What’s wrong with Brittany?
A while ago I added a pretty cool (well I think so) feature to francethisway that, at the blink of an eye, can tell you the distance between any two places in France (along with a map and route instructions). Try it at France distances finder if you have a moment.
The interesting thing is that behind the scenes I can see a record of which journeys have been looked at most often – and I reckon this will be a decent guide to where people are planning to go for their 2010 France holidays. So without further ado, these are the French regions to visit in 2010 if you like crowds:
- Paris 15%
- Normandy 11%
- Aquitaine including Dordogne 10%
- Provence 9%
- Languedoc-Roussillon 8%
- Loire Valley 8%
- Midi-Pyrenees 7%
- Brittany 5%
- Rhone Alpes 5%
- Poitou-Charentes 4%
- Western Loire / Vendee 4%
- Burgundy 3%
- Champagne 2%
- Limousin 2%
- Picardy 2%
- Alsace 2%
- Lorraine: 1%
- Auvergne 1%
- Franche-Comté: 0.2%
Funny that Brittany gets so few searches, I thought it would be one of the most popular areas. Maybe people look how far it is to Provence or Dordogne, decide they can’t face a journey that long in a car filled with screaming kids, and book somewhere in Brittany instead, without even bothering to check how far it is?
For comparison I thought I’d take a look at where people are looking for holiday rentals, using the number of times different regions in our ‘French gites‘ listings get looked at. Perhaps more similar than I would have guessed:
- Corsica 12%
- Loire valley 9%
- Dordogne 9%
- Provence 9%
- Languedoc 7%
- Charente 6%
- Auvergne 6%
- Vendee 5%
- Alsace 5%
- Normandy 5%
- Champagne 5%
- Midi-Pyrenees 4%
- Auvergne 4%
- Limousin 4%
- Rhone-Alps 3%
- Brittany 3%
- Burgundy 3%
Hmmm, Brittany is still looking unloved. Obviously the place to go if you are looking to avoid the crowds this summer!
Ok so it’s not the most accurate guide in the world but I think I can promise that the Auvergne will be less crowded than Provence, and finding a restaurant table will be easier in Limousin than in the Dordogne. (Dedicated readers will know that I am a secret fan of the Correze department, which falls within Limousin, so I might try and get there for a few days myself to take advantage of all that solitude and emptiness and escape the crowds that are apparently going to come pouring in to the Dordogne).
Technicalities for those that care: I ignored driving routes that started and ended in the same region since they probably represent people planning where to visit after they are already on holiday, rather than those trying to get somewhere in the first place, and I used about 2,000 driving routes in preparing the figures. For the holiday rentals statistics I looked at the last 10,000 visitors to the site.
Its interesting what you say about Britany, we have only stayed there once, and i just think there are so many more interesting places in France. May be it was the places we went to, but there appeared to be far less cafes that we like so much in Brittany. There was nothing wrong with the place but we cound find no reason to go back. When we were in Metz the litte cafe we liked so much was theamed on Brittany, so there you go.
I have friends with a property in the Limousin region, I feel that one off putting factor is the long distance from the coast. Having said that, the country side is beautiful, it gets very hot for those sun worshippers out there and the lakes which are dotted around the region are, in my opinion, a far better way to spend a day in the water – diving boards and at times flumes beats the salty sea any day of the week! Natural bliss at its best, for those wishing to have a quieter holiday.
We used to visit Brittany quite a lot but now we live in southern France I haven’t been there for several years – but Mrs B has, and is a fan of Brittany and Normandy while I generally prefer to stay in southern France – pretty much anywhere in a line between Dordogne and the Italian border and I’m happy. Likewise, certainly if we had young children I probably wouldn’t take them to the Limousin for a fun packed holiday but as you say, Rich, for a quieter holiday it’s a great choice. Alsace is the missing link and is on Mrs B’s agenda for the spring!
When I first came to Brittany I thought what a sad place! So cold so wet and so far from the south of France (I had been to Nice many times). Now I have fallen in love with the place. The people are so friendly and helpful. The countryside is so unspoilt. The architecture so medieval. The greenery of oak forests. The seafood is the best in the world and the roads are empty of traffic. I get a shock whenever I return to UK or Germany or Belgium having to queue in long traffic lines. Rarely in Brittany. The best of it is that with global warming, we are getting better weather now than ever before. With the south of France getting too hot, people are moving north to escape the heat and the shortage of water! Brittany gets my vote.
Boris,
If you come to Alsace in summer it will be dead, mostly just a tourists walking around. It can get very hot in summer when the pollution and heat get trapped in the valley between the Vosges and the Black Forest.
April and May would be the best months to visit Alsace.
Sounds ideal…except this year I have to go to Annecy region end of March and I’m not sure if I’ll fancy such a long trip in the same direction (we are in SW France) so soon after. And I do like to visit Provence in May rather than the summer as well. Perhaps the autumn…