Eurocamp - yes or no?

[CrystalHaze]

Anyone with any experience of Eurocamp? We're hoping to book a French campsite near a beach, but some of the negative reviews of overcrowding, poor facilities, etc, are giving me pause for thought.

Any recommendations, please? Eurocamp or other similar providers (looking for a cabin with a toilet, rather than a tent, due to little ones).

Thank you

We went with Eurocamp last July, DD was 2.5 at the time. We were limited in terms of airports, so stayed in one fairly near Paris. It had a man-made beach rather than the real thing (which was fine for DD, she loved it), lake, pools, bags of woodland for cycling / pony trekking etc and we had a great time- there was loads to do. We also did a day trip to Disney.

The weather was great and it wasn't overcrowded. When we went there were no English families there however as it was term time. There were plenty of people from Scotland, NI and ROI though. Our accommodation (mobile home thingy) was very good, with bags of room, a garden and bbq.

Hope that helps a bit!

we have done eurocamp the last two years and ive booked again forthis year.
complete convert. Lovely on the phone. really helpful making changes or if you have any problems or questions.
good prices. can pay in installments, and quite a few of them have free kids clubs

We have done lots of eurocp trips - favourite is la place de view point Bernie rivière (excuse spelling) as its not too far to drive with little ones. Great site. Thoroughly recommend. Beekse Bergen in Holland great too. We did caravans whilst ours were small but now we go to the same sites but with own tent. Way cheaper (about a third of the price) but I know it's not for everyone.

Have done Eurocamp, great deals in term time - not so much in school holidays. Also try Canvas, often a little cheaper.

We've been to the Vendee a few times, Sol a Gogo is right on the beach and fairly compact. Not overcrowded even in July.

Try Charles Alexander Holidays (great, new caravans and v v reasonably priced), charisma and Hello France.

Have also been to Bel in Vendee - great as could ditch the car and walk everywhere and the nearby town and beach were lovely.

Also try using Eurocamp to find your campsite and then book direct with the site - far cheaper! Feel free to pm me if you need more info.

I agree with iloveaglassofwine. We also use the euro camp website to find campsites and then book direct. Usually better accommodation and cheaper (esp last 2 weeks of August when French prices drop a lot but eurocamp doesn't. Also look at the castels website (castels are an upmarket French campsite chain/ franchise).

Thank you all so much for your comments - much appreciated

I love the tips about booking direct - I had no idea you could go that, but anything to shave a bit off the price is a bonus (especially now we're locked into school holidays only. How I miss the days of term-time holidays )

Thanks again, you lovely people !

We've stayed with eurocamp a couple of times and had some lovely holidays including Les Ecureuils in the Vendee (nice clean site, just across road from beach with a great pool, but all the campsites appear quite compact - space is obviously at a premium so very different feel from inland site surrounded by countryside). Our boys enjoyed the eurocamp kids clubs ( which you can only use if staying through eurocamp) but this summer we've booked directly with a site in the Loire ( Chantepie) because of the massive difference in price when going in school holidays.

matthews holidays are great and cheaper, but less sites

If you book direct just be careful with your transport, Eurocamp give a very good discount on the western ferries (Portsmouth etc) which makes it worth going with them imo. If your dover/Calais it is much easier! Glad to here les ecreuils is good as we are going there this year...my recommendation would be les Paradis in the Dordogne, big pool and small beach on the river vendee. Totally fab site!

HettyD makes a good point about ferry prices. Some operators have discount codes you can use on Brittany Ferries. IIRC we got 20% off last year when we booked with Charles Alexander. Also Brittany Ferries are on some of the same campsites as Eurocamp etc and their prices were reasonable when we looked last year. Thought of another one to recommend - Camping le Chatelet near St Cast. Lovely site, lovely area and near some gorgeous little coves and beaches.