It's always helpful for someone asking this sort of question to give an indication of their expected time of arrival in France, as well as which ferry port. An overnight stop if you arrive in Calais at 2.00 pm will be very different to an overnight stop if you arrive at 9.30 am.
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Hi Val,
I plan on taking the eurotunnel and arriving at about 4.30pm. As I have two young children I don't want to drive for more than about two hours and so thought Rouen would work well.
It will be my first trip to France like this, with my first time as owning a caravan and I'm really excited ( have several UKtrips planned first to 'practise')
There's Camping L'Eure at Pont de l'Arche, which is just south east of Rouen, and easy to rejoin the autoroute in the morning for an onward journey. It's alongside the river, in a pleasant little 'suburb' of Rouen.
However, Camping St Claire, mentioned by Tentz, is probably just about right in terms of distance. Driving time on the route planners is 1 hour 55 minutes, but everything takes longer than you think, and by the time you've driven there and booked in it will be coming up 7.00 pm. I think this is late enough, with small children.
Do a minimalist set up on overnights - we just put hook-up cable in, steadies down, table and chairs outside if the weather's Ok, otherwise we don't bother, and don't bother with water or waste - just use the site facililties! We carry five litres of fresh water in the van for drinking. That way we can be up and off early in the morning, and arrive at our next site in good time.
Our first caravanning trips involved a new to us van, a local trip to a nearby site, a bit further afield to a weekend in the Lakes, and then an overnight drive for a weekend to Anglesey to do some 'in the dark' driving and on motorways! Then we were off to France for three weeks with not a site booked! We had a fantastic time and have been going back twice a year ever since.
I am going that way in May. Am using Camping Eure at Pont de l'Arche for the second time. Its a municipal but in a very pleasant location. About 2,45 hours from calais.
Happy journey to you
John
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You can calculate your route, using toll roads, or choosing not to use them, on any of the route-planning websites, such as viamichelin, AA route planner, or autoroutes.fr. Viamichelin calculates the toll cost from Calais to La Rochelle as 64.00 euros on the A16/A28, 78.97 on the A1/A10, and 36.31 on the A16/A10 - car and caravan, single journey. Using the toll roads it calculates the journey will take between 7 hours 33 minutes and 8 hours 35 minutes depending on the chosen route(but I'd add a third again to be safe).
If you decide not to use toll roads you can select 'Avoid toll roads' and the journey time rises to 11 hours and 06 minutes.
We don't use tolls, or a Sat Nav, but we do have a very detailed Michelin road atlas, and I'm a good map reader. We're generally only heading in a 'direction' with no end campsite in mind, and we don't mind how long it takes us. If you've a car full of impatient children, and a particular site you want to get to before reception closes then using toll roads can make sense - but it has got costly in recent years.
Definitely. I took my sons on my own when one was 9 and the other 3, all the way down to the Med, with no navigator. I definitely needed the toll roads then!
Try the municipal at Bernay stayed there on route to La Rochelle twice now nice site good quality pitches toilets and showers. Madamme is nice if just a little potty!
We've tried most routes. In terms of the distance and the timing, there is little to choose between the 'top route' via Caen, Rennes, Nantes and the cross country route Rouen etc. About half an hour in favour of cross country. However the cost is cheaper going round the top way. No Tolls in Brittany vs silly money. Plus for us Villedieu des poeles offers a lovely sit Les Chevalliers. short 2 min walk from here to town.
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: Calais-La Rochelle. Need overnight stop
