My Best Vacation Ever: France & Serralunga d’Alba

Enjoy guest posts from IGE readers describing their best vacations ever while I’m away on mine! Check out my Italy travel page which I’ll be updating with links to videos, pictures & posts throughout my trip!

France

Name: Hannah Jeffries

Who, what, where, when and why: Back when I was fifteen, I went on a French exchange hosted by my high school. The first time I spent most of my time in Paris with my best buds and cute little exchange friend (She is the tiniest little button!). I was so eager to return that I went back two years ago and it was the time of my life. We traveled to Lyon, the Alps, the south and Monaco. France is quite honestly my favourite place on earth.

My favorite part of the vacation was: The best part of the trip was the loads of food…and the wine/champagne. Talk about boat loads of bread and cheese.

My best travel tip for this location: When traveling around France, this is obvious everywhere but try to find restaurants that have authentic food to the region. Also, it is lot easier to travel by train or plane. Driving from city to city takes much longer than it does in Canada or the US.

The thing you MUST do at this location: If there is one thing that I recommend, not a location because it is all beautiful, but brioche aux pralines and beaufort cheese. Brioche is amped up bread as it is but throw in the crunchy, sweet bits and its unbelievable. Oh and beaufort cheese is my favourite which I have yet find around these parts.

The thing I want to do next time I return: There are so many things that I miss but if I were to go back I would try to travel to everywhere else! For such a tiny country, there is just too much to see.

Serralunga d’Alba, Italy

Name, Blog: Mary, Sisters Running the Kitchen

Who, what, where, when and why: In June 2009, I traveled to Serralunga d’Alba, located in the Piedmont region of Italy with my boyfriend’s family. We stayed at a Germano Ettore–a wine vineyard. From Italy, we flew to Paris. This was my first time going to Europe and I was so lucky to have been able to travel to both Italy & France!! This vacation was purely for enjoyment and included sightseeing, eating, drinking, shopping, and relaxing!

My favorite part of the vacation was:  It is so hard to compare the area of Italy we visited to Paris. Both areas are completely different! In Serralunga d’Alba, the views were breathtaking and the experience was quaint. Everything was beautiful. The food was excellent. Very laid back. While in Italy, we traveled to Cinque Terre. Here, they have LONG walking trails along the coast. Besides waking up every morning for a run through the beautiful vineyards, followed by a breakfast prepared by the owner of the vineyard’s wife, this was my favorite part of Italy. It was beautiful.

My best travel tip for this location: When traveling to Serralunga d’Alba, rent a car. You will need it to travel around to all of the different sights and surrounding towns (Milan, Cinque Terre, etc.)

The thing you MUST do at this location: You must eat the local food, gelato, pasta, pizza and bread!

The thing I want to do next time I return: Continue to enjoy the delicious food of Italy and France. Would definitely return to both of these locations; however, I’d love to explore different areas of both countries as well! Writing this post makes me want to go back right away!