Golfing in France

[Otto]

Hello
Recently me and my dad started to play, and we have decided to go to France for playing for a week. It would be awesome, if you could share your thoughts and ideas about golfing in this country, like personal experience, pros and cons, maybe france is not the best destination to go after all. We are interested in the small, fundamental things what build up the trip, like atmosphere, price, quality, etc.
Transportation is not a problem - any place in France could be good for us.

I'm sorry for such a raw question, but it's really the points we are interested in.

Any help is appreciated, t hank you in advance!

[Holderness]

Hello

Recently me and my dad started to play, and we have decided to go to France for playing for a week. It would be awesome, if you could share your thoughts and ideas about golfing in this country, like personal experience, pros and cons, maybe france is not the best destination to go after all. We are interested in the small, fundamental things what build up the trip, like atmosphere, price, quality, etc.

Transportation is not a problem - any place in France could be good for us.

I'm sorry for such a raw question, but it's really the points we are interested in.

Any help is appreciated, thank you in advance!

There are some fantastic golf courses near Biarritz on the Atlantic coast of France, as well as through the Basque region near Spain.  Biarritz-Le Phare is an old Willie Dunn design, and others in the area such as Chiberta, Seignosse, and Moliets are all solid layouts.  I'd highly recommend staying in Biarritz and renting a car so you can enjoy the nice coastal resort charm of that town.  There are some world class (seriously, Top 10 in the world) restaurants in that area as well...particular just over the border in San Sebastian.  Can't go wrong with a long weekend down there.

[graham57]

We don't have too much experience of playing in France ourselves (we live in Germany), just played 2-3 courses there this year. If you are in the Paris area, there is an interesting course at L'Isle Adam, with some quite spectacular holes. The inclines and distances between holes can be quite steep, so taking a cart is a good option.

We recently played a couple of courses near the coast, West of Bordeaux. Lacanau Océan is a well-kept, mainly flat course which winds with fairly narrow fairways through pine woods, the 9-hole course next door - La Mejanne - was crowned best 9-hole layout in France in 2012 and is well worth playing, though pretty steep, which in my view makes it more interesting than its larger neighbour.

If you do end up in Lacanau Océan, have a meal at La Cabanne: it offers a great, African-style environment and superb food at reasonable prices.

Probably the best thing is to visit websites which offer reviews of French golf courses (glolfshake.com, 1golf.eu, leadingcourses.com) and take it from there. Hope you have a great holiday!