Holidaying in France (Mobile Homes etc)

evrumum

Hey there

Has anyone got any experience of a "keycamp" type holiday in France? I'm in decision mode now regarding next years holiday and would love some feedback. Thanks a lot!

joolsveer

I have used Keycamp, Canvas Holidays and a number of other providers of camping holidays in France and Spain. I used take my car on the ferry but now prefer flydrive as it is much quicker for getting to the holiday destination. I would recommend this type of holiday but I reckon it is much more expensive than a sun holiday.

Berty

There are a few very recent threads on this already. You might try using the search function to see what people are talking about.

I have booked my holiday with Eurocamp UK(in £'s) instead of Keycamp.

1. Keycamp and Eurocamp are sister companies
2. Keycamp and Eurocamp offer the same parcs
3. Keycamp and Eurocamp offer relatively similar mobile homes
4. Eurocamp was €796 and Keycamp were €1150 for the exact same holiday(accomodation only first night on camp late June)

Guess who I booked with?

Campotel http://www.campotel.com are also a good Irish company to use. Also called Kel Air in Loughrea

Word of advice. If you must book with Keycamp try checking your holiday first on http://www.keycamp.co.uk and see if you can get it cheaper with Keycamp in the UK.

The Eurocamp 2010 brochure is out. Mine was delivered last week.

Ferry Prices will not be released until the end of September or early October. I phoned both Irish Ferries and Brittany and was told this.

Ferry Ferry Ferry all the way for me. Take the kitchen sink with me, bikes, cooler box, own duvets and pillows etc.

evrumum

thanks guys. i'm very new to this so didn't think to search!

ferry all the way for us too as we flew to paris in march with our kids and it was painful lol. our eldest is fine, our youngest was petrified so we're giving planes a miss this year!

i've gotten all of the brochures delivered and it's come down to two sites .. one through a company and one we book ourselves.

i suppose best thing to do is probably wait for 2010 ferry prices to come out.

Berty

My Boss is in the Vendee, La Tranche Sur Mer right now. He flew Saturday morning from Dublin to Beauvais and rented a car for the long drive.

I think he is mad. 2 adults and 2 kids 10+11 and they only brought one carry on bag each. HOW?????

What sites are you looking at?

RE: Booking. BOOK NOW! Book your sites, you can always change the dates if you need to fit around next years ferry timetable. Im booked to arrive on a Friday but that could all change. I might have to bring it back to the previous Sunday. I cant go forwards because the price will go up by €400.

I booked my accomodation already and checked today on Eurocamp.co.uk and the mobile home I wanted is already gone. The next person booking would have to pay for a 3 bed even if they only wanted a 2 bed.

The person on the other end of the phone said

"Everybody will be on the phones from the 1st Jan onwards. Its the same every year. As soon as the 1st arrives they all start thinking about the holidays"

evrumum

my folks are just back from vendee actually.

we are thinking of leranolien perros quite strongly atm. it's 1st on the list. saw that thevalley had worked there before so just posted on that thread asking about it. i've heard some very good reviews about it.

and as it's brittany it's not a huge 4 hour drive from roscoff.

im quite looking forward to being able to bring whatever i like in the car. and as we have a 2 year old we'll need to be able to bring buggy etc.

evrumum

frejusfrance, that's brilliant and i checked it out but it's not available for the dates we want. definitely one i'm gonna keep in favourites though. thanks for that!:)

evrumum

frejusfrance, thanks a million. i've emailed that person now as it looks fab.

hargo

Hi i have been going to France for the past 12 years and its a great holiday for all ages and very safe for small children. Stayed in Britanny, Vendee, La Palmyre(Bonne Annce one of my favourites) Biarritz, and the Languedoc. Forget Britanny unless you like damp. I would definitely recommend the Languedoc above other spots for lots of reasons but no. 1 you have guaranteed weather.
Fly drive is now the way to go sorry Berty but you don't need to bring the kitchen sink and you certainly won't need duvets(although i miss bringing back the wine). You have no problem with small bags because all you need is a few tshirts. You can fly drive for 3 weeks with 5 for under €1000 if you are patient and research well. Ryanair into Rodez and Marseille can be very good and Hertz were doing an average car for 3 weeks for about €400.

evrumum

thanks so much for your response! really appreciate it. has definitely given me lots to think about. we were trying to avoid flying as our two year old seems to hate planes and we really don't want a rerun of our last flight!
do you mind me asking if you have an email address i could have so we could have a better chat about it? if not it's fine!!

Berty

hargo wrote: »

Fly drive is now the way to go sorry Berty but you don't need to bring the kitchen sink and you certainly won't need duvets(although i miss bringing back the wine). You have no problem with small bags because all you need is a few tshirts.

You try to tell that to my missus. We ALWAYS have arguments over the amount of "crap" she brings with her.

She also does not like using the plates, cutlery or duvets,pillows etc of the campsites/self catering apts/hotels for some reason either although will happily sleep in a hotel bed. I despair.

I hate the idea of flying because it goes against everything I did as a child growing up. We travelled to the Vendee every year until I was around 15 and was refused any more holidays and always by car.

I was in Rosslare Port today, working, and was so jealous of the people getting on the Fastcraft. It brought back so many memories.

So, I wouldn't agree that flying is NOW the only way to go so I think we will have to agree to disagree. Nostalgia over price will win it for me in the end.

olaola

I'm with Berty on this one, I love getting on the ferry. It's the start of the holiday for me!

Now, I don't have any kids to keep occupied on a long journey - so I might not be the best person to take advice from on this one. But we are taking the dog, which means that we have to go by boat.

Going ourselves next Weds, can't wait!

evrumum

where are you off too if you don't mind me asking? i'm finding it so hard to make any decisions here!!

olaola

evrumum wrote: »

where are you off too if you don't mind me asking? i'm finding it so hard to make any decisions here!!

np

We're driving to a spot near Chablis on the Nivernais canal & staying in a mobile home for 2 days. Then heading to Migenne, and renting a cruiser (similar to Shannon cruiser) and pootling around on the Yonne & Nivernais canal for 4 nights. After that, heading south to Beaune and staying in nice B&B for two nights. Finishing up in Normandy in another nice B&B for two nights. Not too far from Bayeux & Deauville.

We're bringing the dog, so we're going for more rural than city this time. The B&Bs look nice - the one in Beaune has a pool, serves dinner & is in the middle of vineyards And the one in Normandy is in an old mill, and looks very nice. DYING to go, weather is mid 20s, so puurrrrfect!

face2face

We have just returned from a short break in France today. Flew into Rodez with Ryanair, seamless flight, 1 hour 45 mins. We stayed on a campsite called Domaine de Combelles about 15 mins drive from the airport. It was a great break, the staff on the site couldn't do enough for us, they arranged to pick us up and return us to the airport at no charge to us, took me to the supermarket in Rodez to shop because we decided not to hire a car, the site itself was in a lovely rural location, pool, an equestrian centre, tennis, playgrounds etc. They had a full programme of activities for both adults and children, but it was all very low key, for example one night they had water polo in the pool, another table quiz and board games. It was all french families, no english speakers but we survived with our school french! The region of the Averyron is beautiful and I would really go again for a more extensive poke around.