I've just started the mass investigation into this year's camping trip (first time back to France in about 5 years).
I'm looking at coastal and inland Brittany...I have no particular area of interest as yet but would prefer smaller/quieter resorts and small inland towns.
My concern is, particularly on the coast, that cafes/bars/restaurants may still be closed or working on very limited hours. I've spotted quite a few comments to this effect when reading reviews on this site.
Do others have any recent experience of the early season in Brittany?
All responses will be gratefully received : )
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It's often the case that many a site's facilities won't be fully up and running although we found last year a few are opening up facilities slightly earlier than they'd suggest on their websites (e.g. opening up in June rather than just July/August), but you can't rely on it.
If you're near a town/village, there's more likely to be something open but again, it can't be relied on.
When I investigated various locations for this year's trips I used Google Maps a lot, finding the campsite and then looking to see what's around. Cafes/bars/restaurants often show up on these and clicking on their icon often brings a website up with opening hours on. I've made a spreadsheet noting the locations most likely to have the most options open to us.
We've very rarely been anywhere where nothing is available at that time of year but as you say, your choices may be limited. We've always got something in lest we get caught out.
Quote: Originally posted by camp chaos on 15/1/2023
A spreadsheet! Very impressive...I've been put to shame with my random screenshots.
Quote: A good idea to go on Google maps.
We aren't tied to dates so could go a few weeks later in the if necessary but I wanted to go as soon as feasibly possible!
In recent years we've been going in June, I've noticed there's been an increase in people travelling at that time before the high season/summer holidays kick in (a lot of people taking advantage of the ACSI discount), maybe this is persuading businesses to open up earlier. Last June there was a heatwave which may have encouraged this.
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We’ve been going for years from late May/early June, usually for about 6 weeks.
Most campsites were open but had restricted facilities. Pools etc tend to be open but clubs and entertainment (that don’t bother us) and sometimes shops, on-site bars/restaurants and bread deliveries were either closed or had restricted days/hours until early to mid July. If you look on the campsite website or the ACSI website or app the dates of when facilities are available is sometimes given. Reception hours could be a lot shorter or shut for lunch too, so you may have to wait to get on site. The upside was that sites were quieter, you didn’t need to book and you got a better choice of pitches.
Local attractions and bars/restaurants were not necessarily always open or once again we’re running at reduced hours/ days Neil the main season started and in the current economic climate this may get more so. No point in opening and paying staff etc if you only have a handful of customers.
Since Covid this seems to have changed and sites in popular areas sometimes have ‘site full’ signs up, especially at weekends though local businesses seem to have taken longer to catch on.
This year we’ve decided to go the last weekend in June and have booked sites in the more popular places. We’ll miss the easy going atmosphere of early holidays but our main driver was that we are getting older and I can’t walk or cycle far at all any more and we’ll be able to take advantage of the free summer buses that some municipalities and towns put on from early July. It will let us get round to a lot more places without moving the van or getting taxis.
I don’t know what a difference it will make but will be happy to report back.
I don’t know about very early season but we always go to France in mid June and by then, we have never experienced any sites with restricted services apart from with the kids club which is usually only during school holidays and which doesn’t bother us as we don’t have kids!
It's sounding like June may be the optimum time pre main season, both with the weather and facilities etc. Particularly in coastal Brittany where June's weather might be a little better.
It's the quietness/lack of children we were wanting really, after years of being limited to school holidays.
Thanks for the info so far.
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We've been to Camping La Ferme de Lann Hoedic a few times now, early and late season (May and October), which is near Sarzeau. The site was really quiet (which we like!) and the little bar etc was closed, though they still provided a bread service, a few groceries in Reception and lots of tourist info. While there one time we got chatting to a French couple in one of the cafes in the town, who told us they'd moved to Sarzeau because unlike some other places in Brittany, the town was open all year round, rather than just in the tourist season. Also a big plus for us at those times of the year is that dogs are allowed on the nearby beaches.
We prefer June too - even in Brittany, July has been too hot for my husband in recent years !
We also like the quieter atmosphere on campsites before the main holiday season, saw a real difference in the Loire with grandchildren last July
We have definitely found that less facilities are open - even in reasonable sized resort towns such as Erquy, only about half of the restaurants were open when we stayed there in June. There was however. still a reasonable choice.
Google maps may help by providing links to a restaurant or attraction's website or facebook page, but the app itself still shows a lot of places as 'closed' from covid times. While it's true that some disappeared in 2020/21 altogether, most have reopened.
Weather-wise a lot of France can be hit and miss in late May and even into June - when we went to Bordeaux in 2018 our main campsite and our stopover had both been affected by severe flooding. So if it is sun that you are after - June, and probably the southern coast of Brittany, is your best bet.
It's precisely because of the unpredictability of the weather that we make it up as we go along, only booking the crossing usually although if there's somewhere we really, absolutely want to make sure we can be, we will book ahead but such occasions are rare.
We were likewise in the Bordeaux area in June 2018, it was our intention to head further south and west but the better weather that year was in the north so we made our way to Brittany via La Rochelle, we had quite but not too hot weather in southern Brittany, absolute bliss! The south west was quite wet at that time.
June 2019 we'd made it to Bordeaux to try and go down to the south west again but "La Canacule", the heatwave was on its way, we scuttled back to Brittany (again via La Rochelle). We were really glad we did, southern Brittany was a mere 32°C while Paris sizzled at 45.9°C! The south west was around 44°C.
Last year we were once again around Bordeaux in June, France had been through a heatwave in May and was experiencing another one while we were there, we had temperatures of around 45°C on quite a few days (too hot for me and way too hot for the Wonderful Mrs Wez). Shortly after we came home they had all of those wild fires, we weren't surprised, everything was tinder dry.
I mentioned in my original response to the OP that I had a spreadsheet of possible locations. We know the rough area we want to visit and I've researched the campsites, aires, France Passion and markets in those areas. I've noted what's available in that area at the time we're going, that way we shouldn't get caught out provision wise. It's not an itinerary for our holiday, just a list of what's in the vague area of where we want to go, as I said we'll make it up as we go along but our decisions will be led by the weather.
The weather was my worry so not booking ahead sounds like a good option (it will feel odd though, as we're so used to busy school hols!).
My theme for Brittany is based around seafood restaurants so I guess I need to get deep dive googling to see what's defo open (agree with you Ironned, a quick check doesn't always give you the right details). Reassuringly, I was looking at restaurant websites last night and quite a few seem to be open in May.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
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: Brittany in Spring/early summer
via mobile 15/1/2023 at 3:10pm
