Guernsey

Pages and pages on line!
Start with
Www.visitguernsey .com
Www.herm.com
Www.sark.co.uk
Main points of interest over here would be the German Occupation, Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserable here while in exile, we are not part of the Uk but part of the British Isles, proudly independent! English has been our first language only for the last 100 years. You can see the houses on France on a clear day from St Peter Port. Very good safe swimmimg and great beaches. 10 metre tides. Great cli iff walks, and beautiful early wild flowers. Absolutely loads of resturants, so have look on trip advisor, eating out is very, very popular so I recomend bookin at the weekend.

Places you could google
Castle Cornet
Hauteville House
Occupation Museum
Guernsey Tapestry
Guernsey National Trust
Fort Gray
Outdoor Guernsey

Also last year saw the release of the film 'Guernsey' based on the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It wasnt filmed in the island but I believe gives a loose insight into life during the Occupation. But consiquencely there were loads of travel logs in the big newspapers on the island, which still will be on line. Personally I am not a fan of TGL PPS book, personnaly I would recomend Island Madness. Better written, better research. But alot of people love the other.
There are loads and loads of guide books to the island, but you might have more luck with Amazon.co.uk?
Yes the buses are very easy and cheap, nut also know where is far to walk, it takes me one and a half hours to walk across the island, Town to Vazon. Think you might be nervious driving as our biggest roads are two lane and our small ones are tiny edged with granite walls!
And dont forget our beautiful Guernsey cows who make outragious butter, once eaten, no other can match it!
You might want to re-set your search engine or something, cause when I type in Guernsey the first 10 pages at least are us.
Have a fantastic trip😀

I haven't been to Guernsey recently so can't help at all, but I believe there have been one or two threads about Guernsey in the last few years. Perhaps you will be able to find them via the Search function here. There may also be some information on Trip Advisor.

I think Lonely Planet sells electronic versions of individual chapters of its guidebooks for about $5; perhaps it has something on the Channel Islands.

Yes, I've been Googling away! Most of the information on all of the islands is put out by the tourism bureau on each island. I'd really like a fellow travelers' advice. Something like in Rick's books, where he highlights things, tells us what we can skip if we are short on time, and areas to visit in clusters because they are near each other, etc.

I am also weary of some tourism sites because I know there are kickbacks involved, or some businesses have to pay to be listed. I'd really like to hear from my fellow travelers on their take:)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society book is what originally inspired my decision to visit this island. From there, all of the beautiful photos... I'm excited. Add to that the fact that I live on an island myself, it will be fun to visit a different island from a tourist standpoint for a change!

Jetsetter911,

I too will be heading to Guernsey this year! We have a cottage booked for a week in July and will be flying in and out of Gatwick. I have always wanted to visit the Channel Islands and I must admit, after watching the movie and reading the book, I made up my mind to go this year. We are actually heading to the Netherlands, then visiting the UK, before we head to Guernsey to relax. I have been researching as much as I can on my own. We will use the bus, book bicycles for the week, and take some guided tours.

Margaret

Not sure when you are travelling, but please be aware we have one more Bank Holiday than the mainland. May 9th is Liberation Day when everyone heads into town to celbrated thee end of the occupation. Sarks Liberation Day is the 10th.
Dont really know of other forums, this is the only one i have seen. We are very small, 65,000 people, so the fact there are as many tourism guides as there are is impressive. You could try looking at bloggers? If it has been sponsered by the island they must declare it. Also try looking at the face book sites of the places you are interested in.
Is it walking you are interested in or the Occupation, or both? If the Occupation, the Occ Museum by the airport is very interesting, made with alot of passion on a shoe string. Festung Gsy are worth looking into as they maintain all the bunkers on the coast.
Victor Hugos house is re opening this spring after a multi million pound restoration, think it is going to be amazing. You need to book your guided tour time in advance, as they alternate between english and french. The house is owned by the City of Paris. Hugos house is my absolute favourite, have been loads of times and always send guests there. It is unique in the world.
Enjoy!

If you are going to be there a week, then you might want to consider a day trip to Jersey and/or Alderney. The ferry from Guernsey to Jersey takes an hour. It goes from town center to town center.

There are guided tour companies that will take you around Jersey for the day.

Thanks everyone!!

I did find a good book last night that does sort of help me break down the "neighborhoods" a bit so I have an idea of how to better manage my time. For future travelers who might wonder into this post, it is called "Great Breaks Guernsey." There are five different routes they recommend, however 4 of the 5 require a car, which I'm not doing... so I'll have to figure out where to get off the busses in order to make the most of my time over there.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around the size of this island. Mine is only 8 miles around, and quite easy to get from one place to another, by bike or on foot. (Cars are not allowed on my island, and also we only have 400 year round-residents). The owner of the Airbnb that I have rented has kindly offered to help me plan my time there once I arrive. I appear to have booked a nice space in a good area, though it is quite far from Saint Peter Port.

A couple of notes, also to future travelers: I'm less than 2 weeks out, and all of the guided tours are booked, or else they aren't open until May. (I arrive March 4) So book early.

Thanks for the advice about looking for a blogger - I do think that may be more along the lines of what I am looking for. I'm not into WW2 history so much as I am nature and scenery, as well as anything medieval, though I do realize WW2 was a huge part of your history, and I will pay homage.

The tourist season usually kicks off a couple of weeks before Easter, to tie in with the school holidays. This year it will be 1st April. Before that everything will be on winter hours, including Herm and Sark. It might be worth messaging indiviual guides, as alot are flexible. If you would like me to speak to any and find out who might be available, please message me.

We’re in the planning stages for a week in Guernsey, traveling from Southampton, then moving on to Norwich, and wondering about a day trip to Cherbourg - and/or another Channel Island. No longer capable of some of the more rugged walks, we’d also like to avoid going through London airports, if possible(?). Interested in experiencing island life there and seeing and understanding the war’s effects. I’d be grateful for your comments/suggestions/insights. Thanks!

I might not be very much help. I went, I stayed a week, I got rained on. I happened to have been there in March, which I wouldn't really do again. I stopped at the tourist office, and we joked that I was their only tourist. So, here is what I can tell you about what I did:

My airbnb was in the LesButtes area - which is gorgeous and the neighbors were all so friendly. I'd not mind staying out there again, but at the end of the day, without a car, I did feel quite stranded. I had thought I'd be able to bike around, but I freaked out because the roads were so narrow and two-way. (I live on a car-free island in Michigan, US, and this was just not comfortable to me). So, I learned the bus system. From where I was staying, the more frequent bus took about 45 minutes to get into Saint Peter Port.

Saint Peter Port is a nice little city and I enjoyed walking around - but again, it was March, and it rained a lot. I tend to gravitate towards any town's "Old Town" but this was just a series of empty buildings. I walked around a bit but didn't see anything of interest, or anything open. Maybe in different months it would have been different. The Victor Hugo house happened to be closed when I was there, for renovation work, so that was out... though I did go to see the outside. There is a nice High Street, with some shops and restaurants. The parks are nice, and I did enjoy that. I stayed for one night downtown at The Duke of Richmond Hotel, which I highly recommend. I also took a spa day at the Old Government House, which was nice and relaxing. The castle was closed. The lovely staff at the Duke of Richmond helped me to book a taxi tour of the island, and my driver was a life-long islander who knew all of the best spots to drive me to, explained the history and how it even tied into his family. I am so glad I did this, even though it was raining almost the whole time. The whole tour took 2 hours. Someone I met on the ferry from Poole had convinced me to visit Jersey, so I flew to Jersey for one night, and it was GREAT. I had intended to visit Herm or Sark, but was told ferries were not dependable at that time of the year, so I opted for this option. I enjoyed my one night/day on Jersey, then returned to my little airbnb on Guernsey for my last night. So, as I said, I might not be much help, but am glad to share my experience.

You could take a day trip to Jersey. Very easy and plenty to see.