Planning a French trip - recommendations please

[Stefvan]

Trying to be very organizized and plan a french camping trip in the van (Hi top Westy and Khyam motordome) this will be our first family trip abroad so I need to go easy on the motorway miles. I would like recommendations for campsites in Northern France for me and wifey and 9 year old and five year old who like outdoor stuff, climbing trees, water, beaches, all the usual stuff ! My ideal would be a sort of Center Parcs type of place with lots of space between plots, privacy, quiet, plenty of stuff to do, swimming pool and good security is a must. Also a beachy/seaside version would be great over in Brittany/Loire area (saw the post about Bel in le tranche, but its Keycamp/Eurocamp ?? and could be pricey and chock full of brits ? Possible to book direct not through Keycamp ?). Dont want bargain basement, dont mind paying for what is after all what i live and work for, time in the sun with the family in the van !
I will happily take recommendations via PM if you have a special quiet spot youd like to keep that way !

tia

Stefvan

[RedSquirrel]

We booked Bel through the campsite themselves. It is Keycamp/Eurocamp but there is a seperate tent/camper/caravan area. There were Dutch, Brits, German and French on the site. It wasn't a roudy place. Nice, quiet and Friendly.
(Editted to correct spelling mistake)

[Red Westie]

Tips.....look for and go to Camping Municipal/ aires sites whenever you can....these are run by local authorities so always have good facilities but with capped prices.
There are also literally thousands of camper stops dedicated to just campers and investing or borrowing one of these books can be invaluable, see:

http://www.vicarious-shop.co.uk/view_pr ... id=&p_id=8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Use these in conjunction with a Sat Nav and they take you directly to the site.....or pay extra for the software download, install in your TomTom (or others) and you will see all the StopOvers on your SatNav screen.

These Camper stops are often free or just a few euro's and are listed with facilities so you know what to expect.

Absolutely must go with Norfolkline.........crossings from just £18 but might be more with the high top.

Martin

[ambivert]

If you haven't yet got a sat nav, wait until you're in France to buy one. They're much cheaper because France is already "in" Europe, so you don't have to pay extra for Europe-wide mapping. I bought one for about 120 Euros (a 'Mappy') and it already has the whole of Europe in it. And the system language is easy to change to English, so its just like a normal one!

Also agree with the others, re municipal camp sites and aires. They're OK. Aires are everywhere, especially along the motorways. Get the 'All the Aires' book if you want to know where all the other nice ones are (not on the motorways) But try to avoid actually driving on the motorways unless you're in a hurry, the tolls will effectively add another 10p/mile onto your fuel costs! Having said that, I did enjoy the motorway going down thru the west bit of massive central towards Montpellier, very scenic, and the hills were a lot kinder on the van than I imagine the steep little roads winding up and down the hillsides would have been.

I just got back from 2 weeks in France last sunday. Spent a couple of nights on the north coast (Toucanet Paris Plage is beautiful and has a great aire, but don't bother with Calais, its horrible!) about 4 nights in various aires (and one gare car park, after getting lost) somewhere in the middle, and a week in a nice campsite in the Grau du Roi in the Camargue on the south coast. That wasn't a municipal campsite, and it cost over 25 Euros per night, so was quite pricey compared to what I could have done it for, but it was right on the beach and had really good facilities.