Holiday advice for Eurotunnel and places to stay in France

[Confused1681]

Hi, really like the idea of travelling and taking the car to France. I’m just not sure what areas would be good to stay at. We are a family of 3 with an 8 year old. Any advice and recommendations gratefully received.

How far do you want to drive?

Flexible, travelling from Manchester but would be happy to do maybe 4 or so hours the other side?

We love going to France for holidays.

You can get Eurotunnel crossings using Tesco vouchers.

dolphin gites

We stayed here last year which was lovely.

gites 2

Also stayed here in Loire valley.

Both lovely and good for families.

Possibly a bit beyond four hours, though.

You can also look at the fast cat from Portsmouth to Brittany. It's only 2 hours over on the fast catamaran. Easy drive on and drive off then roads in Brittany are very easy to get around - no toll roads or big motorways. We went to this Eurocamp - here.

Or if set on the tunnel then you can get down to around Paris in 4 hours. We have driven to EuroDisney before which was 4 hours from Calais.

Might want to wait and see how Brexit pans out though! Not sure i would be booking any Eurotunnel trips at the moment. No one knows yet what the set up is going to be after April.

Thanks for the tips. Didn’t know that about Tesco! I looked at the tunnel and it was around £190 return at a peak time so can’t complain. Just need to work out accommodation then fuel as well.

I know not sure I can get my head around the implications of booking something like this and Brexit though, surely it can’t be anything too drastic that would ruin it?

At the moment there is no agreement - if we end up with "No Deal" then we don't know how movement through the tunnel will work. Contingency plans include turning the motorway into a car park for the lorries that may be delayed trying to clear customs. You could be looking at cancellations for leisure traffic to allow goods vehicles to leave and arrive.

I'd wait until end of January at least until after Parliament vote - if "No Deal" I'd give it a miss this year!

Also many insurance companies have said they will not cover cancellations and delays attributable to Brexit.

Have a look at the French Centre Parcs sites. They tend to be priced far better than UK sites and make great exploring bases

Or go by ferry from a smaller port, like Portsmouth....

I would travel by ferry instead, as it's much cheaper (especially the DFDS ferry from Dover to Dunkirk).

Have a look at Eurocamps too. We are booked to go to one in June. It hasn’t cost much at all.

@FanSpamTastic Thanks for mentioning this. I did the overnight ferry from Portsmouth when pregnant, the journey was so choppy. I think I could manage a few hours though.

Watching this thread as we're considering France too, though I'm definitely waiting what is happening with Brexit first.

I used to work for Eurocamp a long time ago. I'd suggest looking at Brittany, the Vendee is also very popular too. Loire valley is lovely too and a bit more stable in terms of sun.

I'd look at Yelloh Village sites, I really rate them as a company.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, getting excited but the word brexit making me more hesitant now

We stayed at a Huttopia site in Senonches (apologies if spelt wrong!). A quiet area but the site was really lovely and we only left once in the whole week to go to Disneyland (2h in car). It took 4 hours from the tunnel.

We stayed in their trappeur tent with a bathroom. It was really well equipped, even had a log burner.

@Confused1681 There will always be somewhere to go in Northern France. I used to work for Eurocamp many moons ago and in a normal year there was always North France accom left. Bookings must be down at the moment.

Op I'd go to efteling in holland.

We are going to Efteling at Easter. Can it be done in one day or do we need 2?

If you do end up considering Brittany Ferries I have a discount code you can use.

I live in Brittany and have a gite here, so have been following the situation regarding travelling here and what might happen in the event of differing Brexit outcomes pretty carefully. Nobody knows! (which is awful at this late stage in my opinion!) I think, ferries will be a better bet than planes in the event of a no deal, at least in the beginning. I've got a family travelling over the first week of April, so people are still booking.

We went last year with a 5 year old and 8 year old from Manchester.
Drove to Folkestone, took Chunnel (paid for with club card vouchers). Stayed in Ibis hotel in Calais. Next day drove to a Eurocamp site in the Vendee. Was a fair trek. From memory they GPS said 6 hours but it took us longer than that. However it was a great hol and the kids loved it. We stayed a week then stayed in a gite with family for a second week in the Loire Valley. Lots of nice castles. Have fun!

Duinrell

not France but Holland. Duinrell is a good place to stay for families.

Worth shopping around because several tour operators have caravans etc at the park.