Centre PARC's/eurocamp/landslide parks abroad?

[sailorcherries]

We're looking at summer holidays and trying to find a compromise - DP hates flying and gets bored sitting at a pool all day, I still want to to somewhere warm but not scorching.

We're now looking at the aforementioned parks abroad, static caravan/chalet type holidays. The idea would be to drive and use a ferry (which DS(7) sees as an adventure), so we've looked at France, The Netherlands etc but as we've never done this before we're at a total loss. Ideally we'd like somewhere with activities to do, more lake and mountains than beaches but also within a commutable distance to other towns/areas of interest to break the stay up.

Has anyone ever been to somewhere like this? What is your honest opinion? Can you recommend any resorts/countries that would suit?

If you want reliable weather and somewhere you can drive to south france is best. It might be worth booking a stop off hotel for the journey though as it is long. There is a lot to do like canoing, kayaking, rock climbing, horse riding, zoos, etc. One time I've been before we went to a Haribo factory, though I can't remeber where in France it was. Both the Ardeche and Dordogne are good. If you want mountains try pyrenees. I can't remember any specific parc names though. My main advice is to decide what you want and look for that. Eurocamp tells you how larger the campsite is, how many pools, facilites, how close to the beach, nearest town, so I would use that info to decide (as well as checking it has decent reviews)

one thing to note with eurocamp is sometimes the pools aren't heated so check on the pool info page if that's important to you. Tbh though I have stayed in one with an unheated pool and the sun warmed it, and once you got used to it you were fine. Think temperatre of a main lane swimming pool in the UK rather than a kids pool.

Some are heated though (kids pool temp) and if it is it will say on the pool details on the website

We've been thinking about a Eurocamp holiday - I think they sound great. Interested to hear about other people's experience.

Eurocamp are good, I did it for years as a child and have done it the last two years with my own children.
There's a park to suit everyone, there is a lot of variety. I would suggest you narrow down the area you can want to stay in, then look at the parks in that region and choose your favourites to price up. Virtually All parks have a pool, a takeaway of some sort, a little shop and a bar. Bigger sites have lively entertainment in the evenings and some have daytime activities organised too. Eurocamp also do decent kids clubs on some sites so worth looking at that for your DS to meet other children.

Following!

How do people find the drive? We are in Scotland though so a few extra hours for us.

Not sure about eurocamp etc but Austria is fantastic in the summer. Reliably hot but not scorching.

Lots to do - Alpine slides. Skiing or sledging on the glacier lots of open air swimming in lakes (with lifeguards etc).

We do this type of holiday and go via the tunnel as it's considerably cheaper.

We've been to the Loire and the Vendee which are between 5-6 hours drive from Calais. We're going to the Vendee again this year. The weather has been good every time (August) but July is generally even better.

I can highly recommended La Garangeoire in southern vendee although you pay a premium to stay there.

Friends go to Hof van Saksen in the Netherlands and rave about how good it is!

There’s a new center parcs in Bavaria which would give you lakes and mountains. Allgau I think.

Look at Canvas, yelloh and huttopia. Eurocamp, canvas have pitches in parks so can be cheaper booking direct with campsite. Huttopia run their own sites and are more laid back, smaller sites. We drive either tunnel or ferry and usually head towards Dordogne. Loire is nice but had bad weather one summer. Alps is lovely, some great sites around Lake Annecy and lots to do. Driving in France is much easier than you think. Go for it.

@jeremycorbynsbeard where did you stay in Austria? Sounds interesting but I haven't got a clue where to start looking. Thanks

We stayed in 2 Landal Parks this year in Belgium and France. I would recommended them

milkit we stayed in Kaprun.