Family trip…France or UK ?

Plenty of swimming here, north and south. My father had medals for swimming, as does my brother.

I'm prejudiced so won't offer guidance in the main question - it wouldn't be fair.

You'll probably be happy whichever you choose. British food is not as bad as its reputation, but when it comes to good food France wins. On the other hand, France is not really famous as a beer nation so for that the UK wins. Plenty of history in both countries, any particular era you are interested in? The same with natural wonders, a lot to choose from in both countries. There are certainly a lot of opportunities for swimming in the UK, but if you are looking for warm waters France has a small advantage. Another small advantage for France might be the lack of language barrier, I assume the children might appreciate that, depending on how confident they are speaking english.

I think we really need to now a bit more about what you are looking for be able to recommend a country, because by now it looks like a draw.

Since you're torn between countries and have a month I say spend some time in both.

''spend time in both'' I dont see that as an option.

What we want to see ? in 2020 and 2021 we have well planned a travel to France and twice Covid have changed our plan. Now UK appears to be an option, but we dont have made extensive search about that option for now.

As I mentioned in your other thread, there are places in the UK where you are late for finding best-value July-August lodgings. Since you've already done a lot of prep work for your earlier, canceled trips to France, I'd think you'd be in a better position to put that trip together quickly. Both areas are great. You could spend 6 months in either one and not run out of interesting destinations.

France is more than twice the size of Great Britain. My itinerary-design tip for a trip to France is this: It seems easier to travel through the country vertically (north to south or south to north) than horizontally (east to west) if you are limited to trains and buses. It worked well for me to do one trip on the east side of the country and another on the west side. Neither trip included Paris, for lack of time, despite my having spent six months in France recently.

Hi,

My level of French is too limited to enjoy France fully without having to resort to using English (or German, for that matter. ) Since that is certainly not the case with you with your comfort in French , I would suggest spending the entire time in France.

Great that the kids are good travelers. I also always went to France and England , minus one time, in the summer.

Food in Britain: The best choices won't always be British. At least in bigger cities, you will find the same sort of ethnic mish-mash as in Montreal. And great beer, like Montreal. Can't say that about French beer, although the range of choices there is expanding.

I would argue Paris “base” because in under 2hrs via train you can have day trips (or several days) to Brussels, Reims, Strasbourg, Lyon, and so much more. You could also indulge kids in a day at Disneyland, and you’ll have more to do than you can ever think of doing without having to rent a car or travel more than 2 hours- assuming you don’t want to. Versailles, Giverny, heck spend some time on the beaches of southern France.

I am assuming a quieter/slower itinerary desire or just your travel style is why you refuse to do both since that’s more than enough time. I think you’d find all you want to enjoy and more in France- especially beer if you’re willing to side trip to Belgium for a bit!

Fellow teacher here. I feel your pain on the summer vacations. The very first thing I did when I retired was plan a trip for September!

I think finding affordable lodging where you want to go will be your biggest challenge at this point. You can have a wonderful trip in either country so I think you should start right away and determine which possible trip has the lodging available that you would need.

They also asked about cost, I'm going to say as a generality that France would be cheaper than the UK? We were toying with trips to either France or the UK so my wife started researching hotels and she was surprised at the difference between Paris and London.