pre-erected tents in French campsites

[madeuplovesong]

Hello, I'm Looking to book 2 weeks in August somewhere in west/sw France. Must be pretty near a beach. Would like campsite with all the usual facilities, restaurant, shop, pools etc. Very much like sites in forests for shade etc. Kids will be 5 and 2.

Accommodation is where I am dithering! Last year we went with eurocamp to camping cote d'argent near Bordeaux, absolutely loved it, best holiday we've had. Stayed in the aspect mobile home, top end of budget etc. However, that was before we had to travel in school holidays!! Equivalent holiday now is approx £1k more and it just feels like a bit too much for what is ultimately a holiday in a campsite (I.e not a posh villa with pool).

So, my thinking on this is perhaps to go other end of the scale and camp and spend the money saved on other holidays etc! I really don't want to stay in the mid range caravans as find them so cramped. We have never camped before and not that keen on investing a whole lot in equipment just yet (because tbf this whole idea could go very very wrong) so have been looking at pre-erected tents, ideally on the luxury end, like the eurocamp safari tent or similar.

Has anyone stayed in these and got any advice to share? How comfortable are they (esp the beds!) and how extensive is the equipment provided? How hot do they get in summer?? Also is it feasible to fly and still camp - I think not, but we have never driven that kind of distance before and are very used to flying...thanks in advance for any experiences/advice!

Hi, I haven't done this, but last year I travelled by Eurostar to Marseille with my 2 kids and stayed in a fantastic campsite near Hyeres. I hired a car at Marseille station and it worked really well. The place we stayed at is called Camping La Pascalinette - great pool with waterslides so I could sunbathe and read while the kids went round and round and round on the slides...
We stayed in a mobile home that was very new and clean - so much more comfortable than UK ones I've stayed in. I'd really recommend it. The only things we had to bring were sheets and towels. I think the mobile home costs around £800 for a week if you go in the school holidays. And the Eurostar only cost £280 for an adult and two children return tickets.
Here's the campsite www.var-camping.eu/en/
Watching this thread with interest as I'm starting to think of our summer holiday and interested to see what else comes recommended.

Hi sanitygirl, thank you for your reply! that site looks lovely, as does the accommodation. I think we are looking for something very similar, but on the Atlantic coast - i really love Atlantic beaches.

I'm currently considering this site: www.vacansoleil.co.uk/camping/france/vendee/julien-des-landes-saint/camping-village-de-la-guyonniere-2023043/#tab_prices in the Serengeti tent! Still not as cheap as what you quoted, but looks to be under £2k for 2 weeks in August. I figure we could drive there fairly easily, but also flying to Nantes is possible. Would really love to hear from someone who has stayed in one of these tents, as they look like they are great, kids would love it (although would they survive without TV?!), and they are a good price. There has got to be a catch!

I haven't stayed on a euro campsite since I was a child (Brittany - both mobile homes and tents), so this 'first hand experience' may be useless as it's from a kid's perspective. All I can say is that the tents were great and worth going for if it means the difference between going and not going (we lived for the swimming pool and running around the site making mischief).

With regard to home comforts, as I recall they were proper old school campbeds (in the 80's so probably much better now). But you get a fridge, cooker etc., and toilets etc. nearby. Heat wasn't a big issue in the north, obviously, further south it may well be.

Again, this is probably useless information, but wanted to give my perspective. Actually, hold up, thinking about it now, probably wouldn't want to do a tent at all...the mobile homes were a whole other amazing world. And am having flashbacks to one year in Italy when I got lost going to the loos at age 7...terrifying!

Have you looked at camping indigo sites?

They have pre erected tents that always look good. Haven't stayed in them but have stayed on the sites a few times.

We stayed in a camping indigo site in the Dordogne. The canvas tents looked nice (they had a sort of porch thing too). Or booking direct with one of the Yelloah campsites, panorama pyla or les grands pins are nice and they have safari tents...

It looks like Indigo has been taken over by Huttopia. Not sure what that will mean practically speaking though as have not stayed at either.

We've stayed in both safari tents and regular Eurocamp/Canvas tents. They are fab with proper beds, the Safari tent beds are far more comfortable than the regular Eurocamp ones and we found Canvas ones more comfortable than regular Eurocamp ones. They are fully equipped and plenty of room but there's less privacy than in a mobile home and obviously you need to use the toilet/shower/washing up blocks rather than having it 'on tap'. La Rive is an amazing site with loads to do and it's on a lake as well as not far from the beautiful Atlantic coast. Biscarosse plage is well worth a visit. It's worth looking direct as some sites have their own accommodation. We stayed with Roan on Cote d'argent, they are a Dutch company and have tents too.

Have you tried looking at the French, German and I think Dutch eurocamp pages? If you can deal with translation then the same holiday you can find on the British pages will be a lot cheaper. We went eurocamping last summer and I was hacked off when I discovered it would have been £600 less if I'd booked via their French page

Thanks for such great replies! We have now booked at the site I mentioned above in st Julian des landes, in a safari tent! It's a bit of a gamble tbh, but excited to give something new a go. Must admit I am very reassured to hear the beds are usually comfortable. I'm not ready to give up on all home comforts just yet!

That's very interesting about eurocamp being cheaper to book via French/German sites, I wonder why that is.

I will report back on our holiday - just a shame it's 8 long months away.

Thanks again everyone