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?

Sorry but I am laughing at your petulant tantrumming OP. . Have a nice little lie down...

I've told you what we used to do but tbh, that's probably completely irrelevant. I live in the south. You may live in the north or somewhere in between. We liked the Vendee because it's great for swimming and kids but has little to offer by way of 'the real France', ie chateux, scenery, amazing food, mountains etc. You might prefer a bit more 'culture'.

If you don't want to drive, choose a longer overnight ferry journey to get you further down France. If you hate ferries, take a shorter hop, eg Dover to Calais, and drive more.

The beauty of these holidays is that you tailor them to your requirements so what others do doesn't matter. But you do have to put some effort into making these decisions yourself.

Driving in France is easy btw

That's nice for you twitterqueen1 glad you've found me so amusing.

Oh c'mon OP, I'm teasing you. Chill. I've actually tried to help you 3 times.....

the reason some ferries are quick, is because they are short distance across the channel.
The ferries that are overnight are usually the ones from portsmouth to caen or st malo etc, which is a much longer route.

If you go to portsmouth and go to caen/dieppe/st malo, you then will only have an hour or so to a site in Brittany and you can sleep on the ferry, but these overnight ferries are obviously more expensive than the short dover to calais ones. You can also get a ferry to northern spain too

I know it can be frustrating if youre not really sure what you want OP.

Do you know what your priorities are?

Do you want a beach, or do you want pools? Do you want childrens activities and an all singing all dancing site, or do you want something quieter?

What is your maximum driving time?

Thanks bran. I've been looking on the Canvas site and filtering by beaches, facilities etc, there isn't much left if you are picky about accommodation, but it is still doable, there are places left North of France meaning less driving.

Twitter I realise I am being rather dense about the travelling it's just having never done it before it seemed confusing and daunting.

I think I've got the gist though, you choose your campsite and method of travelling depending on what you want and where you want, and it takes as long as it takes! There's no real typical scenario.

Exactly.
Decide what is important.
A) Is it your location (and you deal with the transport as a secondary concern).
B) Or travel time (And you pick your location by travel time/ease/expense)

You can book with Brittany Ferries and they have camp sites within an hour of Roscoff and St Malo. Have you looked at Yelloh!? They are very good.

Northern France and belgium has the opal coast and they have incredible beaches. Of course you wont get the temperatures of the south of france but if you want miles and miles of golden sandy beaches you honestly dont have to go far. The areas around le touquet are popular and beautiful. I also love Wimereux and theres a fair bit to do around boulogne sur mer, which is pretty much just down the road from Calais.

Brittany has the sort of coastline as cornwall, but without the crowds. You also dont get the reliable temperatures of the south, but tbh, i think august would be a great time of year to go, especially this year because we are having such a good summer

We have taken the car from Northern Ireland to France many times .. so it will probably be a longer journey than yours. We have met many from all over Ireland and Scotland who have drove too. We find that as long as we take a break/stop every 2.5 to 3 hours the ling journeys can be very "bearable" for the children.

If you are bamboozled with all the options, then i suggest narrowing it down.

Firstly narrow down where you want to go. I suggest Vendee area for a first time. Far enough south to get good weather but only 4 to 6 hours from uk ferry crossings.

Secondly decide if you want to drive or fly. Get approx prices for airport (parking, flights, luggage, carhire). How close to airport are you, and how close is the airport at the other side?
Then compare with driving. How far are you from south coast? I allow 15p per mile as a rough cost. Also french toll roads (guess £25 but depends on where you travelling to / from). Would you be willing to drive the distance? Also bear in mind you may be able to bring extras (e.g. toys, bicycles etc).

Then narrow down and read up on revievs for your potential suppliers. Canvas are good for kids clubs but expensive. French Freedom, Eurocamp, Venue (our favourite). This will give you specific costs and location for sites (bear in mind some of these will include ferry crossings already).

You will collect a lot of information in a couple of nights researching, but you need to do the leg work as you know what you and your family will accept.

Don't worry about getting it 100% first year ... as it is an adventure, and you will learn a lit the first year, and tweak what you want to do in future years. We have been doing various options of this holiday with different travel plans and locations for 13 years now!! Brilliant holiday, and always an adventure!!!

When you have done some work, why not come back and ask more direct questions on specific suggestions/recommendations. Also the companies (Canvas, Eurocamps Venue etc) are excellent at taking you through the options and giving you prices.

We're doing Argeles Sur Mer in August. Flying to Toulouse and hiring a rental car, staying with Eurocamp. 2.5 hrs driving, beach access campsite, under the Pyrenees. I am so excited I could wee myself.

Thank you silver very good advice.

I have got in a right middle, dh decided he wanted to go abroad recently but it's all last minute and we don't want to spend loads.

I thought camp in France would be something different with something for everyone, I've looked at so many holidays I've grown weary of it all.

We've got dh who just wants sunshine and a pool, me who'd probably rather stay in the UK in a fancy cottage, ds1 who is sporty and active and keen to go sightseeing, and ds2 who is a pain in the neck and moans wherever we are!

They're not cheap options OP. People think these holidays are a low-cost option. They're not. BUT they are generally fab. Have you looked at Sandy Balls?

@gettofuck are you staying at le soleil? We did that one a few years ago, theres quite a few sites in Argeles, but not all have beach access

Yes, Branleuse! Did La Sirene as a child with my parents but not been back since. How was it?

No Eurocamp et al are not cheap especially in school hols. It worked for us because we have four kids and used to go in the days when you weren't hauled over the coals for taking them out of school.

If you go to Normandy or Brittany and use the tunnel rather than the ferry the traveling time is much less. There are lots of companies who run parks other than eurocamp, we’ve stayed on Yelloh parks an France a few times and found them to be very good.

We've been with canvas before. For whatever reason, that I cannot fathom, they seem to be much cheaper than eurocamp and keycamp but have exactly the same kind of facilities.

We have broken a long drive through france with an extra night in another campsite. So 1st night in campsite halfway, 7 nights in destination campsite, last night in halfway campsite (or one close to calais) A bit of planning was needed in the way the car was packed, so making sure an overnight bag was at the top to be grabbed out whilst everything else stayed in the car and we ate at the campsite restaurant.

Historically Canvas were more expensive than eurocamp and keycamp (who are now one company). And if you looked at their tent pitches on campsites they usually had better ones, in better places, than eurocamp. And the canvas tent layout is definitely better than eurocamp.

But eurocamp isn’t the budget option any more. And both companies seem to be really reducing the number of classic tents in favour of static caravans and safari tents.

We did the over night stop in a tent a few times, but decided that actually the hassle wasn’t worth it. Having to unpack the basics and make up the beds is just a pain. I don’t mind doing that for a week or two, but it’s annoying for just one night. Plus if you stay in a hotel you can get there a lot later, so can get further south on the first day. (We have small children which might be a factor here). And the hotels tend to be closer to the autoroute, so you don’t need to come far off the main route for one night.

So on balance, we’ve decided that hotels for the stop over are easier for our family than campsites for one night

@gettofuck I really liked the site. The pool was really lovely, and you are right on the beach which is gorgeous. There was entertainment and shops on site, and really close to go into Argeles if you want.
Only thing I didnt like were some of the caravans were quite close to each other, but not all of them. I would go there again.
Make sure you check out Couilloire and also go into the pyrenees towns like Amelie les bains if you can. Also Carcassone is not too far.

We drive to Portsmouth, get the super fast ferry to Cherbourg and then drive to the Vendee. We are down by about 4pm. French motorways are empty so sticking to the speed limits is very easy. All motorways take bank cards so you don't even need cash for them.
I'd aim for the Vendee, super beaches, lots to do, well established campsites, places to explore etc.

We went to St Cyprien (south of France coast) a couple of years ago and the travel wasn't bad at all. We flew from East Midlands to Carcasonne then it was about a 1.5hr drive from there. Hired a car which we picked up from the airport and the drive was nice. I think you do need a car for many of these types of holidays though due to the location of some of the parks, and needing to do shopping etc.

I think you'll struggle to find cheap flights for the end of August. We booked quite early and got a good deal on the accommodation too.

Good luck and I hope you manage to work it out.

I've just done a little happy dance OP as it was me who suggested eurocamp on your other thread.
As PP have said, pick where you want to go and then plan your travel accordingly.
French trains generally cheaper faster and cleaner than ours. France is bigger than UK so journeys seem long comparatively: remember your DH didn't want to drive to Scotland to get a plane so driving down through France, even on the A1, isn't going to work for you.
First eurocamp we stayed at was La Vallee in Normandy. It's about half a mile to the beach, but a charming town and the site had lots for kids., nice pools etc.. We drove (it was some years ago) but there are a couple of ports and a couple of airports not far away.

Good hunting!

We did France a few times when the children were young. This is. What we did (from London):
1: early morning ferry to St Malo (i think). Drove to the Vendée, arrived late afternoon. On way back had a night at a cap site near the ferry port.
2 & 3: not so early ferry on shorter crossing & drove to the Loire, arrived late afternoon. One year came back via Disney Paris.
4 & 5: gite in the south, first year took a few days to drive there & back, second time flew & hired a car.
I wouldn't do any of these, except perhaps the Loire, for a week.

Are you still on your high horse Twitterqueen? OP had acknowledged and got over her grump before you waded in.

I've been following the Eurocamp unofficial page on FB for a while now OP and keep reading about great places to go! I think Domaine des Ormes with a ferry to either Caen or St Malo would fit your bill. The thought of a solo drive must be pretty daunting.

Another one is La Croix du Vieux Pont which is not far from Paris.

It might be that these bigger sites are booked up now but you can always try the smaller ones for this year. There's a discount code for Eurocamp on Kidspass or NHS discounts if you happen to be registered with either of those.

Somebody mentioned Lifestyle upthread I think, it was it Al Fresco? There's also Venue - we have a really good deal with them for Marina de Venezia next May but it's a safari tent rather than a mobile.