It's nice to go all the way to the Med, and do the Coe d Azur bit, but that last 100miles down the Autoroute will cost, also most sites are uber busy, and the traffic along the Bord der Mer in Summer is mental, also day to day costs are high down on the Med, we have have been doing the Med for years, but for the first time, went to the Ardeche last year, at only 100 miles inland from the Med, what a difference, in mid July the climate was the same as we are used to down on the med, but the whole area was a lot less busy and far more relaxing, and day to day costs were far less, in fact we even dined out for lunch, never been able to afford that luxury down on the Med before, we enjoyed the Ardeche so much we are back down there in July this year, I will admit though I did miss the sea, and will be making a day trip this year to the Med whilst camping in the Southern Ardeche.
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France is a lovely place to camp with children. If you want to go right down to the Mediterranean then be prepared for sites to be busier, pitches tend to be a bit smaller, and sites book up earlier.
It's hard to know where to start with advice - except to ask what sort of site would you be looking for. France has everything from all-singing, all-dancing four star sites with facilities similar to some top hotels and some have huge water parks, down to the smallest farm site, perhaps four or five tents or caravans in an orchard somewhere - and of course everything in between. There are around 10,500 campsites in France!
If you want larger sites, with full facilities, then take a look at the Eurocamp or Canvas Holidays brochure - but then book directly with the campsite! The Alan Rogers guide or website gives you independent reviews of lots of sites, not all of them the large sites. Then there are farm sites, which you can find from Bienvenue a la Ferme.
If you have actually decided on an area, rather than just the 'South of France' which covers everything from the Italian Border on the Med, to the Atlantic coast at the western end of the Pyrenees, then it would perhaps be easier to recommend a site in a particular area.
Wherever you go I'm sure you'll have a lovely time - many of us on here have been camping or caravanning in France for many years (this year will be our thirtieth year - and we're still not running out of places we want to visit, or to go back to).
We have a 3yr old and have booked Le Vieux Port in Messanges for very late june early july. It looks great, not many reviews but it appears to have everything and is a bike ride (or car) away from a town. We had our 1st taster of france last year and stayed at camping Bel in la tranche sur mer, Vendee. Its was fantastic. We cant wait to get out there again. Our son is now asking if he can have dinner and go to the party on the boat (we do the portsmouth to st malo crossing over night). Cant rate it enough as a holiday for children. We didnt even use the kids clubs last year.
From our past experience you and the 3 year old should enjoy Le Vieux Port, large well shaded site, reasonable pool and lots of activities. Plenty of well maintained toilet blocks. Reasonable but not particularly cheap shop, cafe and restaurant on site, Super U supermarket and petrol station a couple of minutes drive away. Larger hypermarche about 20 mins drive away in Soustons. Temperatures warmer than UK but heat usually not as intense as the Med. A little rain and strong breezes quite possible as well - this is the Bay Of Biscay after all.
Lots of very tame rabbits and red squirrels on the site (the latter have a tendency to fall out of the trees and land on top of the mobile home - quite an alarming way to be woken up by this around dawn!)
Excellent sandy beach but watch the little one carefully if paddling in the sea as big waves and associated undertow can be tricky (also applies to grown ups of course). Search out webcams - Landes on the net to give you some idea.
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Oh wow thanks boxman. Do you know if i am correct in saying there is a town in cycling distance? The travel rep on the phone said there was which is why we chose this above sequoia
Yes, the town of Vieux Boucau is within easy cyling distance, no hills either! The site is actually much nearer V-B than Messanges. If you can, have a look on Google Earth, the site entrance is about half a mile west of the D652 road at the end of a dead straight road called Route Plage Sud. This branches off the D652 at a roundabout by the Super U supermarket which I mentioned before - you can easily pick this out by the large car park on the east side of the main road. There is a large blue roofed building in the same complex. Hope this helps.
Re travelling time its not too easy for me to answer directly but as a guide, when we went there in 2008 we crossed o'night from Portsmouth to Caen. The distance from there to the site was about 480 miles and the driving took (travelling solo) just about 8 hours. Both ways, as we had all day we did not drive particularly fast rarely going over 70 mph. I nearly always use Autoroutes as personally I find the toll costs worth paying compared with extra time and risks of speed traps on 'N' roads.
Regarding days out, again difficult for me to advise as we are a couple with bus passes who will obviously have different ideas from a younger couple with a 3 year old. However one day out which springs to mind is driving down to the Pyrenees inland from St Jean de Luz to a couple of miles beyond Ascain and taking a trip on the mountain railway to La Rhune. On a hot, clear day its a very pleasant ride and there are very good views in all directions at the top. I suppose another trip out could be to to the Ecomusee of country life at Sabres about an hour or so away although to be honest when we were younger and had kids in tow it was christened the 'grass growing museum' complete with a 'paint drying exhibition' by our family. The most exciting part was the short train ride from Sarbres. But perhaps that was just us.
Not too many formal attractions in the area but lots of cycle paths through the trees, not too demanding as there are no real hills. Typical French market on the appropriate day in Soustons, nice to amble around and buy a freshly roasted poulet and bread, salad stuff etc to take back to the site for lunch. Lots of local Gascon foods available everywhere - we discovered the bliss of quality pate de fois gras, lightly toasted bread and chilled sweet white wine. Have to confess the wonderful tastes overcame any squeamishness about the methods of production.
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Glad you said that as i would probably be put off by the method of making the food. The mountain railway sounds like a perfect day out to me. Def one on our list. We dont like to plan but its always great if someone recommends something like that, we might have missed it otherwise. Do you think there are any pitches we should avoid, we dont like too much noise at night as the little one likes his sleep!
The pitch we were on was very quiet but there again being late season the site was almost empty. If you have much of a choice, and remember things will be beginning to warm up in all senses of the word come July then commonsense would suggest that you should avoid the busiest 'roads' though the site ie the main drag from the site entrance to the middle and the road from the centre of the site to the beach. The site is very big so this should be quite easy to do. Also if possible, obviously try and avoid pitches near the pool area which would see a lot of traffic.
Can't advise on how much noise comes from the cafe/restaurant area as things were winding down. Really it is a bit of pot luck as to whether you get good neighbours or not. Also bear in mind that up until the 11th July the World Cup will be on which will mean that there WILL be a bit of exuberence from esp the Dutch, Germans and English. Suggest that as you cannot avoid this you should try and go with the flow and join in with the (nearly always) good humoured banter between the different nationalities. From our previous experiencies this usually results in a fun atmosphere around the site, as long as you don't run into any embarrassing drunken Brits who take things too far.
Seriously, take some ear plugs or buy some locally. Apart from human disturbances nature can be damned noisy with all the animals and birds going about their business when the sun comes up!
If you do do the mountain railway at La Rhune do beware the queues! At peak times (eg late morning on the first clear day after a few drizzly ones in late July) you could be looking at several hours wait.
The view from the top is spectacular, but in my opinion not worth that kind of wait, especially for kids.
Note that, at least when I last went, it is only the ticket purchaser, not the entire family, who needs to queue.
Luckily when we went the first time we were staying quite nearby so getting there early wasn't a problem. I have been back since, seen the queue on arrival, and simply turned around and come away.
Thanks guys. I should imagine that its busy due to the views. Our son loves trains so it will be a winner once there. Think we'll back the french. That will earn us brownie points with site owners. Lol. Think we will head for a pitch right at the very back and out of the way. The walks and bike rides will do us good for all the crepes, ice creams and cheese we'll consume! And of course not forgetting the wines. Ant other tips will be gratefully recieved.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: new tt want to goto s france
