Thinking of camping in France

The Valley

Hi,

I'm thinking of bringing the family off to France for a camping holiday.
My 3 young kids range from 2-5yrs. I cannot get over the cost of the holiday...Irish Ferries are looking for 1365 EUROS to get us there and back so the cost of the holiday including mobile home is ~3000 euro's (quoted by 2 operators)

Is there any way to bring the cost of this down? Has anybody paid this?
I'm thinking that for this price We could all go all inclusive somewhere in europe and have change left over..

Anybody any ideas

Berty

I just booked my camping holiday in France yesterday with Eurocamp.co.uk and paid my £99 deposit.

Similar mobile homes with decking in identical campsites and the UK were(using xe.com/ucc) €498 cheaper than Keycamp.ie

Go Figure.

How can you bring down the price? Eurocamp offer free crossing from Dover to Calais meaning you have to get a Ferry from Dublin/Rosslare to Fishguard/Pembroke/Hollyhead drive to Calais and get a free ferry over and then have a 5+journey ahead of you.

OR

You can do, which we will probably do, is get a Ferry from Irl - UK and a Ferry from the UK - possibly Poole or Portsmouth to Cherbourg costing €298 one way as you need no cabins. We may return from Roscoff to Cork though.

Ferry prices will not be released until the end of September so there is not much we can do until then.
Whoever you are speaking to is talking through their a*se!
LD Lines are also very cheap from Rosslare to Cherbourg. Their website says Le Harve but if you read closer from a certain date in the future they are changing to Cherbourg which is much better for all concerned really.

My 12 nights in two holiday park starting on the 25th of June is €796 for a 2 bed room mobile with decking. Ferry extra so if I use the, UK Landbridge as its called, my 2 week will probably costs around €1200.

I might leave one day early so I can get a nights sleep somewhere in the UK before getting the ferry the next morning.

I.e, leave Ireland evening of the 24rd to the UK, sleep in the UK, get a Ferry early on the 25th to Cherbourg/St Malo and continue my drive as though I have arrived off Brittany/Irish Ferries.

spank_inferno

Considering the age of your children could it be possible to go off peak?
Perhaps May when the weather is quite nice.

If your a tesco club card holder you can use your points with Irish Ferries.
& you can now also use them with "Siblu" holidays.
They have numerous campsites around France

Also what about a flydrive?

My wife and I in the last 3 years have been to Tours, Paris & Saarburg (germany) by Ryanair and car hire.

Camp sites can provide all your linen needs for a little extra money.
(if the kids are uf for that of course)

The Valley

Thanks for the adivce,

I did not consider travelling from England, and I'm surprised it is so cheap. As it turns out I worked for eurocamp almost 10 years ago in Le Ranolien (Perros)
and have allways said I would love to go back. I'm going to ring them today.

I would not be up for a flydrive but thanks for the advice

jd

olaola

We've just booked our holiday including some time in a mobile home - I was really surprised how cheap it was!

I think you need to pick your location, and then just go looking for the campsites yourselves. The most expensive we saw was about €65 a night for a 4* site in a mobile home. This site is really handy: http://www.campingfrance.com/index.jsp?lg=uk you can search on a number of criteria. There are literally thousands, so be quite definite about your location before you start looking, or else you'll go crazy with all the options!

Re: The Irish Ferries crossing, don't be afraid to go for the 2* cabins, they are perfectly adequate. And as an ex-employee who worked on this route. They are nicer than 90% of the cabins on the last two ships. A majority of 2* 2 bed windows are all 4 berths as far as I could see. The 3* are a bit wider, so prob go one for of these cabins and lash the last kid on the floor or something. They should give you extra blankets to make up a bed on the floor. Or maybe bring a camping mat.

If you need any more info - give me a shout, I've researched the whole campsite thing in France to the max over the last few weeks & I'm very familiar with the Irish Ferries set up

Berty

Lets put it this way.

This year Poole(UK) - Cherbourg was £60 each way for a car and up to 5 passengers midweek crossing.

£120 return lets say.

€99 each way for Rosslare - Fisguard on the Ferry(not fastcraft)

So

€140 UK - France
€198 Irl - UK
= €338 Return
+ Tank of Diesel €70

=€408

+ Overnight accomadation possibly in the UK or France €80 or so

=€448

Ireland to the UK by Ferry is around 5 hours
UK - France is around 4 Hours
Driving through the UK from Fishguard to Poole is 5 Hours

Total travel time 14hours

Ferry from Rosslare to Roscoff is 15 Hours

You save money and save 1 hour
You spend longer driving :mad:

olaola

I've done both options many times -

The Ireland - UK - France - you will most definitely have to stay the night somewhere (esp with kids). So add that to your total. And it's a LOT of driving, before you get to France and do a good bit more when you get there.
I prefer the Ireland - France direct option as you can relax overnight on the ship. TBH, I don't think I'll ever do the UK option again, it's a bitch of a drive. Unless I was going to London/Oxford and staying there for a few days on the way.

When you thinking of going?

SACH Central

The Valley wrote: »

Hi,

I'm thinking of bringing the family off to France for a camping holiday.
My 3 young kids range from 2-5yrs. I cannot get over the cost of the holiday...Irish Ferries are looking for 1365 EUROS to get us there and back so the cost of the holiday including mobile home is ~3000 euro's (quoted by 2 operators)

Is there any way to bring the cost of this down? Has anybody paid this?
I'm thinking that for this price We could all go all inclusive somewhere in europe and have change left over..

Anybody any ideas

I certainly wouldn't book anything until well into the New Year (April at the earliest). If you check on the Keycamp website (make sure and book on the '.co.uk' site) way cheaper they still have for holidays now - travelling this coming weekend - they still have loads of availability, same with the ferries.

I spent a good bit of time 'watching' the prices, took the plunge eventually, checked the prices a few weeks after we booked (as you do!) and found they had dropped even more I think, in the current 'climate' the operators start to get desperate and start to discount the prices.

We went with Irish Ferries this year. Our kids are 6, 5 & 3. We booked a 2* 4 berth 'centre cabin' - no windows - but no at all claustraphobic (spelling?) and a good bit cheaper than window cabins. The cabins have 4 bunk beds, we 'top & tailed' the youngest two. Remember the ferry is only a tiny part of your whole holiday plus you're only in the cabin for a few hours.

Berty

SACH Central wrote: »

Remember the ferry is only a tiny part of your whole holiday plus you're only in the cabin for a few hours.

Yet, the Ferry can be the most expensive part of the entire holiday.

The Valley

Sat down and looked at the driving required if you go through the UK and have decided it is too much even though it is alot cheaper.

I have decided to take Oaola advice and go direct and downrade the cabin. Also I will wait untill next year to book to see if the prices will come down..thanks Sach

AnotherHelenD

I've holidayed with a family who took the UK route and arrived exhausted and dreading the return journey.

I prefer the fly/drive option myself but this year - in April - Irish Ferries had a sale for travel before the end of June.

Travelled in June people carrier, roofbox, 2 adults and 2 children in a 3* window cabin for less than €500.

We have previously booked directly and through the UK.
This year Keycamp,Siblu etc. prices had dropped quite a bit by April so that in some cases it was cheaper than booking directly with the campsite.

Booking directly may have hidden charges ie BBQ, Blankets/Duvet, cleaning fees if not meticulously clean etc. and their kids camps often don't start till July. On the plus side the accommodation is often on larger more private pitches.

Use the brochures to help you choose a site and then do your research.

Munster Gal

My sister took the UK overland option this year and broke the journey with a few days in London staying with family. They went to Legoland which the kids loved. She said they'd do it again!
Personally I do flydrive as it works out cheaper and gives us more time in France, but horses for courses I suppose!

Berty

I had this landbridge conversation on Tripadvisor the other day.

In fact if you book with a UK company they give you the Dover to Calais option for free however the driving becomes from my house in Tipperary to Bonne Anse Plage in the Royan region 1805km or so.

I checked with Eurocamp(whom I have booked with) and yes they actually give you Dover to Calais for free. They said "oh sure just turn up whenever you feel like it, a ferry leaves every 45 minutes so you can hop on any ferry you like just give us 30 minutes notice which ferry you want" MAD :eek:

So I would only have to pay for the Irl-UK return routes.

Moral of my story. If money becomes extremely tight you can consider this option. I believe when I was much younger my parents took this route a few times stopping off in Hastings on the way down.

evrumum

TheValley, we are thinking of booking LeRanolien Perros, would you recommend it?? We have two kids under 5.

kelle

Hi, Op
We went on a camping holiday in Biarritz France in July and enjoyed it immensely. We booked Ryanair flights to Biarritz (there was 5 of us our children are aged 8, 6 and 2, cost €1200 but could have been €800 if we'd booked it in March when the flight prices dropped temporarily) and we booked a mobile home from www.lmcdholidays.com - cost €700 for the week. We hired a car at a cost of €300 (if you wish I can PM you the name of the agent). So it was €2200 for a week's holiday, worked out €1500 cheaper than booking a package holiday in Spain. Plus we had the freedom to travel where we wanted with the hired car.