South of France - Camping

dmn01

HI again
Thanks a mill. that's exactly the sort of advice i was looking for,
Yes actually booking today, and will deff hire a car now, i cant actually believe how there selling out for june/july already next year.
Brill advice about the car, il get onto that straight away...


Thanks so much

Regards

Dmn 01

ronnie3585

Only seeing this thread now but though I'd add my 2 cents of a positive expereince I had.

My gf and I stayed in Domaine Massereau http://www.massereau.com/ for a week last September and had a brilliant time.

We flew Aerlingus into Perpignan and rented a car. It's about a 2 hour drive from the airport to the campsite. Most of it is on autoroutes so if you've any experience of driving on the left it's a doddle.

The camp is situated about a mile from Sommieres. Sommieres is an absolutely beautiful walled medieval town. It has cobbled streets and loads of charm, with great markets and friendly locals. It's not touristy and you don't get the hard sell everywhere you go. There is plenty of local produce available in the old town however there is a huge Intermarche only a five minute drive from the town which is handy if you want to keep costs down.

The campsite was excellent. We stayed in one of their gîtes so I can't comment on the camping facilites first hand, however from what I saw and from speaking to people who were camping there, they appeared to be very good. There is also a shop, restaurant and a good swimming pool in the campsite.

It's a great base from which you can visit the Langeudoc area. The Med is only about a 30 min drive. We also visited the Pont de Gard - it was the highlight of the trip. It's about an hours drive on back roads but it's well worth it. Swimming at the Pont is fantastic.

All in all, I'd highly recommend the area and the campsite.

Stab*City

Just home and what a trip. Irish Ferries to Cherbourg then drove to Paris for 5 days there. Back in car and headed south to Sequioa Park for 5 more days. Excellent park well deserved of its 5 stars. Then drove back via Roscoff. Total 2600 kms door to door.

Defo doing it all again next year minus Paris!

DeeLawlor

Any reviews on camping le brasilia for teens aged 13 and 16 not hugely outdoorsy but who loved Lake Garda for two summers running? Thanks

billie1b

ElectricP wrote: »

We're looking to leap into our 1st camping holiday in June with a family of 3kids (5,3 &1).
Fly/Drive ex Dublin. Preferably near to beaches and places we can get away to when the campsite gets too much for the adults.
Can anyone recommend a campsite in the south of France that would suit a young family?
My priorities would include facilities for kids - pool , playground and driving distance to towns / beaches.
Any help would be much appreciated.

I have never done the camping before but have driven to the south of france every year to a small village about 20 km north west of Biarritz, the only thing I can recommend is to bring your own car and get the ferry from either Cork or Rosslare, much cheaper than flying and car rental in France is not the cheapest either, you'll save a fortune on that alone.

DeeLawlor

donnacha wrote: »

Cheers for that. Managed to book a cottage in the Waikiki area directly with them. One final question for you - would you recommend renting a car? We are flying into Perpignan via Aer Lingus. It looks like a little over a 60 minute drive. We could obviously just get a taxi there - but really want to have access to supermarkets but just can't tell how far a walk they may be.
*Updated - spotted how far the supermarkets were so took the plunge and just rented a car.

Hi Donnacha,

We have teens too and next summer they will be 13 and 16. What was there to do for them at this camp? Also accomodation wise what are the choices? We would prefer a house/chalet to a mobile. We were in Nice years ago and it was very policed (pool Nazi's we called them) and had to wear speedos. Lake Garda much more relaxed. But done that twice now. Been trying to book this morning and shows no availability. Already?? Its only 12 Oct!

skibum

DeeLawlor wrote: »

Hi Donnacha,

We have teens too and next summer they will be 16 and 16. What was there to do for them at this camp? Also accomodation wise what are the choices? We would prefer a house/chalet to a mobile. We were in Nice years ago and it was very policed (pool Nazi's we called them) and had to wear speedos. Lake Garda much more relaxed. But done that twice now. Been trying to book this morning and shows no availability. Already?? Its only 12 Oct!

If you are trying to make a booking for Aloha, they are taking bookings from November 18.
http://www.aloha-camping.fr/en/-p78.html

If you are thinking about going in the high season, place's go very fast, it's a very popular site.

Regarding accommodation, they have chalet's:
http://www.aloha-camping.fr/en/chalet-4-6p-woodwood-p102.html

clumsyklutz

I've been camping three times to a wonderful park just outside Biarritz, in a little village called Bidart, Camping Le Ruisseau, 5 star campsite, with three pools (with non over bearing life guards!), wonderful food, football pitches, mini golf, fishing etc, everything you could possibly ask for.

http://www.camping-le-ruisseau.fr/en/

If you would like any more info let me know!

DeeLawlor

Thank you! What were amenities like for older kids? Restaurants? Also what airport is close?

clumsyklutz

DeeLawlor wrote: »

Thank you! What were amenities like for older kids? Restaurants? Also what airport is close?

Well for the older kids both my brothers were teenagers (15 and 13) and they went fishing on the lakes (free of charge!), played mini golf, played football with lots of other kids and teenagers (in fact my partner who was 23 at the time went with them!), there always seemed to be a game going, there is also a small games room with different driving games etc, there was a pool table in the bar, a tv room (though we never used it!), a pool with slides (which kids of all ages seemed to enjoy!), three different pools, ping pong tables (though you need your own bats, which can be purchased on site cheaply), tennis courts.

There is one restaurant on site, which is quite reasonably priced, they also do take aways which are really nice too! There are plenty of other restaurants in Biarritz (there are lovely beaches there too), which is only 20 mins away by bus (which stops right outside the campsite) and a 24 hour ticket is just 2 euro (you need to get two busses, but they meet each other at the stops so there is no real wait!)

Ryanair fly directly to Biarritz which is only around 20 mins away and a taxi will cost less than 25 euro.

Hope this helps

marrissa

not sure how to work this site. But here goes. Looking to travel to Nice/Antibes as I 've read you dont need a car. Is that true?, The only campsite I see recommended is Camp de Plyon. Is it any good. Am traveling with a 5 year old, want to keep costs down.

ElectricP

Hi All
Returning to Aloha campsite again this June but this time taking the ferry and driving down. My good wife persuaded me so hopefully I won't regret the decision (I'll be doing the driving!
Can anyone recommend a good stopover for a day or two to keep young kids entertained.

Preferably half way to try to split the journey.

Thanks
EP

mockingjay

Happy New Year all! I am also researching what will be my first camping trip to France. I have two teenagers, aged 13 & 15 and would live some recommendations. As they both study French I was hoping they could practice the language, which won't really happen in tourist areas & my pair won't make a big effort to 'find' native speakers, they can be a bit lazy in this regard. I would love recommendations on camp sites but also wonder are there any half day French language schools that they could attend anywhere whilst we're there?

_Brian

mockingjay wrote: »

Happy New Year all! I am also researching what will be my first camping trip to France. I have two teenagers, aged 13 & 15 and would live some recommendations. As they both study French I was hoping they could practice the language, which won't really happen in tourist areas & my pair won't make a big effort to 'find' native speakers, they can be a bit lazy in this regard. I would love recommendations on camp sites but also wonder are there any half day French language schools that they could attend anywhere whilst we're there?

France is well populated with campsites with a huge variance in amenities and activities..

We've been over and back more than 10 years and found that the two best campsite chains are Le Castles and Yelloh Village. We'd usually have a look at their website to see a campsite we liked the look of and then google the campsite directly as you'll get a better deal on accommodation..

Plenty of campsites will have activities aimed at older teenagers where they will arrange half day teen excursions watersports or cycling or whatever...

Also while English is spoken on the sites the bars/shops default to French so they'll get plenty of chances to practice, local villages too. I like it that way. My French would be very basic but herself is near fluent and the French react very well once you have a go at all.

My personal favorite campsites are Sequoia Parc & Le Littoral.

Dr. Nick

mockingjay wrote: »

Happy New Year all! I am also researching what will be my first camping trip to France. I have two teenagers, aged 13 & 15 and would live some recommendations. As they both study French I was hoping they could practice the language, which won't really happen in tourist areas & my pair won't make a big effort to 'find' native speakers, they can be a bit lazy in this regard. I would love recommendations on camp sites but also wonder are there any half day French language schools that they could attend anywhere whilst we're there?

Best starting point is the official website http://www.campingfrance.com/uk

We've been going to france for years and have never used Keycamp etc., always book direct - much cheaper.
As it's France, your teenagers will have ample opportunity to speak the language, even in tourist areas, however if you pick a smaller town/campsite then that would be better.

_Brian

We're opting to stay in the north of the country this year as in 11 years we've never explored the area, we've always gotten off the ferry and hit the motorway straight off..

We're looking at a campsite within minutes of the ferry, that'll be some change to the 5-6 hours we'd usually drive..

http://www.campinglesmouettes.co.uk/en/

silver campaign

Interesting thread. We are booking a ferry to france for this June. Can anyone recommend a campsite on the west / south west coast. Somewhere between La Rochelle and Biarritz, as we have been around brittany and the vendee a few times already.
We will have two kids a 6 month old and an almost three year old, so entertainment for them is essential. We are also bringing a camper van with a tent but will probably opt to rent chalet type accommodation.