You live in the UK? You want to escape for a weekend?
Welcome to the British 'Bretagne', this is so alike Bretagne in France.
Jersey can easily be entirely associated to the place where you would go to open an offshore bank account to manage your international finances. But believe it or not, there is much more to discover in this peaceful island!
Jersey is not only a place full of history - especially with the occupation during WW2 - but is also hiding some magical landscapes...
One of my colleagues at Ocado convinced me to visit Jersey for a weekend. I was initially a bit skeptical but looking at the Google pictures and finding cheap tickets, I decided to give it a go convincing a few friends around me. Many airlines (Easy Jet, Ryan Air, BA) have regular cheap flights from London (mainly Gatwick and Stansted) to Jersey. This is a ~30-min flight so you can easily leave on Friday after work and come back on Sunday evening.
We got very lucky as it was a very sunny June weekend. We stayed in one of the main towns in the island, Saint Hélier. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel 'Hotel De Normandie'. The hotel was okay - good location, cheap (69 pounds per night for a double room) but not very modern! So you can definitely find a better place if you want something more fancy or romantic!
Transport in the island
In terms of transport, there are really three options:
- rent a car - probably the best option if you want to explore the island (which is not that small!) with total freedom
- use taxis - could be a good option if you are 4 people
- use public transport - there is the Liberty bus which has frequent connections between the key areas of the island. this can be a good option to couple with a few taxi rides
First evening - Friday
Saint Hélier is the capital of Jersey and is still very small (~35,000 inhabitants) so the city centre tour was quite quick! However, we found a cute little square (Royal square) with restaurants and coffees with terraces for which we obviously did not have any bookings so impossible to get any table! 'Sangria Tapas Bar & Restaurant' looked quite nice.
We ended up going to 'Jersey Crab Shack St Helier' a few streets away - the location was not as cute as the little square but the food was pretty nice (perfect place if you want to eat some crab! but they also have plenty of options if you don't).
First Day - Saturday
On Saturday, we decided to explore the West coast side of the island. We took a taxi from our hotel to St Brelade's Bay.
St Brelade's Bay - Resort beach
Delighted by this pretty little bay, we took our breakfast in one of the café's terrace and then spent an hour or two to enjoy the nice sandy beach. There is a nice short walk to do towards the left part of the beach, some great pics spots for the Instagram-lovers.
Then, we decided to start walking towards the North West part of the island. We found the walk to exit St Brelade's Bay particularly pretty with the St Brelade's Parish Church and its cemetery on our left and the beautiful St Brelade's Bay Hotel on our right (looks an amazing venue for weddings btw!).
We took a steep walking path in the forest and continued our way through a normal road. We went through a residential area, got a little bit lost realizing it would be a long way to walk before finding the next point of interest! Eventually we took a left turn and managed to join the Pulente Mount.
St. Ouen's Bay - known to be the spiritual home for Jersey surfers
We found there a pub - La Pulente - where we could stop for lunch and enjoy large salads and nachos in a terrace in front of the sea.
After lunch, we continued our walk along the sea, directly on the sand, it was low tide. We got very close to 'La Rocco Tower' (castle in the sea). It was again very unexpectedly beautiful! And not this was not Mallorca, this was UK!
While we thought we would have been easily able to reach the end of the beach, we were very surprised by the actual distances (I checked them out afterwards... 5 miles/8km!)
We stopped at 'Watersplash Beach Bar & Diner' for a drink and it was already 5-6PM. It was a nice big venue with a great view on the beach. Next to it, there was a surfing school, however it would have been impossible to do any surfing that day (it was low tide and very flat!).
We found a bus stop just behind the venue and took the Liberty bus to come back to Saint Hélier (there was about one bus per hour, so look up the timetable!).
Evening in Saint Hélier
We had spotted a Thai restaurant called "Thai Dicq Shack" with great reviews and tables directly on the beach (feet on the sand). It was a little bit windy and a lot of seagulls around, but the food was great and very genuine and the atmosphere was great (our neighbors were a group of 30s year old boys singing old school songs). The pub near by 'White Horse Beach Bar & Eatery' was perfect to end up the first day.
Second Day - Sunday
Waking up was quite painful for a few of my friends who totally under estimated the sun on Saturday... On Sunday morning, they were seriously struggling with the sun burns! (Tip: do not forget your sun cream!)
We had our breakfast in a lovely peaceful garden café 'Rose Garden Tea Rooms' (which is also a nice address for an afternoon tea!).
Jersey War Tunnels (WW2) (https://www.jerseywartunnels.com/)
Then we went to Liberation Sq bus station in Saint Hélier city center and booked a single ticket (£3) for the vintage Jersey Bus tour to go to Jersey War Tunnels (my American friends were very excited to take this bus but you could totally take a regular cheaper Liberty Bus to get to the same place!).
I did not have any expectation for this Jersey War Tunnels tour (neither for the whole weekend actually!) but it was fantastic! The entrance ticket (15 pounds) is totally worth it. We end up spending inside close to 2 hours. I found the story of this island during WW2 fascinating, and the reconstitution and the quality of the tunnels and the various rooms exceptional. This was a real highlight!
There is also an escape room there, so if you are interested, do not forget to book in advance.
From there, we called a taxi - as it would have been too long to wait for the next Liberty bus - in this case, it would have been very useful to have a car for instance.
Plémont - wild and beautiful North coast where soaring cliffs tower over sheltered bays and windblown seascapes
The taxi dropped us at Plemont Cafe, the top North West of the island. Plemont is a sandy cove flanked by soaring cliffs and pitted with caves and rock pools. This part of the island is an absolute must-do during your stay in Jersey. After having eaten a light lunch at the Cafe, we spent a fair amount of time down in the beach exploring the hidden caves. It was luckily low tide which allowed us to really enjoy our little exploration! Magical landscape!
From Plémont we decided to walk back towards Saint Hélier but it was obviously a very long way (!) so we ended up walking back to St Ouen (4-4.5km away) and then took a Liberty bus back to Saint Hélier, Liberation Sq.
Then, it was unfortunately already time to go back to the airport. This time we grabbed a Liberty bus to the airport (very easy).
It was an amazing weekend, I could only thank my colleague for the tip! I felt I was in Brittany/Bretagne (France) - only the crepes were missing!
In two days, I feel we only saw a glimpse of the island - we did not see anything on the East side, where it is said you can see the French coasts with good weather conditions.
I left London on Friday night without any expectations, and I came back to London on Sunday with plenty of beautiful memories and with one idea on the back of my head.. (when am I going back???)
>>> For more information:
Visit https://www.jersey.com/
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