English+Channel travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Only 40 miles from London Gatwick Airport, the Grand Hotel Eastbourne is one of the UK‘s most magnificent Victorian hotels. Few hotels offer such a complete range of leisure facilities including a luxury outdoor swimming pool, special holiday packages for children and a choice of dining options that includes arguably the finest gourmet restaurant on the entire south coast. The Grand Hotel Eastbourne has welcomed many famous guests, including Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin.

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Situated in the calm Zuid Kennemerland National Park, this past land refuge includes period English-style rooms. Adjacent Haarlem and Amsterdam, a 5-star collection, and Duin Kruidberg Region Estate has tract a obedient appreciation in more visitors. Here you leave gestate a combination of call, a top-cuisine and perfect activity in a tepid, Humanities, air.

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A stunning 19th Century Mas close in 25 acres of secret tract, from where strange views sit over the Massif des Etoiles and close countryside, the gloriously Provencal paysage Varois. The asylum is stacked in a U work with a courtyard in the domestic with a flowing and fare. 5 km from Aix en Provence with its shops, cafes and restaurants. 34 km from Material and 47 km from the close beach (in Cassis). Hamlet is honourable a few minutes walk thrown the roadworthy and has restaurants, shops, a immature museum.

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Le Havre is a city in the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is also a deep-water seaport and can accommodate all types of vessels around the clock and all year through, without any tidal constraints. Every day, about 10 container vessels operated by the world biggest shipping lines are received in the Port of Le Havre sailing to and from every continent.

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The Chausey Islands are located in the English Channel, south of Jersey, but are not generally included in the geographical definition of the Channel Islands, though geologically they join with them to form a larger archipelago. The islands are popular with French visitors and almost ignored by the English – there is no ferry Chausey and other islands. Photo by: asalha

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The Ile d’Ouessant is an untamed, craggy, hauntingly beautiful island in the English Channel. The most westerly point of European France and roughly 7 km long and 4 km wide, it has long been a beacon for ships entering the Channel and is home to the world’s brightest lighthouse. Photo by: Alex Korting

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Sark is the smallest of the four main Channel Islands. It lies in the English Channel, about 128km from England and about 32 km from the coast of Normandy. There are no cars on the island, and transport other than on foot consists of horse-drawn carriages, tractors and bicycles. The island is formed of steep, rocky cliffs, averaging about 90 m above sea level, rising to a center plateau. At its highest point a windmill can be found, dated 1571. In order to reach this plateau, passengers disembarking in the miniscule harbour must travel upwards through a rock-hewn tunnel made in 1866. Photo by: Guernsey Kestrel

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If you saw the film Mission Impossible, you’ve already seen Europe’s “Chunnel” passenger train in action. In that movie, Tom Cruise fended off a helicopter from the Eurostar’s roof until the chopper blew up inside the English Channel Tunnel.

Most Eurostar trips are less dramatic. More than two dozen high-speed electric trains (based on French TGV designs) connect London with Lille, Paris, Brussels, Avignon, the French Alps, and the Disneyland Paris resort at speeds of up to 300 km/h or 186 mph.

Continue reading Eurostar – the fastest rail link between London and Belgium or France.

Mont Saint-Michel is close to the border of Brittany, which has led to Breton claims to the mount. Originally the Couesnon formed the border between the two duchies, and every so often the river would shift its bank, leading to ownership of the mount shifting between them. The river’s bed has now been fixed and Mont Saint-Michel is now firmly in Norman hands.
It is home to the unusual Benedictine Abbey and steepled church (built between the 11th and 16th centuries) which occupy most of the one-kilometer-diameter clump of rocks jutting out of the waters of the English Channel. The church is crowned by a gold leaf statue of St. Michael by Emmanuel Frémiet, reaching a height of 155 metres (510 feet) above the sea.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, the island has deservedly become one of France’s most popular tourist destinations, with all the baggage that comes with that status. You may struggle to find a bargain bite to eat in the atmospheric old town but you’ll be surrounded by some outstanding Gothic architecture, so it’s a workable trade-off.

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Valencia
All eyes will be on Valencia later this year when the Spanish city hosts the coveted America’s Cup, the world’s biggest and most prestigious yachting event. Valencia is the first city in Europe to stage the race, despite the event’s long history. Already a popular short break destination with savvy travellers, Valencia benefits from a great location a short hop from the resorts on the Costa Blanca and is well served by no-frills airlines. But it is a charming city in its own right, home to the original paella, and it offers an exciting mixture of old and new, with cutting edge modern architecture and traditional baroque barrios. Check out the futuristic looking Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (the City of Arts and Sciences) designed by local architect Santiago Calatrava, featuring Europe’s largest state-of-the-art marine park, complete with a 30m- (98ft-) long shark tunnel, a dolphinarium, huge fish tanks, a colony of Humboldt’s penguins, and a very surreal underwater restaurant . The harbour area, Europe’s largest urban regeneration project, will be at the centre of the action during the Cup.

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