Best French 'eurocamp' holiday

[Turkeycondundrum]

We go to France every year in the summer. We usually spend two weeks in a gite. But we have two lively DS's (4 and 18 months) and so last summer we tried a Eurocamp holiday. It was FAB. We went to Domaine Des Ormes. The kids loved the pools, the playground and all the freedom to cycle and run. There were lots of other kids around for them to play with too which was a bonus.

This year we want to do it again! But the number of campsites out there is overwhelming. So we are after recommendations!

We want somewhere a bit quieter than Des Ormes (big is fine so long as there are quiet corners).
Good pools and playground are a must.
Ideally, around 3-4 hours maximum from either Cherbourg, St Malo or Calais.
Doesn't need to be near the coast, though this would be a bit of a bonus.
Good for cycling would also be great!

Any thoughts?

i would look at Rougement in Jura but it may be too far. Can’t remember name of park, but was the quietest out of the ones with lots of activities.

Placemarking as we have just booked our first Eurocamp holiday for this summer at Domaine Des Ormes. I'm interested to hear others thoughts on EC holidays.

One of our favourites in La Croix du Vieux Pont, at Berny Riviere. From memory, it's no more than 3 hours drive from Calais & about 90 mins from Paris & Disneyland Paris.

It's a fairly big site, but not massive & has loads on site - pools, splash park, soft play, bowling, few funfair type attractions & bouncy castle, crazy golf, climbing, lake with pedalos & fishing, couple of great playgrounds, shops, bike hire. It also has a man-made beach which was a highlight for our DC. Thoroughly recommend.

We went to La Croix last year and found facilities really lacking - toilet blocks and pool changing area were filthy and the lagoon lake was so dank looking we (& many others) didn't dare let our kids in it.

I'm surprised at that mymadworld, we've been 4 times & have always found facilities excellent, as have friends who have been there. Maybe you were unlucky, sounds a shame for you. We were in mobile homes though so mainly used toilets in there.

Also we went in October so DC didn't want to go in the lake as it was too cold, so can't comment on that, but they loved the Sandy beach part.

Les Mouettes, La Pointe St Gilles, Le Pin Parasol and Clare's-Plage are all fantastic in terms of swimming pools and toddler facilities. They're also all within 3.5 hours from those ports. Clarys-Plage and Le Pin Parasol are especially good for cycling. La Pointe st Gilles is right on a beach and although it has a lot of pitches, it's not at all cramped. Clarys-Plage has a brilliant play area and is within an easy stroll from the beach.

La Garangeoire in the Vendee, really great campsite! It's big, smaller than Domaine Des Ormes (we've been there too) though and has kids clubs, swimming pools, two slides, play park, lake and a stable next door which offers horse riding lessons and trekking for guests. It's pretty much got it all!

Check out Huttopia if you want something a bit quieter. Lots of different sites.

We went to Pin Parasol (Vendée) last year and it was a lovely site with a great splash area for little ones. If you use Facebook, there is a really good page called Eurocamp Unofficial Supporters Club which has lots of good tips and suggestions. Lots of people post on there asking for recommendations. Worth a look if you want some other suggestions.

We have loved Berry Rivière and Dol de Bretagne.

We're going to Sol A Gogo in Vendee.

Apparently it's quite quiet and smaller than a lot of the others but you go straight from the site onto a huge sandy beach. Really looking forward to it!

Am excited to look all these up once the kiddies are in bed!! Thanks :)

fading fast I will be joining that group!

We did Le Vallee in Houlgate last year and had a fab time, it was reasonably sized and 2 year old DD had a great time. We are going to Domaine Des Ormes this year so glad to hear it's good!

Camping le Paradis in the Dordogne. Toilets so clean you could eat your dinner in there. And a fab site generally. Next to a river with canoe hire.
Loads to do in the area and easily drivable from the ferry ports.

We've done Clarys Plage 3 times over the past 6 years. Kids love the pool area, the games room and the bar! We've always stayed the same side as the pool (there's a road between the two halves) so have let the DCs roam around on bikes and scooters freely. Bike hire, decent supermarket and fishmongers next door as well as bars and restaurants. Beach is 5 mins max stroll.

We have done it 3 times and by far the best was La Rive. It's about 5 hours from Caen, so a longer drive but we'll worth it. weather was hot but not too hot, the pools we amazing and there is a lake beach which is like Bath water! It's very shallow too so the kids can play with no worry of being swept away!

@superdelooper

We LOVED Les Ormes. BUT It's a huge site and was quite noisy. We were there out of term time (just) and it was still busy. We were right at the edge of the site in a static caravan, so we were not bothered by any noise at night. However, I think the tents by the play area could have been too noisy for us.

Yelloh Village la Plage in Brittany was loved by our dc. We went 4 or 5 times. Enough facilities but not too big & direct access to a beautiful, quiet, long sandy beach

Domaine le Soleil Plagne in the Dordogne - lovely site! The dordogne has absolutely loads to do am usually has fab weather in the summer. Otherwise look at Yelloh Village Lac Biscarrosse - fab pools and is in on a lake with sandy beach. Both a bit further but with the benefit of much nicer weather!

Would LOVE to go as far as Dordogne or Bordeaux but it's just too far (and possibly too hot too). Shame though as it's our favourite area.

I love the Loire too, but the Vendee is looking really promising.

Sol a gogo looks like the best for us so far!

@Turkeycondundrum thanks for the update.
We have booked a static caravan as well so hopefully it will be quieter. We have older DC's, 9 and 12, and found our holiday last summer (a lovely villa with a pool) was a bit boring for them so thought this might be a nice change. I'm going to go over to Facebook now and join the EC group.

For littlies I really liked Bel in the Vendee - smallish friendly site, geared to younger children, massive beach and a town to wander around within easy walking distance - quite a lot of eurocamp sites involve a drive to get to the nearest town. Really family friendly location.

We've been to some great campsites in France, but our best holiday was probably in Luxembourg at Fuussekaul. The facilities were great, the accommodation was spotless - the caravans even had electric shutters, there were lots of activities for the children. Mine loved the free tractor rides every day, there were treasure hunts and discos and even some more novel activities such as getting to drive a real JCB! Plus the surroundings are stunning too.