French Gite, anyone?
 

Daughter and I plan 2 weeks in June (post-grad gift). Has anyone stayed at a French gite? We have schoolgirl French and are interested in Cote D'Azur, Provence area. Alternatively, are considering Agritourism Farm stay in Italy, but speak no Italian and would rather not drive in Italy... Help!

I can't help you but am curious as to what "Gite" is-Thanks!

Gite%3Dsoft G sound; circumflex over the i; a privately owned, country holiday home, often a converted farm building or cottage. These are very reasonably priced and are said to conform to a "minimum standard of comfort." It sounds a great way to meet the French. So, has anyone out there tried it?

Gite --- AKA ???could be a 3$%25 over par -a quadrant or maybe just a B&B / HOSTEL ?? Oh boy.

Teri, thank you for responding to Tricia’s request for an explanation - complete with pronunciation (and circumflex accent) instructions - guess something about your computer font characters appeared in the message and it confused someone. Tricia: “Gites de France” is an association of members who rent out either entire little homes/cottages, etc., or some rooms in their home (our one experience). It’s definitely not a hostel. Rick Steves’ script from (I think) the Burgundy episode (see it in the France section of his website) gives an excellent description of a classic gite. There are books put out by the Association with photos, descriptions and rates, etc. Check the French tourist office for info. Our gite stay was great - a working farm in the village of Flumet (Haute Savoie district, 25 miles from Chamonix). We two couples had a separate area of the house with two rooms & 2 small bathrooms (No cooking- so it was like a B&B, but Madame was a “Gites” member and the paperwork was all Association stationery). Breakfast was in the kitchen; when Madame (with grandchild on her hip) found out that we were familiar with and appreciated Reblochon cheese, she ran out to the barn to proudly bring us a fresh wheel -- her son is the cheesemaker and she made sure we knew that “only the surplus from our District gets exported!”. Our brief stay cost very little. We’d been at a 4-star hotel in Lyon a couple of days earlier and loved both experiences! Teri: we spent 2 weeks in Provence but not at a gite; good luck - Provence in June is great - not too hot and relatively free of tourists!

Karen - my two daughters ( in 20's) and I are going to France the end of May 1998. Planning on Provence - any suggestions for reasonable hotels, restaurants
and "must sees". We are trying to do this trip at a reasonable cost. Thanks for any info.

Lisa

If you're interested in staying on farms, may I suggest an alternative to Provence and Italy: the Ariege Pyrenees in the southwest of France are wild and beautiful and less touristy than Provence and have many farms that welcome guests. For more information, take a look at <http://www.ariege.com/what_to_do/farmtours/info.html>

Oops, sorry that should be www.ariege.com/what_to_do/farmtours/info.html.

Hey Teri.

Have sort of a help for you. I know a beautiful place in Provence, where you can rent small/big "gites" a reasonable prices. Try a go into : www.velling.dk/lou_boulidou/ Only problem is that it's in danish, but it can give you an idea AND a phone and faxno. to contact. They speak perfectly english. Indeed a good try. Good luck

Sanne