Packed car to the South of France..?

[PinotPony]

After a few years of successful camping in the UK, we have A LOT of camping gear. We’re a family of four and like to be comfortable so have camp beds, SIMs, 8 man tent with extension and carpet, picnic table, chairs, camp kitchen, stove, gas bottles, BBQ… you get the idea. Our estate car is usually packed to capacity.

I’d like to venture further afield and am trying to persuade DH that camping in the South of France is a great idea. He is steadfastly unconvinced. He argues that we’ll be hellishly uncomfortable driving all that way with no room to move and, if we want to holiday in France, his Mum has a lovely house with pool in La Rochelle. He thinks I have turned into a crazy camping nut! He may be right.
But he’s missing the point. We’ve stayed at his Mum’s house numerous times and I want to do something different. Camping at a French site sounds blissful – nice weather, other campers to socialise with, wine, cheese… We could make a real holiday of it too, rather than the short camping breaks we have in the UK.

Please can you share your experiences of camping in France? Is it “nicer” than the UK? How do you manage with all the stuff? (I’m thinking a roofbox is the only solution) TIA.

We have camped in France many times. We re a family of six and have to take loads of stuff. We have a trailer on the car. We also break the holiday up to lessen the impact of the travelling. In previous years we ve stayed in the Vendee for a couple of nights before then heading south. Last year we had three days at a site in the ourskits of Paris and did two days seeing the sites. We go for the weather, the food and the scenery x

Honestly. It's not great- the French campsites can be very noisy and imo the French aren't very clubbable or good at communal living. And if you go far south it's just too hot in a tent.
But undiscovered heavenly gem:
Germany! Incredibly civilised, clean great on site facilities very picturesque and the weathers more variable in a good way. Lovely but not unrelenting hot. So sun bathing swimming and thunder storms.

Camping abroad is so different to the uk - go for it! You need a roof box and take minimal clothes. Also don't feel that you have to take food, washing stuff etc as you can buy it there. Stop overnight on the way down and you're sorted

We have a campervan, we do it in 3 stops straight down to Monaco. The sites I've been to, you don't see a lot of tents due to the heat. We have never really been spoken to by any other campers apart from other English people who recognise the UK plates. Suits me fine though! We just like the weather :)

We do this each year, and have similar amount of stuff to you OP eg. 8 man tent, table & stools, gas BBQ, Vango 'event shelter' chairs etc. We now tow a trailer with a top box on it (am beginning to think we might as well tow a caravan . We go to the other side of the Ardeche where the weather is reliably very warm but not quite as scorching as the south coast. We stop overnight on the way down at Dijon We've found a lovely site which doesn't have too much entertainment, but has an indoor and outdoor pool, with slide, bar, nice restaurant. We keep meaning to go somewhere else, but get drawn back to the same place each year!

Everything dawned'said.

Way too hot for us in a tent in the south of France. Impossible to sleep.

I am a massive fan of warm weather camping. Normally go for italy or south of france. Off to Spain this year.

You do however need a different tent to the standard uk tent. We have one from ebay originally made in the US. It is well ventilated and so doesnt get too hot BUT is crap in any kind of wind and not very waterproof. It would be awful in the UK. Our Uk tent though is an outwell one which would be rubbish in spain as little airflow and far too hot.

You don't need many clothes in fact last year I mainly rotated bikinis and the occasional sundress with flipflops. Plus no welllies/ waterproofs/ warm jumpers/ socks like you do in the uk.

We don't even take cooking stuff really...... bread cheese wine and takeaway pizzas! So that cuts down on packing. No big duvets either just sheets and fleece blankets which are also used for the journey.

Honestly once you've done proper warm weather camping you wont go back!

Our tent is very similar to this one. Our UK tent is more a traditional huge tunnel tent- would be very unpleasant in the heat

We have gone to Spain so even further! yes the car is packed to the maximum but you don't need the sleeping bags or jackets etc! First year as novices we packed our massive freeze box just to realise that everyone hires fridges at the campsite! brilliant, always chilled wine and beer! so that saves a bit of space! We have also bought a cheap BBQ when we arrive

Can highly recommend camping in Europe, I love it

We camp in France most summers, drove to Spain one year,and always have a great time. We take similar amount to you. I have cut down on clothes over time as you really don't need much. Kids will be in bathers majority of holiday.

No wellies and big jumpers needed, or blankets, or heater etcetc! Also, no need to take charcoal bbq as not allowed on most sites.

We have always found others campers to be really friendly in France and UK.

We have a polycotton tent so that may help with managing the heat and found it better to take our time driving through France, so stop overnight a few times each way. Means that kids don't get bored being in the car...

We camp in France,Switzerland Austria ,Spain and have ventured over to Italy ....absolutely amazing ...one year we had 8of us but we are lucky to have big car.i find less stuff each year ...sunshine =less clothes .I am more relaxed in Spain ..they love the children and are incredibly family friendly ....the sunshine changes everything ..we only eat outside BBQ & have recently invested in a cadac..go for it you will not regret it !

We cheat and hire a pre-erected tent. Have four kids and a roof box but too much stuff to fit out tent in too. We have camped in South of France and Spain and haven't found the tent too hot at night. Love the BBQ/pools/outdoor living. We stop over a fair bit on the way down. Off to Italy this year-cannot wait

My dh hated camping in this country (too damp), but enjoys France. We have a big trailer and I have a polycotton tent which makes a huge difference to polyester. For extra comfort we take a table top fridge, last trip dh bought a table top freezer for lollies and ice cream plus I take our large fans frim home for each tent.

This year dd insisted on her own polycotton tent, found a trout lake 4 on ebay which is in excellent condition so dd is really looking forward to coming with us.

If you have teens get them their own pitch next to yours, best thing we ever did. Space equals more comfort.

We stop over in Orleans on way down and way back, that first shower in your very own bathroom without having to keep pushing the button for water is divine.

Pointless taking charcoal bbq as most sites won't allow them on your pitch but there are communal ones available.

I love it, Gorges du Tarn for us this year.

If you're going South its worth looking at the cost of pre-erected tents, canvas is so much cooler at night.

If you have smaller, more compact camping gear for weekends you could so several stop overs on the way to La Rochelle? Then come back a different way.

Germany is lovely to camp in.

We've found pitches in France at the larger sites to be good, they usually have good hedge and tree cover.

Yes, I agree that a roof box is the way to go. We have a Handiworld soft roof bag and inflatable roof bars and I've been pleased with it so far.

Also pre erected tent here. Bikes on back of car, roof box, and then we fold 2 of the back seats down and have anything we need for quick access next to the door. We've got a big old estate tho which is like a hearse and I tend to overpack.