Campsites in France - best way to get there from Scotland.

[maldivemoment]

Hello all

I'm also posting this in the 'camping' forum in the hope that all of you who are much more experienced than us may be able to help.

After years of holidaying here in Scotland we're desperate for some sun and need to do it on a bit of budget so I've been looking at Campsites in France.

My initial thought was to pack the car with all our own camping gear and drive to our destination. However after doing a quick search of ferry prices it's looking fairly pricey, add on the fuel and road charges and it makes it even more £££. Plus the thought of driving for days to get to a holiday destination - with 2 wee folk in the back (6&8) - does not fill me with enthusiasm! I was looking at the south of France in the hope of good weather. I can't even face googling how long such a journey would actually take! (we're West coast of Scotland)

So I'm now wondering if we should try to get cheap flights (no idea the best way/time to do that but that's a whole other thread!) and maybe hire a car at the other side and rent a caravan/chalet type thing instead?

Have any of you lovely folk done such a holiday? Do you have any advice for this novice whose eyes are spinning with the number of campsites I've been looking at. I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole process and can't seem to find a starting point. I feel no further forward that I did 5 days ago!

So basically;

• self drive or cheap flight and car hire (if so how do I get a good deal on car hire. Where's best to look?)
• Book flights first then campsite or vice versa? From what I've seen some campsites get booked up v quickly.
• I've read some reviews comparing the heat in the caravans to be like a lobster being cooked in a pot! Would canvas type accommodation be better?

And finally, after doing a few sums, this is not going to be a cheap as I imagined, is it?

Thank you in advance?

Driving has always worked for us, but its DH who does the driving so that makes it easier for me but since the DC were young we have done similar holidays. We take a lot of stuff and the dog so driving is always easier for us, a lot of people agree driving in France is more relaxed then the Uk. As for crossing we tend to do the Eurotunnel which we get on the tesco clubcard points although i believe the crossing dover to calais can work out cheaper. Then we do one or two overnight stops on the way to our destination, as when we arrive to the sites we still tend to have most of the afternoon to relax, explore and take a dip in the pool. It depends how much you want to drive, if youre both willing to drive and how the DC cope in the car. There is plenty of aires on French motorways which i much prefer to our services, nice picnic benches and playgrounds.

We have never flown but Eurocamp/Canvas etc have a few car free sites which have everything nearby. If youre on facebook id recommend checking out the Eurocamp Unofficial Supporters Club, its not specifically just for people who want to stay with Eurocamp but there is a lot of useful and helpful posts on there in regards to flights and which company to book with and everything related to the sites.

We didnt find the heat in the van massively effected us until we went right to bottom of France close to the Spanish border and even then it wasnt that bad as you only real sleep in there.

If i was planning i would chose if i want to drive or fly
then chose an area we want to visit and find a site from there, if youre driving one of the main routes from Calais South there is a fair few one night stopover sites which allow you to just stay one night in their accommodation or it might work out cheaper to get a cheap Hotel. Friends we have who camp have little pop up tents for one night stops

Although if you are looking to fly, it might be worth looking into cheap flights from nearest airport and chose an area based on that

Sorry its very long, i would recommend checking out the Facebook group though there is a lot of knowledge on there

woah sorry i didnt realise the post was so long, but we love Camping/caravan holidays in France couldnt recommend them more

Wow Flizzz so much detail. Thank you so much!

We've used our Tesco vouchers in the past for eurotunnel to keep the cost down. It's cheaper than the ferries. Definitely shop around and fiddle with days to get cheapest option.
We love holidays in France, we've done camping and holiday cottages.

Lol just read PP definitely agree!!! Sorry for repeating!

Yes i agree with shopping around, if you decide on a site first worth pricing up if its cheaper to book accommodation direct or with an operator, if its a large site there can be quite a few different operators on site which really tend to vary in price with no much difference in accommodations

We drive from North Yorkshire to South of France now we set off early 1st morning travel to eurotunnel and drive 2-3 hours then have an overnight stop. The next day we drive down to the main site and arrive late afternoon. Dc are older now but when they were younger we did try tunnel one day, overnight stop in Calais then 2 other overnight stops before we actually got to the site, we only travelled 4 or so hours each day so we had most of the day at the sites but now we'd rather head straight to the sun and have more time at our main site.

I think if you want to drive and have more than a week id recommend splitting it up into mini holidays at each place, we did longleat one year as a stopover before getting the Portsmouth ferry and i know a lot of people who spend a few days in Paris/Disney.

If you dont want lots of driving both sides i would recommend the Brittany area, take the ferry Plymouth to Roscoff and there is a lot of lovely sites under 2 hours

I have a discount code for Brittany Ferries, I think it's better to pm them, so let me know if you want it!