Family Vacation in Saint Cyprien, France

We arrived on Saturday in Saint Cyprien, which is in the Roussillon region of southern France.

We are staying at the Hotel du Port, which has a great view of the … you guessed it: the port!

We love French food!!

First of all, it is great to be in southern France, where the food is fantastic. I haven’t been able to stop eating the delicious baguettes, pains de campagne, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, cheeses, and pains au chocolat. I also have had my fill of champagne and red and white wine in the few days since we have been here. So far, my favorite cheeses are Raclette and Pyrenees and I really enjoyed the bottle of Faugères red wine my husband picked up. I even tried some of the saucisson, and it was delicious!

The beach at Saint Cyprien Plage!

Saint Cyprien is a beach town, and in the summertime, fills up with beachgoers. It does have a lovely beach, with cool, clean, clear Mediterranean waters. The beach in Saint Cyprien is nice, but nothing super amazing. I personally prefer beaches with greenery, and the beach here is pure sand. I do like the view of the mountains in the background: you can see the Pyrenees in the distance. I also appreciate the fact that the beach is completely calm on some days and has waves on other, more windy days. I also like the length of the beach. It is about 1.5 miles long, and, late in the evening, it is possible to have a nice, relaxing walk along the beach.

Because of the lack of shade on the beach, I tend not to spend more than a couple of hours there each day. My kids often get bored going to the beach every day, so I decided to splurge a bit and buy them an inflatable boat, complete with rows! That was a wise choice, as it is much easier to extract them from the house with the promise of a boat ride! Otherwise, my ten-year old twins and seven-year old would be content staying at home all day playing on their iPods and laptops.

While we are here, we are trying to find a good balance between relaxing and getting around to see the rest of the region. There are more natural and beautiful beaches in neighboring towns that we plan to explore. And, the Pyrenees mountains are absolutely amazing. We are thinking of ways to spend more time there during our stay here.