In July we went on our first proper holiday in 3 years! In the last three years we have used all of our holiday time (and money!) moving to Germany, visiting family, having time off when friends came to visit and the occasional weekend away. We have both been so busy recently that we definitely need a proper break… so we took a road trip to Cannes!

The first thing I had to do was make a wedding cake for a friend which had to be ready for the same day we left… not ideal!

On the Friday after work, we drove down through the Black Forest to Lake Constance (Bodensee). Lake Constance is a large lake in the south of Germany which lies on the border to Switzerland and Austria. This is a really popular place for German’s to go on holiday! We camped overnight before setting off early the next morning.

After a breakfast of freshly baked croissants from the campsite, we quickly visited Constance before heading into Switzerland! We stopped at Rhine Falls which is one of the largest waterfalls in Europe. In the middle of the waterfall is small outcrop of rock with steps going up to the top. We spent around an hour walking along the river and watching the boats struggling to get to the outcrop to drop tourists off or pick them up.

After leaving Rhine Falls we headed into the Alps with the intention of Tim cycling up an Alp… one burst ear drum from me later that didn’t happen so we headed straight to our campsite in Italy on Lake Maggiore. We arrived fairly late so we ended up eating pizza (of course!) and going to sleep. It turned out there was a wedding taking place at the hotel next to the campsite… fireworks at 1am and singing until 4am meant it wasn’t the best nights sleep I have ever had but at least it was funny!

All we had planned for the Sunday was to get to the coast and find a campsite somewhere before meeting my family in Cannes on Monday morning.

We slowly drove in that general direction and ended up spending a few hours in Alessandria. We arrived in Genoa late afternoon and got extremely lost in the middle of the city! After finding our way out we headed along the coast road… until we hit a road closure with no prior warning. Rather than driving all the way back we found a campsite, went for a swim in the sea and went out for dinner.

We headed to a restaurant recommended to us by the campsite. From the road above the restaurant looked a bit cheap and cheerful, but we were too tired to go anywhere else so we decided to give it a go. When we had got down the stairs there was the most amazing restaurant we have ever seen!

The restaurant sits on the rocks at the top of a beach, lots of driftwood and seafood… it reminded me of something out of Death in Paradise!

On Monday morning we headed into Cannes to meet my family for a week. My Uncle and Aunt have an apartment in Cannes so we are lucky enough to have stayed there a few times before.

The Cote d’Azure is an amazing place to just walk around and take in the scenery. We spent the majority of the next week swimming, eating lots of delicious food and sightseeing.

After a fantastic week Tim and I slowly headed back… avoiding as many mountains as possible!

First of all, we stopped off in Provence at the prettiest campsite I have ever seen… lavender, donkeys, festoon lighting… I could have lived there! The food was really good too!

From here we drove through Provence and the Alps. Tim ended up cycling Alp D’Huez! Before stopping in Grenoble for the night.

For our last overnight stop we stayed in my favourite place, Annecy! I have written a separate post all about Annecy, so you can read about it here.

Recommendations

(I have only listed the places we would return to)

Where we stayed

Lake Constance- Camping Platz Hegne the campsite is directly next to the lake, which means you can walk straight from your tent for a swim. The facilities are the cleanest and most modern I have seen at a campsite. The food in the restaurant is really good too. You can even buy freshly baked croissants and bread in the morning. The only downside with this site was that there weren’t any pitches, you are just placed next to another tent, which means it can be quite cramped and noisy!

Lake Maggiore- Camping Parisi again, right on the edge of the lake so you don’t need to go anywhere to get to the water! Within walking distance to the centre of Baveno.

Provence –  Camping Le Lavandin Esparron de Verdon as I have said before, the prettiest campsite I have ever seen. Huge pitches. Really peaceful setting and really nice food in the restaurant.

Where we ate

Italian Coast – AzzurroDue

Cannes- Pastis

Cannes – Icecream – Niva

Cannes- Bakery – Pains de Provence