Where to go in France??

martyc5674 · 01-01-2010 12:37pm #1

Thinking of taking the MH to France in the summer for 3 or 4 weeks.
We would be taking an 18 month old with us and would ideally like to be beside the seaside where there would be surfing and sailing available...nice places to ride bikes etc.
Also just curious if anyone has travelled that far/long with a child as small as ours??...was it worth it?...should we just fly somewhere instead this year until hes a little older?
Cheers,
Marty.

gally74 · 01-01-2010 1:25pm

st gilles croix de ville is nice and not to far, the frnech alps, embrum is really nice

martyc5674 · 01-01-2010 1:46pm

Cheers just looked @ st gilles croix de ville on google earth.
What route have you taken to get there yourself?...just wondering if 1 or 2 ferry rides is the way to go.
Cheers,
Marty.

vinylrules · 01-01-2010 2:08pm

I would go a little further south - La Palmyre about an hour south of La Rochelle, is a lovely place and a haven for motorhomes especially along the coast-road to Royan. Great beaches, not too croweded my favourite spot around there is St Palais sur Mer...

We took the Brittany Ferries boat from Cork - it gets into Roscoff early on Sunday morning (about 8am). Very little traffic in France at that time and you make good headway - we got there about 4pm-ish with about three stops along the way - would probably take longer in a Motorhome. The route is straightforward - head for Rennes, then Nantes, then take the toll road for Bordeaux turning off, heading for La Rochelle etc. Plenty of motorway service places with good facilities, along the way.

aerosol · 01-01-2010 2:22pm

Hi Marty, did 3weeks in 08 with an18 mth and a 3.5yr,mainly the Loire/Dordogne and all the West coast North from La Rochelle. Summer just gone we did 7 weeks with an 8 week old and the other 2 both being a year older;):p

Easy peasy for us travelling with the kids. For sailing,Brittany and Vendee are both excellent,for any really decent surf you'd need to be a good bit further South on the coast,still doable in your time scale.

Ille De Re an island just off La Rochelle has some great sailing and beaches, it's very flat and is covered in bike lanes,very family friendly.

746watts · 01-01-2010 3:35pm

La Rochelle is a beautiful city, well worth a visit. Narbonne was very very humid when I visited in late Aug.
There's a fabulous campsite on the med in a small town La Lavindu about 40kms west of St. Tropez.... has everything in it; shop, cafe restaurant, pizza hut, play areas for kiddies (tabletennis, soccer, basketball etc), fab beach, 1500 sites great value, i stayed there for 4 nights. Up in the Alps it gets fairly cold, but views are fab.

WildRover234 · 02-01-2010 10:35pm

If you require sea and sun, I stongly recommend staying away from the Med coast of France - especially the coast east of Marsailles (very expensive, very crowded, overrated). Med coast on west of Marsailles toward the Spanish coast is a bit better, but still overcrowded.

The "hidden" secret of France is the beautiful coastline on the South West - between Biarritz (well known, I admit) and the coast down to St Jean de Luz. You can also head inland and hit these amazing fortified villages dating back 800 years (the Norman French kings of England ruled here for a while).

You can also easily cross the border to the Spanish Basque country.

face2face · 05-01-2010 11:18am

Hope it's OK to jump in here. We want to take our MH to France this year, after the washout of the last two summers here, am very hesitant about being stuck in it driving for hours and hours to reach the sun, with the children fighting all the way! Also as our time off will be relatively limited, don't want to spend days driving to reach holiday destination. South West sounds more reachable. Also need to be close to an airport for getting home, as my parents are flying down to have a hol and also to drive the MH home. Normally have no problem deciding where to go, but so many lovely placecs to go in France am floundering

.

martyc5674 · 05-01-2010 12:13pm

No worries face2face, the more the merrier and the more info we can glean from these nice people the better for everyone!!
...in fact i think we shared a thread recently about a pashley princess sovereign???
My missus got hers the weekend...its fab...just waiting for a some dry roads to get out on it :-)
Marty.

face2face · 05-01-2010 12:42pm

Hi Marty, my poor princess in the shed for the last month! Dreaming about floating along a lovely bike path in France - my basket is crying out for a baguette. Hope the thaw comes soon and Mrs Marty can enjoy hers.Aoife

WildRover234 · 07-01-2010 8:29am

face2face wrote: »

Hope it's OK to jump in here. We want to take our MH to France this year, after the washout of the last two summers here, am very hesitant about being stuck in it driving for hours and hours to reach the sun, with the children fighting all the way! Also as our time off will be relatively limited, don't want to spend days driving to reach holiday destination. South West sounds more reachable. Also need to be close to an airport for getting home, as my parents are flying down to have a hol and also to drive the MH home. Normally have no problem deciding where to go, but so many lovely placecs to go in France am floundering.

If you're looking for somewhere original in France - but also easy to get to from Ireland - then you should also consider Lyon. It's got direct flights from Dublin with Aer Lingus and is an amazing city. It's the gastronomic capital of France, has the second biggest medieval quarter in Europe, Roman ruins, has the Beaujolais region a few minutes drive to the North, etc.

Better still, there are far fewer tourists than you would expect for France's second city.

shigg · 10-01-2010 4:28pm

Hi, going to France (fingers crossed for 2 weeks end May/begin June) with my partner and dog. Prob sale from Rosslare to Roscoff and travel down west coast for some surf!! My dad has developed a serious fear of flying so am hoping to bring my parents on board and drop off enroute, somewhere in Brittany or further south.. Any suggestions - a resort type place? with beach as they wont want to rent a car or where there are bus connections to nearby towns or villages. They have a mobile home in Ireland so even a campsite would be suitable..Help!!

SARZY · 11-01-2010 12:39pm

shigg wrote: »

Hi, going to France (fingers crossed for 2 weeks end May/begin June) with my partner and dog. Prob sale from Rosslare to Roscoff and travel down west coast for some surf!! My dad has developed a serious fear of flying so am hoping to bring my parents on board and drop off enroute, somewhere in Brittany or further south.. Any suggestions - a resort type place? with beach as they wont want to rent a car or where there are bus connections to nearby towns or villages. They have a mobile home in Ireland so even a campsite would be suitable..Help!!

Near Pornic on your way south. Eleovic campsite near a village called Prefailles. Great campsite, nice beaches, short walk along coast to stunning marina and village. Buses to pornic etc. Worth considering.

stapeler · 11-01-2010 2:03pm

SARZY wrote: »

Near Pornic on your way south. Eleovic campsite near a village called Prefailles. Great campsite, nice beaches, short walk along coast to stunning marina and village. Buses to pornic etc. Worth considering.

I'll second that, we've have been to Pornic a couple of times and it's a lovely place. The beech there is excellent. The town is lovely with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. http://www.camping-boutinardiere.co.uk is a great campsite about 10mins walk from the beech. It's about a 10min taxi ride into Pornic.
Roll on the summer.Pornic beech.jpg

shigg · 11-01-2010 2:53pm

Thanks for that - pornic looks lovely. My parents are in their 70's - is it easy to get around on foot ie not hilly..as one of them doesnt like walking too much!!? Cant wait to head in the motorhome, bought it in Germany last summer and high tailed it across France to bring it home! Now, what other surfing spots/walking trails would ye all recommend on west coast. Just going for 2 weeks in total, so dont want to spend the days driving...Nice campsites/aires in coastal locations for the beach bums (me not the parents!!) My new years resolution is to get my dad out of ireland for a holiday!! He wont go on a plane (major fear!) and I fear for his life, if my mum doesnt get to see the sun soon!!!

stapeler · 11-01-2010 5:02pm

shigg wrote: »

Thanks for that - pornic looks lovely. My parents are in their 70's - is it easy to get around on foot ie not hilly..as one of them doesnt like walking too much!!? Cant wait to head in the motorhome, bought it in Germany last summer and high tailed it across France to bring it home! Now, what other surfing spots/walking trails would ye all recommend on west coast. Just going for 2 weeks in total, so dont want to spend the days driving...Nice campsites/aires in coastal locations for the beach bums (me not the parents!!) My new years resolution is to get my dad out of ireland for a holiday!! He wont go on a plane (major fear!) and I fear for his life, if my mum doesnt get to see the sun soon!!!

The campsite that I mentioned above is on the hill above the beech, might be a bit of a struggle after a day on the beech.

The Vendee region as well worth considering, Weather mostly guaranteed and it's about 6-7 hrs from the ferry. Fantastic beeches. St-Hilaire de Riez and St.Jean de Months have lovely beeches. Sites worth considering are
http://www.camping-ecureuils.com/ & http://www.solagogo.com/eng/index.htm, the latter having direct access to the beech.

SARZY · 11-01-2010 5:36pm

shigg wrote: »

Thanks for that - pornic looks lovely. My parents are in their 70's - is it easy to get around on foot ie not hilly..as one of them doesnt like walking too much!!? Cant wait to head in the motorhome, bought it in Germany last summer and high tailed it across France to bring it home! Now, what other surfing spots/walking trails would ye all recommend on west coast. Just going for 2 weeks in total, so dont want to spend the days driving...Nice campsites/aires in coastal locations for the beach bums (me not the parents!!) My new years resolution is to get my dad out of ireland for a holiday!! He wont go on a plane (major fear!) and I fear for his life, if my mum doesnt get to see the sun soon!!!

After you drop the folks off in Pornic, keep going south to La Rochelle and cross the bridge to the Il de Re. Think that has everything you need. Just a tip on campsites, look at Camping Qualite on the web, all their affiliated sites are up to scratch and their star ratings are accurate.
Heading there in May ourselves and time can't go fast enough.
Il de Re has many beaches with large Camper friendly car parks where you can park for the day but like everywhere, be aware that overnight is at your risk.
Have used Aires but only for 1 night en route etc. Cant beat the campsites for me.
Best of luck and safe journey.

shigg · 11-01-2010 6:20pm

cheers for all the info and suggestions. Cant wait to get on the road, also hoping to hop over to scotland at easter. Counting down the days here also! Enjoy

shigg · 30-03-2010 4:13pm

Hi - anyone know of any holiday complex in Pornix or Carnac plage in town and close to beach? Is Brittany unreliable weather wise at end of May/start June and would the holiday resorts be quiet? Its me still looking for place to drop my 70 year old parents who wont be renting a car.

GeeNorm · 30-03-2010 4:28pm

Hey Shigg
Generalising based on my childhood memories- it rains in Brittany, is pleasant in normandy, is warm in Vendee/Gironde and is too hot in the south of France (Perpignan)

Mountainsandh · 31-03-2010 3:15pm

We rented a camper last year, had our 17 month old son and our 3 1/2 year old with us, started off in Lyon (I'm from Lyon so it was an obvious starting point

), headed for Italy, then back along the Southern Italian then French coast.
Kids loved it and it was OK travelling with them but :
a) Mostly used campsites with swimming pool/beach
b) we did change plans because the little fella was whinging on longer journeys. We had planned to go towards Ancona, but we just turned right at Turin and headed for the sea sooner than planned

, that allowed us to hop from location to location with just 2h journeys every day, and then longer stays in some spots.
We had a rented camper and a borrowed child seat, and I think this accounted for a lot of the hassle really. What you want is a comfortable car seat that the little one won't be roasting in.
This year we have our own camper and I got one of these seats :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BAMBINO-WORLD-Car-seat-booster-seat-9-36-kg-new-blue_W0QQitemZ230455726390QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Baby_CarSeats_EH?hash=item35a83b5136
It's not the best padding you could imagine for comfort, but it takes less space on the camper seat, you can fit the table in front of it (we had to remove table altogether on the rented van), and the child is more upright and can see things a bit better, plus it won't be as warm as the one we had (the bucket styles).
So we're compromising a bit on padding and there'll be a bit of "head lolling" if he falls asleep, but with the table on you can have soothers and toys at hand.
I found last year that I ended up spending some of the longer trips seating at the back with the kids, just to hand out soothers, drinks, food, toys...
If you have 3 or 4 weeks you have a great stretch to head down South. I love the Med, yes it's crowded, and expensive in parts, but there's a great buzz and the kids love it.
A brilliant campsite near St Tropez is Les Prairies de La Mer in Port Grimaud. Port Grimaud is France's Little Venice. It's been built from scratch on marshlands in the 60s, but it looks like it's much older. Expensive but beautiful. The campsite is not expensive for campers, you're in a shaded area, the brilliant sanitary facilities are very near (but not too near), and it's just 100 metres to the beach. There's a busy road just behind the campers spot, so the first night I thought the noise would be a pain, but that was fine. Check out Port Grimaud on Google maps, see the pics, and just beside it on the beach you have the campsite. You won't see the campers, they're under the trees

.
I'm planning a trip there myself, and I am thinking of stopping for a while in the Drome region. My family come from Drome/Ardeche so I know the area, and it's beautiful. Think Lavender and sunflower fields, ancient churches and hilltop villages, peaches and apricots growing on the side of the road, breathtaking gorges and rocky cliffs. You absolutely have to find a campsite with swimming pool and if possible beside a biggish river (the small rivers are dry in summer), it does get stiffling hot just like the South. I'm not revealing my own little gem, but here is a nice "other one" thereabouts

:
http://www.camping-pinede.com/camping-drome-die/fr/piscine-et-riviere

Have a great trip, before I finish, a few more practical titbits for travelling with an 18 months old :
~ a large bassin or one of these toys storage boxes to bathe him/her after the beach, I found mine hated showers especially in the campsites.
~ a little mattress (old one from a cot) to stick on the floor in the dinette between 2 seats for nappy changing times or afternoon naps.
~ I found our pop up sun shelter tent was right handy to fire in a few toys and have them play in wherever we stopped, especially if floor happens to be sandy/powdery/pine needle-y in that spot.

Goodness how I tend to go on...:(
Have a great trip !

Oh, and first thing you do when you get to France is head to the supermarket, and look for these spray water aerosols, usually with spring water. They cost an absolute fortune to buy here in chemists etc... but the French supermarket stock their own brands for cheap, and they're invaluable for an 18 month old in really hot weather.

Where to go in France??

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