Week end in La Panne

Hello, guys! I almost forgot to tell you about my great weekend at La Panne! You’re going to tell me…. The Breakdown???? But where is the Panne? Well, before I did my research on Airbnb, I didn’t know at all about this city, which is nevertheless French-speaking but which is on the Belgian coast at 3h30 from Paris !

How did I found this city ?

First of all, I forced my friends to go away for the weekend for my 25th birthday because I absolutely wanted to go see the sea with my son and have a good time with my friends but as they didn’t have a lot of money. We had a tight budget because the summer holidays are coming), some people imposed a budget of 100 euros per person. Which is not bad because it was like a challenge for me to have to please everyone while having a limited budget.

So at the beginning, I went for Normandy to enjoy the beaches but the problem is that there were 8 of us and we would have had to travel each time in a minivan and when we are in a group, it is not always easy to agree on the departures. So I kept looking for a city in Belgium, Ostend, and I couldn’t find any accommodation in our budgets. But I was thinking maybe there are some nice places near Ostend. So I looked on the map, the beaches near Ostend to look for a rental on Airbnb and I found a beautiful apartment with a sea view ! I think it was maybe a joke but no, there were some good reviews on this apartment and it was only 70 euros per night. After checking out La Panne, which claims to be a beautiful clean beach with white sand, I just validated with my friend Mélanie without hesitation because I was too afraid that the apartment would no longer be available.

In short, all that remained was to find the vehicle to take us there because taking the train and bus, it was really a pain to get from Paris and especially with a baby it was not easy. But fortunately we had two crazy drivers to drive a minivan while they hadn’t driven for a very long time! I Finally, we were able to rent a car via OuiCar, a site to rent vehicles between individuals, for a really reasonable price with insurance included. So the total was 115 euros per person!

How was la Panne ?

When we got there, the weather was fine, we were happy to have finally arrived at the Panne! And when we arrived at the apartment, we were also very happy to have a superb view of the sea and to be 2 minutes walk from the beach. Anyway, I was too proud of myself:)

The city is a really quiet place to relax with family and friends. It is not at all a place to party in the evening especially from 11pm, there were almost no one on the street. It really changed from Paris and we were at peace. It was a really pleasant stay to do during weekend in May. The weather was nice and for the less chilly we can always swim at the beach. For my part, I tanned very quickly.

The conclusion? We can escape very quickly from Paris for very little budget 🙂 And enjoy the beach without going too far. I can also say that I was lucky to have had a good weather for my little birthday weekend. I couldn’t be happier. There are so many places that we barely knew about it that it is worth discovering. Anyway, I’m happy with my cheap little weekend.

And what were the most important small destinations for you?