Guernsey

Guernsey is located just off the coast of France in the Channel Islands. It is like stepping back in time with small roads, a maximum speed limit (on some roads) of 35 mph and small, quiet towns.

You can fly into the small airport by a number of airlines including aurigny but you can also take a ferry from a number of locations on the south coast of the UK or from Normandy in France.

There are a few things to see here and there but really, just drive around and stop whenever something strikes your fancy. We made a day of it by driving around the circumference of the island which is easy enough to do.

Something else to do is to visit other islands as “Herm”, and Sark are only a short ferry ride away (easily visited for a day) but “Alderney” and “Jersey” a bit more of a trek.

The tiny capital has a nice, but busy, seaside with “Castle Cornet” perched along the end of one of the piers. The rest of the seaside is basically marina and ferry terminal so not quite “picturesque”. Head along the shore north though and you quickly leave the boats behind.

The town is on the side of a hill with the town centre about half way up with cobble, pedestrian only, streets and a number of small shops. It is worth wandering around a bit here.

Eating is somewhat hit or miss but we did find The Boathouse Restaurant on the seafront quite good and reasonably priced. We had an OK meal at a local pub but it is worthwhile walking around to see what strikes your interest. Most of the restaurants are near the water.

A small town with a rather busy harbour. Lots of cute shops to visit…

For Grey is on the south-west coast of the island and is home to a ship-wreck museum that is tiny but worth a look (perhaps a bit expensive for what is actually there). Across the road is “Guernsey Pearl” - a massive shop selling lots of different kinds of pearls but it also has a nice café with seats outside and it sells the tickets for Fort Grey.

It is possible to catch a car ferry from either France or the UK to Guernsey but you can also rent cars from their small airport. There are a few things that you should note:

• For sure have a map. Though the island is small there are a lot of roads and it can be, at times, confusing. At the very least it tells you what direction you should be heading and roughly the distances involved…though you can probably get from one end of the island to the other in an hour…
• The roads are generally very narrow and winding so drive with a lot of caution
• Parking in St Peter Port can be difficult to find as it is the busiest town
• The maximum speed limit is 35 mph and often it is less (in village areas the speed limit, for example, is generally 25 mph, though it will be signposted)
• All parking is currently free though this may change. In parking areas marked “DISC ZONE” you will be required to display a disc (available from the car rental agency) indicating your time of arrival as you are limited to the amount of time you can park there.
• “Filter” junctions are common and are signposted “filter”. In these junctions you must only enter the junction in turn with other vehicles. Box junctions work as in the UK: You can only enter the junction if you can clear it.

See http://www.gov.gg/drivinginguernseyisdifferent for further details.

For further information, please see:

• Visit Guernsey - Official Tourism Site
• Guernsey - Wikipedia entry
• Guernsey - Lonely Planet entry