Well the summer holidays and the ‘grande départ’ is 3 weeks away.
So what do you prefer, beach, mountains or ‘pleine campagne’ to spend a summer holiday in France?
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We live in the Clunysois of southern Burgundy and our summer holiday is spent looking after our gite guests, so no choice for us.
We did have a few days away in Nov ember and went to stay in a friends apartment in Murcia, by the sea.
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I’ve done all three and like to vary my destinations. These days I tend to go for shorter periods more often and when I’m on the coast tend to be on the sea rather than the beach.
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Off in the camping car for a month or so and hoping to get plenty of all three 
although I haven’t given a lot of thought yet as to which direction to set off in this year. My instinct is usually to start by heading for the coast - somehow I don’t feel the holiday has started until I’ve spent a few nights by the sea! Then after that I’m ready to put together an itinerary, and I try to do a mixture of visiting towns I have never visited before (though at my age I have big holes in my memory so I forget where I’ve been and sometimes I get there and recognise it from years ago), and getting right off the beaten track to enjoy the peace and quiet and scenery. I suppose out of the three, mountains attract me least. Having lived in the Pennines and then in Snowdonia, I suppose got a bit blasé about the idea of mountains in general. Although when I actually am crossing the Pyrennees or wherever, they never fail to impress.
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Mountain s but choose one of the quite areas like the Ecrins
Well just come back from a fabulous holiday down in Collioure, Pyrenees Oriental. So got the beach, countryside and mountains. And also a bit of culture art, castles and architecture plus great restaurants (if you like fish and Tapas). This was actually our first “proper” holiday in the 5 years since moving here and really it could not be bettered.
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The Écrins is suburb. You need a 4x4 to visit mind you…even in the summer as we learnt a couple of years ago. 
Do we assume that’s supposed to say “superb” rather than “suburb”? The only 4x4s you need in the suburbs are Chelsea tractors…
I am not very good at spelling ET.
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Beach or the countryside ideally, but since we moved here nearly 3 years ago we seem to be lacking motivation. We like it where we are!
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I don’t mind dodgy spelling LBF but when you throw in a totally different word and describe the Ecrins as a built up area, that’s confusing.
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These posts have well put me in holiday mood! 
Always used to be the mountains, but changing lifestyle, age, injury etc usually means the beach is safer. Mind you, it’s been 10 years since we last had a holiday, but can’t complain as all the gite clients tell us it must be like having a holiday all the time ffs🤐
I couldn’t agree more Rebecca. I live most of the year in Banyuls sur Mer, two villages south of Collioure and offering all of the same delights minus some of the fab boutique shopping and less fab traffic challenges! And some pluses, to be sure. I made the decision early on that in summer I’m going to be a tourist in my village. Therefore (mostly) leave the car in the garage and do what the summer visitors do. Morning coffee by the sea, morning swim, lunch in the garden and a siesta, followed by another swim … gentle hike if it’s not too hot, wine tastings and tapas in the evenings …I could continue. Every summer then feels like a 3 months holiday. What a treat…
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Ours isn’t really a grand départ, more of une petite pause de 4 jours à la montagne. So mountain air for us, me on my bike, kids in the pool, horse riding and climbing too. Then the UK for a week just before la rentrée. (can’t close the shop for any more than that and this is the first time we’re taking two breaks! 
Oh lucky you living there. Love all the spanish influence in the cooking and the wines are very drinkable.
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