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

We were considering this for next year but our eldest is 14 - interested in why you think not suitable for teens? Also who did you book with?

Covered in this recent discussion here:

I just feel the facilities are better set up for younger kids.

For example the soccer pitch is very small. Not great to keep a teenager occupied kicking about for long.

There's a playground and bouncy castle for small ones. Again not for teenagers.

There are teen clubs alright during the day and evening alright.

Listen it could work out perfectly fine for ye as there's plenty to do around on day trips, Pay du Foy, water park, other adventure parks etc.

It a very relaxed site, good restaurant and bar. So I'm not totally warning ye off it :-)

That's super information. A Good football pitch is ahead of slides and swimming pool for my eldest teen so that's helpful.

Phew, I'm glad we've had three good days out of four this week. I was giving serious consideration to throwing in the towel and getting the next ferry back to Cherbourg if the rain had continued 😭

It's a long way to travel for bad weather - we got goodish weather a few weeks ago but we did have a few drizzly days. I think we will probably fly further down south next year.

Re weather: last night in the Herault we had probably the first big storm of the summer. Thunder & lightning for a few hours & most importantly some very heavy rain. May not be enough as the drought is quite extensive here but it’ll surely help.

Financially, how does it work out to fly/drive compared to drive/ferry? Not a chance in hell we will ever fly - my lot are the exact opposite of the "travelling light" concept. 🤦

I also do like filling up the boot with goodies on the way back.

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the Brittany Ferries Rosslare - Le Harve route for 2024. It's not available to purchase for next year, I'm wondering if they are discontinuing it. We always sail from Ringaskiddy as it's very convenient for us but was thinking of heading near Paris or further east for next year and travelling to Rosslare would be worth it for the reduced travel from Roscoff. I know DFDS is another option to Dunkirk but I think their arrival times are very late at night/very early morning which wouldn't suit us with the ages our kids are.

Camping les rivages in millau ,its a yelloh 4 star site. Our second time there and we love it. Smallish site with really good facilities and a lovely pool complex. 10 mins walk into town. Its a really relaxing site.

We’re flying to Nice in August, €1100 flights, €750 for car hire. 5 of us. We’ve done the boat more than a few times as well, both have benefits but don’t really want to drive more than 4 hours off the boat personally. Pretty much guaranteed the weather further south. Had a couple of bad years weather wise in Des Ormes and La Croix du Vieux Pont that put us off! Will definitely be back to Brittany/ Normandy though which seem to have more charm. If you go with Eurocamp you get a lot more space generally around your mobile at the northern sites. Pack them in like sardines down south (in my experience!)

We must be related! Wine, beer and garden/kitchen stuff gets loaded into the car. I even brought back a massive rain-water barrel once as I had room in a van which I borrowed. 😂

I'll do the 14hr drive to Perpignan though; kids are older now, so it's just a matter of stopping for food these days rather than toilet breaks of years gone by.

I have noticed in my brief search that a lot of the cheaper flights (generally with ryanair) leave very early in the morn or arrive very late at night so I'm kinda veering back to the ferry with a high chance of not so good weather, as the flights times aren't great unless you go dearer with the likes of aer lingua and I totally get that's why the cheap flights are generally cheaper.

I did Bilbao this year, with a nice stopover in San Sebastian before onwards to the Mediterranean, and then back to Biarritz for a week.

Didn't find the boat journey much longer than Cherbourg, but it's not quite as nice a boat as the WB Yeats.

Hey folks

Returning to this thread after deciding to change tact in 2022. Far to say, it's hard beat France.

Stayed in Pin Parasol last year and it was by far our favourite site - possibly with the kids being a bit older. Anyway, heading back next year.

We want to plan our return trip to the ferry with an overnight visit to Puy Du Fou. We visited it last year and it was out of this world. It was an experience like no other. If we're planning on visiting Jul/Aug 24, when do they start selling tickets and accommodation?

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a nice family hotel, near Normandy please share. We stayed in Caen before in a Novotel. It was fine and perfectly functional but looking for options.