As a seasoned camper in the UK my husband and I are planning to take the plunge, pop the kids and the tent in the car this summer and head off for sunny France for 2 weeks in August. We are just starting to do some planning (I know it's only January!) although my husband's preference is that we book the first night and then go where the mood takes us for the rest of the time! Plans are to head down West coast towards Biarritz, across to Carcassone and then back up probably in one long go at the end. I'm a real planner so feeling very nervous about not booking sites in advance and really wanted some advance from those of you out there who have done this before on whether you can really turn up in August and find decent sites with pitches available on the day?? Keen to support my husband's desire for a spontaneous, seat-of-the-pants holiday but not so keen on not being able to find a place to stay with the kids in the car! Any advice of great sites on that general route that people would suggest are not to miss with kids (7 &4) as well would be very much appreciated! Many thanks Diana
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We've only been as far down as the Vendee but my 2 pieces of advice would be (i) book your sites if you want decent ones in the 1st half of August (prob OK to 'wing it' from about 20th onwards) & (ii) don't underestimate the size of the country - trying to get home in one drag would be a killer!
Go out of peak season - 20th August and just after is probably about right.
Don't book your sites before you go - out of peak season you really aren't going to have a problem.
Be ready to do plenty of driving - the good stuff (IMHO) is going to require a couple of driving days.
Get the ACSI discount card - it's very simple to use and can save you quite a bit of dosh.
Only do 2 or 3 campsites at most - otherwise it can feel like you're spending the entire holiday sorting your pitch out. I think 2 is probably ideal.
Take the tunnel and the toll motorways - it costs a bit more, but if you've only got a couple of weeks I think it makes sense to make everything as easy as possible.
Use a cheap hotel stop on the way down and back up - this can be quite reasonable and can save a lot of pitching/packing time, allowing more time to drive the next day without exhausting yourselves.
Aim to camp inland rather than on the coast - this is just my personal preference, but I reckon the sites are better value, less crowded, and less 'touristy', if you know what I mean, even just a short drive from the coast.
As said, its a big Country. Assuming you are using Calais returning from Carcassonne in one go is over 600 miles by the most direct route. That will take you round Paris 3/4 of the way into the journey. Although driving in France is generally much easier, Paris isn't.
I would take a less direct route avoiding Paris and stop off overnight.
------------- Steve
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I'd agree with pitchperfect - we have a very similar sort of unplanned holiday (caravan but not tent) and after mid-August it's possible to do just what your husband wants. Take a look at the ACSI card (www.campingcard.com) and Camping Cheques (www.campingcheque.co.uk) websites for the sorts of sites, and available dates - and then just 'wing-it' - going where the weather and your mood dictates!
Read the other much longer posting - under 'Don't want to go all the way' for some further advice.
I also agree with Steve (millermicm) about avoiding Paris. There are some lovely routes through France, wherever you are going, and almost all can be done without going anywhere near Paris!
We once stoped at a Logis in Carcassonne, having stopped the night before at Blois at another Logis, we were on route from Calais to Argeles-sur-mer for a fortnights holiday in static, although it was Autoroute all the way, and we did get past Paris on the Boulavard without a hitch, no sat-nav either!, I would not consider doing Carcassonne to Calais in one day, especialy with little ones on board. two weeks is not a lot of time, especialy if that includes your travelling/overnight time, we usualy do 13 nights on the main site, plus four overnights in France, two either way , these days we use the budget hotel chain "Premier Classe" as they nearly always have a Campanile Restaurant/Hotel adjacent were you can get a decent evening meal and 10% of the bill as both chains belong to the Louvre hotel group.
Sorry, didn't read the bit about one day back from Carcassonne to Calais - and I'd agree that it will be hard going! We once did La Grange Fort near Clermont Ferrand to Calais in one hit, and it took us about a week to stop feeling shattered!
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Great advice, thanks! So lessons I'm taking away are
* Aim for 2nd half of August if we want to not book in advance
* Don't underestimate the size of the country and try and do too much
* Get Camping Cheques or the card which offer discounts - great tip!
* Camp inland for better sites and presumably less crowds
* Avoid Paris
From this then I'm going to put myself in my husband's hands and go with the no booking in advance approach which is new to me but sounds like you guys are giving it the thumbs up 2nd half of August!
Any other thoughts on travelling with kids? Although I speak French reasonably well my experience is pretty much limited to Paris!
Travelling with children - car DVD player (even Tesco sells them now and I'm sure it said £89 but can't be 100%), talking books, plenty of stops, plenty of snacks in the car, books to read, card games.
I'm sure others will come up with much better advice.
I don't know where you live but if you are serious about the Western side of France i.e. Biaritze have you considered using one of the longer crossings rather than Dover? It will save a heck of a lot of driving especially as you only have two weeks.
We have used Campingcheques for years and they are very good. The ACSI card is also a good idea as you don't pay up front but pay the campsites direct. I would stress that both are only applicable for "out of season" camping and you would need to research each campsite you are thinking of using for which dates they will accept as low season.
In general terms we try to use only 4 star rated sites although 3 star are generally good and all sites in the Campingcheque book have their own websites which will allow you to see what facilities they have and which are the most child friendly. Use the websites given in ValA.s posting above and you will spend many hours checking sites.
... or if you ask really nicely you may even get a copy of Val's famous secret spreadsheet ...
I used the ACSI card for the first time this year - the way it works seems to suit our camping style better than Camping Cheques, and there are a lot more sites in the scheme. As far as I know there are only a smallish number of sites that start discounting (ACSI, CC, etc.) early after the peak season, but many more as August turns to September, so the later you can leave it in August the more choice you'll have of deals (and pitches probably). Municipals can also be really good, simple campsites at low prices, and they always seem to have loads of space available. In general though, once the peak season is over most sites are quite reasonable even without the discount schemes.
In terms of distance, unless I had a real reason to, I wouldn't go as far on a 2 week tour - there are so many superb places to go to that are closer to home. And anyway, the big bonus of not booking is that you can narrow it down to a handful of candidate destinations, and then leave your final decisions about where you're heading until you've seen the weather forecast on the day . So you get to do your planning, but also have that random element just to keep things interesting.
Post last edited on 02/01/2011 23:54:53
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Copy of my not so secret spreadsheet - Camping Cheques and Touring Cheques only, and not yet fully updated for 2011, via valathomenow at tiscali.co.uk!
Should have called you Diana not Diane, sorry about that, anyway you may find the following useful for planning your trip.
Try the website www.francethisway.com which gives excellent driving distances and route maps and is easy to use. I entered Calais to Biarritz and it gives adriving distance of 1070 kilometres (approx 10 hrs). Calais to Carcassone is 1056km (approx 9hrs 30 min). Both of these are through Paris which I don't recommend. Trying one of the longer routes it gave Caen to Biarritz as 802 km driving distance (about 8hours). This also has the advantage of going nowhere near Paris.
I would also recommend you to look at the website www.campingfrance.com/UK/ which appears to be the most comprehensive list of sites in France with over 11000 sites listed (probably from 0 star to 4 star). There is an english translation button and you can refine your searches to list only 3 star upwards or whatever you want to set as your quality criteria.
Hope this helps, enjoy your planning, its part of the fun of the holiday.
Wow! You are all so very helpful! Thanks so much - I really appreciate you all taking the time to give me such great advice.
Really excited and you have all given me a great starting point to get moving on.
Hadn't even thought about a crossing further West as we only live about 30 mins from Folkestone so were thinking of doing the Tunnel but will definitely look into it.
The Camping France website looks great.
I think biggest lesson for me is that assuming it's fun and we want to do it again another year we should plan to go a bit more out-of-season to benefit from discounts - options limited this year due to existing week away during term-time and family wedding very end July so August is only real option.
Still, it will be a great start and hopefully we'll get the bug! Was beginning to think rainy weeks in the New Forest were our only holiday options for the foreseeable future until we win the Lottery!
Dont forget the price of the toll roads either! It cost us around £100 from north to south of France!
There are some great places, but in August you will have to book ahead. The campsites can be expensive too - if you arent bothered about facilities too much, try the 'Camping municipal' which are basic, but good for hopping between places.
You don't have to do toll roads though - there are perfectly good alternatives to most destinations, and we use a toll-free route all the way to the Med (around Agde/Narbonne area) most holidays.
We worked out that allowing that everyone who does that journey has to have at least one overnight stop (which is all we do), then the people using the toll roads would be about an hour and a half ahead of us arriving at their Mediterranean site!
We have a good route worked out these days, with the overnight stop somewhere about Salbris/Nevers/further south, depending on what time we set off in the morning, and we're down on the Med by tea-time the following day!
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: Camping trip in France - advice please!
. So you get to do your planning, but also have that random element just to keep things interesting.
