SPECIAL INTEREST, ACTIVITY AND SPORTING HOLIDAYS

France is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world with a wealth of attractions – Paris for its cultural and romantic delights, the rich diversity of coast and landscape, history and culture, food and wine and continental climate with long hot summers and reliable alpine snow for winter skiing.  In sum, a comprehensive range of holiday options to suit everyone.

In addition to all this, if you are looking for something different on holiday, France offers an outstanding range of attractions whether you are seeking special interest, activity, adventure or sporting holidays.

When planning your holiday you may like to choose holiday accommodation where the owners offer courses, excursions or organised activities.  Alternatively, you may prefer to be more independent by picking and choosing your preferred activities and interests in your own time whilst on holiday.  Either way, it is well worth spending a little time finding the right location in order to ensure you enjoy your holiday to the full.

As an indication of the type of special interest and activity holidays offered by owners of holiday accommodation, we have compiled a list of options which you may find appealing:

Painting and Creative Arts weeks
Language courses
Therapies / Health
Cookery courses
Gourmet / Food & Wine holidays
Equestrian holidays / Horse-riding
Walking / Hiking
Cycling tours / Mountain Bike riding
Rock-climbing / Mountaineering / Caving
Coarse fishing / trout fishing
Classic Cars / Motoring
Rugby and corporate hosting weekends

Golf

Skiing
Photography

To complement the above list, most of which also lend themselves to informal participation, there are lots of other options which are usually more suited to inclusion as part of your holiday, using your chosen holiday accommodation as a base from which to make excursions.  You will find both the regional and local tourist offices very helpful in giving you the information on availability and costs.  Many property owners will also have details available on request and / or at your holiday home:

Kayak / canoe
Watersports including water ski-ing, windsurfing, sailing and paragliding
Hang-gliding
Tennis
Adventure grounds / water fun parks
Music Festivals, Carnivals and Ceremonies - choirs, brass bands and orchestras
Bird watching
Thalassotherapy
Thermalism / Climatism
Health & Beauty Spas / Fitness Centres
Hot springs

The following are also well suited to independent travel.  Booking holiday accommodation direct with the owners saves money and gives you greater flexibility on your holiday dates, whilst the budget airlines offer competitive flights to a wide range of destinations.

Golf holidays

France is a great destination for golf holidays with a wide choice of over 500 golf courses ranging from American style courses to landscaped courses, high altitude courses and seaside courses - plenty of variety to suit players at all levels.  For details on discounted golf passes enabling you to play a variety of different courses in your chosen region, a list of golf clubs in the regions (pdf or brochure), golf lessons and a central booking unit visit www.franceguide.com.

Skiing holidays

France offers a superb choice of skiing centres not only in the Alps - including Les Arcs, La Plagne, Alpe d'Huez, Courcheval, Val d'Isère, Les Portes du Soleil, Chamonix, Meribel, Verbier, Tignes, Les Deux Alps and Montgenèvre - but also in the magnificent Pyrenees including Font Romeu, Pyrénées 2000, Les Angles, Puyvalador and Formiguères for both downhill and cross-country skiing.  The resorts offer ski passes valid for all their pistes as well as fixed price passes for cross-country skiing.

Canals and Rivers

In addition to all the above, you may like the idea of a canal boat excursion or holiday on the canals and rivers of France.  There is a wide choice available in Brittany, Charente, Aquitaine, Camargue, Loire, Alsace, Burgundy and Champagne, the Seine, the Ardennes, and the Canal du Midi in the south.

Details on boat hire, etc., are available on the Regional Tourist Office sites, the local tourist offices and also from some owners of holiday accommodation.