Go Advice:From visiting perfumeries in the south of France to ideas for a honeymoon, JOAN SCALESanswers your travel questions
Nice nights with daughter
My daughter and I are planning to spend four nights in Nice at the end of June. We have flights booked but would like some suggestions for accommodation. We would prefer a hotel but would not rule out self-catering. Ideally it will be in a fairly central location, in the mid-price range and easily accessible from the airport. We would love to visit Grasse. Is it possible to get there by public transport and can you visit perfumeries? Also Menton and that area would be of interest.
RD, Cork
When I visit Nice, I like to stay in the Mercure Marche aux Fleurs (mercure.com) for the location. It is on the Promenade des Anglais, beside the Opera House and a step into the Cours Saleya Flower Market with dozens of restaurants and the Vieux Ville behind. Rates in June are about €120 per room per night, which would be about average for a three-star hotel at that time of the year. Apartment rental would be around the same price. See a selection of properties to rent on rivierapebbles.com.
There is plenty to see in Nice and one of the major advantages of staying there is the great public transport. You can easily travel along the coast by train or bus and the fares are inexpensive. Menton is certainly easy to get to, as is Monte Carlo and Cannes, and one of my favourites, is Villefranche, the little port town.
There are organised day tours to Grasse (see nice tourism.com) or if you feel like being adventurous you can take the local bus for about €3 return and explore the area on foot. The Museum of Perfume is worth a visit and the perfume houses of Fragonard, Galimard and Molinard have guided tours.
Food worries on holiday
We are a family of four, with a boy of three and a half, and a girl who will be nearly two when holiday time comes. We are hoping to go abroad for the last two weeks in June before her birthday in mid-July to avail of the free child places.
Our daughter has a condition called galactosaemia which is very rare and involves a strict non-dairy diet. Due to this fact, we require an apartment for cooking facilities, but would also need to know that a good local supermarket stocks plenty of variety, with soya options etc.
We would like somewhere that is good for kids of this age, with pool/playground and so on, and also maybe that has entertainment at night. We are open to a package holiday or booking flights and accommodation ourselves.
EF, Dublin
Two countries that come to mind as places which would be ideal for your family holiday are Greece and France – Greece because they do not use a lot of dairy products in cooking and it would be possible for the family to enjoy eating out some of the time, and France because there is an awareness of allergies as well as access to good supermarkets.
There are package holidays to Crete, Corfu and Zante in Greece available with falconholidays.ie, panoaramaholidays.ie, sunworld.ie and directholidays.ie. Expect to pay from €600 per person upwards for two weeks in a self-catering apartment.
In France, the choices are bit more extensive in that there is lots of access from Ireland to places there either by air or sea.
A good holiday resort with self-catering would be ideal and companies such as campotel.com, siblu.com, eurocamp.com and irishferries.com are worth looking at. These all have good facilities for children, with pools, games and, entertainment and they usually have good supermarkets.
However, the one drawback with these types of holidays is the kitchens are not always ideal for cooking family meals and sometimes lack all the equipment and utensils you are used to at home.
You may like to consider renting direct from an owner, as these properties usually are better equipped for family holidays. You will find lots of places to rent on holidays-rentals.com, holidaylettings.com and holidayhomesdirect.ie.
I would suggest that you get a list of the things your daughter can and cannot eat translated and bring it with you on holidays. You should probably bring some foodstuffs that you will need for the first few days.
Supermarkets in France that are likely to carry soya products are Carrefour, Leclerc, Auchan and Biocoop. Health food stores there are usually called bio magasin.
If there are particular brands of products that you use regularly, you can always contact the manufacturers and ask for outlets near where you are intending to travel.
Help with my honeymoon
I am planning my honeymoon for this September. We were thinking of the Banyan Tree in the Seychelles and Paris on the way home for four to five days as flights to the Seychelles go from Paris. My mum recommended asking you for advice or any other suggestions.
MOS, Cork
The Banyan Tree is a good choice for a honeymoon, very romantic and far from the madding crowd. Other popular places for honeymoons in your price range are romantic Bali, South America for the adventurous, safari for the curious and luxury cruising for the laidback.
The most important thing to do when planning this special trip is to shop around.
There is some great value to be had in long-haul holidays and I can recommend the following travel agents: classicresorts.ie, sunway.ie, travelfocus.ie, travelmood.ie and jgt.ie.
Go Ask Joan:E-mail questions, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com