vague plan to book a month off in August 2015 - what should we do?

[DottyDot]

In short, very busy horribly stressful job so I'm thinking of planning ahead and booking the whole of August 2015 off (bit of unpaid, bit of leave) and going abroad somewhere with dp and ds's who will be 13 and 10 then.

Am v. excited even at the thought of it. Any ideas?! Budget unknown but not loads of money. Definitely want to go to France, even if to annoy ds1 who's currently in year 7 and hating french, so we're thinking immersion therapy might be good..?!

So possibly some kind of gite - any website recommendations would be good and/or Eurocamp? Plus then maybe inter-railing somewhere?

Just wanted to post really, as am getting all excited, and really need something to look forward to and ideas to dream about, without any definite plans or stuff...

Do you want hot/not so hot? Beach/countryside? Waterparks and mini golf or sporty things/walking? If it was me, I would do 2 x 2 weeks in one place. Packing / unpacking is a pain. Or I would drive to South of France, doing a couple of stopovers, then stay 10 days. The do another 2 weeks stay with a stop over on way home.

Suggestions:

Beaune, Reims, Troyes, Colmar

Provence handy for Uzes, Nimes, the Haribo museum and Pont du Gard

Vias Plage - everything you need in one place, funfair, mini golf, shops, restaurants, tree climbing, beach etc. Handy for waterparks/aquariums in Cap D'Agde, boat trips/cycling along the canal. There are numerous other campsites there.

This place in the Dordogne is lovely. Nice pool, big games room, friendly owners. Close to Les Eyzies. Loads to do nearby - caves, canoeing, castles, markets.

ooh thanks both. Funnily enough I've just started on some plans today. Am thinking 2 days in Paris, then down to the Languedoc region for a week or so - possibly Eurocamp/Siblu. Then over to Venice - again Eurocamp and then home and/or couple of days in Rome. I wanted to train it to Strasbourg and then Amsterdam but dp and ds's all think this is too much travelling so probably just looking at France and Italy, which gives us longer in each place which is probably good.

The possible fly in the ointment is v. annoying ds's who are already moaning about the number and length of train journies ungrateful little sods

Sadly, I've looked at flights and as long as we're flexible it'll probably be cheaper to fly everywhere. So we might do that and one day, dp and I will go inter-railing without pesky children...

Nothing fixed yet though - will probably go through many versions before I start booking stuff!

portofino have just clicked on your link and it's one I've looked at We can use Tesco vouchers for Siblu so that will save us a bit.

Yes, so we don't mind hot, I definitely like beach/water as long as I get some time by a beach. Ds1 really wants a gite/cottage with a pool rather than a bigger place as he's a real introvert and likes his peace and quiet - so probably one week in a gite-type place and one week in a Eurocamp-type place will suit everyone

Your other link is great too (le Banquet) Porto - thanks- just need to check where in France it is now

P.S. don't know why I said both

Vias is a bit cheap and cheerful, but for kids your age I would REALLY recommend it. So much going on and lots of kids their age to make friends with. The fact you don't need a car at all is a bonus. Plenty of choices of places to eat and nice deli takeaways. 15 mins in a taxi from Beziers airport.

For european train travel - look at www.seat61.com. It tells you everything you need to know about getting from one country to another, including the best time/place to buy tickets etc.

Le Banquet is not far from Sarlat in the Dordogne - so other side of France totally. There and Vias were dd's (10) favourite ever holidays and we will go back to both - but there are so many places to go! This year we are doing a Keycamp/Canvas mix between the Ardeche and the Jura, as dd gets bored on the beach and wanted to do more activity type stuff.

Have you looked into hiring a motorhome? My friend hired one and made her way to Venice. I don't believe it was too expensive.

Looking at Bahn.de Beziers to Venice is possible overnight.

Also Venice to Amsterdam And you go through the Alps during daylight/evening so stunning scenery.