Jersey

Jersey is located 14 miles from the coast of France in the Channel Islands.

You can fly into the small airport located about 15-20 minutes north west of the capital, St. Helier, 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, Guernsey, or from Normandy in France. In fact, there are many French that visit the island.

There is quite a lot to see and do on the island, all of which are easy enough to access by car or public transport via it's extensive road network.

St. Helier is the capital of the island and is it's industrial heart with a number of commercial banks based here. Many businesses are based here for tax reasons with currently over 33,000 live companies on Jersey's official corporate register.

The harbour is full of both commercial and leisure boats so is not much to really look at though “Liberation Square” where the island celebrated liberation from German occupation at the end of the second world war has a few nice restaurants in the former warehouses behind the bus station.

The St Helier “Central Market” is slightly disappointing but is a wonderful old market hall building. There are a few stalls selling produce, meat, cheese, seafood and flowers along with a couple of cafés but otherwise there is not a lot here.

To the side of St. Helier harbour is the island fortress of Elizabeth Castle operated by Jersey Heritage which can be accessed at low tide by a causeway or at any time using the “duck” ferries (military amphibious vehicles) run by “Elizabeth Castle Ferries”, leaving just off the Esplanade to the northwest of the town centre (where you can purchase combined boat/castle tickets).

The castle is located only about 1/4 mile from the shore but the water can get quite deep at high tide as the bay has one of the highest tides in the world.

There are free volunteer guided tours of the castle which are highly recommended in order to try to understand the varied and long history of the castle that takes in over 400 years up to and including being used by the Germans during the second world war occupation.

You can visit most buildings including the hospital near the entrance, barracks, and World War 2 bunkers. There are many displays including audio-visual telling the story of the castle and the technology of the day used to construct and defend it. Also on the site is the quirky “The Hermitage of St Helier” accessed from a concrete breakwater on the far side of the castle - This is a chapel built in Medieval times and to commemorate Saint Helier who died in the 6th century and who is closely associated with the Island of Jersey particularly with its principal town being named after him. This is still a place of pilgrimage.

There is a small gift shop at the castle entrance, along with toilets throughout, and a small, pleasant café in the middle.

The lovely Jersey Museum is located only a few steps away from Liberation Square with a wonderful (welcoming) café, gift shop, tourist information services and museum (for which a fee applies). There are also a few free exhibits to see providing a brief history of the island. We thought the museum was a bit expensive and gave it a miss but very much enjoyed the café and the people at the tourist information area were very helpful, offering 1-1 services.

There is evidence of the German occupation of the island in the second world war throughout with concrete bunkers and pillboxes throughout. None more so then on the south of the island on the cliffs just a short distance west of St. Helier at Normont Point where you can find Batterie Lothringen. Here is the impressive MP1 tower built into the side of the cliffs along with a number of bunkers and artillery posts.

Many of these are open to the public but only during certain hours.

The impressive Mont Orgueil Castle towers over the small, pretty fishing village of Gorey.

Accessible to the public via a LOT of steps and operated by Jersey Heritage, there are free volunteer tours every day which are recommended to try to understand the long history of the castle and navigate it's labyrinth of rooms and hallways.

There are quite a few displays here and, of course, amazing views from the upper ramparts. Interestingly there is also a good amount of modern art housed here with some spectacular pieces that fill dusty old stone rooms.

There is a café, souvenir shop, and toilets located at the main entrance. There is a small fee to access the castle. You can access the castle via the main road or much more easily via a staircase at the start of the breakwater (at the end of the buildings) in Gorey.

During the second world war German occupation of Jersey they built, but never completed, these extensive tunnels to house a hospital. The Jersey War Tunnels are now open to the public to visit with historical displays throughout including some audio-visual elements.

There is an entry fee charged. They have an audio tour but we found this was not necessary as there is plenty of signage and it was interesting just getting a sense of the space ourselves without anything buzzing in our ears. There is a large welcome centre outside the entrance to the tunnels where you purchase tickets that has a large souvenir shop on the ground floor (along with toilets) and a large café upstairs. There is a car park here but you can also access the site via the local bus service.

Luggage - When we visited we were travelling to the airport so had some small roller-bags with us. The staff graciously allowed us to keep our bags at the entrance gate to the tunnels.

La Hougue Bie Museum is an eclectic museum located on the eastern side of the island and is operated by Jersey Heritage. Inside there is a tall mount that has a 16th–century Christian chapel on the top and a Neolithic passage grave at the base dating from 4000–3500 BC, making it among the 10 oldest buildings in the world (yes, if you are able to crouch low enough you can enter – not for those uncomfortable in tight spaces).

There is also a small exhibition space (showing “Searching for Jersey’s Celts” when we visited, telling the story of Le Câtillon II, the world's largest Celtic coin hoard), a recreation of a Viking long house, a World War 2 German command bunker and moving war memorial (in the same bunker).

The small, but very full, site has a souvenir shop, toilets and an excellent café. There is an entrance fee and you can get here by public transport though service is not terribly regular. Free regular tours are operated by volunteers.

Jersey is fairly large so if you are visiting for more than a few days it is probably best to get a car though it can be tricky to find parking. Taxi service is available throughout the island.

There is an extensive bus network operated by LibertyBus that has it's terminus in “Liberation Station” beside Liberation Square in St. Helier which also includes a travel information booth and café. The station also includes digital signs for each bus bay with all buses accepting credit/bank cards. You can also catch the bus to/from the airport though check their schedules if you are leaving early or late in the day.

There are several tour companies operating tours of the island, typically from Liberation Square in St. Helier, including Jersey Bus Tours which I used. They run a quaint, old, (very) rickety, bus with two tours, one in the morning (“Lighthouse Way” taking in the west of the island) and afternoon (“Castle Way” taking in the east of the island).

There are other tourist services operating here including Le Petit Train Tours running services between St. Helier and St. Aubin throughout the day.

A few pictures I took when I visited in October 2027…

For further information, please see:

• Official Government Website for the States of Guernsey
• Visit Jersey - Official Tourism Site
• Jersey - Wikipedia entry
• Jersey - Lonely Planet entry