Our 30 year experiences and Reccomendations ......
Chapter 1 – Sand-beach :
The one and only sandy beach …
Do you like … a sandy beach … well hidden away … 10 minutes walk to get there (after you parked the car) … small beach .. (quite crowdie in summer) … no roads around so no cars around … un-deep for about 150 meters … that is the CALANDRE … in Ventimiglia. (Excellent when high waves … as it’s a sand-bank the place you can access the water, when it’s really wavy as the other beaches have very rough shore brake)
LE CALANDRE VENTIMIGLIA – SUNSET
To get there, go through Ventimiglia … don’t take on to the Motorway or to Menton, but go relatively straight (let’s say … go over the river Roya bridge and take left and right … then you cannot miss the tunnel), to enter a TUNNEL in the city (the only one) at the end of that tunnel, go right and park the car right at the end. Then continue to walk on a sandy road for 10 minutes or more. There is a bar for drinks and ice creams at the Calandre, all very natural … there are some beach facilities … again very natural. Preferred beach of all locals as it is great … so very busy on Sat and Sun. On Friday .. difficult to get to as this is MARKET DAY … please look at chapter places to visit for Fridays …
Stone-beaches … 1 advantage … no sand in the clothes ….
Bordighera – Since years getting better and better big stones all over the beaches, the best stone beaches are in Bordighera … as this town is very beautiful .. it has a car-free promenade of about 3 km with bars and well organized beaches … Very pleasant atmosphere with or without kids. The beaches are normally prepared mid May and finish mid October to be organized … To get there, drive all the way through Bordighera, right to the end … when the housing finishes … then turn right … you see a small church … you are right … there is a ‘big’ parking … with a bit of patience park there and … you will see the boulevard starting.
(we will describe later when talking about food, but the best of all in our opinion is actually on the boulevard … an almost ordinary looking bar on the pedestrian area .. called ALCIONE … the coffee / pastries / and mostly lunch and dinner are Excellent (they have a very passionate cook).
BORDIGHERA BEACH AND BOULEVARD
Ventimiglia – … Really messy Italian …
Apart from the Calandre … only one good stone beach in Ventimiglia; with kids this is quite good, it is close to the CALANDRE, actually pass through the same tunnel and turn left .. at the end you will see SAN GIUSEPPE. For whatever reason they are able to create the perfect atmosphere .. there are toys all over in a shady area. They have something with Holland … there are always a lot of Dutch people there who tend to have houses in Airole, a small village … also the owners are half Dutch origin. Cannot explain why … but atmosphere is good.
VENTIMIGLIA SAN GIUSEPPE AND OLD CITY
Vallecrosia .... This year we were there quite often ... it is not really beautiful ... but extremely practical with kids from 4 to 8 years old ... there is a beach ... water and then rocks, so no open sea and water from 70 to 90 cm deep all over … so very safe and you can relax a bit. There are not many foreign kids though … To get there, drive towards Bordighera ... in Vallecrosia at the traffic light follow Sea (right) … at the sea, turn right again and it’s the second beach-establishment on the left, called Oasi, the life-guards are really cool there.
Vallecrosia
Balzi Rossi – Beautiful …
To find it … if you follow signs for France and Menton via the normal road … and not the motorway, you pass through a village called LATTE, right after Latte keep left still following France and Menton … you will get to the old Frontier. (still there )
50 Meters before the frontier … turn left and park your car … pass a kind of gate and walk on to Balzi Rossi …. A very famous private beach / bay / stony but really beautiful. Expensive …. Not really, just normal.
Menton … It has such a nice city centre that it is nice to pass a day in Menton on the beach and have a pan-bagnat in the centre at lunch … there are two kinds of beaches … very small stones, maybe better for kids and never waves here as protected … in the yachts harbour area (sounds worse then it is) .. or on the west side, normal .. stone beaches.
MENTON OLD CITY AND SEASIDE
Really fancy beach and but not over-expensive ..
Pass Monte Carlo along the Basse Corniche … (along the sea side) towards NICE ..
You will get to a place called Cap d’Ail, descend when you arrive in the centre and ask for the beach called ‘La Mala’, you can go to ‘La Reserve’ or to ‘Eden Plage Mala’ You can easily find Carolina there and other celebrities, it is a nice bay .. and not even too expensive, feel exclusive for normal prices …
Nice :
Stone beaches … nothing special … beautiful long boulevard though.
Juan le Pins as well as Cannes :
Sandy beaches … very nice … in high season … very crowdy … lot of traffic, in pre- season of post-season worth a visit, it is a teeners paradise in the night … in the day a good but crowdy beach-resort.
JUAN LE PINS – TEENERS PARADISE
Surprising Monte-Carlo : Also in Monte-Carlo there are some decent beaches … they are close to the famous tennis club … close to Jimmy’s, everybody in Monte-Carlo knows Jimmy’s, the nightclub. The beach is called ‘La Spiaggia’ (yellow umbrella’s) there is a playground on the beach right next to it. It is in “Plage du Larvotto” They offer any plate for 9 Euro and staying all day is relatively cheap … (for what one would expect for Monte-Carlo) the owner is called Eric Chauvet tel +377 93505080 IT IS REALLY GOOD WITH KIDS AS WELL !
One day to the river ... rather then the beach ..... There are in Rocchetta (after Dolceacqua left for 5km) very special „rockpools“ Completely naturally pools connected by small falls.... you can have a good swim there, the water is nice and cool, have a relaxed day and discover and visit untouched Rocchetta.
A couple of pictures of the place
Chapter 2 - Restaurants
Dinner normally starts at approximately 19h00. The thing we really recommend is to stay in the valley and enter deeper and deeper … go down the hill and go left, pass Camporosso .. towards Dolceacqua, in Dolceacqua itself and after Dolceacqua .. there are really great places. They are in-expensive and excellent as mainly used by locals (therefore they can’t effort to be expensive or bad)
They are all good … some ones we know are … La Rampa in Dolceacqua (very hard to get in as very busy always .. go early like 19.00 and stand a chance) Il Borgo (best Pizza) in Dolce Acqua ... (also very busy in high season ... wait a bit and you will be seated, you can even reserve here … doesn’t help much in high season but …. ), there is a nice Pub in the main square as well (that is on the new side of the bridge), they are all in the main square. Have a walk in the old town before or after dinner, it feels like going back in time ......
that is
Further in the valley .... La Favorita ... on the way to Apricale ... just 2 km before coming into Apricale on the left side ... tel 0184 208186 They have good honest food, really typical for the region. Also there are excellent restaurants in Apricale like La locanda dei Carugi and many others. Quite upmarket and very well looked after.
other one ... Ristorante Apricale da Delio Rina e Baci ... place to check out, heard a lot of good about it. Piazza Vittorio Veneto 9 in Apricale 0184 208008. One more is La Capanna da Baci, Via Roma 14/16 in Apricale IM, Italy. +39 0184 208137
Do you want ….. a crazy place ... in Castelvittorio (again an old village) ... called Ristorante Italia. The guy is funnily crazy ... you pay 25 Euro for : 20 antipasti ... 6 primi and 6 or 7 main courses …. wine as much as you like included .. desert and coffee and all the rest … he will start to put on music at a certain hour as he also drinks wine as much as he likes … real good fun. Concluding .. Keep the valley as a reference for dinner …
Bordighera : In Bordighera, we described the ALCIONE before on the boulevard in Bordighera … looks more like a bar … it is not. Food is excellent, at lunch or dinner. Also the old town of Bordighera has some very nice restaurants and Pizzeria’s. There is a huge parking in front of the old-town, as the old-town is car-free.
San Remo or Ventimiglia … nothing special … Ventimiglia is mainly there to munge- French tourists who come for a bargain …. Apart from the beaches mentioned in chapter 1 … avoid it, it is also a traffic bottle-neck… and food is under standard.
Fancy : There is a very expensive restaurant right next to the Balzi Rossi beach (look at the beach-area) … we have never been there but it is very up-market. If you go to the end of Menton, two, nice sea-view … semi luxury restaurants, they are already in Cap Matin … right at the end of Menton, turn left following the sea … place is called Cala Azzurra (+33 493 356307). We have tried and it is good ! Sea-food and good service. Still price-quality …. not comparable with anything described above … atmosphere … definitely stylish and good !!!
Monte-Carlo: It is normally expensive … not that good standard .. but they just opened a new restaurant … in the Yacht-harbour, right above Stars & Bars. It is also called Stars and Bars restaurant, but is on the first floor (the one below is more a fast-food, don’t go wrong). It is very nice, neo modern, food from all over the world and prices are decent.
The best : The place we like most … but it is quite costly (130 Euro pp aprox) is in Eze Village … great location … superb food … .what a view … really worth it … go for dinner, not for lunch … Look at chapter 3, for description to find Eze Village … the restaurant (Hotel) is called Chateau Eza. Have something to celebrate … do it here …
Was just informed by one of our guests that : Le Chevre d’Or in Eze is at the same extremely high standard.
Our experiences and preferences … Chapter 3 - Places to visit …
OK laying in the beach is nice but … there are too many things to see here … really diversified and worth it … that is why we recommend to not only have a car when coming to the region …. but also to use it … you have seen before in the restaurants and beach-descriptions that it’s a shame to go over and over again to the same place …
ITALY First of all …don’t misunderstand … you are just 7km away from France … but this is really Italy as Italy can be. Actually the first 20 miles of the cote d’Azur used to be Italian not much time ago … First thing is checking out when … and where the village parties are planned in the period you stay in the area. Normally there are parties every evening in high season and every Thursday /Friday /Saturday in half season … these parties are really nice with a combination of middle-age atmosphere … music .. food in the square ... nice people … all you want from Italy … Every village has several parties planned during the summer period. In Dolceacqua you will find a good tourist office, providing you with a good map of the area, information about what’s going on etc. It is on the left side, just before the square.
Starting : just go left when you descend the hill …… pass though Camporosso and go to Dolceacqua (abt 5 km) This village was built in the 12th or 13th century and is just fantastic. Park your car and enter the old village passing over the superb ancient bridge over the river. It is … special !!!
DOLCEACQUA
DOLCEACQUA
Go further and follow signs for APRICALE. The place is Magic, it is further in the valley … in Isolabona turn right …. This is really special, they have a great theatre in summer … a moving scene … moving through all the village ….
APRICALE
Do you have more time …. and liked these two … continue after Apricale … follow the road to Baiardo (quite far, have to be in for a ride and is not as good as Apricale and Dolce-Acqua) and you can even go further towards the sea again and visit Bussana Vecchia an ancient village, once ruined by an earthquake, partially untouched … take over by artists … really special as well (take the motorway back then to avoid San Remo … traffic)
BUSSANA VECCHIA – Artist Village
All the villages in the very same valley are great, including Castelvittorio … Isolabona etc etc.
Ventimiglia is commercial … lots of traffic and French people buying all kinds of stuff … . That is what Ventimiglia wants to be … a trades-city. Avoid it if you go for quality. Go for it if you like the bazaar kind of thing. There is a huge market on Friday, if you like markets …. here is number 1 market you will have seen. If you do not go to the Market … on Friday … go to Bordighera to avoid masses of people …. and difficult parking …
VENTIMIGLIA MARKET
Bordighera on the contrary is just ….it … Bordighera alta … the old (high) city (Bordighera Alta) is really nice. (by the way very good food there as well) and the promenade / boulevard is excellent !!!! The nightlife for the Italy part of the riviera is concentrated on the boulevard. There is a market every Thursday morning … very friendly, on the boulevard as described in the beach-chapter.
BORDIGHERA
San Remo … getting better ……. But there still is a lot of traffic, bit like being in Milan … lots of cars, little space … very good for designers shopping and there are some picturesque corners. It is getting better as the train station and rail has moved and the centre gets connected with the beach now … but still take a deep breath for it is busy… going off-season … not bad at all … travel out of shop-opening times … if you don’t come for shopping … if you like shopping .. this is just it !!!
SAN REMO CASINO
Giardini Hanbury : On the road to France (keep right after LATTE) you get to Giardini Hanbury … botanic gardens and if you like beautiful nature … this one is fantastic. It goes down all the way to the coast-line.
GIARDINI HANBURY
France :
Menton … excellent centre … great time, combine with a beach day … walk around in the centre in your bathing suite … and lunch a pan-bagnat …
MENTON Monte-Carlo … unique, with yacht harbour …. Palace … casino … don’t have to add much … just try it in the day-time and in the night time … you will not recognize it … as the atmosphere changes completely. Bring your best car.
MONTE CARLO HARBOUR, CASTLE & CASINO
Eze Village …. 25 km from Ventimiglia … a must …. On the Moyen Corniche between Monte Carlo and Nice … it is a fantastically maintained old village, sorry but you can’t miss this one. OK it’s a bit touristic … too well maintained .. but still it keeps its character and it is …. 800 yrs old.
EZE VILLAGE – MOYEN CORNICHE
Villefranche sur mer (25 km from Ventimiglia) … on the basse cornice … just before Nice … very nice, all cruise ships land there for their excursions.
VILLEFRANCHE – BASSE CORNICHE
Nice (30 km from Ventimiglia) … big city … good boulevard …
NICE BOULEVARD, OLD CITY, HARBOUR & SEASIDE
Antibes / Juan Le Pins / Cannes … special places.
ANTIBES / JUAN LE PINS & CANNES
Try La Turbie as well if you like old villages … it’s on the moyen corniche as well, not far from Eze Village.
Do you have kids … want to do something special .. in Antibes you find MARINE LAND … a huge sharks aquarium and dolphin / orca show … really worth it … there is also a Water-fun-park right next to it, as well as a big Theme-park and a butterfly- show. Approx 30 Euro entrance for adults … something like 22 for kids.
Our experiences and preferences …
Chapter 4 - Nightlife …
In Italy night-life is concentrated in Bordighera … a discotheque on Friday evening called Kursaal (on the boulevard) or almost every evening Chicca Loca, tel 0184 263510 a nice bar on the beach, next to Kursaal. In summer time, the boulevard fills up with youngsters … amazing scenes … good atmosphere … 16 – 22 yrs have big fun in the evenings just walking on the boulevard.
A lot of night life is in France ….
Monte-Carlo has some places in the harbour .. one is called ‘Pit Stop’ next to a Restaurant called Rassecasse and Stars and Bars, also in the harbour now an upmarket … nice and good food … restaurant upstairs and a pub/bar downstairs. … The most exclusive club in the cote d’Azur is Jimmy’s. Sas Caffe’ is next door to it and, it is in fashion at the moment. Only Jimmy’s is really expensive … and difficult to get in … the other ones … not cheap but not crazy.
Nice has the most messy night-life with numbers of bars and places to go. It all departs from one big bar-square right in the old town of Nice close to the promenade.
Cannes is more up-market … with beautiful bars & restaurants and a discotheque called Cat corner … or Cap corner … it is opposite the Cannes-Festival theatre.
Chapter 5 – Special events:
Monte-Carlo Grand-Prix, approximately the 3rd week of May every year … a crazy week in Monte-Carlo with jet-set all over … numbers of people … night life … ferrari’s … Bentley’s etc … trials until Friday … Saturday final trial and Sunday D-Day …
San Remo Festival …. Big music festival every year in San-Remo, for the Italians much more important then the Eurovision song-festival … it is at the end of February …
Cannes – Film Festival … also the 2nd or 3rd week of May every year … don’t have to tell more about this …
Fire-works, in summer every city has a fire-work planned … local tourist offices will know dates .. the ones in Ventimiglia (end of August) and the one in Dolceacqua (Mid August) are really worth it … also the one in Monte-Carlo is spectacular.
Spa’s / wellness centre :
They just opened a new one … in our valley … approximately 20 km in Pigna … it is a huge complex … you can’t miss it. There is natural sulphur coming out of the ground and they use this in their spa’s.
Chapter 6 – More information about the area:
Mountains : Want to go for a mountain outing …. You easily get up to 2000 m if you continue after Pigna … and follow Colle Melosa ... there is a superb AGRITURISMO where you can have great food, all, really all ingredients home made, it is called ‘Il RIFUGIO’. Please call +39 (0184) 241661. It is a real good day in the mountains. Supermarkets : Supermarkets all over … we use to go to the one in Vallecrosia (on the way to Bordighera) turn left before the bridge (second traffic light) there is a big super- market called Conad, that one has the best selection … for bread and small purchases, just drive to Camporosso. There are a couple of bakers and small shops … of course slightly more expensive then Conad as they are smaller … Availability of food in the supermarkets is massive, no need to bring anything from home … there are even numbers of alternative food shops. There is a new supermarket very close to the house as well … go left when going down the hill … then pass under the motorway bridge, at the roundabout right … over the bridge … after 200m right, it’s called Renny and has quality for discount prices. Hospital : For anything go towards Bordighera … as soon as you pass Bordighera signs, on the left you will see the hospital … there is an emergency unit called ‘pronto soccorso’ , where you can just go for anything … normally you do not pay, or just a small amount. (Ventimiglia has a hospital but not a first aid unit) Wine: The local red-wine is called ‘ROSSESE di Dolceacqua’ … a good red-wine available in all kinds of qualities, gradations and prices … the amount on offer is limited and the demand gets higher and higher … therefore prices tend to get up lately … it is an honest wine … that is for sure … no chemicals used … if you go to Dolceaqua … walk over the bridge … go left into the old town, right at the corner there is a wine-bar … called BALLESTRA’ they also make olive oil … it is real stuff … made as it was made 100 yrs ago .. bottle to take away @ aprox 8 or 9 Euro … drink a glass there … is the wine worth the 8 or 9 Euro, not in Italy, price / quality wise in Italy you can find a better offering, always buy or order DOC (di origine controllata) that is a must in Italy and you can be 100% sure about the origin, control and quality of the wine. Rain: It doesn’t rain often … that is good … but if it rains … the region is not really prepared for it … we normally visit places when it rains … or go to Monte-Carlo at Stars and Bars in the harbour there is a kind of pub-style food service with an internal small playground for the kids … cinema … if you understand Italian … in San Remo … or take a day of rest in the villa …. Waves: When in France the Mistral blows … the sea get’s high waves … enjoy it … OK go to the Calandre … sandy beach … long shore break … have fun … do not go in the water in the stone beaches if you are not really used to rough shore break … it comes in quite really rough sometimes … main months May and June … some in September … normally 2 or 3 days a month … Do you not enjoy big waves … then go to Menton in the Yacht harbour it is completely protected from the open sea … Need a Taxi: Call Palmero Carlo, Taxi, tel 0093 347 4251123.
Chapter 7 – Sports
Roller-blades … perfect in Bordighera, Nice or Cannes, I also discovered Monte Carlo by night when little traffic, it is unique.
Windsurfing … the winter has some real good days … through June July … some days … excellent Levante .. coming from the East … need to be lucky … if lucky … great place … best place to go is Bordighera … or Camporosso Mare …
Surfing … Ventimiglia is xcellent when Mistral in France … le Calandre became a top- surfing spot. In the villa you will find some body-surfboards …
Running … all over … best go towards the beach and follow the coast-line.
Biking … mountain-bikes OK as there are lots of mountains .. also following the coast- line is OK on the side-walks … normal road-biking … wouldn’t recommend if you are used to cycling-roads as they do not exist … and traffic passes.
Swimming … all over … in the sea … looking for a pool, in Monte-Carlo harbour there is a big one with 10m high diving … also in Bordighera there is a covered pool.
Golf … there is a beautiful golf-course in San-Remo … take the motorway in Bordighera … take the 2nd Exit … San Remo est … follow Sanremo … and you will see signs … Otherwise go to the cote d’Azur … there are courses all over … we have visited only few, one in Antibes … at Marina Land turn right … continue for couple of Km. and ask for golf course … not bad and no need for membership card … pay & play, many foreigners as all along the French coast ..
Tennis … 2 excellent tennis courts in Dolceacqua, drive in to the city, turn right over the bridge (the new one) and follow the road to the right .. after 150 m on your right hand side there are 2 synthetic grass courts, very good to play on … book with Giacomo (338 4174731) or Luciano (320 2120276) if you speak Italian, if not then give me a call, make a schedule for your whole holiday and I will book with them.
Hiking … mountains all over … drive into the valley … mountains upto 2000 m ….
Horse-back riding … not possible along the shore as it is not built for that … go deeper in the valley, at the end of Camporosso … only 3 km away, there is a horse-farm, that organizes great mountain excursions for 1 hr, 3 hrs or a full day. The internet site is http://users.masterweb.it/riolovaira/ or also http://www.riolovaira.com/Inglese/Intro.htm There might be many others in the valley ……. We didn’t try them but it looks really nice.
Waterskiing .. Menton … towards the end of Menton, there are several possibilities for waterskiing.
Diving … all over is good …. but do not expect Red-Sea sceneries …
Skiing …. in winter …at 1 hrs drive … into the Roya valley you arrive to Limone Piemonte … you will be surprised, normally excellent snow-conditions … sun and decent ski-facilities … with approx 15 lifts … we had a week there this year … not bad at all … and only 1 hour drive from Ventimiglia …
Chapter 8 - Concerning the house
Anything wrong, call us at +39 335 5737396 Or if you are brave in gesture-language … go to Rocco Giglio, he lives up the mountain, in one of the old houses just 200 m from us. He built the house and knows ins and outs. He does speak a quite good Italian though … but nothing else …. Also Massimo Giglio his brother is good for help, he will maintain the pool on Saturday.
Equipment :
Music equipment / Satellite TV / DVD … no Dutch channels, some English, many German, Italian and from around the world. Do not switch on the DVD and the Sat-TV on at the same time … otherwise they disturb each other. For the music … the CD-player is connected with the booster under the small table … put the booster on ‘on’ and it is quite self-explaining, there are loud-speakers all around the house as well as in the garden. If you have problems with understanding the electronics … give us a call.
There is a mobile phone in the house … also your mobile phones will have maximum receipt in the villa and in the area. We will leave a mobile phone in the Villa, you can use it to receive calls with it (and do not pay for incoming calls when you are in Italy) or place calls if you charge the card by any phone-shop. (take care … when you are in France … you pay again if you are called …. Your number is +39 348 3310814 (please leave the phone again where you found it.
Internet … you can get connected in Ventimiglia in 3 places, the easiest one to find is in front of the train station, it is open from 08h00 until 20h00. There is another one when you enter Ventimiglia from France …. Open until 21h00 but would avoid if possible. A third one is bit East of the centre, it is called Bar Punto Com, Via Turati, 20/D tel 0184 235240 only one PC, but normally free and it’s a bar, so you can get coffee and drinks while surfing. Wire-less free of charge hot spots are in Monte-Carlo in Stars and Bars in the yacht harbour or close to it, walking up towards Nice …. in Pizza Pino. Also there are several free-accessible wire-less spots all around Monte-Carlo. Close to the house we detected a free-accessible one as well …drive towards Bordighera, once you enter Bordighera (you see the signs) you continue for 1 km …. There is on the left side a bar called Roby’s bar … there is a connection, just sitting in the car, called : “wireless”. I just found another one, go left at the bottom of the hill, under the motorway bridge, at the roundabout right over the bridge, 50m further turn left and stop at the side of the road after 5m from the turning. There are two unsecured WIFI lines, really fast and very close to the house.
Raining or rain expected … Please put all pillows inside, not many left … but anyhow.
Garden …
Plants, they normally get water automatically as well as the grass. The gardener comes once every two weeks and maw the lawn … normally during changing day, so probably you will not notice.
Towels … Please don’t take towels or furniture to the beach …
Waste … please bring it down the hill in one of the containers along the main road. (the green ones). Please also bring your waste down before leaving.
Mosquito’s … It is not a mosquito area. There are very little days with Mosquitos … the days there are Mosquito’s keep the light out in the house … as you would do when you are at home.
There are two more books with information about the area in the magazine-holder close to the TV.
There is a safe … go outside, twice left …. You will see it in the small hole under the house … right at the back … you will see the safe, the keys are together with the house-keys.
Open the gate … do you have the remote in your hand … push the yellow button for 3 seconds … are you in the house … there is a phone on the wall … push the button on the phone for 3 seconds. There is a button as well close to the gate.
Dish-washer … put the adequate soap in … and push six times on the button … it will start when you close it. (Do not activate at same time as wash-machine, it will take too much electricity)
Parking : Space for one big and one small car inside the gate, two big ones … put one outside the gate .. that is no problem at all. Take care the gate will close on the car if parked wrongly.
Safety and Robberies : Never had any problems in 30 years … there is no through-pass on the road … we leave the house open normally … also in the area … very safe … acting normally … no issues … only in the Cote d’Azur there have been problems in the past … Put whatever you do not want to loose, put it in the safe … Also car-robberies … didn’t hear any stories since 15 years … still don’t do silly things like leaving a 500 Euro note on the front seat …
Grass: yes that seems all easy, as up in the North of Europe green grass is a given … it is a hell of a job to keep the grass green and pretty in Ventimiglia … and it gets water twice a day automatically. One thing we ask you to help us … do not put chairs or sun-beds on the grass, there are plenty of terraces … please use those !!!
Important notice : Please do not switch the dishwasher and the wash-machine on at the same time, it takes more electricity then available and the electricity will be cut automatically. No Panic …….. the main switch … is outside the gate … climb along the side on the left … then descend the mountaing for 2 metres and you will see a grey electricity box on the left …. Switch it on again and make sure you take the cause of the problem away …
Heating is only needed from November until the end of March. Once you arrive you will find the heating on 21 ‘C … do not touch and it’ll be on during all your stay.
Children … the house is child-friendly with Fences where needed …. Take care with the very shallow pool with very young children, there is no Fence around it.
For babies and children: We have a new baby-bed (a travel one which you can use), a high-chair, one pushchair (not new but very good Chicco), A child-backpack (to put your child on your back), some body surfboards and some beach-toys. You are free to use them they are in the bedroom close to the pool.
Pool: The pool is maintained once a week, if you stay for 2 weeks, it will be maintained on Saturday. The Chlor-level and PH are tested and controlled and the bottom of the pool is cleaned with an aspiration system. You will find that on a windy day, there are leaves in the pool, falling from the trees. There is a net next to the pool, please maintain that clean so that you can use the pool any time. There will be building up some sand on the floor of the pool … please wait until Saturday, it will be cleaned and doesn’t really bother the kids or daily use.
Small stuff: We have bought some tablets and salt for the dishwasher, toilet paper and dustbin bags to ease your arrival. If you are at the supermarket and happen to think about it, please top up the amount of these materials for other guests’s easy arrival.
Traffic: Avoid Ventimiglia during shop-opening hours … best travel is on Sunday or every day from 12.30 to 16.00h, no problem to drive then or to park. Avoid Ventimiglia on Friday as it is market day, go to Bordighera that day or enjoy the market. After 16h00 the Italians start to move to shops, work and beaches … it gets crowded then, same for the Cote-d’Azur. People are relatively laid-back … be as pushy as they are and you do fine. During traffic hours, we follow the coast line to get through Ventimiglia the quickest and follow a parallel road to get to Bordighera (to get there, turn left when you exit Strada Gantin, and right at the roundabout … follow that road, next roundabout left and follow signs for Bordighera … avoiding going to the main road.)
Shopping: Designer shopping, the best is Sanremo … also Ventimiglia is OK, with good quality for OK prices. Walking on a market … the Ventimiglia Friday market is one of the biggest in Europe. It is right around the palm-park, you cannot miss.
PARK YOUR CAR(s) WELL WITHIN THE GATE, AS IT WILL CLOSE AGAINST THE CAR OTHERWISE.
Babysitting :
We have an English – Dutch – German speaking babysitter for you … It is a Dutch lady, living in Italy since 25 yrs … having 2 kids. Her number is 0184 208688 or call me and I will book her for you, don’t really know the price … sorry.
ARRIVING
You can arrive to the house as of 16.00h at Saturday :
The gate will be open, the keys of the house will be in the house, two pairs of keys with both one remote control for the gate, which you can put in the cars.
To keep the gate open, we put a piece of wood in front of the sensors, take it away and the gate will close automatically.
LEAVING
Please leave the house at 10.00am approximately. You can just leave the keys in the house … please don’t forget to leave the phone-chip as well … and close the door normally. Then let the gate close behind you and our neighbours will pick up the keys.
The full address is : Harold Lubberdink – Villa Palma Strada Gantin 16 18033 Camporosso (IM) Italia
Can you receive mail ….. well not very convenient because mailbox is down at the start of the street … but if you want … it’ possible.
Composition of the rooms :
On the first floor you have the best room, it’sa... 40m2, Jacuzzi in the room ... very romantic ... private terasse, there is a kingsize bed and a further possibility for 3 peopleto sleep there as there is a sleeping sofa for 2 and another one for 1 person .. therefore there is enough place for a family of 4 upstairs … but … it’s better just 2 as it is romantic. There is a small bathroom with toilet and sink.
At ground floor you will find a double bedroom, very nice, and a kids-room right next to it, sleeping 3 kids, the room is quite sm
all and cosy and there is one double-decker bed and one you can pull out from below. The beds are normal size.
Outside there is another room, next to the pool .. you have a lot of privacy here as it is detached from the house ....but there is no bathroom or sink, for that you will need to go inside the house over the grass. It is a good size double room.
Chapter 9 – Playgrounds:
Good playgrounds along the boulevard in Bordighera … there are 3 of them, here below the photo of the one close to the Alcione bar/restaurant.
Also Menton has good ones, all along the coast … as soon as you pass the border … after 1 km on the left side, there is a big super-market … there is a nice play ground next to it … Also there is a good one if you continue along the sea in Menton … on the right you will pass McDonalds, on the left side, close to the sea, you will see a play-ground, it is right next to the beach.
Also in Fontvielle … part of Monte-Carlo, close to the Helicopter/airport … there is a great play-ground, opposite a school. (Also close to the castle in Monte-Carlo there is a good play-ground.)
This year we were every evening in Dolceacqua in the square (on the side where the restaurants are), don’t know why but kids love it there … they are moving in scrums around the square and you can take some drink or food and relax. Try it. Bordighera
Nice
Ventimiglia
Camporosso