France - bloody expensive

[MikeMc]

Just got back from France and was shocked at how prices have increased since we were there 2 years ago. I was paying £4 for a fun sized beer at most bars. We had a modest lunch (moules+frites) for four with a coke each and it came to nearly £50. Has anyone else noticed how expensive France has become?

Mike Mc

 

[MikeJE]

Where abouts in France were you? I was charged _10 for a beer two years ago but that was just off the Champs Elysees, Paris.

 

[Guest]

We have also just returned from France and yes, prices have increased but they have also increased here in the UK even more dramatically. My wife advises me food has rocketed in the UK. We felt France was on average still competitive as to when we last visited in 2006. This was from keeping careful notes over a 2 month period. However, are you looking at the Euro prices or comparing prices in Pounds. If the latter then there has obviously been a big change due to the fall in value of the Pound, but that is not the fault of the French. We lloked at Euro prices and there has been an increase, but not too much. For example our cheapest site was 10 euros, the dearest 23 euros. That is for outfit plus 2 people plus electricity.

If you think France was bad do not try Holland as it is astronomical.

I still feel convinced that a holiday in France is competitive with one here in the UK, and the weather is far better the further south you go. We will see more from the experiences of thoise who stayed at home this year, and whether they felt it was worth it.

 

[MikeMc]

We were down south. We spoke to an english couple who live there. They confirmed the price hike, they said that last year a big mac meal was 3.5 Euros whereas it is now 7.0.

Two years ago in Sete Moulles + chips was around 5 Euros last week they were 9-12 Euros. Prices in the supermarkets seemed around the same as here though so we eat in a lot more. I did find Merlot for 1 Euro per Litre though, and it was good stuff.

 

[ValA.]

We were in France in May, getting about 1.10 to 1.14 euros to the

 

[anotherDavid]

We spend several months a year in France and with long stay holidays it is not realy on to be eating out very much and I think that goes for anywhere. It is ok to talk about 15 euro menus but multiply that by 4 and add some drinks and it is over

 

[Gafferbill]

The eurozone is 33% more expensive simply due to the exchange rate as compared to the

 

[DavidKlyne]

On our 7 week trip through France, Italy, Austria and Germany we only ate out once. We refused to pay in the region of _50 on a campsite for a two course meal with wine and tip for two of us. A week ago we went down to the local pub and had a meal for twi with drinks for

 

[Olly]

What on earth is all this about.?

You have car / caravan combinations for which you have paid thousands of pounds.

When the cost of health insurance, travel insurance, ferry costs and the tolls and other costs incurred by motoring south are taken into account, you have doubtless paid out hundreds of pounds to reach your holiday destination. Why the hell do you all moan about the odd

 

[alipaton_5093452]

What on earth is all this about.?

You have car / caravan combinations for which you have paid thousands of pounds.

When the cost of health insurance, travel insurance, ferry costs and the tolls and other costs incurred by motoring south are taken into account, you have doubtless paid out hundreds of pounds to reach your holiday destination. Why the hell do you all moan about the odd

 

[MikeMc]

@ Oliver

I think you are missing the point a little. Eating out is part of the fun of the holiday for us. Cooking every meal in the van is an option but not one we would chose to do. So we budgeted for a reasonable amount of eating out based upon what we paid two years ago. To suggest we simply cut short the holiday and return home a week early is a stupid suggestion. As with most people the budget is finite and I refuse to incurr any debt due to eating out (sticking it on the credit card). So we eat out about 50% less than we did two years ago.

Mike Mc

 

[Gumbo]

A sensible topic. I am informed by my OH when " I am holiday I'm not cooking everyday " We either go out to eat sometimes or we stay at home. Guess what we go out !!!

 

[ValA.]

In anothe posting on a similar topic I said that we'd started saving money by not using toll roads. Working out the current cost of getting down to Frejus using the autoroute shocked me when I realised it would cost 137 euros each way with the caravan! This could be one way to save some money. Fuel would also cost less in the supermarkets you'd pass en-route too (saving up to 20 cents/litre means a 50 litre fill up will save you 10 euros. For a return journey, you'd save

 

[SteveW77]

Hey Gumbo, it would appear that your better half and mine think in the same way. Mine just refuses to cook at all, I have to do it myself or we go out. Now I don't mind cooking and I am rather good at it, even if I have to say it myself, but it is nice to go out for a really nic meal every now and again.

As I have said before, It's only money.

Steve W

 

[Peter_374293316]

It's not all bad news.

If someone has already mentioned the new French TVA (VAT) rate on restaurant food/drink my apologies, but since 1 July the rate went down from 19.6% to 5.5%. Most restaurants, though not all, are passing this on (as they should) but some are being a little disingenuous and effectively milking tourists (and locals alike, though we refuse to eat in them if the price remains the same). We live in France and yes, prices have definitely gone up in the supermarkets even ignoring the pound/Euro rate.

Peter

Peter

 

[Gumbo]

Good tip Val being amongst the retired it really does make a difference not using the toll roads.

 

[Guest]

Being retired does allow one more time, however, although I agree with Val up to a point with regard to the N roads, some of them do appear to go through every village and hamlet and slowing to 50 km every 5 km eventually gets my goat. You also can sometimes end up going right through towns you might wish to avoid with the van on the back, especially if like me, you miss the sign at the beginning. Market days can be a cracker. Cahors on a Sunday after 'you know who' thought it would be dead quiet.

I agree the autoroute tolls can rack up, but I do use them to save a bit of time when I just wish to get from A to B, and to save the nerves. Also having the Aires can make life easier, except at peak times.

A meal for 2 averaged anything from 25 - 50 euros for us depending on where you ate, and what drinks you added on. That is very much equivalent to Edinburgh prices. However, my wife has the answer to her not doing the cooking....I get to do it, and not just bangers on a BBQ. My Moules Mariniere are according to her better than the restaurant's. And my veal Scalopini....?? All done with an outside electric frying pan/casserole and a single gas burner. The main cost? Apart from the food, my beers.

The other point I want to make is that once you are retired, you do not go on vacation anymore. Vacations are those short breaks between working and as you do not work when retired, how can it be a vacation? We call it 'temporary relocation' as we do not need to visit all the touristy things anymore, and cram everything into 14 days. Just relax and enjoy life. On a number of days we did not even leave the site. Snoozing under a tree.

 

[KeithJ]

Just to add my two pence worth.....

Some things may be more expensive in Euro zone countries now, but ferry prices are a bargain, and fuel and camping charges are cheaper than the UK. Road tolls are particularly expensive in France (less so or not applicable in other countries)but can be avoided. All in all a caravan holiday is very good value compared with any other kind of holiday. Just look in a travel agent's window and consider their prices are for 1 or two weeks when us retired caravanners can tour all over Europe for two or three months for the cost of ferries, camp sites and fuel. The cost of eating in is the same as staying at home and even the amount of fuel used (at a lower price!) may not be much more than staying at home.

Eating out or drinking in a bar is our entertainment - we do it as often as we can afford, and pay up and enjoy it! Then think of the better driving conditions and more space, and a caravan holiday in Europe wins hands down. As Scotch Lad says, I must stop calling it a holiday - it's a way of life!

Keith

 

[Guest]

Just to shoot down my own arguments. Caravanning in Europe is great as long as you have 28 days or more. Why? Well, it takes me about a week to get to the Spanish border and therefore a week back again. So 28 days is giving me the equivalentof 14 days on the beach. If I add up all the costs for that and compare with a 14 days package, I admit it gets close. 2 months in Spain and it is a no brainer.

I also sometimes feel it is a good idea to give SWBO a break and a bit of luxury in a hotel, so I am willing to fork out for a hotel break in Mallorca as well as the 2 months in Spain. She likes to dress up for dinner and it is nice just to click the fingers for a waiter, politely of course.

Once all the cash is gone then we will be 'friends of Gordon' again.

 

[Gumbo]

dinner and it is nice just to click the fingers for a waiter, and get the OH to say

"La Cuenta por favor"

 

[ScouseIan]

I've just come back from a week in Zante where the cost of eating out was really cheap. My OH and 2 children, bottle of wine and usually came to about _40. Lamb Kleftiko _8, Greek salad _6. Doesn't really help us caravanners though.

I'm off to Italy next week and will have my 2 older daughters with me as well. Thats 6 of us. Theres no way I will be eating out . Thats gotta be getting on for _120. I am taking the Cadac and hopefully I can get some stuff to create some good kebabs. Meat, prawns, peppers, etc. Having never been to Italy, I assume beer and wine are as reasonable as France.

Ian

 

[KeithJ]

Yes you can get a bottle of (cheapo) wine for

 

[Chrisbee]

I have to agree with Val about using RN roads. Yes, you may get stuck behind farm vehicles now and then but for me going through villages and towns you see a lot more of the real France. Take your time and treat the journey as part of the holiday instead of joining the headlong rush south. If you pass through a nice village, stop and have a coffee. The money saved on tolls more than makes up for any extra fuel used (bought at supamarket prices) and an extra overnight stop.

As for the cost of eating out, yes it can be expensive but were I to holiday in the UK (in the rain)I expect it would cost a packet to eat out every night. My OH makes lovely salads with cold meat or cooked chicken from the supermarket. Otherwise I fire up the barbie. We don't find it any more costly than the UK to holiday in France.

 

[steve_374461607]

This link may be of use to those of you thinking of visiting France and the Charente region......there is also a thread for restaurants out of this region....

For those who have experianced expensive meals (or even cheap) please let others know on the following small forum

www.charenterestaurants.forumup.co.uk

dont be shy...let others know of your restaurant experiances

steve

 

[Guest]

Dare I suggest every time you take your caravan out, it will cost you money wherever you go, and that exclues the fixed costs like insurance, maintenance and even buying the damm thing. I can confirm that an average cost per day for a caravanning holiday in France (without going OTT) is 90-100 euros per day. Before anyone goes 'Whoa!' a similar vacation in the UK will easily account for