flying not driving for camping holiday

[Zisterhood]

Please can anyone tell me if they have flown rather than driven for a European camping hol? We would love to book up for 2017 but our car wouldn't make the journey. Any recommendations please?

We did once, flew to Bordeaux and rented a car. Family of five, brought all of our own equipment. It was an adventure and fun but I am not sure I would do it again.

Flights plus car hire was expensive and it is useful to have a car when camping if only to go to supermarket.

I like the idea of basic / minimalistic camping but it's nice to be able to bring chairs, body boards, books, games, especially if it's for more than a few days.

You could fly and go to a ready pitched tent.. but I can never quite justify the cost.. One day I might!

Thanks Another day. The websites I've looked at Canvas and Yelloh haven't put up their prices for next year yet so I'm not able to price anything. What I had in mind is a mobile home and not taking our own tent.

Eurocamp have a couple of Italian lakes sites which are easily accessible by train from airport, my friend did it without needing hire car...but had pre-erected tent there so no 'stuff' needed!!

Easy to do in Italy. You could try the campsites around Venice. Easy flight and lots of buses from both Treviso and Marco Polo or a taxi. Once there you don't need to leave the site as there is so much to do and right on the beach too, although most people do a day trip to Venice, for which you also don't need a car.

Try looking at Union lido, ca'savio and Marina Di Venezia.

Other companies are Canvas, Venue Holidays and there are some Dutch companies too.

Thanks for the replies. There is certainly lots to look at. Really like the look of Marina di Venezia.

We've flown to Corsica twice now - cheap flights with Easyjet - for 3 weeks each time, and taking all our own stuff. Picked up hire car at airport. Quite easy with the right kit.

Robens Vista 600 canvas tent in one hold bag - 23kg
Large North Face bag with 2x large expel down/synmats and 2x decathlon blow up mats, light down duvet and sheet for us, thin sleeping bags for kids. 4x helinox/equivalent chairs and lightweight canvas table, 2x lightweight hammocks. 17kg
Wheeled suitcase with msr flex 4 pan set, sporks, other bits and bobs, snorkels, shoes etc. about 20kg

2x hand bag holdalls with clothes (one adult and one child clothes in each, to be split into shopping bags on arrival)
2x hand bag rucksacks with eletricals, books etc.

Bought all suncream, shampoo, shower gel etc at airport once through weigh in.

Campsites on corsica don't generally take bookings, so fairly free to move around. Only advice after this year would be that it's fabulous to have a chambre d'hotes for the last night if you've got an early flight back!

A brilliant way to travel for us. Can recommend campsites ...

Badger, that sounds awesome.

Off to Google your equipment list. Our tent had to fit the criteria of being less than 15kg for the purposes of plane journeys!

PS: would love campsite recommendations!

Hi another day ...
Mats should have read Exped ... we have one downmat and one synmat. Both ok for hot weather, but downmat better for winter camping. We took our 4tog spundown duvet which folds really small and a sheet.
Kids have decathlon forclaz inflatables and thin decathlon sleeping bags.
Table similar to this one link
2x helinox chairs, and 2x similar to these link

Campsites:
Our favourite - been twice now: Vigna Maggiore near Olmeto/Propriano. www.vignamaggiore.com/#!home/cl57
Large campsite, but awesome pool and nice facilities.
Propriano a bit like Calvi, but less busy. Drive to a fabulous beach at Campomoro, but get there early if you want to park. Good pizza takeaway just down the road.

Others we would recommend:
Tizarella in the Asco valley. www.camping-tizarella.com
Not too far from the airport for the first stop - and apparently they do take reservations. I think we were lucky to get a place, so I would reserve in future. Fab river for swimming, and good place to ascend Monte Cinto if that's your thing (not mine!)

Le Panoramic, near Calvi www.le-panoramic.com
Away from the busyness of the coast, great pool and bar area, but a bit of a hike to the nice facilities if you're on the top terrace like we were. Awesome sunsets.

U Fuconu at Zonza - in the mountains. Don't think this one is online - we saw it en route and decided to stay. Cheap, but the pool is 3euro extra. Good respite from the heat of the coast - and fun horse racing if you're there on a Sunday. The road from here over Bavella to the east coast is very windy for a very long way - not for those who suffer car sickness even a little ...

Santa Barbara, Corte.
www.camping-santa-barbara.com
Small campsite near the road, but very friendly and nice pool. Good for visiting Corte and Restonica - a must. Take a fleece if you walk to Lac du Melu - it's been cold at the top both times we've been.

We've also stayed at Monte Ortu in Lumio and La Vetta at Porto Vecchio, but we weren't that impressed with these ...

Let me know if you want to know anything else. It's a completely awesome island - I'd probably go back every year given a choice, and camping makes it so much cheaper than trying to find any other accommodation. Met hardly any other English people camping.
Thinking about the next adventure now!

Forgot to say... Chambre d'hotes La Ventulella for our last night, was every bit as awesome as their website suggests. Worth every penny. Dinner with the hosts, who speak English was a lovely end to our holiday, and only 50 mins drive back to the airport.

www.ventulella.com

Thanks for this. Sounds like a wonderful holiday!

I second MissWimpy; we went to Union Lido this year with 3 kids and one huge hold-all!

Easyjet to Venice, direct summer bus dropped us outside the campsite (I bought the tickets online but could just have easily have got them there), bus man directed everyone to the correct stop and driver checked where people wanted to get off. It was €50 return for the direct bus for 4 of us as 3yr old DD didn't pay, it would have been a bit cheaper if we'd got the local bus and changed in the local of Lido de Jesolo but I didn't realise that at the time.

All we took other than our clothes was a tea towel! We stayed in a Jungle Lodge with Suncamp, a Dutch company, and they provided all bed linen, a little pack with j cloths and a couple of bin bags. They really were much better than Eurocamp!

All the campsites along that stretch by Union Lido are accessible by bus, as is PuntonSabbioni which is where you catch the boat into Venice if you go in for the day.

I third MissWimpy! We've flown and camped loads of times (including taking our own tents pre DC) and Marina di Venezia was definitely one of the easiest. Other options but more tricky are are Bella Italia, we flew to Milan but Verona is closer. Fly to Geneva and stay in one of the Annecy campsites. We've always used public transport rather than hiring a car.

Just back from Union Lido - actually flew to Milan Bergamo because the flights were much cheaper than Venice (I think we paid £450 for 5 of us for 2 weeks in August) and then hired a car from Bergamo and drove (booked it early - I think it was £206 for the 2 weeks through Europcar). Probably spent £100 on tolls, petrol and the additional insurance.

Meant we had a week at Union Lido, but stayed at Lake Garda for a few nights and near Florence for a couple of nights too.