Where to eat, stay and play on Guernsey
EAT
Café culture St Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey, its cobbled streets lined with cafés and boutiques as they wind down to a yacht- filled marina. In a pretty arcade strewn with floral displays is Dix Neuf (liberationgroup.com/dix-neuf), a cute restaurant with a French- brasserie vibe and tables spilling out on to the pavement: perfect for an alfresco lunch of Guernsey crab and king prawn linguine (£19.90, above), with a glass of chilled white.
Beside the seaside Affectionately nicknamed ‘The Rocky’ by locals, The Rockmount (therocky.gg) is a vibrant pub in a prime spot overlooking Cobo Bay. On warm evenings, bag a seat on the terrace, where you can watch swimmers bob around, lit by the sinking sun. The menu focuses on local produce and majors in pub classics such as fish ’n’ chips, steaks and burgers, with mains from £14.
STAY
Room with a view Guernsey is encircled by a 39-mile coastal walking route, and you can see a good sweep of it from The Peninsula Hotel – jutting out at the end of a sandy bay in the parish of Vale. It’s got a brilliant outdoor pool, buzzy lounge area and 99 welcoming bedrooms (above). The grub is decent – an excellent chana masala curry is not what we expected to find in Guernsey – and the staff couldn’t be friendlier (from £185, peninsula.gg).
Stay in the bay The Imperial Hotel & Restaurant is situated in Torteval, the smallest and most western of Guernsey’s ten parishes. Its Coast restaurant has a fabulous outlook on to Rocquaine Bay, and a ‘create your own’ salad menu that’s a relief when you’ve been eating chips for days. There are 16 rooms with recently refreshed interiors; treat yourself to one with a sea view if you can (from £130, theimperial.gg/).
LOVE
Dip in First built in 1865, La Valette seawater bathing pools are made up of Gentlemen’s, Horseshoe, Ladies’ and Children’s pools, although everyone is welcome to swim for free in any of them. Stick to the café if you can’t hack the cold.
Past times At the mouth of the pretty St Peter Port harbour (above) you’ll find Castle Cornet (entry £12), which is 800 years old and still standing proud. The island also has plenty of museums, from the Fort Grey Shipwreck Museum to the German Occupation Museum, providing an insight into life on the island when the Nazis took over from 1940 to 1945.
Small pleasures Guernsey is full of charming beaches, but Petit Bot is a local favourite, with a pebbled shore that turns to soft sand as the tide goes out. There’s a tea room, too.
