Eurocamp/Canvas type holiday France or Italy? (or even spain)- never done this before- any advice?

[Tiredemma]

Looking for next year but equally trying to do it on a budget (if at all possible).

Cheapest looks to be somewhere like Brittany as wont have to factor in too much by way of petrol- but weather can be patchy I have heard?

I would love to go further afield (Italy/spain) but really not sure about the journey.

We have DS1 (15) Ds2 (13) and DD (she will be almost 3) so really need a site that will cater for all of them.

Would really value and welcome any advice on this type of holiday as we have never done it before. Positives and negatives

The tents seem like the cheapest option but are they awful?

We have just got back from our second eurocamp holiday.
We fly, and then stay in a static. Really enjoyed it. We've chosen the site by airport accessibility and children's pools, but my 6 and 4 ( 5 and 3 last time ) have had a ball. There were also lots of teanagers about, and evening discos etc advertised.

The tents I've seen are very different to my mental picture of a tent. Big, can stand up in them. Wouldn't do a tent without a car tho.

Have you looked at an overnight ferry to somewhere further south if you want weather but not too long a drive? But then we are on 6 hrs no stops, not operation stack just to get to Dover, so we don't contemplate it!

Thanks for your response. Which site did you stay on? I'll have a look at the overnight ferries- I really want to avoid Calais/Dover.

depending on where youre coming from, dont make the mistake of thinking Brittany is closer because its north. We drove Calais to Quimper/Benodet a few years ago and it took over 10 hours. You can get the ferry to st malo or caen but thats expensive and long. If youre going from calais, you could get to the dordogne or vendee as quick or quicker than western brittany, and the motorways are very good north to south

We are due to go on our 4th Venue holiday to Berny Riviere, just north of Paris. You can also book through Canvas, Eurocamp etc.
We choose this site as it is just a 2.5 hour drive from Calais and there is so much for the children to do. There are indoor and outdoor pools with flames, toddler area with slides, fountain area, swimming area and outdoor cooler pool with lazy river, there is also a lovely man made beach with fresh water lake for swimming, a nice beach bar, loads of cheap activities for children including bouncy castles, trampolines, go karts, bungee trampolines, boating lakes, laser tag, bowling, soft play, 4 play parks, fishing, games room, climbing wall, zip wire...I could go on and on!
My boys love it and at the end of August the prices go right down. We have paid just over £200 for 3 nights in a 3 bed mobile home, which is a bargain in the summer holidays!

Here are a few pictures

My boys are 15 and 12 and there is loads for them to do. My sister's boys are 6 and 3 and they also love it. My sister finds it a very relaxing break as they are constantly entertained

Should say pool with flumes not flames. Blimmin predictive text!

We go to south vendee most years with eurocamp. This year we managed to get a sun holiday for the 24th-31st August near La Rochelle. Sailing from Portsmouth - Cherbourg on the fast craft so only a 3 hour sailing and approx 5 hr drive down. Total cost for holiday and ferry (not inc spends) £400!!!!!!!
All the sites in this area are fab, multiple pools (indoor and out) with flames etc. Kids clubs most days with loads of activities. Beaches and towns are walking distance. We don't tend to stay at the same one twice but have yet to be disappointed!

Just to add, weather has always been fab for us too. Generally we've gone may, June and July and never been much below 24 degrees!

Thanks for the advice here. I recall staying on a site in St Jean De Monts as a teenager. Just discussed with DP and think we are going to look at sites in Vendee or south Brittany.
Is Eurocamp the best of those types of operators?
Thanks again all

Eurocamp are good, but im going to try canvas next year as I had a nose round one of their maxi tents and they are great. Theyre also a fair bit cheaper. Not as many parks though

Yelloh seem to share the same sites as well.

You don't need to go that much more south of Brittany to get better chances of more sunshine, vendee or a little further, even inland

You are only sleeping and a bit of cooking in tent so it doesn't matter, they are fine

Book early if you go to the vendee

Take store cuboatd food with you to keep price of holiday down as France is procey in some areas for food

Oh yes anything after the 21 august in France and usually the price goes down

We did this year- eurocamp, vendee site.

£400 for 4 flights and car hire (inc. child seats) from easy jet, £900 for a two bedroom caravan which sleeps 6.

Le grand defi high wire place is well worth a visit.

Great advice- thanks.

micah- who were those flights with and from where?

I did say, easyjet :) car hire was a package deal with the flights.

Flight to Nantes. From gatwick.

We're off to Berny Rivière best week - we love it there. Actually, I'm never that impressed with Eurocamp. I usually use their website to find a campsite I like then I book directly through campsite - much cheaper and generally better quality accommodation.

Next week, not best week although I am hoping it's a good week!

We love Berny too, Della. Hope you have a lovely time there next week. We have always used Venue as DH gets a discount through his work and have always been happy with them. I have never tried Eurocamp but have seen a few people moaning about the caravans not being that clean on Trip Advisor. My sister used Canvas in April and was very impressed with her static home. She even had a bottle of wine waiting for her! They do those nice looking wooden lodges too.

just back from a trip with Canvas in a static in the Gironde Peninsular. Wouldn't recommend the Gironde as a bit dull - just lots of trees and tiny villages, but some great pale sandy beaches - depends on what you're after though. We went that far south to get more guaranteed weather. We took the Portsmouth to St Malo overnight on way down and Caen to Portsmouth on way back in daytime, breaking up the journey on the way back up with overnight stops in a couple of towns.

Great caravan - immaculate, but you are inspected for cleanliness on last day - so you have to leave it very clean - felt like I was being examined!! Canvas was about £200 cheaper than Eurocamp for a bigger static, but they'd sub-contracted our booking to Tohapi a French firm. The reps only spoke a little bit of English and we were the only brits on a French / German dominated site. It was fine for us, but could be isolating for older kids, whereas sites that have a lot of Eurocamp places would have more english speaking reps and kids to mingle with - if that's something you need.

Think we'll go with the Vendee for next year, as we've been in the past pre-kids and will take a chance on the weather, though toying with northern spain / portugal too and getting 24hr ferry.

Hope you find something

We stayed with canvas in southern Brittany in one of their safari tents. We stayed in August with our 5 and 2 year old. The site was called les deux Fontaine. The tent and site were amazing. Lots to do locally, we hired bikes and went to some lovely nearby towns and villages- Concarneau, Pont Aven. The main downside was the travel. We live in Durham and travelled down to Dover. The drive from Calais to Southern Brittany took a very long time, and to be honest we won't be doing it again until the children are older. We are thinking of going with Canvas again and going to Holland in the Newcastle ferry. We're not bothered about having hot weather so Holland is fine for us.
We have also stayed at Berny with Canvas a few years ago, only 2 hours from Calais and lots to do. We stayed in a normal caravan but the wooden lodges looked fab.
I would definitely recommend Canvas especially the Safari tents, they're lovely inside and it only cost us £1000 for the week right in the middle of the school holidays.
Hope that helps

I recommend the Les Castels campsites in France (you can book direct or go via Eurocamp, Canvas etc). Four or five star campsites that offer pitches and mobile homes.

We have stayed in three different ones, in mobile homes (I can't do tents for more than a couple of nights).

Vendee is approx 7 hours from Calais by car and the weather is allegedly ore reliable than Brittany and Normandy (we certainly found that in August last year).

The nicest campsite we've ever stayed in is La Garangeoire in the Vendee, quite rural and you need to drive to the beach, but lots of activities on site. Our kids are younger so perhaps you need to read some reviews to see if your older kids would like it.

Yelloh might be worth considering too. Haven't stayed there myself though. I think Yelloh, Eurocamp etc classify their sites as suitable for teens, littlies etc.

Forgot to say, I think you pay more if you book via Eurocamp but then you get extra services and also reps and kids' club (personally I don't think it's worth it - you'll find there are people who can speak English at reception on these sites if you don't speak French).

Second the Vendee - have been there for the last 3 years to different places and its lovely.

My advice would be to pick a campasite out of a Eurocamp brochure and then google it direct - we saved nearly £500 by booking direct last year and there really is no difference - my kids aren't really into clubs anyway. I found we were in a French part of the campsite which was quieter and frankly more pleasant anyway!!