We had a fabulous week of walking in St Gervais in late October. We were self catering and I don't know what the dining is like.
Briancon is a great place to walk from though you would probably want a rental car.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| T Bar wrote: |
| sbooker wrote: |
This is an interesting topic. Where and when would be a good for the following please?
Great mountain scenery
Weather that is not hot (I get enough of that at home)
Good hiking trails
Decent dining
I'm guessing sometime in the autumn but would think a lot of places close down after October? |
We had a fabulous week of walking in St Gervais in late October. We were self catering and I don't know what the dining is like.
Briancon is a great place to walk from though you would probably want a rental car. |
The restaurant's in St Gervais are very good at reasonable prices. you also have the option of using the TMB railway to get you higher
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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My sister and I had a walking week in Les Saisies every October and it was a great time from the point of view of glorious autumn colours, plenty of sun, not hot. One year there was a fabulous array of exotic fungi of one sort and another but that depends on how the rainfall has been. Certainly Les Saisies is "closed down" by September, let alone October. St Gervais would be a much better option, I would think, though I wouldn't expect everything to be open. We were there for a day in May last year and it was quite lively.
We've also been in St Gervais for the festival when they bring the cows down from the pastures - that's a good alpine occasion!
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| Origen wrote: |
| We've also been in St Gervais for the festival when they bring the cows down from the pastures - that's a good alpine occasion! |
In Austria this is called the Almabtrieb, and it's lovely to watch. I actually happened to bump in to one going on up above our house while I was out walking the dog last Autumn. We also went along to a local farm to watch some of it and they had an outdoor bar set up and a stall selling local Zillertal foods.
You often see deals at local hotels in Mayrhofen for the weekends it's going on. It's great to watch.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thollon les Memises gives you the best of both worlds - a typical summer day there for us is hiking or biking in the mountains before lunch, swimming and paddleboarding in Lac Leman after. And it's a short drive from Calais (relatively speaking).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| sbooker wrote: |
This is an interesting topic. Where and when would be a good for the following please?
Great mountain scenery
Weather that is not hot (I get enough of that at home)
Good hiking trails
Decent dining
I'm guessing sometime in the autumn but would think a lot of places close down after October? |
I'm a little biased but you can't beat Como in Italy for that, all boxes ticked I think. Its not hugely mountainous but has some decent peaks around.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Origen wrote: |
My sister and I had a walking week in Les Saisies every October and it was a great time from the point of view of glorious autumn colours, plenty of sun, not hot. One year there was a fabulous array of exotic fungi of one sort and another but that depends on how the rainfall has been. Certainly Les Saisies is "closed down" by September, let alone October. St Gervais would be a much better option, I would think, though I wouldn't expect everything to be open. We were there for a day in May last year and it was quite lively.
We've also been in St Gervais for the festival when they bring the cows down from the pastures - that's a good alpine occasion! |
I've been in Les Contamines/St Gervais at the beginning of October and had a great time. It is very quiet although if you get a beautiful sunny weekend you will see other walkers on the trails. Not mid-week. We had plenty of snow above about 2200m and climbed a few of the mid level peaks (i.e., no or minimal glaciers, 2600m to 3200m) but we needed axe and crampons for that.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Andorra to the Pyrenees and then down to the Costa Brava. The coast is stunning and generally isn't infested with holidaying Brits abroad.
Done plenty of driving holidays to the Alps too - France and Austria and going to Lake Garda on the way to/from. Didn't often go to the coast though when we did those. Did plenty of city breaks on the way to/from to break up the long drives though.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| homers double wrote: |
| sbooker wrote: |
This is an interesting topic. Where and when would be a good for the following please?
Great mountain scenery
Weather that is not hot (I get enough of that at home)
Good hiking trails
Decent dining
I'm guessing sometime in the autumn but would think a lot of places close down after October? |
I'm a little biased but you can't beat Como in Italy for that, all boxes ticked I think. Its not hugely mountainous but has some decent peaks around. |
That's good news, as I'm driving there for the weekend this afternoon when i'm done with work!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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if something happens (accident) then may the Gods be with you...
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plenty of Gods in Greece.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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We generally spend 2 weeks mid/ end August in Tirol, and tbh don't miss the beach at all, there's so much to do in the Alps in summer (and the lakes/ mountain rivers are cleaner than the beaches/ sea in the Med) and its less busy, and cheaper. OK different type of holiday but I wouldn't underestimate how much fun can be had in the mountains in summer. If we do go the beach we jump on a 737 and head to Athens and a ferry to the islands, or Balaerics for a cheeky week in early autumn or early summer, never feel the need to do Alps and beach in same trip, closest we ever came to it was Provence where we stayed in the hills around Menerbes area and did a few day trips to the coast, which was heaving and we couldn't wait to get back to our pool in the hills sans people.
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...one of the most surprising facts about Greece reveals that the majority of the country is actually mountains
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It is a truth universally acknowleged.
With so many excellent mountain ranges in Europe* where do you start to look for a summer holiday. Ranges we haven't mentioned yet include: the Carpathians, the Alpes Maritime (Mercantor National Park), the Julian Alpes, the Sierra Nevada, the Apennines (up to 2900m high so no slouches), Norway, Cairngorms, the Brenta. The only real answer is to plan to visit them all.
However, my answer to @sbooker's question, my suggestion would be the Dolomites, but get some via ferrata kit as even quite innocent paths may have the odd section of iron. Cortina would be a good base as most of the mountain huts close in mid September. And I have known snow fall in August.
* I've been very restrictive in my definition of Europe and left out many countries claiming to be in Europe and some that, perhaps, are like Iceland and Greenland. There were 38 national federations at the recent European Gymnastics Championships and that did'nt include the barred Russia and Belarus.
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| We generally spend 2 weeks mid/ end August in Tirol, and tbh don't miss the beach at all, there's so much to do in the Alps in summer (and the lakes/ mountain rivers are cleaner than the beaches/ sea in the Med) and its less busy, and cheaper. OK different type of holiday but I wouldn't underestimate how much fun can be had in the mountains in summer. If we do go the beach we jump on a 737 and head to Athens and a ferry to the islands, or Balaerics for a cheeky week in early autumn or early summer, never feel the need to do Alps and beach in same trip, closest we ever came to it was Provence where we stayed in the hills around Menerbes area and did a few day trips to the coast, which was heaving and we couldn't wait to get back to our pool in the hills sans people. |
i totally agree. For almost 10years we spend the summer holidays in the Alps.
However the combi mountain/beach is also tempting (for some people).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I've had some good beach holidays in the past with Neilson and the companies they took over learning how to windsurf, dinghy sail and scuba diving. Do not dismiss all beach holidays. In fact my next holiday (Saturday) will be very close to the beach - Kalymnos for some rock climbing.
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My ideal summer mountain location would be somewhere not disfigured by ski ironmongery.
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FAQ
