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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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!!!

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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...

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.

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?

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!

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: