Thinking of a last minute holiday in France this summer? We have nearly 100 special offers on holiday homes for July, August and early September as our owners offer incentives to fill their remaining weeks.
Choose from special deals for couples at beautiful gites and apartments, big discounts on family villas and bargain breaks at larger properties for groups. Go to great locations like Brittany, the Dordogne, Languedoc-Roussillon and the South of France.
Accommodation in France is always excellent value, offering loads of space for your money, but now your summer holiday could be even cheaper, especially with the excellent euro exchange rate against sterling, which makes 1 euro worth about 70 pence.
You can also still find a great summer holiday home searching by date on our last minute availability pages. Find a property you fancy and discover a new area of France, with local food and wine, historic towns, traditional markets, glorious countryside, rural parks or theme parks to enjoy.
Tarn-et-Garonne is a laid back department of the Midi-Pyrénées in the South West of France, lying just north of Toulouse. It’s justifiably become a popular holiday area, yet still feels uncrowded and unrushed – so no wonder we’ve chosen it as our region of the month for July!
This largely rural area is known for its beautiful countryside, pleasant lifestyle and its three rivers - the Aveyron, Tarn and Garonne. Medieval towns and several officially 'Most Beautiful Villages' dot the countryside, including picturesque Saint-Antonin Noble Val (above), whose town hall is considered to be one of the oldest in France.
The varied landscape is ideal for fans of the outdoors, whether exploring on foot, on two wheels or four legs. The breathtakingly beautiful Gorges of the Aveyron are also perfect for those who want to take to the water for white water rafting, canoeing and kayaking.
Prosperous Montauban – a bastide city - is the departmental capital, with museums, historic buildings and a huge variety of shops, restaurants and quaint little cafes where you can sip a coffee or a glass of one of the many delicious local wines.
The majority of our holiday lets in Tarn-et-Garonne are beautiful, traditional stone and tile farmhouses, cottages, converted barns and elegant maisons de maitre - many with their own pool and in glorious settings. Some have special offers for unfilled summer weeks, so you may even be able to grab a bargain.
To get to Tarn-et-Garonne, you can fly to Toulouse, take the motorail from Calais or drive from the Channel port in 8-9 hours. Start by browsing accommodation, then go to our Travel pages to book a trip tailor-made for you.
The beautiful Provencal farmhouse Mas de l’Hermitage is the exciting destination for the winner of our latest competition. We’ve teamed up with FrenchEntree magazine to offer you the chance to win a week’s stay at this place of luxurious calm close to the Alpilles Hills, the Mediterranean sea and the heritage city of Arles.
At the Mas owners Tony Spit and Bernard Balet have created three stylish apartments, each with its own private terrace, and all set in a spacious garden with a large swimming pool and fresh herbs and vegetables for your barbecue.
The winning couple will stay in La Camargue, a spacious duplex apartment with fabulous views. Click on the link below to take a look at this lovely property (ID 103659). If you can’t wait for the competition, you can always book your own stay !
Nearby is the medieval village of Les Baux and in Arles is the recently opened Van Gogh Foundation. Visit the magnificent Roman Pont de Gard and enjoy picnics or canoeing. Don’t miss the wild lands of the Camargue with its flamingoes, white horses and beaches – or the colourful Provencal markets with their food, flowers and fabrics.
To enter the competition see the latest issue of FrenchEntree magazine – or you can enter online in the magazine’s Competitions section.
The excitement is building for the start of this year’s Tour de France! Cycling’s biggest event starts on Saturday 2nd July in North Western France by the famous Le Mont-Saint-Michel and finishes on Sunday 24th July in Paris.
2015 winner Chris Froome said that he expected this years course to suit him better than last year's; "I think it's going to take a complete cyclist – but the stage that certainly stands out for me is Mont Ventoux." he added.
For the first time in Tour de France history, the race will start in Manche, Normandy before crossing Western France, with a long stretch passing through Angers, Saumur and Limoges.
The tour will pass through southern France as it then dips into Northern Spain before winding its way back into France. Stage 16 and 17 diverts through Switzerland summits to really put the cyclists through their paces.
One of the final stages is expected in landlocked Andorra but as usual, the Tour will culminate on the Champs-Élysées in Paris for a sprinters’ showdown.
If you’re going to be in France near any of those locations, do go out and experience the excitement. The colour and atmosphere are unforgettable as cyclists flash past in a loud whirr, a host of officials and support vehicles cruise by and the crowd goes crazy.
If you’re looking for last minute accommodation within access of the Tour route, check out our self-catering holiday homes in the regions. They make a great base for seeing the race and taking in some sightseeing and relaxation. Full details and links are in our guide to the Tour de France, along with more information about the event.
Want to watch the Tour in English on TV? From the opening day, ITV covers the finish of each stage live and provides an hour of expertly and entertainingly narrated highlights every night.
Our region of the month is Finistère, the beautiful Brittany peninsula with a coastline similar to Cornwall. From the Pointe de Primel in the north to the Pointe de Trévignon in the south, there are over 1200 kilometres of coastline, including high vantage points with unbelievable views and breath-taking panoramas, perfect places to gaze out to sea and watch the enchanting light playing on the water.
You’ll find sweeping sandy beaches with grassy dunes that invite you to relax or take a romantic stroll and children will love unspoilt coves where they can swim in clean water, build sand castles and explore rock pools. Then there are pretty fishing harbours, historic villages and towns to discover.
Inland, Finistère is a place of myth and legend and harbours some magical locations. Nestling in the heart of the Arrée Mountains, in the Natural Regional Armorique Park you'll find the town of Huelgoat, which in Breton means 'the wood from above'. Nearby is a lake and extensive forest, where you encounter the truly unforgettable sight of an astonishing array of rocks and moss-covered boulders, looking for all the world as if they were discarded by giants.
The Breton cuisine is rich and varied - and nowhere more so than in Finistère, which has been described as a platter of fresh produce set on a shining sea. Enjoy fresh golden cider, local salted butter thickly spread on hunks of bread, pale pink prawns nestling in crisp salad leaves or a warm, simmering casserole followed by a velvety chocolate pudding.
For accommodation in Finistère, we have a great range of self-catering gites, villas with pools and country houses offering B&B, many of them in coastal locations. Use the link below to explore where to stay and click on Info for more about the region.
The airports of Brest (Brest Bretagne) and Quimper (Quimper-Cornouaille) cover the north and south of the region. There are no toll-roads, so the motorways coming from Rennes or Nantes direction allow you to access the whole of Finistère easily, conveniently and free of charge.
For ferry travel, the port of Roscoff has connections from Plymouth or Cork with Brittany Ferries and from Rosslare with Irish Ferries.
Summer has finally arrived. Time for holidays in France! If you’re looking forward to a lovely family holiday with children, then you’ll be waiting until term ends to head off – and there’s still time to find a fabulous villa, gite or chateau in a beautiful destination.
If you’re lucky enough to be more flexible on dates, then why not take a break in early summer, during June or the first half of July. The weather is warm and the roads and destinations less crowded. Accommodation and travel are also often a bit cheaper outside the peak period.
Our holiday home listings cover most of France and we put you directly in contact with owners, so you can get first hand advice to help your holiday planning and expectations. Many villa and gite owners live close by their guest accommodation and are happy to arrange meals, outings, therapies and activities, helping you to take advantage of local knowledge and make the most of your stay.
If you’re driving to a destination in southern France, why not stay overnight in one of our beautiful B&Bs? Many are in rural locations close to the main autoroutes and also offer dinner, so you can savour French countryside and character, dipping into local life for a few hours and enriching your holiday.
Finding your ideal holiday let in France – one of life’s great pleasures. And when you’ve chosen where to stay, we can help you get there. We also have some really useful stuff to make sure your holiday goes smoothly.
We love making life easy for our holidaymakers with one-stop booking for accommodation, travel and services.
If you’ve never browsed our Travel section, now is the time to check it out. You’ll find:
• Car hire – we compare prices from all the major car rental suppliers to find you the best deal.
• Ferries – see all the routes to all the ports and use our easy search to find the best route and price for you
• Flights – see our recommendations for airlines offering both great value cheap flights to France and a quality, reliable service.
• Trains - For relaxing and environmentally friendly travel, book tickets for Eurostar, TGV, SNCF, Motorail and Snow Train services – and for trains within France
• European breakdown cover – our partner Breakdown Direct European has the experience and expertise to save your holiday with the minimum of hassle
• Mobile phones and internet – stay in touch and save money on mobile calls and internet in France with LeFrench Mobile
• Currency exchange - compare & save Up To 10% On Foreign Currency using our currency comparison tool powered by MyTravelMoney.co.uk.
• Holiday date guide – Not sure when the roads will be busy due to public holidays? Check out our month-by-month Holiday Guide with key dates, ideas and information for each month of the year
Travel safely and have a wonderful holiday in France this summer!