1st time caravan holiday to Belgium ?

citykid5

Hi all. In a couple of weeks we've got or annual ferry booking all made for our 2 week holiday to the continent, we normaly camp and tour most of France .have been doing this type of trip for the last 10 yrs or so and love it. This year I was thinking of a bit of a change,firstly were taking a touring caravan for the first time instead of the tent, as the kids have gone all independent , so just the 2 of us, and haveing recently seen a programme on bbc coast of the Belgium seaside resorts around Flanders thought we might use this as our first port of call. Then perhaps a little stop over in the Netherlands possibly Luxembourg , the travel down the eastern side of France probably as far as burgundy. Have any of you wise people on her got any experiences of camping in both Belgium or holland? And any reccomended sites and things to do. Our main interests for me us are fishing and a little cycling. Now we're not great fishermen or cyclists, so not really interested in catching huge carp or long road tripos, just a lovely gentle amble past interesting places. Any experiences would be good. Good or bad. Thanks

citykid5

I don't even mind that the belgiums r supposed to be boring.
So are we lol

citykid5

Also as we are taking a caravan for the first time, am I required to take a spare bulb kit for the van and do I need speed stickers for the back?
Thanks for reading

citykid5

Bump bump any advice please? I can't believe nobody Ever goes on holiday to Belgium?

catkins

I've been on holiday to Belgium a few times and love it. I have never camped though so can't give you any details of any camp sites.


The stretch of coast from De Panne to Knokke-Heist is absolutely lovely with gorgeous sandy beaches and dunes. There are lots of little towns all along with some nice shops and restaurants. There is a tram that travels the full length of that part of the coast and you can get a day ticket and jump on and off as many times as you like. I can't remember the exact price of the ticket but it is ridiculously cheap (something like £3 last year).


Other places worth visiting in Belgium are Ghent, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp.


If you go into Holland then I can recommend Leiden in particular - pretty town with all its canals and bridges and lots of cafes, restaurants etc with outside seating. Delft is also a nice place as are The Hague. I stayed in a mobile home in a place called Wassenaar which, although quite small, is pretty and has a couple of nice restaurants.


I liked Luxembourg - spent a week there about 6 years ago.


I hope someone can give some info about campsites but otherwise I would just look for campsites in the areas you fancy. I am sure you will love Belgium. I think it's a shame that more British do not holiday there as it really is lovely

citykid5

Thanks catkins for your inspired quote. I have been searching trip advisor for some more info on camping in Belgium ( Flanders ) holland and Luxembourg , and can't wait for the trip to start�� looks really good, defo going to use the tram service it's 5€ for a day ticket so lunch in Ostend a bit of shopping then a coffee n cake in knock. Found loads of campsites on river bank , so plenty of fishing and there's loads of canals/drains in holland 4 us to explore both fishing and cycling �� thanks again for taking to time to reply and getting me so excited for our trip

catkins

citykid5 wrote: »

Thanks catkins for your inspired quote. I have been searching trip advisor for some more info on camping in Belgium ( Flanders ) holland and Luxembourg , and can't wait for the trip to start�� looks really good, defo going to use the tram service it's 5€ for a day ticket so lunch in Ostend a bit of shopping then a coffee n cake in knock. Found loads of campsites on river bank , so plenty of fishing and there's loads of canals/drains in holland 4 us to explore both fishing and cycling �� thanks again for taking to time to reply and getting me so excited for our trip

I am sure you will love it there. I really wish me and OH were going again this year but we went to France for the D Day Celebrations and can't afford another holiday abroad this year.


Next year though I think we will be going back to Belgium and Holland and maybe we will camp so if you do stay in any good campsites perhaps you would let us know.


If you do use the tram try and jump off at De Panne. There is not a great deal there but me and OH really like it there and also Middelkerke.

hollydays

I've been to de panne too. Whilst not a beautiful town,in the French sense, it's pleasant enough, it's fairly modern, there is a big wide white sand beach with striped wooden bathing huts on wheels.
I would do some more research into campsites , as I'm not sure if it's as easy to book in last minute as it often is in france , who are very caravan friendly.the roads aren't as good as france.
There is a pretty part of the town called the Dumont quarter,with a village feel, and houses in the Belle Époque style, I believe, but I didn't visit it.

Lots of cycling around depanne search " cobergher route"
http://www.flandersfields.be/en/recreation?filter[field_ab_type][0]=%22285%22
There is also a pretty small town near there called veurne that I've visited, with a really beautiful large market square.

citykid5

Thanks hollydays. I have found a couple of campsites just outside de panne which can be booked online for around 20 euros a nite with fishing on site, so will probably book our first 2 nites then take it from there. I know what you meen about de panne , have been through it a couple of times whilst doing my twice yearly tabbaco shop in adinkerk and it is a little urbanised. But I think it should make a reasonable starting point for the trip.

hollydays

I have stayed at the campsite ter hoeve, it's close enough to cycle around the forests or cycle into de panne

danandjens_worldtravels

We've just been around Europe camping and found this app really useful. If you download the section you plan to visit it can be used offline. Has details of campsite locations (not if they are any good, just that they exist) and details of supermarkets etc. It was really useful/cheaper to use the Lidl a bit further away from site than the nearest supermarket http://maps.me/en/home

We camped a few years ago at this site just outside of Luxembourg city, easy bus trip into town.
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=8073

And this one in Bruges, there was one nearer to town but it was more like a car park. This is about a 20 min walk from town http://www.campingmemling.be/galerij.php?lang=en

We were in a smallish van and took a two person tent along with us, because we hadn't booked, a tent space was always available but not always a 'motorhome'. So we'd pitch the tent and sleep in the van!

Not sure how useful this may be as you are in a caravan but it may give you some ideas to look at.