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Nice, France

31/3/2025

 
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Summary

Airport Rating *****
Reception of locals ****
Cost: £££££
  • A city that manages to blend French, Italian, and even British influences
  • It's not cheap, but this is the French Riviera, one of the most expensive places on the planet
  • No real issues as a Sikh in the city or the airport
  • Main Sights: Colline du Chateau, Old Town, Promenade des Anglais, Cascade, Garibaldi Square

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Normandy, France

14/3/2022

 
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Summary

Airport Rating n/a
Reception of locals ****
Cost: £££
  • Region named after Viking raiders that conquered the province during the 9th century
  • Largely agricultural with culturally important settlements like Rouen, Mont St. Michel, and Bayeux
  • No troubles travelling around as a Sikh, and while Rouen has a small immigrant population, there are very few Sikhs and no major Gurdwaras
  • Places visited: Rouen, Bayeux, Mont St. Michel

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Brittany, France

28/2/2022

 
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Summary

Update: I originally wrote this article in August 2020 following my first visit to Brittany where I visited many of these cities, towns and villages. I returned in February 2022 visiting both Dinan and Treguier which I have added here.
Airport Rating n/a
Reception of locals ***
Cost: £££
  • Home of the Breton people and one of the six recognised Celtic nations
  • More agricultural and less industrialised than most parts of Western Europe, with a greater cultural homogeneity than larger French cities
  • No troubles travelling around as a Sikh, but don't expect to see any other Sikhs or even broader South Asians
  • Places visited: Ploumanac'h, Perros-Guirec, Guingamp, Rennes, Laval, Lannion, Dinan, Treguier, Bourbriac, Pont-Melvez

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5 things I loved about Brittany

7/12/2020

 
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5 years ago, the thought of visiting a quiet village in a region where brown people are a rarity wasn't something that I'd have wanted to do. But, as I get older, the moments away from packed beaches and big cities are actually quite nice. 

I've written a post on Brittany (which you can read here), and a detailed post on Ploumanac'h, the most beautiful village in the region (which you can read here). I've tried to take the best of both articles and cover my favourite things in this article. I haven't included Mont Saint-Michel (because technically it's in Normandy) but you can read about it in my detailed Brittany article linked to above. Here are 5 things I loved about Brittany.

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Paris (again), France

14/9/2020

 
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Summary

Airport Rating ** (Channel tunnel via car)
Reception of locals ****
Cost: £££££
  • Fourth visit to Paris so explored areas a little further out of the city
  • The more I visit this city, the more I've begun to enjoy and appreciate it
  • Still expensive, but the further out from the centre you go, the more safer it feels as a brown person (it gets more ethnically diverse)
  • Places visited: Palace of Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Saint Chapelle, Coulee Verte Rene-Dumont, Bastille, Gurdwara Singh Sabha Bobigny, 

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Ploumanac'h, France

10/8/2020

 
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Summary

Airport Rating ** (ferry)
Reception of locals ****
Cost: ££££
  • Coastal village in Brittany, voted the village most preferred by the French
  • Stunning landscapes, with one of the most spectacular coastlines I've ever seen
  • Don't expect to see any Sikhs out here, or even South Asians more broadly
  • Car stopped for security search, asked to open bonnet
  • Main sights: the Pink Granite Coast, Ploumanac'h Lighthouse, Port of Ploumanac'h

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Return to Paris

11/3/2019

 
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Summary

Airport Rating ***** (Eurostar)
Reception of locals ***1/2
Cost: £££££
  • Repeat visit to Paris, and a similar experience
  • No issues travelling on the Eurostar into Paris or leaving Paris as a Sikh
  • Similarly priced to major western cities like London, Amsterdam and New York
  • Main sights visited this time: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Montparnasse Tower, Notre Dame cathedral.

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5 things I loved about Paris

18/12/2017

 
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It consistently ranks as one of the most visited cities in the world, and has a history that spans over two thousand years. It has been home to innovations, inventions and revolutions and in the middle of the previous millennium it was the largest city in the world.

Paris is so much more than the romanticism that its name conjures, its history includes episodes as violent as any other city and all these events have left their unique mark on France's capital city.

It's also one of the closest capital cities to where I live, a short train ride away, but it's perhaps because of this proximity that I often overlook it for other destinations. My trip last year was to visit friends that I worked with previously, and their knowledge of the city allowed me to see a side of Paris I may have otherwise have missed.

There's a lot that I enjoyed (food, culture, history) and some things that I didn't, but here is a list of 5 things I absolutely loved.

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Paris, France

19/12/2016

 
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Summary

Airport Rating ***** (Eurostar)
Reception of locals ***
Cost: £££££
  • No issues travelling on the Eurostar into Paris or leaving Paris
  • One of the most visually beautiful cities in the world
  • Food is reasonably priced but significantly better than English food
  • Transport is shockingly outdated
  • Be prepared for a lot of stares if you look different
  • Similar prices as London
  • Main sights: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame cathedral, Sacre Coeur, Les Invalides, Louvre
It's the most visited city in the world and a city that is synonymous with beauty, class and elegance. There's a reason why places around the world are sometimes called "the Paris of the ...insert geographical location". Despite living fairly close to Paris, I haven't been to France since a school trip I scarcely remember.

The city itself is very old, founded in the 3rd century BC, it has grown to be one of the most populous cities in the world, although compared to somewhere like London, it isnt particularly large in size. 

I was lucky when I went as I have a few friends currently living there. This meant that even though I only went for a weekend, I was able to fit in a lot of things as they knew the city inside out. As with Singapore, Koh Samui, Madrid, Barcelona and Santiago, having someone who knows the local area definitely helps.

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    Author

    British Sikh, born in the Midlands, based in London, travelling the world seeing new cultures.

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