France Ferry & Campsite info (use Search function) mod warning post 1

midonogh

Wondering what peoples views are on driving from Roscoff to the Vendee. Head east to Rennes and then down to Nantes or go west through Brest/Lorient?

ANd any thoughts about where I could break the journey for lunch that would be suitable for children, maybe an aire de repos with some swings and slides or a castle or the like that is not too far off the route.

Thanks
MD

mod warning - no covid talk

hargo

Go via Nantes for definite. Its about 3 hours drive so just over half way. There are petrol stations every 20 km and the bigger ones have very good facilities.

Berty

It really depends on what time your ferry arrives as If its late you may as well check into a motel/lodge on the way down as the park will be closed.(presuming mobile home holiday).

Nantes is the way to go and then head to La Roche Sur Yon. After La Roche Sur Yon the roads get a little more regional but still better than our roads.

Like mentioned there are services all over the place on your journey down. As mentioned they have play areas in all those places. If you cannot bring yourself to try a domestic restaurant on day 1 McDonalds will invariably all have play areas.

On the N165 there is a services just before Nantes with a Mcdonalds and a Brit Hotel Atlantel. It could tick either box for you.

Les 4 nations
44360 vigneux de bretagne, France

Personally if it was me I would try to drive all the way there and just before arriving I would head into a Carrefour supermarket to get all the stuff for the holiday.

seanin4711

Hi all!
thinking of getting the ferry to northern France in september and have not got a clue about the best campsites in that area.
anyone been there who could give me some pointers?
Thinking close to the beach with amenities etc.
thanks
john

skibum

Have a look at http://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/ , they have some great sites in Brittany, and Normandy.

We stayed at les-mouettes (booked with the campsites website, got a better deal than through the yellohvillage site), and found it to be brilliant. very close to the ferry (about 30 minutes) and plenty to do and see in the immediate area. Another highly recommended site in the area is Le Ranolien again it was cheaper to book directly with the campsite than through yellohvillage.

Further south in brittany is Benodet, This site was the business.

joolsveer

I stayed at a campsite in Dol de Bretagne last year and it was excellent.
http://www.lesormes.co.uk/

CJhaughey

We are going back to Carnac this year for the second time.
The campsite we use is called Le Grand Metairie and is rated 4* by Le Castels.
We found it brilliant as it had everything on site if you could want. Fantastic pool complex with indoor swimming pool if the weather doesn't play ball.
Waterslides etc.
There is a massive sandy beach just down the road which is safe for kids.
It all depends on what you want.

Bicycle

The first thing you need to look at is when you will be arriving. Many of the camp sites will start closing around the 15th September or so. And many of the amenities will start closing around the end of high season - end August or so. Check before you make your final decision.

The weather in Brittany and Normandy can be quite like Ireland so perhaps look at going that bit further south.

Keycamp are a good company and their sites are generally fine. Within the keycamp sites, there are a number that are a member of the "Les Castels" group. These campsites are all in the grounds of chateaux and are generally of an excellent standard.

In Normandy, Camping La Vallée in Houlgate is lovely. Good facilities and only a 5 minute drive from a lovely beach. Its also only a 30 minute drive from Bayeux which is a lovely town (the famous tapestry and the cathedral). And its also in Calvados country. www.campinglavallee.com Its also close enough to visit the D-Day beaches

Camping Le Mane Guernehue http://www.camping-baden.com/ is in Southern Brittany and has the added advantage of an indoor pool and jacuzzi and exercise rooms. But it is on a hill. The beaches of Carnac are close by. The nearby town of Baden (2 minutes walk) has a fabulous creperie called La Goelette and a nice supermarket etc.

Further South, the Vendee has some fabulous beaches (think Tramore magnified many, many times). Really lovely. Its also warmer and is in wine territory. We stayed in Camping La Zagarella 2 (there is another Zagarella in St. Jean des Monts up the coast). http://www.campingzagarella.com/accueil-EN.html This campsite is 5 minutes drive from a wonderful beach. The area was affected by storm Xanthe (a town 20 minutes drive from the campsite lost 40 people sadly) but it appears that people have pulled together and any infrastructural damage has been repaired. The disadvantage of this site (any site generally from here down the rest of the west coast) is that the emplacements are quite small. You don't get the space that you get in Brittany or Normandy or Picardy.

Take a look at www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes and click on the Europe button to get an idea of distances. I'd be inclined to go as far south as you can.

seanin4711

great food for thought right there!
hope i get something around end august early sept!(holidays dictate)
one last thing- anyone of the above better for younger children circa 2 yo etc
thanks again!
slan

Bicycle

In terms of the sites I've recommended, then either La Vallee or Zagarella would be better.

Mane Guernehue had a hill that was impossible. The facilities were brilliant for children but I can't imagine pushing a buggy either up or down that hill.

La Vallee is on a hill but its not half as bad as Mane Guernehue. The pool area is lovely and there are great children's facilities. The town of Houlgate (where the campsite is situated) is lovely and safe to walk about.

Zagarella has the best children's pool complex ever (look at their website). And its flat and its very safe for kids.

What I will suggest you do, if you can afford the extra, is look for a deck. And use the door gate to block off the exit from the deck. That way your little one will be able to play outside for a few mins while you're doing the washing up or whatever and won't wander. And it also gives you peace of mind when you're eating outside.

We stayed in Chateau des Ormes in Brittany (again on a hill!!) and even though the facilities were fabulous, we felt it was far too big if you had little ones. Very easy for them to be overwhelmed or get lost.

I'd be inclined to stick to smaller sites with a smaller child. Bigger sites when the kids get bigger.

Enjoy France, its a fabulous country.

nompere

We spent many years camping in France, and most of the sites we stayed on were part of this group:

http://www.les-castels.com/

They're all independent, but all we tried were of very high quality. Les Ormes is part of the group.

babaduck

My parents swear by two campsites - Pointe St Gilles in Benodet & Le Grand Metarie in Carnac. This year, we're off to Le Bois Masson (a Siblu site) at the end of August in St Jean de Monts. Most French campsites close around 12th September so it's the latest we can go.

Incidentally, we cashed in our Tesco vouchers for Irish Ferries and Siblu deal vouchers, so our holiday ended up costing us €90 cash in total!!!

seanin4711

tried in vain to book a mobile home or whatever they are called and cannot get one in any of the sites mentioned.
only camping(ie hooking up my campervan or caravan etc)
can i only book in blocks of 7 days or what?
thanks
john

babaduck

Sean - try www.siblu.com

We booked our mobile direct for 12 nights with no problem and there's still availability for when you're travelling

seanin4711

all set just over a grand for 2 weeks and ferry,sweet!
1st timer hopefully not my last.
thanks for all your help!
looked over various review websites and this one came up frequently as being good!
check out http://www.zoover.co.uk/
found it great!
slan
bon vancances!

willowthewisp

Has anyone done this.
Thinking of going for 8 nights and wondering if anyone has any advice for staying in a few different areas and if sites can be booked for 2/3 nights at a time.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Creteboom1

Hi. I am thinking of doing the same thing, a trip to France, not sure of the itenerary yet, probably 2 weeks, sail from Cork to either Roscoff & return through Cherbourg. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We only bought our camper last summer, so this will be our first overseas trip, so we are very much green in this area.

650Ginge

Creteboom1 wrote: »

Hi. I am thinking of doing the same thing, a trip to France, not sure of the itenerary yet, probably 2 weeks, sail from Cork to either Roscoff & return through Cherbourg. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We only bought our camper last summer, so this will be our first overseas trip, so we are very much green in this area.

Start saving tesco vouchers, they can be used on Irish ferries.

Other than that just enjoy the trip France is very campervan friendly.

CarrickMcJoe

Travel as much as possible on national roads, much more relaxing and plenty of scenery and villages to stop off. Motorway tolls are quite expensive.
France has excellent facilities for camper vans.
Mont St Michel in Brittany is a good stopoff.

Traveling along the coast through Brittany is really nice. Worked over there for six months and some great towns and villages. Mont St Michel is a must and towns like Carnac, Vannes, Auray are lovely spots to stop.

650Ginge

only1kilbane wrote: »

Traveling along the coast through Brittany is really nice. Worked over there for six months and some great towns and villages. Mont St Michel is a must and towns like Carnac, Vannes, Auray are lovely spots to stop.

Apologies for being pedantic but it is Normandy. Agree it is a mist see in that area.

Tim Robbins

Hi,
We're looking to go to France with two young boys (5 and 3) with Eurocamp.
We got quote for Ferry and Chalet in Brittany South. 8 Nights in Brittany and it comes in at 2,300.

This is our first family holiday in July and we are just bit worried we might be paying way too much. Idea was to book early so it might be cheaper.

We were told we were getting 300 euro discount on room an 100 discount on Ferry for booking early.

So is that a reasonable price?

How much would I save if I started shopping in Tesco and did similar holiday?

Going in early June is not option and would prefer not to go late June as that means older child misses school.

huskerdu

Sounds reasonable, but it might be possible to do it cheaper.

I have booked camp site holidays in France myself a few times and also booked with Eurocamp - here is my advice based on my experiences.


What ferry company are you travelling with - is it a direct ferry to Cherbourg or Roscoff ?

Check the price of the ferry yourself- its very easy on the websites of the 3 ferry companies - Irish Ferries / Brittany ferries and Stena Line.

You can book directly with most campsites and its usually cheaper but they often only allow sat to sat booking in high season.

Also, if you book directly, you will be in a section of the campsite with mostly French and possibly Dutch families. If you want your kids to use the kids camps or make friends with other English speaking kids , you are better off with Eurocamp - the chalets are higher spec in my experience - The French company ones rarely have an oven ( or maybe I've had bad luck).

Do some price checking on the internet and compare with what you have been quoted by Eurocamp.

_Brian

It depends in what your staying in too.
We've been for 11 years running.

You say Chalet, the fixed mobiles are good and considerably cheaper.

We found that booking direct is easy and cheaper but you'll never get and oven which reduces the option to cook at home and is a pain.

The last time we travelled with a company it was with KelAir and they were keen and lots of extras.

Something to watch also, campsite and ferry prices both change with the peak season, but in opposite ways so while the campsite may be more expensive in peak, the ferry is often cheaper.

On Ferries it's a personal thing. Some just wand the cheapest option going and that's fine. Personally we've settled on Irish Ferries, decent ferry, you get a good standard and selection of food, plenty of space, but pay a little more.

We changed last year and brought our own caravan.

Were happy out in the middle of our European cousins rather than needing to be with the Irish families, and probably prefer it if I'm being honest, nothing worse than being next to some twat that insists on talking every time you stick your head out.

MorganIRL

hi, was in a similar situation 2 yrs ago, our boys are now 4+2 now and were heading again this yr in early june.we have found that booking with a company is easier when u have kids ie u can book all the things u require beforehand and not have to go looking for them when u arrive, we have only used irish ferries and we find the kids area is great as it tires the kids out so they sleep . doesnt really help you regarding price but you are going in peak season and should expect to pay peak prices

evolving_doors

Im in the same boat as OP! Although out of interest I booked IF going out and Stenna coming back. Stenna seems to be coming in €100 cheaper each way but then theres the whole ' kids are better catered for' on IF debate.

Id take time of travel into ac aswell OP. So maybe if you get on the ferry early enough (3pmish) you have a chance to tire them out! Too late and theyre just off a car and into a cabin at 10pm...will they sleep?

As regards accommodation its either going to be eurocamp, canvass or Yelloh!
Yelloh! seems to be coming in way cheaper and folk who have travelled with other companies say in the reviews they should have gone with Yelloh! instead.

Im thinking to book accom early as the cheaper ferry dates were mostly available on weekdays. It seems its not too bad getting 'odd' dates now so I wonder, if we wait will it be harder to get the dates we want?

As regards where in France, I havn't decided but west coast anyhow, near a beach, good pool facilities for kids... possibility of walking to nearby restaurants. The search goes on.

aquarius10

We used to travel with Eurocamp but this year Al Fresco was around €200 cheaper for same campsite on same dates. Reviews are fine, so we booked Al Fresco. Pays to shop around

We are sailing out with IF and home with Stena as dates for travel suited us better, 15 - 28 June. Stena was also cheaper for return journey home.

Our entire holiday with return ferries, 4 nights in davy Crokett Disneyland Paris with half board plus meal plan & 8 nights in yelloh campsite Saint Aubin Sur Mer is €2,200.

BailMeOut

We have 12 nights + Ferry for five of us in mid August and we get the biggest 'chalet with deck' we can get. This year total is €3,302 which includes €414.90 discount from Eurocamp.

razor8

hi

we have 4 children and the oldest is 5 & 1/2, where are the best campsites in France taking into consideration the journey from the boat with young children, we are considering driving over

any advice appreciated, we went on a haven holiday in wales last 2 years and my wife wants me to investigate France as an option

BailMeOut

razor8 wrote: »

hi

we have 4 children and the oldest is 5 & 1/2, where are the best campsites in France taking into consideration the journey from the boat with young children, we are considering driving over

any advice appreciated, we went on a haven holiday in wales last 2 years and my wife wants me to investigate France as an option

really difficult question to answer but the time of year you are heading can make a difference as if you are after sun then the earlier in year the further south you might need to drive.

Take a look at http://www.eurocamp.ie/

Vendee area is where I would recommend drive not so bad and you have lots of camp options on coast.

With Eurocamp you can also book several locations and move around so you can try different areas.

DerryRed

There are some good deals in French campsites for June next year. I'm thinking of booking however Irish Ferries have not released their 2016 sailing schedule yet. This June the ferry from Dublin left each Saturday afternoon and arrived in Cherbourg on Sunday morning. What are the chances it will be the same schedule in 2016?

Nekarsulm

No idea about the Dublin route.
Dates for sailings from Rosslare usually appear late November-ish.

munchkin_utd

The Dublin ferry would have the same schedule as they can only rob a ferry off the Holyhead route at the weekend when there's less freight traffic

DerryRed

I notice the Rosslare to Cherbourg ferry this year sailed every second Monday, Tuesday and Sunday during June and then during July they introduced a Saturday sailing every second week. Do they do this schedule every year, or could it possibly change next year?

munchkin_utd

DerryRed wrote: »

I notice the Rosslare to Cherbourg ferry this year sailed every second Monday, Tuesday and Sunday during June and then during July they introduced a Saturday sailing every second week. Do they do this schedule every year, or could it possibly change next year?

no clue on that as its a mad schedule as they are balancing providing a service to Roscoff and Cherbourg with the same vessel. Youd want to wait to see it published.

Also checkout Stena as their schedule has remained more or less constant for the past 4 or 5 years.

kindalen

In the past I have emailed them and they have sent me a pdf of the timetable for the following year, no prices though. They usually release timetable/prices at the end of september/start of october.
Stena and Brittany are selling summer 2016 sailings already.

SusanC10

So we are thinking of our 2016 family holiday and seriously considering taking the Ferry to France and Eurocamp (for part of it anyway). We have never done this kind of holiday before so looking for advice / tips etc.

Have been looking online and basic plan is to take the Ferry from Ireland to France, 9 nights in Eurocamp (considering the Loire or Dordogne), then 1 week in an Airbnb somewhere near Bordeaux then back up to Brittany / Normandy where we have family for 4/5 nights and then home on the Ferry !

Our kids will be 10 & 7 by then. We live in the North East.

Our family holidays have been mainly to a family owned place in Greece, some Airbnb houses and Hotels in Greece and France & Disneyland Paris. So, would like to try something different for next year.

When is the best time to book?

Have looked at Stena and Brittany Ferries but can't seem to see 2016 Schedule / Price for Irish Ferries - when do they come out ? Also which is the best (overall but incl price) to go with ?

Any tips on the Eurocamp part ? How are the Kids Clubs ?

We don't mind driving in France and long journeys.

All tips / advice welcome.

H2G2

We took the Irish ferries Epsilon this year for first time- usually take Oscar Wilde - and I am so sorry we did. Its small, no facilities and much rockier crossing (due to size / stabilizers) than Oscar Wilde. Back to Rosslare from now on...

munchkin_utd

H2G2 wrote: »

We took the Irish ferries Epsilon this year for first time- usually take Oscar Wilde - and I am so sorry we did. Its small, no facilities and much rockier crossing (due to size / stabilizers) than Oscar Wilde. Back to Rosslare from now on...

Oscar Wilde is 166.30 m long
Epsilon 186.50 m

so which ship is too small again ???????????????????????????

BTW, there was some very bad weather there in the past few weeks and I've seem people posting pictures also from the Holland-England crossings with very choppy conditions, so to be honest you should have a think about the weather too.

I've travelled with both ships in choppy weather in December/January and my wife Daughter get equally as sick on both!!!!
(whilst me and the son seem to be immune thankfully)

Vic_08

Unconfirmed so far but word is that IF have extended the lease on Epsilon to end of 2016.

If that is the case then I would expect the current sailing pattern from Dublin to remain.

As said above it is worthwhile contacting them directly if you need a sailing schedule in advance of them releasing the bookings.

54and56

As we're coming to the end of Summer 2015 it's time to start planning for 2016. I just provisionally booked my campsite holiday to France this morning for July 9th 2016 to July 30th 2016.

This thread last year http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057267331 and it's predecessor http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057103851 in 2014 when LD Lines offered great deals helped a lot of people to get the best deals possible on ferries.

This year the best deal seemed to be had if you took advantage of the Stena Line 25% Ploughing Championship discount - https://www.stenaline.ie/showoffer

Hopefully they'll repeat that discount when the show happens again between Sept 22nd and 24th this year - http://www.npa.ie

If anyone knows of any good deals (will LD Lines or an equivalent emerge??) or discounts please post them here and share the love

Stone Deaf 4evr

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

As we're coming to the end of Summer 2015 it's time to start planning for 2016. I just provisionally booked my campsite holiday to France this morning for July 9th 2016 to July 30th 2016.

This thread last year http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057267331 and it's predecessor http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057103851 in 2014 when LD Lines offered great deals helped a lot of people to get the best deals possible on ferries.

This year the best deal seemed to be had if you took advantage of the Stena Line 25% Ploughing Championship discount - https://www.stenaline.ie/showoffer

Hopefully they'll repeat that discount when the show happens again between Sept 22nd and 24th this year - http://www.npa.ie

If anyone knows of any good deals (will LD Lines or an equivalent emerge??) or discounts please post them here and share the love

Any idea when Irish ferries put up the 2016 prices?

First Up

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Oscar Wilde is 166.30 m long
Epsilon 186.50 m

so which ship is too small again ???????????????????????????

BTW, there was some very bad weather there in the past few weeks and I've seem people posting pictures also from the Holland-England crossings with very choppy conditions, so to be honest you should have a think about the weather too.

I've travelled with both ships in choppy weather in December/January and my wife Daughter get equally as sick on both!!!!
(whilst me and the son seem to be immune thankfully)

There is more to it than length. The OW is by far the larger vessel.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

54and56

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Any idea when Irish ferries put up the 2016 prices?

Hi SD4E, I trust you had a good trip home? I'm still in Masson, going home Saturday. It's been a great break. Super weather and lots of relaxing.


I'm going to wait for the IF timetables to be published but I don't know when that will be. I'd like to sail Friday July 8th but both Stena and Britanny only sail on Sat the 9th. Hopefully IF will sail on the 8th.

SusanC10

I am very interested in following this thread as we are seriously considering taking the Ferry to France for our family holiday for 2016.

We have not done this type of family holiday before or taken the Ferry to France as a family though I did with my own family circa 20+ years ago !

I have been talking to Eurocamp regarding Accommodation and they seem to have a preliminary Irish Ferries Schedule for 2016 but it is not yet confirmed.

Have also been looking at the Tesco Tokens. I have approx €65 of tokens so far and will have more by the end of August. That would convert to €260 to use on Irish Ferries. But it says something on the site about restricted availability and peak times. We want to travel approx June 21st. Would this be a problem ? From what I am reading you have to convert the Tesco tokens into Travel Tokens before you make a Booking but I don't want to do that if I can't use them for the sailing we want. Anyone done this before ??

I have phoned Irish Ferries but the person on the phone was quite vague but did say that I can make the Booking on the phone with them and pay the Deposit by Card and then convert whatever tokens I have to Travel Vouchers and pay the balance with the Vouchers and Card. Although this contradicts what it says on their own website.

Also looking for advice on eating on the Oscar Wilde - would anyone recommend having our main meal on the boat or should we eat our main meal before we get to Rosslare ? Our kids will be 10 & 7.

All advice for a Newbie welcomed

Miley Byrne

Jean, do you know whether the people that had booked with Stena prior to the ploughing if they could retrospectively avail of the 25% discount?

jay0109

Susan

I booked with IF for the first time this year using Tesco tokens. Did it all online, booking a scheduled journey and at the end selecting the Tesco tokens option. There was a 20e extra fee each way. Tokens came to about 80% of the total return cost. Sailed same time of year as your looking at and I booked in Oct/Nov 14.
There was no issue with restrictions around which journey I had to take etc. All very straight forward.
You need to send the Tesco tokens to Tesco first, converting them into 4 times the value of IF tokens.

We didn't eat on board (Oscar Wilde) but my kids were much younger than yours. There's plenty of advice about meals and their high costs etc on this site, mummypages etc.
We brought some sambo's in the Centra in Rosslare Port beforehand and had some breakfast in the cooler bag for the next morning. Partly to save cash but also to save a lot of hassle of 3 young ones in a restaurant!

Re accomm in France. We booked ours directly through the campsite, so made a 20% saving or so v's going through eurocamp.

All in all 2 weeks for ship and accomm cost us just under 1k!

SusanC10

@jay - did you have to pay the full price to Irish Ferries when you booked in Oct/Nov 2014 ? I wanted to pay the Deposit on booking with Card and then the Balance using the Tesco Vouchers and Card if necessary 6 weeks before departure. I wouldn't have enough Tokens to have 80% of the Booking. The girl on the phone at Irish Ferries said that what I want to do is do-able but their website says that it's not.

I was thinking that maybe the best plan is to eat our Main meal somewhere close to Rosslare and then bring food for the Ferry. Must try to find the other threads re food on the ferry.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Hi SD4E, I trust you had a good trip home? I'm still in Masson, going home Saturday. It's been a great break. Super weather and lots of relaxing.


I'm going to wait for the IF timetables to be published but I don't know when that will be. I'd like to sail Friday July 8th but both Stena and Britanny only sail on Sat the 9th. Hopefully IF will sail on the 8th.

i had to check the calendar when i read that you were still there, it feels like I've been back at work for months! :mad:

redmissb

SusanC10 wrote: »

@jay - did you have to pay the full price to Irish Ferries when you booked in Oct/Nov 2014 ? I wanted to pay the Deposit on booking with Card and then the Balance using the Tesco Vouchers and Card if necessary 6 weeks before departure. I wouldn't have enough Tokens to have 80% of the Booking. The girl on the phone at Irish Ferries said that what I want to do is do-able but their website says that it's not.

I was thinking that maybe the best plan is to eat our Main meal somewhere close to Rosslare and then bring food for the Ferry. Must try to find the other threads re food on the ferry.

You can do that but you need to make the booking over the phone instead of online. Then you can send in tokens anytime up until the balance is due.