camping in France summer 2010 - too expensive now or not?

[mollythetortoise]

We had a great time camping (well mobilehoming) in Brittany last summer.

I would really like to rebook again for this coming summer, the Loire this time - but not sure if it is going to be VERY expensive to change pounds to euros by the time we go. I have costed the holiday and it will be about £1800 for 6 days in a tent and then 4 days in a mobile home plus overnight ferry portsmouth - caen.

Do I go for it and book or wait and see? What are others doing?

It was interesting that last year the rep said they had had their quietest season for years, and there were lots of empty mobile homes on the site we were on (to our benefit as it wasn't crowded)

They said their "bread and butter" - retired folk who normally come May/June/July stayed away last year due to the drop in the pound.

If people aren't going to the Eurozone, where are they going?

I'm not sure I can face a wet week in crowded cornwall.

w e arnet doing keycamp this year
we are doing last minute

I did think about late booking but can you get ferry crossing last minute? Wouldn't that be booked up?

We are still going but booking directly with the campsite - saves a lot to do that. If you are flexible on dates the last week in August is a bit cheaper usually. Off the top of my head think 9 nights in a luxury mobile home is going to cost us something like 750 euros plus ferry/tunnel.

jesus that sounds steep

have you looked at 'venue'

no a different hol
twas TOO £££ euro wise

We are priced out of that sort of holiday now. Last year we had a week in Dorset and a week in Devon staying at friends' second homes and had a lovely time, weather not too bad, quite a few days on the beach.

Next year dh has a big job on in June which will pay for something better - we are thinking villa in Croatia, probably.

that was the price on keycamp and similar on canvas. I did lots of variations hence the 6 days in a tent as that worked out cheaper!

I thought it best to go from tent to mobile home rather than the other way round so something to look forward to!

but yes , I could look at the sites themselves rather than through canvas et al.

I really liked the look of the kids camp with canvas though.

I'd also recommend finding a site that you like and seeing if you can book direct -it will be the extortionate, rip-off prices of the western ferry crossing that will get you.

You can get to the Loire in 4/5 hours from Calais, we did it this year via Paris, using Eurotunnel which is just fab - save up those Tesco vouchers!

We go further south and keep the holiday simple, picnics, walks, swimming in rivers, barbeques and cheap wine. Our eating out is Plat du Jour at lunch or the patisserie!

Which site in the Loire were you thinking of.

In answer to your op, yes it is expensive but I would rather eat out less than camp in the rain!

arf at dhs big job

I can recommend this site in the Loire

here

I stayed with them a couple of years ago, booked direct and it was lovely (though weather is not as guaranteed as other parts of France)

I looked at that big job and thought it looked dubious! Couldn't think of another way to put it lol.

op - am still expecting croatia villa or apartment to be cheaper than nice mobile home in France. Its all about the euro.

And mine are not that bothered about kids clubs. Most campsites run their own which everyone can go along to anyway.

the plan was to do Chateau des Marais for 6 nights in a tent and then 4 nights at Camping Parc de Fierbois.

The second site was chosen as it had the kids club which I am sure my dd will like once she's into the holiday. She's a slow burner!

the tent is purely a cost saving measure as a mobile home on both sites was ££££.

my dd will be 7 and ds 3.

But it will be a £3.5- £4k holiday all in and I can't help thinking that is a LOT of money. Plus I think the £ will drop even further against the euro between now and August so i am nervous about booking!

ooh yes Nancy, that is the site I was thinking of. It looks lovely.

Yes yes, to booking direct. We went to a site in Tuscany a couple of years ago and got chatting to a couple who had booked through Eurocamp. They had paid double what we had paid.

Go to one of the big supermarkets and stock up. Carrefour have a new basic range that is very cheap. Cereal, tins of soup, pasta, etc. So you can save a bit of money there.

I suspect that the pound will stay where it is but you might find that you will get a good last minute offer if you hang fire. If you are not bothered about going to a particular campsite.

How many people? For a 5-berth mobile home it's a max of 784 for a week in peak season (644 for the second half of August) if you book direct according to the website....

Could you do it in your own tent? We have just booked 18 nights at La Garangeoire for next August and it'll be just over 700 euros. We are planning to go Dover -Calais this year with an over night stop as Brittany Ferries just too £££ now.

I know that La Garangeoire is pricey for a campsite but the facilities are so good and there's a kids club too!

You could even get a week in La Garangeoire in a mobile home for 800-900 euro by booking directly.

venue

I use a Fairfx card which is a prepaid Mastercard. You buy Euros at whatever exchange rate is showing on the day so for last year I bought 400 Euros well in advance to pay for a cottage in Germany so that I knew if the pound dropped further my holiday wasn't going to cost more than when I booked it, and it did plummet hugely so I did save a fair bit. There's probably some drawback (eg. the exchange rate improves) to doing this but I wanted to know exactly what it was going to cost and it worked well for us.

Nothing is going to entice me to pay hundreds of pounds for the vomit comit to Cherbourg so we do a Dover Dunkerque/Calais crossing or have used clubcard vouchers for Eurotunnel. Even counting in petrol plus potentially an overnight stay I think it works out a fair bit cheaper. Last years ferry crossing in middle of August was £41.

Another way of keeping costs down is to book a gite instead of a campsite, if you look around at websites where you book direct with the owners (gites de france, holiday rentals.co.uk, chez nous) there are a fair few round £400 a week in the summer holidays, a lot where you pay in sterling to British Owners which gets you round the Euro exchange problem another way. Obviously no kids clubs etc but what you save leaves a bit of cash for other things.

thanks everyone. I am going to explore all your suggestions tonight once kids in bed

Try Matthews Holidays?

NancyBotwin we also went to Marais this summer - we thought it was big and very British - but apparantely it's one of the smaller Eurocamp type ones!

You can book direct with them.

if you do fancy a gite then try Chez nous my parents have used them a fair bit and find them reasonably priced (so they say)

If it's the Loire you fancy then i can heartily recommend Chantepie near Saumur. A rental tent will cost you about E410-350 depending on when in August you go and a caravan 585 a week.
Obviously ferries aren't included but then again they weren't in your original price either.

Here you go Chantepie check our the reviews on ukcamping too.

I thought Marais was quite small! (but in a good way - felt happy for my kids to wander around on their own). They loved the pool area.