Camping abroad - what do I need to know?

[Honeymoonmummy]

Um...what it says above really. I've never been camping abroad, we live in NW England, me, DH and 19mo DD. I'd love to camp in France/ Italy but don't know the first thing about how to do it really! Do you take all your stuff over and drive or fly/ train and get a pre-erected tent of theirs?? It would be a heck of a drive from where we live...

What's the cheapest way to do it and can anyone recommend an easy first trip?

YOu can do either.

We alwasy take our own tent, so don;t know what's cheaper

We always drive and take our tent, but if neither of you have camped before, maybe you would prefer a pre-erected tent. It's a long way to drive to France from the NW, but our friends do it every year. MAybe you should try flying to somewhere - you can go outside the summer hols, so it shouldn't be too expensive and you might get a last minute bargain if you head off soon?

We are in the NE and this year we are crossing from Hull to Belgium overnight. This will only add a couple of hours onto our drive through Europe and saves us the 6 odd hours to Dover and back! I find it's easier driving abroad. We went for the first time last year and I loved it, give it a go you won't regret it

Yes, driving in France is so much better than in England, particularly in the auto routes, though the tolls can work out quite expensive!

Campsites are great with children. If you dont have all the kit then I would go for ready erected that way you dont need to provide too much. There are 4 big operators - Eurocamp, Keycamp, Canvas, Siblu. They all provide their own tents so you know exactly what you will get. Alan Rodgers is another company - they use the campsites own kit so there will be more variety.

My experience of all the campsite companies is that their customer services are very good and will help you through the whole process.

Whether to drive or fly depends on how you feel about driving. We love it and would never fly. With children we prefer the tunnel over ferries but it is all personal choice!

I would go for it and enjoy it!

We go camping in the UK but I've never been abroad. Is it not a problem driving on the other side of the road in a UK car? Also, where would be a good specific place to go?

Although we are experienced campers, for dds first camping trip in France we did use eurocamp. They were great when dh got a tummy bug the night before we had to leave....

also when we went with our own tent to the south of france with our little car that had no room for chairs etc, even though we had just turned up as independent campers to a campsite and had nothing to do with eurocamp, the young reps decided that we needed more than our blanket to sit on and lent us one of their tables and some chairs. brilliant!

Which site did you go to Kitten? I'm just looking at the Eurocamp website now.

The one we used was in Brittany, close to St Malo - can't remember its name, it had stables on site. I'll try and remember for you.

just got back from 1st trip in France - took our own tent but at the site
www.chateau-drancourt.com/ were also Eurocamp/Keycamp and an one firm i think were Dutch called rent-a-tent, good site and local town was lovely ...we went as less than an hour from Calais, the rent a tent rep lady was lovely as got chatting to her whilst being nosy so would have a look at their prices. site was good though pool a bit too cold for us if you are going out of season you can use an ACSI card which got us a rate of 15euros a night..

sorry meant less than 1.5hrs from Calais...

The Les Castels sites are lovely - google them!

If you really want more reliable weather, I would recommend you go down to the Vendee or further south. Brittany is really beautiful, but the weather can be dodgy, although I reckon July is better than August if you go before the summer hols start (and it's cheaper!)

Honeymoonmummy - we found driving in France easier than driving in the UK. UK Car isnt a problem just take your time and pay attention when coming out of petrol stations & car parks as this is the time we find when our attention wanders.