Destination France...but where?

[pocolow]

This year we are planning out first overseas trip in the van to France. Since we have two kids( 6 and 4) with us we will be looking for area's near the coast in campsites that are not to commercial but child friendly ,if you get my drift. Our first thoughts are Brittany or the La Rochelle area on the west coast, but we are open to suggestions.We would be travelling from the beginning of August for up to 3 weeks away and we would be going via the Euro Tunnel.. Sites , regions and the best routes to get there are what we're looking for and as many 80-90ers are well travelled we'd thought we'd ask you guys and gals.......

Thanks Mark

[jed the spread]

We found Brittany OK but if you do the same milage south its alot nicer.

jed

[PetenAli]

Lots of places down the west coast from Brittany down to Arcachon are great. Try the Vendee area e.g around St Jean de Monts. We took our kids when they were very small and had a great time. If you go further south than Arcachon it probably gets a bit gnarly and is better for surfers - take them there in a few years time!

If you want to get further south try the area around Uzes (a few miles north of Nimes) e.g. Pont du Gard. You can have beach days on the Gardon river without the press of the Med. Anywhere will be busy in August though.

If you don't want to go too far south then the Loire Valley is good - try the area around Chinon. Lots of good municipal campsites. Other 80/90ers will have lots of suggestions too.

Enjoy!

[pocolow]

Good so far ..keep them coming.......

[Doctor Foster]

The Island of Ile de Re near La Rochelle was our best break in France so far. Campsite right by the beach. Took our bikes and never had to drive the van once while we were there.

[toyclean]

Well no advice based on experience but we're off in our van for three weeks in summer for the first time. We're heading down between La Rochelle and Arcachon, but be warned the campsites are already starting to get booked up. We've gone for the quiet two star ones near the sea so if you're after them then make a decision soon. I used google maps to find them, which has a link to their websites ans some reviews. Then I just googled them for other reviews if they weren't on the french pages of ukcampsite.co.uk

Apart from nine nights at montalivet des bains (or something like that) we've not booked anything as we're hoping inland won't be as busy.

MT

[Louey]

I can recommend St Jean De Monts - lots of campsites, though mainly huge ones with all the facilities.

St Gilles Croix de vie - just south a few miles. Small harbour, nice beach and lots of places to eat.

Go south about 15 miles more and you'll find Les Sables-D-Olonne - fantastic beach (really fantastic) lots of things to do in town as well. just north in Olonne sur Mer there are a few campsites and a really good Aire (charges about 3 euro per night) which is a small field behind a restaurant/cafe that is suitable for having kids running around. Also, if you like cycling, there are miles and miles of cycle tracks through the forests (smooth and suitable for all ages).

We tried Ille De Re last time we went. It does get very busy in the high season, but we managed to find space in the Municipal camp-site at the far west of the island.

[littlecharlie]

I can recemmend Canet en Roussillon in the South West. Spent 3 summers down there at a camp site call Mar Estang, near the beach with views of the Pyrannees and Spain is only 30 mins away. They even have Flamingos on the lake adjacent to the campsite!! Nice beaches and plenty to do and there's a beautiful coastal town of Collioure close by that's well worth a visit. You can take the scenic route west of Paris and take 2 or 3 days, we're planning on doing it next summer..........can't wait!!

[StewnJo]

I can recommend St Jean De Monts - lots of campsites, though mainly huge ones with all the facilities.

St Gilles Croix de vie - just south a few miles. Small harbour, nice beach and lots of places to eat.

Go south about 15 miles more and you'll find Les Sables-D-Olonne - fantastic beach (really fantastic) lots of things to do in town as well. just north in Olonne sur Mer there are a few campsites and a really good Aire (charges about 3 euro per night) which is a small field behind a restaurant/cafe that is suitable for having kids running around. Also, if you like cycling, there are miles and miles of cycle tracks through the forests (smooth and suitable for all ages).

We tried Ille De Re last time we went. It does get very busy in the high season, but we managed to find space in the Municipal camp-site at the far west of the island.

We'll second what Louey says Mark. We were in the area 2 years ago.

Stewart

[anaconda]

Brittany is lovely, particularly the south east around Carnac/La Trinite sur mer, loads of places to visit. I also like the area around La Rochelle and accross to the Loire. If you fancy heading south from Calais then you might try Burgundy, around Beaune, beautiful and steeped in wine and they have inland beaches too!. Regardless of where you go you will find loads of good campsites, so you wont have a problem finding several to suit you, I reckon its what France does best.

Two areas id suggest you avoid. The far north east of France is rather dull and is easily the most 'british' in terms of weather. Also I dissagree with the chaps above - the Vendee. Its very flat and featureless and I find many of the coastal areas too touristy in the way they look and feel. Coastal brittany is much nicer, even though its just as busy it doesnt feel like an area specifically developed for tourists. The area just south of the Vendee at La Rochelle/Royan is more french and altogether nicer too.

....an excellent source for extensive french campsite reviews and information:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk

[cherl889]

Have a look at Camping Bel In La Tranche Sur Mer in the Vendee, We stayed there for two weeks in 2009 with our two year old son and I cannot recomend it enough, cracking little site walking distance to the town and some excellent safe beaches, Vendee is a lovely part of france and the weather is always good due to it having a micro climate.

Mark

[LL435]

A question for those experienced France travellers; would you recommend booking campsites beforehand (now) or just "winging" it when we're over there??

We've got a few weeks to travel round France at the start of July. Vendee through to the Alps. We'll probably use a few Aires but will probably have 2 or 3 base camps too. I suppose booking gives piece of mind but not booking is more flexible.
We'll probably need to book the Vendee site I should imagine as we plan to be there for the start of the Tour de France, perhaps even camping on the island Noirmoutier. Or maybe a bit further down the coast as some of you have suggested some good places.

Thanks.

[brickinit]

I guess everyone will have different experiences of this but we travelled the last week in August / first in September and only booked one site for our first night

The rest of the time we used a combination of Aires, vineyards from the France Passion book, and municiple sites and only once did we get turned away because the site was full

We were lucky and got the last space a couple of times but we always had a back up plan and the site we used when turned away from the full one was so good we stayed a couple of days

Not booking anything was all part of our holiday experience and Mrs B really enjoyed planning the routes but we don't have kids and this may be a major factor for your trip!

What ever you decide, have a great trip

Mr B

[Ian Hulley]

A question for those experienced France travellers; would you recommend booking campsites beforehand (now) or just "winging" it when we're over there??

We've got a few weeks to travel round France at the start of July. Vendee through to the Alps. We'll probably use a few Aires but will probably have 2 or 3 base camps too. I suppose booking gives piece of mind but not booking is more flexible.
We'll probably need to book the Vendee site I should imagine as we plan to be there for the start of the Tour de France, perhaps even camping on the island Noirmoutier. Or maybe a bit further down the coast as some of you have suggested some good places.

Thanks.

If you HAVE to be a certain place at a certain time then yes, I'd advise booking a site in advance for peace of mind, otherwise with aires, France Passion, Camping Municipal and normal campsites you'll be absolutely fine. The French aren't as hung up on people sleeping in a 'camping car' as the British seem to be and treat it as a commercial opportunity ... bakers vans tour local overnight stops first thing in the morning to cater for those staying there.

re Ile Noirmoutier there's an aire at the end near to the storage harbour at L'Epine. It's free overnight but the 'facilities' are regularly blown in with sand and there was a dune covering 2/3rds of the aire when we arrived and much more when we left including most of the insides of The Bus. Remember NOT to use the causeway unless you've seen and understood the tide times poster, go over the new bridge instead.

Ian

[iowcamper]

we went to the vendee last year and found it a little boring if truth be told (could of just been the site we picked), this august we are heading to a site in brittany called camping du letty which looks ideal with kids as its on the beach has a new swimming complex and loads going on to tire out the kids !! worth a look if your after fairly lively

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