Thank you for all your replies. I dont mind driving 6hrs when in france, have been to the Vendee region before and have had some nice weather. We have a budget of about £2000 for travel, pitches etc. Unfortunately we have to tow a trailer as tent takes up a huge amount of room in back of car, plus we have a roofbox. We do not mind travelling to Dover as thats where i have gone from before, last time was about 8 years ago though. We also have to go summer hols because of kids schooling ones year 10 so cant really disprute that , plus we have to travel on a sunday or monday as husband cant have a saturday off at start of hols
Go for it! As someone said above, if you can go for the end of the hols then you will save some money. There's loads of good sites in France. The vast majority have a pool. Costs vary - this year we paid between 20 euros and 55 euros - for the same pitch on one site!! the price fell to ACSI rates on 20th August. You will save money on pitch fees by doing the following:
1. Not going to the sites that a lot of people discuss on here and book in October. These are the large commercial sites with massive advertising budgets to pay for.
2. Not going to the coast - or if you do not staying beach side.
3. Going mid-late August.
Taking a trailer's not a big deal, although it will cost a little more on the ferry. There's no lower speed limit for unbraked trailers in France either, so you can zip down the autoroute at 75-80 mph with everyone else! We're not fans of the Vendee, but we really like the Loire and Ile d'oleron, or if you think you can manage an overnight try a bit further south. There's no need to book so you can decide based on the weather when you get there.
I would wait until maybe 14/10 when NEC show starts and then look for the cheap Dover crossings then. Certainly the CC have 25% off the DFDS fares agreed already for next year, so no doubt P&O may well have their own
Budget of £2k for travel, pitches, tolls etc should be more than plenty for two weeks I would say. Use the reviews on here to narrow down your sites and areas
If travelling to Calais area anyway consider whether Holland or Germany could meet your needs as well as they are potentially just no further as Vendee area
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Wow £2000 budget that's good. We did caravan to Cardet near Ales (north of Nimes) right on the Gardon river.
3 weeks End of may to beginning of June (Used Tesco vouchers to pay for the Channel tunnel apart from £32 for the dog... Did one overnight on the way in Folkestone, One midway south of Orange in Nouan Le fouzelier, and on the return. And one night just outside Calais.
Two of us & dog using ACSI card paying £16 euros a night
Used motorways most of the way down so tolls probably £130 probably came in around the £1500 mark. Not too bad for 3 weeks Weather was ok.
Didn't go out for meals at all (mainly because of the dog) but did a few road trips, shopped in local Intermarche where I must admit things were very expensive. Didn't think about Lidl or Aldi but they are around.
Remember you eat anyway whether in France or at home.
In France it can be a nicer, and if you shop around cheaper, than your UK food bill.
We have just ended this year's wanderings and over the 4 months, average about £850 a month on fuel, ferries, tolls, site fees and most importantly wine.
If we were not so flash it could easily be done for less.
I could have typed a similar thing, but then I don't think we are typical and we haven't yet added up all our spending! We can go out of season, taking advantage of all the special offers. We've had nine weeks away in total, five in May/June and four in August/September. Our return ferry crossing cost just 33 euros!
Eight of our nights cost nothing - five were some free Camping Cheques which someone gave me, three were seven for six offers. Our fuel all came from supermarkets, and the cheapest was at Forqualqiuer where they were offering 122.6 a litre as a special offer for a week, so we filled right up at the beginning and the end of our week there. That was the cheapest fuel, most expensive was 127.9.
As far as food goes, I still think it's possible to eat cheaply and well in France if you're careful. You don't have to buy packs of meat and barbecue, you can make meals and the same amount of meat will stretch much further. We had three meals out - none cost a lot - and otherwise had things like Lidl chickens - normal price 3.49 - but with 30% or 50% off, as 'sell buy ends' they were just 2.45€ (same with pork fillet, pork chops, and fish as most supermarkets now seem to be doing the same thing). We had loads of salads, and fresh fruit, usually bought from someone's gardens - like the fresh figs in St Quentin La Poterie at 2 euros for two kilos. We bought vegetables from some small markets and several lots of Lidl 'Ratatouille' kits which made a bucketful. Potatoes were very cheap, as was soft fruit like peaches, apricots and plums, and French grape tomatoes were from 70 cents to 99 cents a kilo!!! We had farm eggs from one place which were just 10 cents each! We used up left over bread to make garlic bread or bruschetta (fresh tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper and some wild thyme), so absolutely nothing is wasted. Wine probably cost an average of 2 euros a bottle (we bring more expensive stuff home) and we didn't even drink a lot of that this time. We did splash out on some lavender honey from a farm in Provence, but you need so little on your bread that it will last a long time!
We spent just 3.10€ on tolls - and were only charged Classe 1 so I didn't press the button to let them know, and we paid a small amount to have a look around the Tours de Merle and the Chateau at Montresor.
Otherwise we walked a lot, swam a lot (sea, pools and rivers), sat and read a lot of books, and used our canoe wherever we could. Our sight-seeing usually cost nothing, no parking fees, no entry fees, just wandering around small towns and villages where you see the sort of things normally charged for by the National Trust. The weather was super for the whole holiday - just two episodes of rain - one for a morning, with short showers in the afternoon, and another heavy storm which rolled over, poured down, and rolled away again over the course of a couple of hours.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Just one other thing to add. If you like to eat out on your hols try doing it at lunchtime. You can get Plat de jour for around 12 euros, usually 2 courses and sometimes includes a drink or crepes, savoury and a sweet one will cost around 11 euros each then just have nibbles, bread and cheese, wine etc at night, it saves a lot of money. We have just got back from 3 weeks in France, 5 sites 1 of which was on the med plus 60 bottles of wine to bring home and costs come in around £1500.00 for 2 of us. Tip - get a Halifax clarity card and take as little cash as possible we have had amazing exchange rates which is why our hol has been cheap. J x
It is not cheaper because of the costs of getting there but the weather can be more reliable the further south you go and it is a better experience because population density is only a quarter of England. More room on the roads, the sites, the towns etc.
It was a wet summer in Cornwall that made us look at France, and we've not looked back..!
Four of us go for 3 weeks in a caravan; if we aren't too careful with spending money total cost is probably about £2500. But as earlier poster said, can get better cheaper food in France (and you would still have to buy food at home), fuel is much cheaper and despite the travel down and back use much less of it over the three weeks than we would at home so all evens out.
We wouldn't 'summer' in the UK if we could help it. Much better holiday experience in France from the minute you get off the ferry / train. We've been to the Ardeche and Vendee and like them both for different reasons. Vendee cheaper as less travel and can still get good weather....
------------- Glyn W.
What if the Hokey Cokey really is what it's all about....?
I'm guessing you'd need to go in the school holidays, so it depends what sort of holiday you want.
When our lad was a teen we'd go to an all-singing sort of site and 2 weeks inclusive of food, ferry & petrol would come in at about 2.5k. This year he came with us on a little tour of some much simpler sites & we spent 1.6k over 2 weeks. Including everything.
The reasons we go: the weather's better and they're a lot more welcoming to tourists than anything I've experienced in Devon & Cornwall. And the experience is good for the kids.
One thing we do is use Tesco tokens to pay for the tunnel.
One thing you should know: you don't have to go to the seaside. There are sites everywhere, people swim in lakes & rivers. Often you get better value inland.
Check out municipal campsites in France here, many are terrific value ... we've stayed in lovely sites for 12 euros a day (3 of us) ... and there are hundreds under 20 euros a day. Many provide free access to the municipal swimming pool complexes (often part of the set up) ... most won't offer the all singing all dancing add ons that the bigger commercial sites do ... eg restaurants/bars/discos/waterslides/organised activities etc
Just depends what you are after.
As touched on by OP's ... you need to really decide on your region(s) and then start making a short list ... check reviews, and try to match your likes to what you read ... we're all different!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: is it really cheaper
