We are sailing to Bilbao next year and working our way up to St Malo for the return.
We are planning 6 stops, beginning at St Jean de Luz and finishing Mont St Michel.
My question is, we are hoping to spend 3 nights in most but 4 in one, so we’ll be away for about 3 weeks.
Does this sound like a good plan, or too much setting up every few days? Would we be better doing longer journeys and spending more time in each area? We were thinking
St Jean de Luz
Arcachon
Saintes
La Rochelle
Angers
Mint St Michel
First time taking the caravan abroad, so just after a bit of feedback on our plan really.
Thanks 😊
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I'll be interested to see your responses as this is a trip that we'd like to do at some point.
As a starter: we travelled around Brittany earlier this year (in a campervan with awning) and we too stopped for 3 to 4 nights at each place. This length of time was perfect from our pov as it gave us time to investigate the area without travelling too far afield each day (we don't move our van once we set up and so walk, cycle or use public transport to get around).
The distances between each stop off, for us, will have been a lot shorter than yours I would imagine (usually about 2 hours!) so it was a very relaxed intro to moving around in France (which was our plan).
Personally I'd rather do longer drives and stay a couple of extra days in each place but I'm not towing which I guess makes a difference.
We did Santander to Roscoff in two weeks which might give you some ideas.
I never spent more than one day looking around Saintes, and a single day was enough to visit Mont St Michel too - but would spend longer in the areas around St Jeande Luz and La Rochelle, plus time in Nantes rather than Angers. And it seems you are sailing all the way to Spain but not spending any time there - that’s a shame. But it’s Horses for courses.
Post last edited on 02/09/2023 17:44:06
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You don't say what your towing vehicle is.
The first thing that I would do is check out the speed limit for your vehicle. Strange as it may seem the greater the towing capacity, the lower the limit. It seriously affects how far you can travel in a day.
DaveS1
Quote: Originally posted by DaveS1 on 02/9/2023
Strange as it may seem the greater the towing capacity, the lower the limit. It seriously affects how far you can travel in a day.
DaveS1
Does it really.
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I'd spend a week on the north coast of Spain ... and the fabulous Picos de Europa ... then a couple of well chosen stops through France. As mentioned, to spend all that money on a long sea trip, then flee the area does seem, to me, to be a shame when that part of Spain has so much to offer.
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St Jean de Luz is the area I’m keen on visiting, and working our way up as we can’t have any more time off work than we’ve allowed. I trying to recreate a trip my parents did with us as kids. They did drive through spain too, but we haven’t got the time
What time of year do you plan going? Do you want seaside or history or both?
There are loads of possibilities on that route - or with a not too lengthy detour (eg myself I'd go to Saumur rather than Angers to open up the possibility of visiting places between Saumur and Tours).
I would suggest a week in northern Spain. A week in area around La Rochelle at Campsite Au Port-Punay then a week at Campsite La Falaise north of Saint Nazaire.
Spending only a few days at a stop is not a holiday, it is a marathon and you will need a holiday when you get back to England.
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Quote: Originally posted by jacquelinehl on 03/9/2023
We’re thinking mid June
Seems pretty feasible before the main holiday season - motorways up the west side of France won't be partcularly busy
Like someone else has said I'd give Saintes a miss.
I have a personal preference for the Ile de Re over La Rochelle (live in France now and have holidayed at Camping Interlude a good ten times before and after we moved here) and as I've said before, prefer Saumur - Tours over Angers in the Loire.
I too would recommend fewer stops for longer and Ile de Ré as one. The area around St Malo is lovely. We are currently in Dinard - beautiful beaches, sea swimming pools, sea food restaurants and coastal walks. Dinard itself is really nice plus you can get a little ferry to St Malo as a foot passenger for 8 euros. Public transport here is good too. It would make a nice restful stop before heading for ferry home.
We think 3-4 days is an ideal length of stay if using a motorhome/campervan rather than a caravan. We've done six days in one place in the Loire and the Dordogne and found we needed to take our moho out to get the most out of the area when staying for that long.
Look for sites with public transport or good cycle paths nearby (although most of France is cyclist friendly and there are signed routes via quieter lanes away from main roads most area - these are shown on the IGN rando map/app)
We'd also suggest Nantes (the Nantes Camping site is lovely and has a tram stop 100yds away) rather than Angers. Loads to do in the city and around the estuary. If you are not into modern art before you go, you will be when you leave !
Plenty to do in St Malo and lots of good sites around it and Dinard/Dinan.
Hi, Like others I would see this as too many stops-but of course that’s your choice.
Last year we travelled from Roscoff via Annecy to Lago Trasimeno and then home via Holland and the Hook.
We did this in line with my wife’s desire to have shorted days on the road but, when we got home and discussed the trip, the only thing she didn’t like was “all the stops and setting up”.
I would look at maybe three stops at St Jean du Luz, La Rochelle and St Malo area.
Each has plenty to see and do and you could do slight detours to see Dune du Pylat or Puy Du Fou for example.
There are lots of sites around St Jean, the town and Biaritz are lovely and the train up La Petit Rhune is a great day out.
The site mentioned, Port du Punay has great reviews and has been highly recommended to me by friends but we have yet to visit however we love La Rochelle.
For St Malo area I can recommend Domaine du Logis near Combourg-decent pitches and very good restaurant.
In June you should have no problem using ACSI sites, just moving on as it suits you.
Have a great trip!
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Topic: Bilbao to St Malo
via mobile 02/9/2023 at 4:42pm
