Nothing we can say here will do this place justice. For us, it was the perfect holiday home - right in the centre of town, with balcony views overlooking the hustle and bustle of daily life at one end and over the yachts bobbing in the bay at the other. A lot of the other properties we looked at were up in the hills around the bay and would have involved a steep hike to come in and out to shop or visit restaurants. Here, all we needed to do was pop out of the front door.
The flat is chic and smarter than it looks in the photos. The bed was comfy and the kitchen exceptionally well equipped. The location of the main bedroom in the centre of the property means that it is quiet and not disturbed by the sounds of the town. The back balcony is the highlight though and we spent most of our time relaxing out here, listening to the waves lap on the beach, watching the dive boats and tenders arrive and depart from the jetty and being mesmerized by the amazing sunsets. The small staircase leads straight down to the sea so you can swim directly outside the property and the snorkeling is surprisingly good here too. On returning to the balcony, there is an outside tap/ hose to rinse off with - which saved us traipsing sand indoors!
Deshaies itself is a lovely little town with friendly locals and good facilities. There's a couple of small supermarkets, a couple of veg stalls, a great bakery (the queue for which is a good place to catch up on the gossip in the morning!), and lots of good restaurants. There are a number of tourist shops, but not so much as to dominate - the place still has a local feel.
Transport can be an issue, we wanted to use the buses as we had done on other islands but they were very infrequent and irregular and timetables were completely unreliable. If you want to get out and about, you'll need a car (or a boat!). The other point to note is that you'll need to speak at least basic french here - a few restaurant staff spoke a smattering of English, but this was the exception rather than the norm.
Marie and Jean-Marc were incredible hosts - always there to help without being intrusive. They were quick to respond to questions via email, picked us up from the airport late at night and dropped us off again. They also helped us to collect/drop off our hire car when we gave up on buses but realized that we couldn't get to the hire car place and were giving up hope of being able to see the rest of the island.
A real highlight of our holiday.
