Touring France in a camper - advice please

911is50

Hi, we've been traveling to France by Car for over 10 years staying in mobile homes throughout that period. This year, as the kids are growing up, we decided to buy a camper and be a bit more adventurous. We've a month to kill and are thinking of a week on the west coast of France, on to a costal location near Barcelona for a week & then over to somewhere along the French Rivera. Time allowing we may slip into Italy for a few days. My question is do we need to book campsites now and if so do you have any personal recommendations? Ideally on the coast with facilities, ie shop, restaurant & pools. Thanks

Seaswimmer

You don't say which month.

It sounds like a lot of driving to me even over 4 weeks. There is so much to see and do in France alone I would be inclined to stay there. Or possibly go over to Eastern France and into the Black Forest.
I have never had to book a campsite in France even in high season.

If there is a campsite you definitely want to stay in on a particular date then book it but otherwise you will always find somewhere.

Personally I always thought the campsites away from the coast were nicer as they had to work a bit harder to attract people. Never as busy either.

Donaldo

If you are looking to get into some of the more popular sites in high season on west coast or riviera (kids entertainment, waterslides etc) then you definitely need to book. We have had weeks of ringing them and getting nowhere when over there, if you turn up you can get lucky at times. The ACSI DVD or app are excellent if you are playing things by ear - great to punch in your requirements and see all sites within a certain distance of you that match what you are looking for (http://www.acsi.eu). Important when you have kids.

_Brian

Seaswimmer wrote: »

You don't say which month.

It sounds like a lot of driving to me even over 4 weeks. There is so much to see and do in France alone I would be inclined to stay there. Or possibly go over to Eastern France and into the Black Forest.
I have never had to book a campsite in France even in high season.

If there is a campsite you definitely want to stay in on a particular date then book it but otherwise you will always find somewhere.

Personally I always thought the campsites away from the coast were nicer as they had to work a bit harder to attract people. Never as busy either.

Yes. We also find the inland campsites out more effort into facilities and much
More like kayaks are offered for a returnable deposit.

piuswal

911is50 wrote: »

Hi, we've been traveling to France by Car for over 10 years staying in mobile homes throughout that period. This year, as the kids are growing up, we decided to buy a camper and be a bit more adventurous. We've a month to kill and are thinking of a week on the west coast of France, on to a costal location near Barcelona for a week & then over to somewhere along the French Rivera. Time allowing we may slip into Italy for a few days. My question is do we need to book campsites now and if so do you have any personal recommendations? Ideally on the coast with facilities, ie shop, restaurant & pools. Thanks

Blanes north of Barcelona is worth a look.

Quite a few campsites there.

Stayed in Camping Blanes about 15 years ago with 2 Leaving Cert girls and all found it great. See web site for location re beach etc.

http://www.campingblanes.com/en

Near Nice see ;

http://www.vieilleferme.com/?lg=en&c=bienvenue-en

and

http://parcdesmaurettes.com/en/

Parc des Maurettes is west of Nice and east of Antibes and Cannes. A 500 mt walk brings you to the local railway station with great services, and very reasonable price wise, in both directions to all 3 cities.

Vielle Ferme is only about 1500 mts west of Parc Maurettes

spaceHopper

You're trying to do to much and will spend all your time driving by the good stuff. Slow down take your time.

You have three options,

AIRS basically community run parking for campers, not camping though, you can say a night or two but you can't wind out the awing ..... Some are very nice by lakes... some are just car parks, the a guide book.

Municipal campsites, as good or better than most campsites here.

Private camp sites, some are basic, some are very good family friendly with pool....

theshirleyshow

That's a lot of ground to cover in 3-4 weeks, we tried that a few years back and spent most of the time on the road, which needless to say didn't go down well with the kids.

I'd probably aim to get to Barcelona straight off the bat, or else stay in France. A lot of the popular sites require that you book a minimum number of nights in high season, so maybe look towards municipales, they are often well located with reasonably good facilities.

Moomat

911is50 wrote: »

along the French Rivera.

We found the French Riviera unimpressive, over crowded and over priced. The traffic getting into and out of St Tropez is horrendous. 3hrs to travel about 5km as its a narrow single road in and out.

Mountainsandh

Moomat wrote: »

We found the French Riviera unimpressive, over crowded and over priced. The traffic getting into and out of St Tropez is horrendous. 3hrs to travel about 5km as its a narrow single road in and out.

Port Grimaud across the bay is lovely though, and the boat crossing to st Tropez is a fun option, especially for gawking at outrageous yatchs ☺. Les Prairies de LA mer is a great campsite there, no pool but on the beach.

Bear in mind that with camper and 2 kids most all singing all dancing campsites on the coasts will set you back 45/55 euros per night.

airhead_eire

Last year, I went via UK southwards through Europe to Croatia in the same time frame so I think you can easily do what you're planning but I tend to stay in one place for a max of three nights as opposed to a week.
The French Riviera is, in my opinion, geographically nice but it can be very congested in the summer months. Avoiding the motorways (auto-routes) makes things even worse with traffic and very time consuming. The motorway will certainly be faster but you will need to pay the tolls (pe ge) and these usually aren't cheap. The coastal routes in Italy are similar - busy and slow in the summer months. Oh yeah, from previous experience, I got eaten alive by mozzies on the Riveria so bring lots of repellant !!
I never book campsites. I just turn up and have a look. Sometimes I won't like the look of one and go to the next one. As mentioned previously, the ASCI setup is a good one I find. And the ASCI books tend to give good descriptions.
I hope you have a great trip !

911is50

Many thanks all for your suggestions & recommendations, they have been very helpful. I'm well used to driving vast distances in Europe and when choosing a camper I ensured we got one that drove well and had a bit of poke, so hills etc won't be an issue for us. We should be able to keep with average traffic flows on the motorway.

Ok, so I've ordered the ASCI guides along with their guide to Aires, so many thanks Airhead_Eire for that.

Our first few nights will be spent in our usual campsite in Brem sur mer, Vendee region. After that I plan to meander down to the Costa Brava (over two days). Personally I'll use toll roads for the most part of the journeys and to make progress. We're more interested in getting from point A to point B, getting set up and kicking back / exploring the area for the days we park up.

I like the look of the sites recommended by Piuswal and I think we'll go for one or two of those, so thanks again. I've experienced St Tropez traffic in the past, so rest assured we'll be avoiding that. Plan is to locate between Cannes and Nice for a few days and as mentioned perhaps into Italy...

Not long now and most preparations and complete. I'm still open for other campsite / travel recommendations so please keep them coming.

many thanks

911is50

Sorry I should have added, we're traveling in July

piuswal

Heading out June 26 to July 26th ourselves. Via Calais. Had hoped to go via Peronne and Chablis to Vulcania and head down to the south coast, see the Camargue etc. Now my wife suggests we try Germany,

Any German suggestions (even in the French thread), or should I generate a new thread?

Mountainsandh

When we want an Italian day or two, we drive along to Ceriale, there's a nice little campsite there tucked away in town (but not too noisy).

It's a real Italian family campsite, not that many foreign people, more an immersion into Italian life . There is a pool (all deep, so you want bigger kids/swimmers, although there is a little paddle square too), and a lovely bar/restaurant, some kids' games... Hardly anyone in the pool during the day as they all go to the beach !
There is a aquatic fun park nearby (we haven't visited, seems grand).

They have a little bus that takes you to the beach in town (private Italian beaches), along the promenade there there's a lovely little craft market sometimes. There's also a little free beach you can walk down to from the campsite (turn right, straight down, under railway), and a supermarket that is easily reached (5/10 min walk max).
Lemons, oranges, peaches, apricot and jasmine in all the people's gardens around, and they used to be growing flowers in greenhouses on the way to supermarket, but I think that's kind of gone. If you look on satellite, all the square things surrounding campsite are greenhouses.

The owners are lovely and speak English, we got a gift of a bottle of wine on departure last time we were there

https://www.campingbaciccia.it/

edit : just found their flickr photostream, lots of pics but look ! hhmmm I had forgotten I had spaghetti alle vongole there, it was gorgeous. They have all the real Italian food, pizza with artichokes, etc... https://flic.kr/p/GubDxn

Benbecul97

piuswal wrote: »

Heading out June 26 to July 26th ourselves. Via Calais. Had hoped to go via Peronne and Chablis to Vulcania and head down to the south coast, see the Camargue etc. Now my wife suggests we try Germany,

Any German suggestions (even in the French thread), or should I generate a new thread?

Here you go. details on Germany, Black Forest from Seamus last year
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=96255726

Have a blast!:D

piuswal

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Here you go. details on Germany, Black Forest from Seamus last year
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=96255726

Have a blast!:D

Thanks

airhead_eire

piuswal wrote: »

Heading out June 26 to July 26th ourselves. Via Calais. Had hoped to go via Peronne and Chablis to Vulcania and head down to the south coast, see the Camargue etc. Now my wife suggests we try Germany,

Any German suggestions (even in the French thread), or should I generate a new thread?

If you're going via Calais then you could do the Ardennes region of Belgium before crossing into Germany. You could head southwards along the banks of the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz. It's a very nice region and full of vineyards. The area around Cochem, Bernkastel-Kues and Trier is nice too and hugs the river Mosel which is also famous for it's vineyards. From here you could cross into Luxembourg which is quite nice and very cheap !!
As suggested by another poster, the Black Forest is a nice spot too. My favorite region though by far is Bavaria for it's Alpine views.