Booking mobile home direct with campsite

[kikidee]

I'm trying to book our summer holiday at the moment and have been looking at French sites with Eurocamp/Thomsons Al Fresco. I checked the price direct with the site today and it is considerably cheaper - a good £300 or so. I'm sure many of you will have done this and I would be grateful to hear of our experiences. My worry is that we get a mobile home that's a bit tired and lower standard than Eurocamp etc. is this likely to be the case?

We have done mobiles in loads of places. On balance Thomson or Eurocamp will probably have the better locations, but not necc so. Just read the specs very carefully as per the actual mobile. I try very hard to find a pitch map or use google maps on sat view and then phone the operator/campsite to find where their particular mobiles are on the site and how old they are. Also sometimes Trip Advisor and ukcampsite.co.uk can help.
Obviously if you book with the site you can't use the Eurocamp kids club, but lots of french sites have their own 'animation' teams.

I've found that on several sites, Eurocamp etc are in worse locations than the site's own mobiles (for example at Serignan Plage they are set out prison-camp style in one section in contrast to site's own/Yelloh accommodation which is nicely landscaped). On other sites (ie Le Paradis, Dordogne and the premium range at Serignan Plage) their mobiles aren't as nice as the site's own. On the other hand you know what you are getting, the kids clubs are fab and, in my experience, their customer service is quite good.

Thanks both for your comments. I'm now looking at Yelloh too as another option. My head hurts. Too many permutations!

We use vacanzesoliel.
Much cheaper than canvass and thomson etc.

Also have a look at

www.camping-castels.co.uk

Will you be driving or flying?

Thank you for further suggestions. We will be flying - we're in Scotland with a car on its last legs so driving is not really an option. Site recommendations very welcome. DS is 10 and DD is 7 so we need lots to do. They love water slides and I like being able to get off the site and see other places. We know around Argeles very well and like it.

So will you be hiring a car too?

We stayed in a yelloh one and for the price of a mobile home through the usual camping companies we had a little bungalow place, in a great location. The only thing is that you don't get the kids club stuff, but that didn't really bother us.

Yes, hiring a car too.

We have done it direct many times. Last year we booked a week in lake Garda, Thomson price £1600, direct was about £850. The caravans were next to each other! They did get a nice sun umbrella tho which we didnt but it wasn't worth £750!!

Go for it and enjoy all the money you save