France Camping - Loire or Brittany

[chip*]

Thanks all for your feedback to-date.

Les ilates - Locaton wise, it's pretty perfect as our girls love the beach, and close to La Rochelle which we enjoyed from our driving tour along the West coast of France 8-9 years ago.

Saint Avit Loisirs- we were attracted to this when we saw it in the EC brochure, so great to hear the multiple positive reviews

Both sites/locations are pretty bang on the money imo, but I will research a little more before booking them.

Thanks again for your invaluable feedback!

FastNReliable said:

And then Italy
Lake Garda - Bella Italia - Flew into Milan Bergamo and picked up a hire car
Large site with eveything I could ask for. On the south shore of the lake and 10 minutes walk into Peschiera del Garda.
During peak season it can be difficult to book as it's very popular. It's also very pricey, however it's great for a September or October break. Our accomodation for the week in the October was 1/10th the price it would be the folowing July...

Bella Italia looks excellent, but a tad too far for now as we are driving with 2 young kids. Definitely a strong contender for when our kids are older, then we can pursue longer Euro tours to Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia etc..

[shatter]

chip* said:

Les ilates - Locaton wise, it's pretty perfect as our girls love the beach, and close to La Rochelle which we enjoyed from our driving tour along the West coast of France 8-9 years ago.

We have stayed at Les Ilates a few years ago and loved it especially Loix on Il de Re, we went back to the island the year after and stayed here, it may be worth looking at as an alternative,

https://www.sunelia.com/en/atlantic/france/poitou-charentes/charente-maritime/interlude.html

It's a bigger site with more going on, the surrounding area probably isn't quite as nice the only gripe I had with the site was it only did check in's twice a week so it was chaos at 2.00pm when a load of new holiday makers all turned up en masse.

[pete_esp]

The only downside to Les Ilates is the lack of a sandy beach nearby, but there is no shortage of them if you're willing to travel a little.

The daily market in Loix is a big plus and is only a 5 minute stroll away, no need to head to a Super U or rely on the site shop for bread & pastries.

[sbarclay62]

Seeing as this years holiday got cancelled i'm thinking about next years.

Any recommendations for campsite/holiday park 2-3 hours from Calais? I know the further south you go the better the weather etc but as we'll be driving from Edinburgh I don't fancy a long drive when off the ferry or train.

Nothing overly fancy. Ideally next to a town/village for a day trip and if it had a train station that would be a massive bonus.

Do intend to read the whole thread later so sorry if already asked.

[RicksAlfas]

Could you drive to Portsmouth and use the St Malo crossing?

[Terra1]

RicksAlfas said:

Could you drive to Portsmouth and use the St Malo crossing?

This. I imagine the drive from Edinburgh to Dover or Portsmouth would be quite similar and 3hrs from St Malo gets you to the Loire/Vendee and generally better weather.

[Antony Moxey]

Or Plymouth to Roscoff or Cherbourg. You’ll get a good seven hours rest on the crossing and if you book the overnight crossing it’s 11:00pm arriving around 6:00ish so you get a decent night’s sleep and a nice early start for the following day’s travel.

[bolidemichael]

I left Folkestone at 12/1230 and was in the Loire Valley by 8pm local time.

[johnpsanderson]

sbarclay62 said:

Seeing as this years holiday got cancelled i'm thinking about next years.

Any recommendations for campsite/holiday park 2-3 hours from Calais? I know the further south you go the better the weather etc but as we'll be driving from Edinburgh I don't fancy a long drive when off the ferry or train.

Nothing overly fancy. Ideally next to a town/village for a day trip and if it had a train station that would be a massive bonus.

Do intend to read the whole thread later so sorry if already asked.

We stayed overnight at Le Brevedent, about 15 miles South of Pont l’Eveque to break up the trip back from Le Ranolien in Perros Guirec. Small camp, mostly touring pitches and tents, but a really nice atmosphere.

[sbarclay62]

I'd be game for a longer crossing but as we'd have a 2 year old and 'cos the missus was sea-sick back in 1999 she'd prefer the euro tunnel.

[spreadsheet monkey]

sbarclay62 said:

Seeing as this years holiday got cancelled i'm thinking about next years.

You don't necessarily have to write off Summer 2020.

I'm still planning to go ahead with my camping holiday near Bordeaux in late August. Yelloh has confirmed that they will be open, with some social distancing measures in restaurants, swimming pool areas etc.

Antony Moxey said:

Or Plymouth to Roscoff or Cherbourg. You’ll get a good seven hours rest on the crossing and if you book the overnight crossing it’s 11:00pm arriving around 6:00ish so you get a decent night’s sleep and a nice early start for the following day’s travel.

You're clearly a better sleeper than me! I grew up in Plymouth, and regularly did Plymouth - Roscoff crossings on family holidays. I'm not sure I'd get much sleep on a seven hour ferry crossing, especially not with two kids in tow. Cheap Easyjet flights instead for me

[Antony Moxey]

spreadsheet monkey said:

Antony Moxey said:

Or Plymouth to Roscoff or Cherbourg. You’ll get a good seven hours rest on the crossing and if you book the overnight crossing it’s 11:00pm arriving around 6:00ish so you get a decent night’s sleep and a nice early start for the following day’s travel.

You're clearly a better sleeper than me! I grew up in Plymouth, and regularly did Plymouth - Roscoff crossings on family holidays. I'm not sure I'd get much sleep on a seven hour ferry crossing, especially not with two kids in tow. Cheap Easyjet flights instead for me

Haha, yep, done that crossing loads of times and we always book the overnighter with a cabin to get a good couple of hours sleep, even with the kids and even when they were tiny. Plus it's a git with the excess baggage charges if you're going camping with Easyjet!

[Deesee]

sbarclay62 said:

Seeing as this years holiday got cancelled i'm thinking about next years.

Any recommendations for campsite/holiday park 2-3 hours from Calais? I know the further south you go the better the weather etc but as we'll be driving from Edinburgh I don't fancy a long drive when off the ferry or train.

Nothing overly fancy. Ideally next to a town/village for a day trip and if it had a train station that would be a massive bonus.

Do intend to read the whole thread later so sorry if already asked.

Theres a few nice sites around the Le Touquet area 45min/1 hr from eurotunnel, plenty to do around there too..

As alternatives..

3 hours Chantilly area.

4 hours Luxembourg.

5 hours Black Forest.

[chip*]

spreadsheet monkey said:

sbarclay62 said:

Seeing as this years holiday got cancelled i'm thinking about next years.

You don't necessarily have to write off Summer 2020.

I'm still planning to go ahead with my camping holiday near Bordeaux in late August. Yelloh has confirmed that they will be open, with some social distancing measures in restaurants, swimming pool areas etc.

It appears some campsites are opening in mid-late July when I checked last night on the Eurocamp website. Had a nose on an old favourite / La Garangeoire, and they are opening this week with restricted facilities and limiting visitors to 25% of capacity for the entire 2020 season!!

https://www.camping-la-garangeoire.com/en/garangeo...

We originally wrote off this season, but if the condition improves over the next month (Inc FCO and travel insurance giving the thumbs up), we may consider heading out in Sep.

[Legend83]

chip* said:

It appears some campsites are opening in mid-late July when I checked last night on the Eurocamp website. Had a nose on an old favourite / La Garangeoire, and they are opening this week with restricted facilities and limiting visitors to 25% of capacity for the entire 2020 season!!

https://www.camping-la-garangeoire.com/en/garangeo...

We originally wrote off this season, but if the condition improves over the next month (Inc FCO and travel insurance giving the thumbs up), we may consider heading out in Sep.

Yeah we had Garangoire booked with a smaller travel company but their caravans are closed due to the 25% occupancy so we have deferred until 2021.

[Terra1]

Brittany Ferries passenger services starting again next week:

https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/information/cor...

We've got Portsmouth-Caen mid August and Cherbourg-Portsmouth at the start of September, it's not entirely clear if our afternoon sailing from Portsmouth will run. The fast cat has been taken out of service so our return via Cherbourg will need a re-plan. I'm just glad we have a chance of going!

[MrThomo]

Was due to be heading down to the Dordogne in 3 weeks time. Site was being a bit difficult in not letting me change to next year but also not giving a refund. After many emails and calls they have now agreed to move my booking to next year which I am happy with.

As much as I will miss it this year I’ve got plenty to do around the house and the kids will get over it.

[MetalMatters]

Great thread, I’ve booked to take the family to Eurodisney in May next year, departing the UK on the Chunnel.

Are there any recommendations for a child friendly site (we will book chalet/apartments/static caravan) that’s around an hour or two from Eurodisney? I’m thinking we do 5 days at Disney and then a week afterwards at a nice child friendly site with pools/slides and good food.

Thanks.

[sbarclay62]

MetalMatters said:

Great thread, I’ve booked to take the family to Eurodisney in May next year, departing the UK on the Chunnel.

Are there any recommendations for a child friendly site (we will book chalet/apartments/static caravan) that’s around an hour or two from Eurodisney? I’m thinking we do 5 days at Disney and then a week afterwards at a nice child friendly site with pools/slides and good food.

Thanks.

I was looking at La Croix du Vieux Pont Campsite. Around 1.5hrs from Euro disney and 2.5hrs from Calais. Images make it look fantastic but its getting some mixed reviews. Although most of the bad reviews do seem to stem from around Oct/Nov last year when it was out of season....

[MetalMatters]

sbarclay62 said:

I was looking at La Croix du Vieux Pont Campsite. Around 1.5hrs from Euro disney and 2.5hrs from Calais. Images make it look fantastic but its getting some mixed reviews. Although most of the bad reviews do seem to stem from around Oct/Nov last year when it was out of season....

Yes, I saw that one too, it looks ok, easy to get to and not far from DIsney itself.