Holiday suggestions for family of 7: Camping in France on a budget?

[luckynumber9]

We have left booking a holiday late as usual . We have the opportunity to go to Wales for very little cost. We've been several times before and always enjoy it. However, me and some of the DCs (12, 8, 7, 3 and 1) fancy a change. We would quite like to camp in France - ideally south so there would be a chance of sunshine. The problems are that the quotes I've had so far are much more expensive than I was expecting (£1600 for 2 weeks with Eurocamp Independent ie. bringing own tent etc); and that lots of French campsites seem to only allow up to 6 people on a pitch, regardless of tent size etc. Any brilliant ideas or suggestions would be very welcome!

[Laquila]

£1600 to bring your own tent?! Good Lord!

Thinking about it though, in high season in SoF or Italy we've sometimes paid about 30EUR per night for small pitch, car parking and two adults (often with EHU included), and using that same formula for 7 pax for two weeks would make it not too shy of £1600, although you'd think you'd get a discount for children.

My advice would be to look for smaller independent sites (not Eurocamp/Keycamp-affiliated) and contact them directly to see what kind of deals they can do for a large family for two weeks. Having said that, so many French families go away for weeks at a time over the summer that long-stay booking are fairly common, but it's worth a try.

Obviously the further off the tourist trail you are, the cheaper the sites will be, although that does sometimes out you further away from the action too. As an example, on Lago d'Idro and Lago d'Iseo (Italy) last summer we were oaying arud the half the price that we were paying on Garda. Idro was particularly lovely, and quiet, and mainly Brit-free.

Good luck!

[Nodney]

You could try French municipal sites? I'm not sure if there's a "family size" limit, but they are usually very reasonably priced, clean and in the middle of the town therefore close to facilities ie shops, pools, playgrounds etc. We also find that the middle/east side of France is cheaper than the Dordogne/South and the motorway tolls are a lot less. Plus, we find that the channel tunnel is way cheaper than the ferries. HTH and have a fab time!

[luckynumber9]

Thank you Laquila and Nodney! I'll look into the municipal sites. Tempted by Lago d'Idro too - sounds lovely!

[Laquila]

The site we stayed at was near Idro and it was fantastic for the two of us, but might be a bit quiet for a big family (although was right on the lake and had canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing etc right on the doorstep, so definitely activities available). Lovely shady site with pine trees, good shower/loo facilities and a restaurant and little shop. They saw so few English people that they refused to believe we were English and kept trying to talk to us in German! I think it was called Camping Rio Vantone.