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Looking for some single-track wisdom. Trying to plan a family camping trip, taking own tent etc to the la Rochelle area of France.
Anyone have any experience of doing something similar or can recommend a good website to search through. Too much choice seems to be the issue.
Got small children so ideally something with a kitchen facilities would be helpful to make life easy.
French campsites are easy as anything. There's always a washing up place and toilets and showers. Nearly always a little play park too and you often get a bar, a restaurant and a pool. Camping is huge in France, and there's Brits on every site so they're well used to us. Every town also has a municipal place, that's well signposted and cheap, although often at the lower end of facilities. You can often roll up at these, if you are stuck, but booking is advised generally especially during the peak four weeks when everyone in France goes on holiday.
Go on Google Maps, type in camping, and ring the numbers on the websites.
Oh and don't forget your green card, driving permit and all the other extra red tape that we definitely don't need post Brexit...
I've never been there with kids but as above it's very easy. Standards are generally high so it's not so much of a gamble. Just drive in, have a quick look around, if they don't have the facilities you want go to the next one.
We've pulled into campsites in places we've never heard of and they've had parks, pools and water slides and stuff. Kids everywhere.
Trying to plan everything in advance sounds like a lot of work and takes away flexibility.
I can't wait to get back out there in 2023 and we'll have our own toddler by then.
Just had a quick squiz on Google and it looks like 80% of sites have been converted to glamping!
We did a few holidays with Eurocamp where they provide the tent and everything. Like Glamping but without the Glam, you just turn up and there is a tent waiting. A friend once said that they used the Eurocamp brochure (pre-internet dates it a bit) to find good campsites and stay at those but in their own tent. That way they knew what facilities and local stuff there was available.
I think Google might make this advice irrelevant now though.
Twice now we've done this with no clear plan, other than doing our first night stopover at the municipal site in Arques (40min from Calais). Spend that first night checking the weather and looking on pitchup.com for sites where the sun is. Wake up the next morning and get on the road.
First time we ended up on a site in the countryside near Auxerre. Play area, great facilities, pool, dead cheap.it was also near Guedelon which was awesome.
Second time round it we had planned on going to Lake Geneva area but it looked grim. Ended up at Le Mans for 3 nights then it cleared up so we did a cross France jaunt and pitched up a stone's throw from the lakeside for a few more nights. Weather changed again so we packed up and spent 4 nights in the Black Forest before heading back through Belgium on the way to Calais.
Anyway that's loads of superfluous detail. As mentioned campsite facilities in France are generally a step or two above what you get here. I think you'll struggle to find somewhere that isn't glamping/eurocamp that has kitchen facilities though.
We went to Ile de Re twice, it's lovely there with loads of cycle paths. We stayed at Les Varennes.
Acceping it ties you down and costs a fair bit, but don't dismiss the convenience of turning up to a ready erected tent, with verandah, bedrooms, fridge, shower, toilet etc. Had some amazing holidays in lovely places with Huttopia (who I think bought some of the Eurocamp sites?).
Municipals are a great starting place for quality sites at a decent price - the kind of places Eurocamp will be on will have premium facilities but at a premium price. We've stayed on Re, Oleron and Noirmoutier, all great for beaches and getting about by bike.
Agree, Noirmoutier is lovely. Don't dismiss the inland places either. The French do lakes and rivers brilliantly.
the la Rochelle area of France
If that’s your criteria then Ile de Re is indeed the correct answer. I’ve not camped but we’ve stayed in Le Bois Plage en Re the last few years and it would be my pick of locations on the island. I’d recommend looking at sites at the Plage Gros Joncs end, which includes Les Varennes which as recommended above.
If you can converse in French you can select a Eurocamp campsite and then contact the site itself, booking directly rather than through Eurocamp. Used to be considerably cheaper, although you don't get the benefits of a Eurocamp rep on site...............
Pre Brexit/Covid we stayed most years in a selection of Yelloh Village campsites all over France. Generally really impressed with the quality, cleanliness and facilities.
Going to one south of La Rochelle at Whit. I can let you know how it goes.
Cezza
Oo - another thing we liked (YMMV) about municipals compared to the big shiny sites the likes of Eurocamp, Canvas, Haven etc will be on - most of the clientel are French. We're off to Quiberon this year (hopefully!), haven't camped for years but looking forward to parking up then not touching the car for a fortnight. 🙂
We've stayed here, just south of La Rochelle
https://www.camping-port-punay.com/en
Lovely site, little pool, bar, restaurant, good shower/washing/washing up facilities etc. Walkable to little beach and a few bars/restaurants and the coastal cycle path, quick bus ride or cycle along the coast to Chatelaillon, which is a nice resort town with an enormous beach.
Also easy to get the train into La Rochelle itself for a day out there, which is with doing.
Can't help with the website recommendation, but since you've specified the La Rochelle region, I assume you're going to camp on the island of Ill de Rey? If not then you absolutely should; it's utterly beautiful and perfect for a family holiday. The island is criss crossed by a network of bike tracks well away from the roads and you can hire bikes and kiddy trailers in most of the towns. The beaches are sublime as well.
When dotting about we use https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/county.asp
You can search by area in France or by location on a map.
We've just booked here for a week, with our own caravan:
https://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/le_pin_parasol
Heard good things about Yelloh sites, and our daughter is keen on kids clubs. Really looking forward to it.
As we are both self employed, and the campsite (including kids club) costs about the same as a kids club here, we are going for 3 weeks in total & planning to work remotely for some of it.
Been a few times, we're taking the van down through Brittany & ending up at Ile de Re in the summer.
Have a look at the UK based camping / caravaning club websites (camping & caravan club) they have affiliate sites in Europe & are useful for advice on the area & travelling etc...
We do this each year as a family. All have been great. Generally I try to sneak a campsite close to good riding 😉
What I look for is entertainment for kids. Once they are sorted, wife and I can chill. This will inevitably be the place with the biggest water park!
As said above, the French really know how to do good value camping with superb facilities, I don't think you can go wrong. Each year we go, I'll take note of the companies that offer holidays there and use that list the following year for holidays. Sometimes booking direct with campsite is cheapest, but sometimes going with Brittany ferries is cheaper as you'll get ferry price included.
We are off to Jura Alps to Yelloh campsite this year (Covid delayed)
Going slightly off-piste here:
We've not been to Europe in the van since 2019. What do you need documentation wise nowadays?
Obviously we've got insurance, breakdown cover etc but since Brexit other stuff has changed.