French Travel Blog

As we write this, France is slowly coming out of lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, we have enjoyed spending more time with our family at home and in our gardens. Our Senior Trip Planner Laura and her husband Jean-François have been working on a garden project which involved dismantling their outdoor swimming pool and recycling the wood to make a vegetable garden. With so many fresh, homegrown vegetables soon to be harvested, this inspired Laura to share this vegetable pistou soup recipe. This is a delicious, comforting meal when it's cold outside or when you're...

Serves 4 people INGREDIENTS 4 smoked sausages (not too big, if possible). If you can find a Morteau sausage, then buy for 1 for 2-3 people 400g of podded green peas (fresh peas are a much, much better option than frozen) Smoked pork chest, which you cut into big “lardons” bacon strings 2 red onions 2 carrots 3-4 bay leaves Garlic INSTRUCTIONS In your cast iron cocotte dish, brown the onions, the sausages, bacon and carrots until it has a nice smell and color. Add the bay leaves, peas and about ½ liter of water, salt and pepper. Let it cook on the stove half...

Many of you will have had to cancel the vacations you had planned for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Like us, you probably can’t wait for life to return to something close to normality so you can enjoy doing the things you love - seeing friends, going out for dinner, and starting to make travel plans again. In this post, we’re going to fast-forward to offer you some inspiration for future Fall vacations. Depending on where you want to go and what you want to do, the fall can be an ideal time to visit France. September is often still warm but not as overwhelmingly hot...

As Easter approaches, it is also the lambing season, thus we wanted to share this delicious lamb recipe for you to try. Lamb can be a delicious meat when it is slow-cooked to bring out all the finest flavors. This traditional recipe should leave you with a plate of lamb that is so melt-in-your-mouth tender you’ll almost be able to eat it with a spoon! Don’t be put off by the 7-hour cooking time; once you have prepared your ingredients and have the lamb in the oven, the idea is to leave it there to slow-cook for seven hours - you won’t be cooking the whole day! If you try this recipe, please...

At the time of writing this post, 1.5 billion people around the world are in some form of enforced confinement due to the Covid-19 epidemic. As many of our readers had plans to travel to France this year, we want to help keep your travel dreams alive. Our wishes for all our readers and travelers is for you to be immersed in French culture, and really understand what it means to be French - from the humor, to the food, to the sceneries and our traditions. Here we have selected a variety of French-language series of diverse genres. We have tried to include something for everyone, and many of...

Last month, Ben and Jane Lintott from South West England, UK, reached out to us to share their France Just For You travel story in our newsletter. As they have such a lovely story about their relationship with France and their travels through the country over many years, we wanted to share it here on our blog. As told by Ben and Jane Lintott, UK From childhood caravan/RV holidays to buying a house in Dordogne, we really have come full circle in our love affair with France! Childhood holidays in France Before our trip with France Just...

At France Just For You, we proudly specialize in the unusual! Our goal is to send our travelers off the beaten track to see France’s hidden gems and to try things they’ve never tried before. Whether it’s the food, the activities, the wine or the scenery you're excited about, here are some unusual things you can do on your trip to France, which you may never have done before (or do again!). And of course, if you book a tour with France Just For You, we can arrange for all of these unique experiences to be included in your self drive itinerary. GO ON A ‘MAMMOTH’ JOURNEY BY TRAIN THROUGH A...

As Lent and 'Pancake Day' approaches, we would like to share with you our favorite recipe for making a Crêpe Suzette. Ingredients: 110g/4oz plain flour sifted 2 eggs 200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water 50g/2oz butter 1 medium orange, grated zest only 1 tbsp caster sugar 150ml/5fl oz orange juice (from 3-4 medium oranges) 1 medium orange, grated zest only 1 small lemon, grated rind and juice 1 tbsp caster sugar 3 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau 50g/2oz unsalted butter RECIPE FOR ABOUT 15 CREPES - INSTRUCTIONS Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl...

By Naomi Dalton A great way to start immersing yourself in French culture and language before visiting France is to watch a few French movies or movies set in France. The first French-language film I ever watched was Les Visiteurs with actor Jean Reno (of Leon fame). We were in French class at school and our teacher let us watch the film as it was the last double lesson before we finished for the holidays. Prior to that, I’d always been too lazy to watch foreign language films - reading the subtitles seemed like too much work! But we all found Les...