Camping in France....any advice?

[ArtyFartyQueen]

Hi

Thinking about trying camping in France in the Easter holidays with some friends. We’d like somewhere that would be warm enough to go to the beach/swim in the pool etc but want to minimise travelling for hours in a car if possible!

Wondered if anyone had any advice on general camping in France, where is best to go, and the best way to get there (will have car!) and any suggestions of great campsites for a range of ages!

I am not sure anywhere in France is warm enough to beach/swim outdoors at Easter. I would need to be looking for sites with indoor heated pool at that time and it is right at the beginning of the French season so many sites won’t be open. castels sites seem to all be of a good standard so that is a reasonable starting point and the via Michelin site will calculate toll charges and travel times from your ferry port. Vendee is nice And reasonable travel time but not that warm.... not sure anywhere is though at Easter

We like Camping du Haras because it's an attractive, quiet and friendly site but it still has a lot for the children to do. It's open all year round and has an indoor pool and a heated outdoor pool with lazy river and water slides. It's in Brittany so if you catch the ferry to Le Havre or Caen, it's not much driving.

I'm really not sure anywhere within an easy drive will be warm enough at Easter. Many French don't open until April. My parents live on the Med near the Spanish border. It can be cool, chilly and changeable weather that time of year even that far south. They certainly wouldn't be swimming in the sea. There are some centerpark type locations in Belgium/Holland with amazing indoor pool complexes which are probably a better bet at that time of year.

We've just been to the Vendée and even with the temperatures in the high 20s if it was windy the kids got cold in the pool or the sea pretty quickly.

It was also over 5 hours from Cherbourg which was a bit longer than we initially expected!