French campsites - direct or via one of the operators ?

zagmund

We're looking at going to a campsite down near Biarritz. Kepcamp do it, Eurocamp do it, there's some English bloke who has a few vans there doing it, you can book through the campsite itself, and I'm sure there are other places doing it too.

So, all things being equal, I would just go for the cheapest price at the site since they are all in the same place.

However I know all things are not equal. Some of the mobiles may be older, some may have air conditioning & a deck, etc . . .

But in general terms, if you book via somewhere like Keycamp do you just get the mobile and maybe a rep floatng about, or do you actually get extra value ? For example, do some of these places lay on things (say water sports or tennis lessons or whatever) that you might otherwise have to pay for if you just booked direct with the site or with the bloke from Dagenham ?

I understand that places like Centre Parcs lay on stuff, but these are in 'Centre Parcs' resorts, and not in general access campsites. So, is it worth paying extra to go with somewhere like Eurocamp or is it just a waste of money ?

Merci,

z

skibum

When we have narrowed down the area we are interested in, we compare prices from operators like www.eurocamp.co.uk www.keycamp.co.uk www.yellohvillage.co.uk and then google for the particular campsites website.

some times the operators have specials, other times it is much cheaper booking direct. Another advantage of booking direct is that the pitches are generally in better spots.

We also check out reviews on tripadvisor, have a look at the area on google maps / earth, (you would be surprised what you find)

Regardless of who we booked with we always had access to what ever events / facilities the campsite had to offer. If you are going july / august it is well worth going for a/c

I personally wouldn't book with the english bloke without getting as much info as possible

If you have young children and the campsite has big waterslides, check if they allow under 7's on them. Some sites have a no kids on slides policy, others are ok. We got caught out with this 2 years ago:
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g940911-d670707-r34267223-Camping_Club_Les_Sablons-Portiragnes_Languedoc_Roussillon.html

Enjoy your holiday, we are heading to this place: http://www.aloha-camping.fr/en/index.html again, the first time we booked directly through their website, but this year we got a great deal through eurocamp.

What campsite are you looking at, we went to http://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/sylvamar a couple of years ago and had a great time.

Don Quixote de la Mancha

I have camped in france for the last 14 years since I was a kid. The keycamp model is great if you have not done it much and are new to the idea. The concern i have is weather. France is so big that the weather varies greatly. Biaritz will more than likely be lovely and if very warm a mobile home is the way to do it.

I have camped, trailer tent, caravan, mobile home and motor home but the best I have done so far is the tree houses. a company called camping-indigo do them as do loads others. i went with my girlfriend last year in september and we booked a different site as the weather suited us or if we wanted to do different things. the tree house sleep 4-6 for about 35 euro a night, and made me feel like a kid again, really great fun.
You tend to lose the sense of a camping holiday in a mobile but its still great. Booking privatley is the way to do it if you can as the sites are less commercial and you get an authentic french feel on smaller sites. dont worry about quality as with the severe competition for business most places are in great nick.

zagmund

Thanks for the replies. We're planning on going here - http://www.camping-le-ruisseau.fr/index-gb.htm

We sold our campervan this year after a good 6 or 7 years camping. I know the static mobile model is a lot different, but we're going to give it a shot this year. We'll have the car and are near the Pyrenees if the kids (or me) want to do some climbing or other mountain-y activity. We're also beside the sea if they want to have a lash at some water sports.

After a week there we're going to head down to Bilbao and have more fun there, but we have yet to finalise the plans.

z