Talk to me about camping in France.

[tiredemma]

we have only done long weekends in the uk- DP making noises about france next year.

any advice?

Oooh - where were you waswondering? We've just got back from a site near Guerande.

Ah. We went to Carnac for the day. We were here

NO NO NO to vendee

fill of brits

go SOUTH

Re there nice places that aren't as 'organised' in terms of 'fun packed evening entertainment'
ie Better sunshine, nice scenery, space to run about in, clean, maybe a pool & bits & bobs to do for kids??

i'm thinking of going to france next year, to hopefully find better weather, have some daft questions for those who have been >

1. what is a good price to pay for campsite in France
2. what is a euro to a pound?
3. is it easy to find things/ are there english speakers (should i sign up to French evening classes before we go?
4. am i mad considering going alone with my 2 dc?

when answering questions please bear in mind i have not been abroad before (except a day trip to France when i was at school, a while ago). it was francs and lire back in those days. my scool girl french has disappeared with the rest of my brains

Am also watching this thread with next year in mind. We've been to the Vendee for the last few years (alas not this year), but would agree with Cod, the weather is variable. If you really want to be sure of good weather it's got to be further south. DH and I have decided that's what we'll do next year - any recommendations?

After this year's crappy summer we too have decided to head to the south of france next summer. Think that we are going to do a bit of mixing and matching - may use some tesco Clubcard vouchers with French life for a week somewhere, then do it independently for the rest.

Any good guidebooks / brochures for sites or good websites?

How long a drive is Vendee from ports?

We were near sables d olone and got to le havre in 6 hrs, but , it would be less to st malo or caen.

Ooh, watching with interest. Would love to take our tent to France and drive there ourselves. Have NO idea where to go though to actual recommendations and links would be hugely appreciated!

Campsites in France often well equipped, have spent time in the Loire and loved it lots to do, good cycling, kids enjoyed the pools. However, would say it's not a particularly cheap option, especially if you go for a high spec campsite with pools, kids clubs etc. We spent 2 weeks in gites this summer for not much more than we would have spent camping and obviously you have better facilites etc. You don't get the kids clubs etc however, it really depends what you are after. There are likely to be people on the campsite who speak some english but if you are out in the sticks don't rely on it. Everything works much as is does in this country though - petrol, supermarkets etc so it's not too daunting. However if you get chance to learn some French this is really appreciated and will earn you a much better welcome.

we went camping in France this year (eurocamping though as wanted a wee bit of luxury). The site was in the Jura region - East France on the swiss border. It took about 7 hrs from Calais and was actually an easy enough drive. Tolls were quite expensive though.

We stayed at La Pergola, Lac de Chalain and it was really beautiful. There was lots to do on site and is a real outdoorsy area. There was lots of pitches for people with their own tent/van.

I am keeping an eye on this thread as we want to take our tourer caravan over to frabce but havnt a clue where to start we quite fancy Brittany but not sure on the length of time or ferries to get there or any other places that anyone can recommend with a tourer caravan it is a big one as well so need a big pitch as it is a 6 berth 23 ft long