Eurocamp-type holidays

[Brains]

To get decent weather you need to be south of the Loire further south the better(but southern Brittany can be excellent)
Ideally you want to be on the med coast for sunshine, but the Med coast ain't cheap and it's a very long days driving from the channel ports, and in August when all of France is heading there 20+ hours is possible.

We looked renting a tent a few years back, but then thought why bother ? We bought a £600 four person frame tent, used three times from fleaBay for £200 and filled the car to the roof with everything including the kitchen sink and spend a hot 10 days on the Loire cycling from castle to castle

Great place but were very unimpressed with the local restaurants, overpriced and frankly I've had better meals in motorway service stations, we ended up with the camp-site cafe or cooking ourselves

 

[BrumJim]

South Coast of Brittany and further south in order to avoid chance of cold and wet weather, although you can never guarantee it. Avoid going too far south (Les Landes, between Bordeaux and Biarritz) as we had a bad week there too.

Its a long time since I've been on one of these holidays. Margins are tight and the market is competitive, companies go out of business or are bought out, so if you pay less, you get less. A decade or two ago, the cheaper ones involved hard sell for trips and outings - the reps had to sell to survive. Canvas and Eurocamp avoided those tactics.

I guess taking your own tent or borrowing one, and negotiating pitch prices with the camps themselves would be cheaper.

 

[Gooner Mad Dog]

Done Eurocamp several times Luxembourg was real nice ( Birkelt ) around 4 hrs from Rotterdham / Harwich ferry Brittany ( Carnac) nice also but weather can be hit n miss in Southern France ( Biarritz ) is a great Eurocamp ideally ferry to Santander Spain 2/3 hrs drive from there great weather great beaches. All depends really done all the Dutch Eurocamps all good but again the weather would be ok and pleasantly warm but you would nt swim in the sea ( Rindsburg ) in NL is close to great beaches. Durinell in Holland is lively place with lots of rides, theme park all free if you are staying in there so great for kids 6 - 12 and has great indoor/outdoor swimming pools etc

 

[Andrew_P]

It works for me cost wise ass I have 3 kids and costs ££££'s for Air travel and villa/hotel. Was going to say the 2+2 might not be economical. Regardless until they are older I will definitely keep returning to France as it is such a pleasant way to spend 2 weeks with family, and bikes.

You can do better deals by going through smaller operators if you do not want kids clubs etc. Also I rarely book much earlier than 4 weeks before I travel, can be risky and you would need to be flexible, only one year it back fired in that I spent 2 weeks in 4 locations spread out through the Vendee and Charente Maritime, I really enjoyed the moving around but everyone else hated it, just get settled and upsticks and go, lost a few days in traveling and hanging around waiting for keys though.

I always travel through the night and avoid the A10 like the plague.

Of course the other factor is the crappy exchange rates, this is also making it expensive, not so long ago you could get 1.45 euro to GBP now closer to 1.08 or less on tourist rates, plus when you there it is pretty pricey for the same reasons

 

[Hicky]

Our almost 3 week hol cost less than 1K, that included ferry,diesel(travel to and from home, the travel within the hol I didnt factor in!)tolls, campsite costs(including hiring a fridge!)......so excluding food,errands and "spends".
I'm not surprised the package companies are expensive.

The site we go has many return visitors from ukcampite and has a good rep; Le pin parasol, chappelle hermier..near Coex.
DCLanes site is within 15mins drive....in that area though throw a stone and you hit 10 sites.

For us we take our own tent(dutch canvas pyramid style which we use in the uk also) our bikes(4 of them!) we only use the car when shopping or going to the beach(bodyboards!), all onsite activities are free.

Further down than Vendee you get the bay's weather(makes for good waves but changeable weather).

 

[Doseone]

We stayed at La Palombiere in the Dordogne. It's a Keycamp and Canvas Holidays site, but we booked direct with the site on the internet and saved a few hundred quid that way - it was quite a big difference.

We went to the Dordogne because we thought it would be far enough south to guarantee good weather in August. Wrong!! You take your chances, I suppose. It was still a lovely area though and loads to see and do. Would highly recommend doing the campsite thing if you've got kids as there's always loads going on.

 

[Monsieur]

[QUOTE 1688574, member: 45"]Thanks. Which site?[/quote]

http://uk.lesmenhirs.com/

 

[Mr Celine]

We've been with Keycamp, Canvas, Matthews and our own tent. We only went once with Keycamp to a site that was only half built. Complaining appeared to be impossible.
If you don't want kids clubs (ours hated them) or reps who bother you every day (we don't) then Matthews are very good and are cheap. They only do Brittany and the Vendee.
In 2009 the kids agreed to forgo the seaside for the mountains, and Canvas have a site near lake Annecy. I 'forgot' to tell them this would involve two days at the TDF, including the Annecy time trial passing 400 metres from the campsite gates.

From Scotland the drive through England is far worse traffic wise than anywhere in France.