Been to Paris? Seen Rome? Tired of standing in line at the Uffizi and the Louvre?
Called Gite Rural (holiday cottage) in France or an Agriturismo (farm stay) in Italy, these give you a genuine experience among the locals, something often looked for but seldom found. These places are a delight and can be found in cities, towns, villages and the rural countryside. You pick your area, decide what sights you want to visit and then start your search. You even decide if you want to stay right in town within walking distance of tourist venues. We discovered this in France years ago and have had some marvelous experiences both in villages and out in the countryside. The nice part is going "home" every night.
Today the search for your home away from home is remarkably easy thanks to sites like France.com, Gites de France and Logis de France . There are hundreds of web sites guiding you to an authentic experience so how do you decide? Let’s look at a few that we have used.
Want to get out into the countryside, stay with locals but you’re not quite ready for a self-catering experience? Try Logis de France . This is a large chain of small hotels. Sounds like a contradiction but it’s not. These are all small, family-owned hotels in towns and villages all over France and now Italy that offer a very authentic experience. However, they are inspected yearly by the parent organization to insure cleanliness and comfort.
This is a fun site to explore. You have a choice of clicking on a map or typing in the name of a town. If you know exactly where you want to go, type in the town or village name to get a list of accommodations there. If you are exploring an area to see what is available, choose the map option. You will first get a map of France. Then click on a particular region such as the Centre that includes the Loire Valley south of Paris. Next you choose one of several smaller regions such as the Cher or the Eure-et-Loir. These are the French Departements that can be equated to counties in the USA. Now you will see a map of your chosen department with a little Logis symbol wherever there is a hotel.
Sometimes there are several in one town but more often there is one in each little village and some out in the country. Click on an area that has several in close proximity and you will have a list of several Logis on your screen. If you don’t have high-speed access, use this trick. Hold your cursor over one of the Logis on the list and Right-click. Then choose "Open in New Window." This will open the Logis information in a new window and you will see the hotel name, location and several photos of the outside and inside all along with some tourist information below the photos. There will be a side bar with prices for hotel and restaurant. If it looks interesting, explore since many have their own web page. If you take a glance and decide, "No way!" you simply close the window (remember it’s a separate window so you don’t need to reload the page) and try the same trick with another hotel. You can explore to your heart’s content until you find the perfect hotel in the perfect place.
Okay, enough of hotels. You want to try self-catering with your own kitchen, bedrooms for everyone and a nice yard. Now it’s time to try or if you want the web site in English, use
Gites Rural , more affectionately known as gites, are holiday cottages and range from city apartments to country houses. We look for houses or apartments in small villages or in areas that have a lot of vacation spots to visit like the Loire Valley, Provence or Normandy. Gites are nice because they have full kitchens so you are not forced to eat all your meals in restaurants. We eat breakfast at our gite, dinner at a restaurant where we are touring for the day and then have a baguette, cheese and wine dinner back at the gite. Many gites also have washing machines and more and more we are discovering dishwashers.
The kitchens will be fully equipped and often have supplies left by the last tenant such as salt, sugar and coffee. If not, you must purchase these at the local epicerie (grocery) or a nearby supermarché. This is a good chance to go shopping in town and lets you see what French people buy and how their stores are set up. For instance, when you buy produce at a supermarché, you bag it, weigh it, tag it and then go to checkout. If you forget, everyone stands behind you in line while one of you returns with the produce to the weighing machine to do all this. No one has ever complained and you can expect checkout to be quite a slow process. No one is in a hurry and it won’t do you any good to be in a hurry either. Relax and enjoy the experience.
Linens are often provided but occasionally you must rent them. It is clearly stated on the web site, so read it carefully. Most gites these days have television but many have only French channels. In the northern areas, many gites are owned and run by ex-pat Brits and they may have English channels on their tvs. If this is important to you, ask before you make your commitment. Your hosts, French or British, will be friendly and helpful and often welcome you with a breakfast basket so you don’t have to tear into town and shop on your first evening. They make recommendations for nearby restaurants and suggest things to visit in the area. Many loan or rent bicycles and all have brochures for area attractions. You can often arrange evening dinners and this will be listed on the web site along with the cost.
Rentals are normally done by the week and are from Saturday to Saturday. However, we’ve gotten in odd situations occasionally discovering that, especially out of season, these times are often negotiable. If you must arrive on a Thursday or Friday, e-mail, fax or phone your host and see if they can be flexible. Most will if it is possible.
Sounds good, you say. Where do I find these charming places?
We have two favorite web sites. First is the official Gites de France web site at the top under the Gites logo, click on the Rural Gites button. You will see a map and need to click on the area that interests you. A page of small photos will appear and in each photo box there will be gite information. It gives you the gite name and location, next the number of bedrooms, number of people accepted and the size of the gite. If there is a little camera underneath the information, click it for photos of the gite. Next will be the price in euros, a green symbol that will give you all costs involved and an option
of trip cancellation insurance if you like. The last link will give you availability for your dates and in the upper corner you will see the number of epis or ears of corn (similar to stars) and whether or not meals may be arranged. If you check all this and see what you want, click on "Book" and you can reserve your next vacation right there.
Be aware that many gite web sites are in French only. If you don’t speak French, you can avoid those. As the years go by, more and more are offering their information in English. Prices range from the 190 euros per week on up to the thousands of euros per week. Gites range from simple country houses that accommodate two people on up into villas or chateaux that hold entire extended families. If you are planning a family reunion, this may be just the ticket. You can find lovely four-bedroom houses for 350 to 400 euros per week. That won’t happen in a hotel. You can rent an estate if you are sharing costs.
If you don’t find the gite of your dreams, return to the Start Page and click on "Bed and Breakfasts" at the top of the page. Often the B&Bs will have gites and they don’t always show up in the Gite section. Our favorite Loire Valley gite is listed only under the B&B section for some reason. This link doesn’t look as sophisticated but I find it easier to negotiate. There are photos of the places and often a link to the owner’s own web site. These often contain more information and always contain a link to e-mail the owners and ask questions.
We have also found very nice places in France, Italy and Scotland at Holiday Rentals .You choose your country, then choose your area, and choose your town. There will be information and photos and often a link to the owner’s own web site. Some of these will be affiliated with Gites de France or some other national organization, but many are only found on this site. We’ve rented from the site often and never had problems. Check the photos; check what is included in the rental and e-mail your questions before you confirm a booking.
Hint: Here are two favorites of ours, one in the Loire Valley and another in lower Normandy near Caen.
[img_assist|nid=2338|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=250|height=187]Another favorite is the Manoir de Cauvicourt in the lower Normandy area of Calvados near Caen and the D-Day Beaches. You can make a trip to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach or walk to the Canadian Cemetery at Cintheau. We visited the Peace Memorial at Caen, the charming harbor and town of Honfleur, Monet’s Giverny, the Abbey at Jumiege, the Suisse Normande, Cabourg and the beach towns and absolutely fell in love with the Auge. We drove to Mont St. Michel and visited a cheese factory at Livarot. The owners are British and prices vary from 300 to 700 euros a week unless you want to add the owners’ manor house. They travel and rent the entire property on occasion. The main manor has 8 bedrooms. The gites are two bedrooms each. Both have full kitchen and British satellite television. The only oddity is in the Luxury Studio that we rented. You have two doors, one to the upstairs room/bedroom and kitchen/dining/lounge area and the other outside door to the downstairs bedroom and bath. This is not always terribly convenient when it’s raining and it does rain in Normandy. The place is so beautiful and the owners so welcoming that we thought the double entry was not a problem. Linens are provided and the grounds are just incredible. The gardener cheerfully leaves fresh produce on your doorstep during the season.
When you are making your arrangements, you will have to leave a deposit. Often these places do not accept credit cards. We have offered a personal check for the required amount. The owner holds the check until we arrive. We pay in cash (euros) and they return our check which we then void. We’ve been doing this for years and not had any problems. You could wire money but there is a stiff charge for that at our bank. We’ve discovered gite owners to be very kind and trusting people. If you don’t show up, they can cash your check although it is a nuisance for them.
So, now it’s time to find your own special home in France. Don’t be afraid to explore. There are many links on France.com and that makes it a great place to start.
Text and photos: Sara Bostley, California 2007