A place to find oneself

I've replied to your other post in the France section, with this question: Have you previously been to France or Spain?
I could add a 2nd question, which is what are your primary interests, in addition to what you mentioned in your original post?

Watch " Escape to the Continent" on Netflix to give you a real non-tourist view of living in France or Spain.

Hi

Yes I have been to both Spain and France on holiday.
In Spain I have been to Barcelona several times and also Majorca. In France I have been to Paris and the south of France carcassone a few times.

I like seeing new places and experiencing a culture. I am not bothered about the sightseeing/ tourist things for this visit tho.

I will watch the recommended programme on Netflix.

Thank you

You used the term "holiday". Are you from England?

How much do you want to travel around from your base? A lot of tranquil towns will be small and without great public transportation links.

In the last three years I've spent almost three months in both Spain (not including Andalucia) and eastern France (not including Paris. There aren't all that many places I think might be quiet yet interesting enough, but also well connected. I'm assuming you will want to do a bunch of day-trips. Off the top of my head, these are places where I remember feeling one of only a few tourists:

• Alcala de Henares, an old university town outside Madrid (could be quite warm).

• Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of the interior Basque province of Alava (could be cloudy and cool).

• Oviedo, quiet and historic town. But I'm not sure how many convenient day-trips there would be other than Gijon.

• Ubeda, town in northern Andalucia with impressive Reniassance architecture (but this is based on curent conditions; surely somewhat more tourists in June). It has no rail station but decent bus service. The regional capital of Jaen is a larger place with not quite as attractive architecture but a broader variety of day-trip options.

• Perpignan, not one of France's most attractive cities, but a transportation hub with some interesting potential road-trip destinations. Likely to be quite hot in June.

As usual, acraven makes many good suggestions.
Many places in France will be less hot than many/most places in Spain in June. The heat may be especially noticeable, and affect mid-afternoon activities, to a greater extent esp. in the south of Spain (say, the Andalusia region).

Hi

I am from England so neither location is far. I really don’t necessarily need it to be well connected and for day trips. I am happy to relax and enjoy the environment and do some work and reading. It’s not about seeing lots of touristy things this visit for me. It’s about the time to have some time out for myself, do some reading and work on my business. I would like to meet and interact with local people etc

So you'll want to avoid large cities. And the weather may be more pleasant in France in June. Acraven made some suggestions for smaller towns in France. If you investigate with some intensive internet research, you should be able to find the place that's right for you.

If day-tripping isn't of much interest I'll add these suggestions:

• Vitre and Fougeres in eastern Brittany. Very picturesque, smallish places that were surprisingly under-visited during my summer trip. I think staying away from the coast may be a key to finding a quiet spot, though there are obviously a lot of touristy inland towns.

• I enjoyed Troyes a lot, because all the tourists seemed to be French. But there were definitely plenty of French tourists.

• I day-tripped to Selestat while in Alsace. Very few visitors, all of them seemingly French.

• In Spain but near the French border you have La Seu de Urgell and the livelier (with Spanish visitors) Puigcerda. The latter is in the Cerdanya Valley, which might be unpleasantly warm and sunny. These are not super-easy places to get to.

Take a look at the Baztan Valley. It is in the Navarra Pyrenees. It's a beautiful natural area. The main town is Elizondo. Through out the valley there are plenty of places for moderate hikes, with forests, waterfalls, and various caves to visit. The border with France is only a few kilometers away and Pamplona and San Sebastian are easily reached by bus.