Canvas holidays, Eurocamp etc, can anyone dumb it down for me?

[Notasunworshipper]

I'm quite keen on the idea of booking with Canvas holidays to France for the end of August. I've two boys aged 10 and 4 and seems to be lots to do for them.

It all feels a bit daunting.

I don't know France at all but we'd like a mobile home rather than a tent, and possibly a slightly nicer one. We'd like to be near a beach too.

Looked at flights to Bordeaux but they're quite expensive, I'm presuming the ferry crossing is cheaper but involves lots of driving?

I'm guessing up to 24 hours travelling time?

I don't mean to be rude, but this is all stuff you can look up. How would anyone on here know how much driving time it will take? We don't know where you live, or where you're going.

I haven't booked with Canvas, but have done Eurocamp. Decide how much driving you are prepared to do (I won't go more than 4 hours from a port) and then look at parcs on the website for beaches, kids clubs and so on.

Flyingpompom considering you didn't mean to be rude you did a good job of being rude. Why even answer if you've nothing useful to say?

Of course I realise that you don't know whether I'm travelling from Scotland or Dover. I'm not asking for an exact timescale, but experienced travellers to these sites might know I'd say, the sites are usually within a couple of hours of the ferry, or whether people spend a day travelling once they've arrived in France.

You know, just general helpful tips and advice.

I wasn't rude at all. I clicked on your thread because I expected you to be asking for general tips etc, but you didn't. You asked if the ferry was cheaper than flying and how long it would take you to drive there.
I just think you'd be better off with Google maps. That is my helpful advice.

No, I didn't.

It depends where you go. You could always look up flight prices to different towns closeby or other closeish airports to various sites you like the look of.
Driving could be ok depending on your starting point .

You can get to the vendee fairly easily from the north coast ports. Loads of sites there.

There’s a great eurocamp Facebook group who would probably be able to help pick a good site. (We never go to coastal sites, prefer rivers and lakes).

As well as canvas holidays and eurocamp also look at alfresco and yelloh villages.

For the record, I didn't ask how long it would take me.

I know how to use google maps, but, for example, one campsite I've been looking at is 8 hours drive from Calais, 7 hours from Roscoff. On top of the ferry crossing that's an awful lot of driving.

I didn't know if this was fairly typical for people to travel as it would be too much for us.

It may be that people could recommend good campsites close to the ferry port.

Oh ignore me. I'm having a grumpy morning. Sorry. Hope you genuinely do find some helpful tips.

Interested in answers OP as we have booked to go to French campsite in Aug. We got one of the few remaining spots though so I'm not sure how much availability you'll find now.

We are flying then have a 2 hr drive as we had to be in a particular region for the second half of the holiday.

We are doing a 3 hour drive from St Malo ferry port down to west coast of Brittany near Quimper, staying at Eurocamp. We are getting the overnight ferry to break up the driving.

I have twins , aged 11, have been to France every second year since they were 1. We are here now near Bordeaux. Booked with Eurocamp.
If you don't want a long drive once in France, I would suggest looking at www.leclarys.com/en/ in Vendée. Fab facilities, near beach, supermarket behind the site. Look it up on Trip Advisor and see if, by reading a selection of reviews, it is the place for you. We went there twice and twins made lots of friends and were busy virtually every moment of the day, only in the caravan/mobile home for food

Thanks all.

Having a grumpy morning myself to be honest, feeling overwhelmed with this holiday malarkey as trying to book last minute and it's left to me to do all the research, so probably not wording things well.

I dont think there is a normal amount of travelling time. You just have to work out where you want to go amd whether your family can manage the journey.
My kids are used to long journeys in the car. Driving down to the dordogne or south of france is not unusual for us and we do it over two days, but most people would probably prefer to fly that far.

Have you thought about the north.of france or belgium/holland etc if youre not a sun worshipper

We are only going as far as the Loire this year, but happily drive down to the Dordorgne or Cevenne regions, taking a couple of days. We’ll stop overnight at a Novotel or similar.

The road trip is part of the holiday for us, and we factor it in. But then I grew up doing that.

We usually use the train instead of the ferry too. It’s very quick and easy.

Des Ormes was our family favourite, not too far a drive from St Malo. Yes you can end up with a massive drive if you are not careful. Personally we preferred a longer ferry to a longer drive but it comes down to personal preference and budget.

I don't know anything about Canvas, but have you tried searching the Eurocamp site itself? Search results will tell you how far each site is from the nearest ferry port, how far a beach is etc. However, I have to echo burblife in that the availability for what you want now in peak season won't be great. When I booked last minute it was also the case that where accommodation was available, it was getting a ferry space that was the problem. So if you definitely want to go this year, you may have to weigh up what's most important and what you can compromise on.

Have a look on sky scanner for French airports (select nearby airports)
Or have a look at easy jet and Ryan air and where they fly to. There are a few random places like Limoges and Bergerac (also Perpignon, Carcassonne in the south) which might be cheaper to fly into?

Do some cross checking against sites, airports and Google maps.

You sound very grumpy OP! You are asking some weird questions.

"one campsite I've been looking at is 8 hours drive from Calais, 7 hours from Roscoff. On top of the ferry crossing that's an awful lot of driving.
I didn't know if this was fairly typical for people to travel as it would be too much for us."

If it's too much for you, don't do it! It's not too much for others. Tens and tens of thousands do these holidays every year. Some stay close to the port, some take 2 days to drive down to the south of France. Some go by plane and hire a car. Some go to seaside sites, others go inland.

The point is, what do YOU want to do? Where do YOU want to go? How much travelling do YOU want to do? We can't decide for you.

If it's of any use at all, we used to get the 7am ferry from Poole and drive down to La Garangeoire in the Vendee, which is about a 15 minute drive from beautiful amazing beaches where we did lots of bodyboarding. We would typically be on site by around 4.30pm, sipping G&Ts in the comfort of our top of the range mobile home.

Read the brochures!

It's not just the travel there. IME most sites are in places where need a car to do anything even if it's just going to the supermarket. We've driven to the Dordogne making the road trip a real part of the holiday and plan to drive to Italy next year.

It's not just the travel there. IME most sites are in places where need a car to do anything even if it's just going to the supermarket.

You can hire a car from the airport.
It's just a case of deciding what is important to you and where your starting location is and how much money you have.

If you live in Canterbury and you want to go to the Vendee then you will probably be happy to drive.

If you live in Manchester and want to go to somewhere in the south of france then you'd probably be happier to fly.

Twitterqueen, I don't think my questions are weird, but ok then.

I didn't say other people shouldn't do the drive, did I?

I haven't ever driven to France before and have only literally today started looking at these campsites. The only time I've caught a ferry was on a school trip 20 years ago.

I didn't know if I was missing something because it seemed a long time travelling. I still don't understand with the ferries because it seems that you can catch one that takes little more than 30 minutes, or overnight.

Yes I realise nobody else can decide what we want to do, I don't think I asked that either? Though this is a travel topic so I thought people were here to talk about travel?

I was more looking for a 'what do other people do' scenario.

I still don't understand with the ferries because it seems that you can catch one that takes little more than 30 minutes, or overnight.

Quick ferry will be Dover to Calais, but that puts you right at the Belgium end of France.

You can catch other ferries from Poole, Bournemouth etc which are longer crossings but put you further West.

Again, price, convenience and final destination come into play.

Thanks for all replies I have read them all. I can see that the travelling scenario varies, I suppose I should have known but as I said completely new to this as hadn't even thought about doing a driving holiday before.

Looked at flights on skyscanner and car hire once there, but they were very expensive.

The camps look awesome but the travelling put me off, we are a bit more North too so really would be a trek!

well we drive those sort of distances as dp doesnt like taking the plane, and we prefer to be able to take as much luggage as we want. We would also drive those sort of distances for a 2 or 3 week holiday but wouldnt for a week.

Theres some great sites in the north. Sites in Brittany or Normandy would be not far to drive from some of the ferry ports. There are sites around Paris that is only 2 or 3 hours from Calais, or sites in the north. It sounds like youre getting stressed by what other people might do. If you think there is no way in hell that driving 8 hours would be worth it, then stay further north. Youre not obliged to go anywhere. I love a road trip