Caravanning in France?

Pinky15

Hi there - hope someone can help - or point me in the right direction. We have had our caravan a few years and now little ones are a bit bigger would like to try and go to France next year or year after. We are as most trying to do this on a budget. We have found some good ferry deals. However where is the best region to stay once we are there? Somewhere near the sea, not too far from a port eg no more than 2 hours? We would also like to do disneyland whilst we are there as can get some cheap tickets off ebay. Has anyone done this and can advise and give any tips? We will of course be taking dried & tinned foods with us to cut back. Thanks

Shelldean

Pinky15

try asking on this site
www.ukcampsite.co.uk

free to join, various sub forums to ask any questions. Also has reviews of sites on there made by sites members(like me) and whilst the French sites aren't so widely reviewed they are increasing slowly. And if you post a question about a certain site, then someone will prob know the answer or how to find the answer.

Oldernotwiser

Pinky15 wrote: »

Hi there - hope someone can help - or point me in the right direction. We have had our caravan a few years and now little ones are a bit bigger would like to try and go to France next year or year after. We are as most trying to do this on a budget. We have found some good ferry deals. However where is the best region to stay once we are there? Somewhere near the sea, not too far from a port eg no more than 2 hours? We would also like to do disneyland whilst we are there as can get some cheap tickets off ebay. Has anyone done this and can advise and give any tips? We will of course be taking dried & tinned foods with us to cut back. Thanks

Which ferry crossing are you likely to do?

Pinky15

Thanks for your reply will certainly take a look at the link. We were looking at Hull to Zebruuge. I did look at one of the P&O crossings to spain but nearly had heart failure when the return trip was £1600 for just the crossing. We settled on France as the children are keen to visit and its somewhere DH has visited a lot and really likes.
Really I am just thinking practically as we have 3 little ones and would like somewhere quiet and child friendly near the sea. We have ended up on some awful noisy camps in this country this is why I am carefully planing and researching where I go - thanks again:rotfl:

mandragora_2

Well done you - you will love France. They are a nation of picknicking campingaholics, and they are very well set up, and if you're brave enough to try a municpal site, you'll be astonished at how well run they are, how reasonably priced they are, and how the 'van snobbery' that so pervades the British caravanning experience just doesn't exist. For them the family time together, the friends that they can get together with and the fun they can have far outweighs the desire to pay exhorbitant site fees or look and see who's got the smartest set-up on site.

If I were in your shoes I'd look at driving to Poole or Portsmouth and crossing from there - Poole to Cherbourg is realtively cheap, and gets you straight away onto the contenin peninsula - with the sea on three sides around you, all you need to do is look at a weather vane in the morning and see which side of the coast will be in the lee of the wind (if there is one), and head off there for the day.

Normandy is lovely, very friendly, and from Caen you can catch a train to Paris which will get you there in a couple of hours or quicker, so you might look at a day trip to Disneyland. There may be other ways of doing it too, but I'm no expert on that. The downside of Normandy is that ther weather isn't guaranteed - for that you need to head further south, but the drive will be a lot longer than the details you've asked for above.

We go to the far south west - the long golden coast between Biarritz and Bordeaux, but that's a big stretch for a first-time experience, and would be a lot with three littlies in the car.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do - I hope it brings you as much genuine pleasure as it has given us over the past 13 years.

Pinky15

mandragora wrote: »

Well done you - you will love France. They are a nation of picknicking campingaholics, and they are very well set up, and if you're brave enough to try a municpal site, you'll be astonished at how well run they are, how reasonably priced they are, and how the 'van snobbery' that so pervades the British caravanning experience just doesn't exist. For them the family time together, the friends that they can get together with and the fun they can have far outweighs the desire to pay exhorbitant site fees or look and see who's got the smartest set-up on site.

If I were in your shoes I'd look at driving to Poole or Portsmouth and crossing from there - Poole to Cherbourg is realtively cheap, and gets you straight away onto the contenin peninsula - with the sea on three sides around you, all you need to do is look at a weather vane in the morning and see which side of the coast will be in the lee of the wind (if there is one), and head off there for the day.

Normandy is lovely, very friendly, and from Caen you can catch a train to Paris which will get you there in a couple of hours or quicker, so you might look at a day trip to Disneyland. There may be other ways of doing it too, but I'm no expert on that. The downside of Normandy is that ther weather isn't guaranteed - for that you need to head further south, but the drive will be a lot longer than the details you've asked for above.

We go to the far south west - the long golden coast between Biarritz and Bordeaux, but that's a big stretch for a first-time experience, and would be a lot with three littlies in the car.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do - I hope it brings you as much genuine pleasure as it has given us over the past 13 years.

Wow thanks - it does sound great and very family oriented!! The coast will def be the place we are heading especially with my little swimmaholics lol! We are looking at portsmouth and hull crossiings to see what is available! :T

Shelldean

we did the Plymouth/roscoff crossing last yr and that wasn't cheap, in fact it cost more than the cost of hiring a ready erected tent.:eek: This yr we doing the Dover/Calais crossing cos it's cheaper and also cos i get badly sea sick.


you're obviously further north but what about driving down to the south coast and doing an over night stop near the port this side, then getting an early crossing, ( the early crossings tend to be slightly cheaper)
One more point when choosing ferry crossing, have a fidddle with day and times of travel. Prices vary dependant on this.

We did the Isle of wight one yr ( I know not what you asked) BUT it worked out cheaper to go over Friday night ( about 6ish) and come home Sunday afternoon plus pay for two extra nights tent pitch than it did to do any combination of travelling Saturday - Saturday. So have a play with dates and times before booking

Spitroast

That's the great thing about caravaning... if you don't like an area you can hook up and move on!

I love France. My favourite areas/routes are just south of Bordeaux and then all the way accross to Lyon. Great chilled out roads, excellent little villages to stop and grab some food and wine, and great lakes within deep forrests - I'm into fishing so it's perfect for me!).

Just take an up to date caravan site book, a map and just go where the wind takes you, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Cliddy

First of all be careful about the "just go over there and hope for the best ideas." I'm assuming your kids are school age (otherwise why are you paying so much for the ferry ?)
High season it won't be much fun dragging the caravan and family around sites looking for a vacancy.
If the kids are younger then great take the opportunity to go slightly off-season while you can, save money and have the place to yourself.

2 ideas otherwise.
1 is already mentioned above, try municipal sites, they are probably the cheapest way of doing it other than on the side of the road or in a farmers field. And neither of those solutions will let you meet up with other like-minded people.

I work for a camping company (I'm NOT going to sell you one, it's just that I know the business and areas !) but if you go into their web sites you will get good descriptions of the actual campsites they are on. You can then book privately directly with the site. They are a little more expensive up market sites but they usually provide more facilities for the kids etc.
If you enter "camping Brittany" into Google you will get numerous company names. I only chose Brittany, because I know it will bring up loads. Once into a company website you can search anywhere on the continent.
I trust I have been vague enough not to hint at a sales opportunity. Anyway you can't go with most of these companies with your own caravan so you're safe !

Another suggestion, but I don't know how widespread it is. We found in a number of areas (in France), places where you can legally camp up (typically on the side of beaches) one night at a time. They were typically on the edge of established carparks. VERY basic facilities provided. I think again they are run by local "councils". A guy comes round during the evening and collects the "toll". They are VERY cheap. I think only a euro or 2. And you are with like minded holiday makers. Somebody else may be able to clarify this, but they definitely exist. However we only ever saw campervans in there for some reason.

Pinky15

Wow some great advice from you all thanks - a drive and stop over may be a good idea will certainly look into it. Also 2 of the little ones are school age hence the huge costs lol! :j