Trip to France... sorry, LOADS of questions!

altyfc

Hi all

Hoping to take the family (me, my wife and our two sons... will be aged almost 3.5 and 21 months when we go) to France for a two week holiday in September (possibly starting end of Aug) - hopefully the schools will be starting to return and we might get a quieter time of things, possibly cheaper rates, and hopefully still a bit of sunshine (?) but not too hot for the kids.

We would be driving from South Cumbria... would prefer to drive and that way we can have plenty of independence, take what we want with us, etc.

Question 1... on the way down to the ferry, what stop-off points would you recommend... any must-see attractions on the way for children of that age to break up the journey? Any great soft play centres that we could call in en route? A couple of things to break up the journey for an hour or two on the long journey down to Dover would be great. Not sure how we'll do this yet, but we might choose to set off at something like 6pm... kids will be awake for a couple of hours, and then gradually drift off... my wife could share the driving for, say, 6 hours... roads should be quite quiet by then and hopefully we could do most of the England leg of the journey and stop at a Premier Travel Inn / Travelodge somewhere.

Question 2... the ferry... what's the best way to get a good deal on that for this time of year? It would be the four of us, plus big car (Volvo XC90).

Question 3... accommodation in France. What do you suggest? We quite like camping, but are not hugely enamoured at the prospect of trying to put up the tent AND look after the little ones after a long journey. Putting up our tent is really a two-man job, so if the kids are unsettled, it could prove tricky. That got me thinking about Eurocamp where, as I understand it, you can camp but they do all the leg-work of putting up the tent, etc. or even got me thinking about hiring a gite? We like a little luxury (and would be prepared to pay for a top quality gite with a pool, etc. as opposed to something a little more basic), but we equally like camping. I know this goes against the grain of money saving slightly, but we're not too into cheap B&Bs, or cheap motorhomes or anything like that (the likes of Premier Travel Inn where you know exactly what you get for your money, excepted). If we're to have 4 walls around us, rather than camp, we'd like something with a little luxury even if that costs a little more. That brings me on to Eurocamp... I don't know much about it... is it a little on the downmarket side? (someone suggested to me that it was) Please don't take this as snobby, but are there more upmarket alternatives? Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Question 4... we don't want to be forever driving so probably wouldn't venture that far into France. Any recommendations on where to go with two young ones and what kind of things we could see and do to keep them entertained? I am thinking of places like Brittany, Normandy, Loire, etc. - I used to go a lot as a kid myself, but am totally out of touch as to what's there.

Question 5... (this might affect the answer to Q4).. for the last few nights, I'm thinking it would be a great surprise to spend a bit of time at Eurodisney (or whatever it is that they call it nowadays). Is this appropriate for very young children such as our own? How many days would we need there to 'do' it? What would you suggest for hotels? What are the best hotels in the area? I've heard that the hotels within the park are very expensive and I read about a four star 'dream castle hotel' (or similar name) (radisson, was it?) somewhere on this board, I think, which seemed to be highly recommended, yet was a fraction of the cost. Any tips? Also, what's the least expensive way of getting entry into the park?

Question 6... am I right in assuming that we are best filling up with fuel in France (rather than England) before the journey back?

Question 7... any recommendations for European driving cover? I want to make sure we're adequately protected in the unlikely event that we break down or have a bump. I'm with the AA currently, but not with European cover. Any advice on that?

Phew... I think that's all for now. It's certainly enough to keep you busy... sorry!

And thanks for heaps for any help, however small.

Thanks for any help...

altyfc

Just done a bit of hunting and, in addition to Eurocamp, I notice there's a Keycamp (same co. as Eurocamp, I think) and also a company called http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/ which is supposedly quite competitive when it comes to price (just read about them on the Holiday Truths forum).

Are there others or is that pretty much it? And is one better than the other, or are they all much of a muchness?

poe.tuesday

first of all I think you need to decide where in France you plan to go to as this will sort of determin your sea crossing.

Disneyland is about the same distance from calais as it is from the other ports in Northern France such as Cherbourg (at least 3 hours away) so if you want to hover around Normandy you can and then take the trip round to Disneyland but I wouldn't recommend doing the trip to disney if you are planning to go towards Brittany.

You should also think about the ages of your children and how much they would actually get out of Disney, the eldest will love it but the youngest maybe too young, I first took my youngest there when he as about the same age, he was a miserable !!!!!! all day , if you weigh up if they would prefer to go to somewhere like a really good sea life centre over disneyland then perhaps you maybe best going to Brittany and taking them to Brest where there is a sealife place. The beaches in Brittany are amazing too, you will be able to get a great gite etc. If you are planning to go there then go to the Roscoff port but this does mean you have to get all the way to Plymouth, which is a hell of a way, even if you go to St Malo you still have driving to do, just depends on what side of the sea you want to do teh driving.

As your children are so young, I think that it really doesn't matter where you go so perhaps you should think more about what you want, in Brittany there is loads to see and do, I used to visit my sister in a little seaside village outside a town called Les Nevern, it's really nice around there

as for insurance, make sure you inform your insurance company and they should ensure that you are covered for Europe, I would highly recommend you also get european breakdown cover, it's not worth not having it with two babies with you, you also have to have by law a first aid kit, spare bulbs and a warning triangle, also in France what out for the 'priority from the right' driving rule, it can be a bit of a shock if a car suddenly pulls out on you when you think you have right of way.

as for petrol, yes, get it when you are over there, it's far cheaper, you may also end up on toll roads, take the ticket from the machine and then when you exit the toll roads the ticket will be needed to see how far you have gone, foe example, the toll road from Calais to Paris (which I think is about 100 miles) cost about 19 euros, so make sure you have some euros with you

competitionscafe

Sorry, can't answer your questions, but if you decide to go for Eurocamp etc, don't forget you can get 5% cashback via Quidco - bit of extra holiday spending money for you
http://www.quidco.com/eurocamp/

OK_Sauce

Use the Eurotunnel! (With Tescos deals tokens if possible - 75%off!) It's quicker, 10 miles nearer than Dover and they have cheap breakdown cover (cheaper than the AA). If your car is diesel then fill up over there it's much cheaper. Unleaded marginally cheaper. We've done Disneyland Europe a couple of times, once when the kids were a similar age to yours and again when they were 6 and 8. To be honest they did get more out of it second time round. Using pushchairs there is a bit of a nuisance as you have to keep leaving them to go on anything! Maybe just go for a day because of height restrictions you probably wouldn't get your money's worth otherwise.
Accommodation - well I can't stand camping so don't get me started! There's Center Parcs or try an apartment/villa try www.holiday-rentals.co.uk, www.ownersdirect.co.uk or www.frenchconnections.co.uk.

Zoetoes

altyfc wrote: »

Hi all


Question 7... any recommendations for European driving cover? I want to make sure we're adequately protected in the unlikely event that we break down or have a bump. I'm with the AA currently, but not with European cover. Any advice on that?


Thanks for any help...

We used the AA European cover last year, we broke down! They paid for everything including another night in a Paris Hotel & flights home (the car was a goner). We were staying in Disney Davy Crockett which you need a car for as it's miles from the actual park, they paid for taxis everyday to get there & back & for anything else we needed a taxi for.

Can highly recommend AA Euro cover.

CrustyMcMuffin

We've booked out trip to France with keycamp, used quidco and you get some cashback there, we're staying in Picardy which is about an hour from Paris and Disneyland. There also seems a lot of other things for us to do in this area although the French folk at work are wondering why we aren't venturing further south.

We booked our ferry crossing with Speedferries Dover to Boulogne return ticket for about 50 quid.

ajbrynoffa

We`re doing the same,booked our ferry with Speedferries...£52 return for a large car and we`re camping at La croix du vieux pont which is also served by eurocamp and keycamp and is only an hour from Disney...got lots of really helpful advice off the people on here.

fatboyonadiet

This thread of mine might help about breakdown cover: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=404827

You will be covered by insurance anyway but only 3rd party (well is the case for me anyway) it worked out about £20 to make it fully comp for a week in my case.

jaymac_2

Matthews holidays often has some good deals outside the school holidays when the prices for their mobile homes plummet. Some companies also include the ferry crossing so google the companies before booking the ferry.

duncans-mum_2

Not that I have a lot of experience with other French Campsites but I have stayed at a Keycamp one in the Loire region (Was fantastic but v. quiet not really suitable for kids) and also v. South France which had lots more to do but was much more "commercial" As a whole I don't feel it was downmarket, but they all differ depending on the region I think. The accomm choice was using your own tent, having tent already up for you, little log cabins and two or 3 choices of v. large caravan. We had the luxury one and was v. nice.
Haven't driven through France in a couple of years (usually always stay in the South now) but we need to soon as we love it.