Which holiday park in Italy? Eurocamp / Canvas style. Help please.

[ginmcginface]

Ok, we have decided to go to Italy in August. Preferably Tuscany or similar central area with friends.

We want a nice site, with an English speaking kids club, pool with waterslides, in an area where there are places to go out in the afternoon to visit.

Ideally there will be an area where we can have an evening drink where we can see the kids playing in a play area.

Obviously I am googling, but if anyone has any recommendations / advice, I’d be very grateful. I know, having been to similar in France before, it’s sometimes cheaper to book direct with the site and sometimes their vans are better situated, so any insider information will be gratefully received.

I'm doing exactly the same this evening! Two years ago we stayed in Altomincio at Lake Garda which we really liked. Nice pools and lots of places to visit. Site was large though and we felt quite far away from the pools etc but that's not always a bad thing. 4 years ago we went to Norcenni Girasole and really liked that too. They are both owned by Human Company (although it was another group when we stayed) and you can book direct via their website. We've also been to Pra delle Torri but didn't like that quite so much. I'll be following your thread with interest!

I was going to recommend Altomincio and Norcenni but @kikidee beat me to it!

Thanks. We’ve done parks all over France. Are the Italian ones similar do you know? (Apart from the men not needing to wear budgie smugglers I’m assuming )

Sorry, not been to any in France.

We found the Italian ones cheesy but great fun. DC are older teens now but still talk about the 'entertainment' and sometimes play the music we heard round the pool in the campsites.

So, I’ve looked at both sites and they look great. It looks like the Lake Garda one has better pools (my ds is 10 and loves water slides, diving and lazy rivers). But the other one looks better in terms of what I wanted to do outside of the camp (i.e. Tuscan towns to visit). Would you say that’s right?

The nights in Italy are hot and stuffy in August. I'm not sure I would want to be under canvas. A caravan with aircon would be a better bet.

Oh, we’d definitely be in a van with air conditioning!

Sorry, I'm back.

I think we have decided on Norcenni Girasole. Any advice about where in the park we should try to stay? I'm guessing near the evening entertainment - easy to stagger back at night and then we can bus to the kids pools?

We stayed in a very hilly - but fabulous - resort in France and it rather made me aware of being in the wrong part and how much hassle it was to get around.

Thank you again.

"I'm guessing near the evening entertainment - easy to stagger back at night"

There is the possibility that it could be noisy at night when everyone else is staggering past your accommodation. Having once stayed in a caravan near the entertainment area in a caravan park with DD when she was 2 we would never do that again.

I would stay near the pools and not too near the evening entertainment! It will be very hot in August so easy access to the pools will be a big bonus, and entertainment is likely to be outdoors, or at least open to the outdoors, at that time of year, so you don't want to be too near due to the noise.

Ah, good thinking re the outside noise. Ds is older now, and sleeps through anything. But I'm a light sleeper and remember last year being kept awake by a snorer in a neighbouring van!

We stayed in Norcenni last year. Lovely park but absolutely massive. They have a little train that goes around the park to take you around, which you will definitely want! And bring a big tote as it’s a total pain if you forget anything. We stayed in a 3 bed Eurocamp avant, which was in a nice location with a view. Close enough to the main area (could walk there in 5 mins, not up a big hill) but not so close we were disturbed by the music at night. Would recommend those if you want to be by the main area. Our kids are young, so we preferred the pools at the top side of the site (where the lazy river is). I’m not sure which company it is but someone has units right there at the top which looked super convenient. Also v picturesque. Kids club and entertainment are at the bottom tho so maybe not a big deal to be up there!

Linguaphile thanks. Who did you book with? I’ve just looked, this site has 1,500 + placements. I thought the park we stayed at last year was rather large but it was only 350+! (It was classed as a medium park, but it will give me an idea of what to expect).

Was it totally rammed, i.e. did you have to wait for the restaurant and were the pools heaving?

Yes it’s enormous! The pools were full, and we were there the second week of September...

We booked with Eurocamp. They have other sites that are a much smaller size in Tuscany that might work well? We really liked Weekend up in the lakes too.

Ca Savio near Venice. Worked there as a holiday rep with Eurosites. It was fab!

www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/adriatic/ia021-ca-savio/ataglance.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ca+savio&utm_campaign=Campsites+-+Italy+-+%5BE%5D&utm_adgroup=%5BCO%5D+Italy+-+%5BRG%5D+Adriatic+-+%5BCT%5D+Cavallino-Treporti+-+%5BPA%5D+Ca%27Savio+-+%5BE%5D&utm_source=priority&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgcOvvJ7h4QIVjpztCh3axgCwEAAYASAAEgIEEfD_BwE

We went to Marina di Venezia a few years ago and loved it. It's quite a big site so there's lots to do, but it's also right by the beach too. The surrounding area is good for leisurely cycling and it's easy to get across to Venice too.

Camping Portofelice north of Venice is fantastic!! Short walk to the safe sandy beach and the wee town of Eraclea Mare which was lovely - great shops, restaurants and a market. Short bus ride to Caorle a lovely town which had a water park more suited to families than teenagers unlike the big water parks near lido de Jesolo.
It has a number of pools, kids clubs, sorts facilities, entertainment, bar, restaurant, pizzeria/takeaway and a fab shop. Dead easy to get into Venice too. We loved it! Lots of Venetians leave Venice in the summer months and stay there - we got friendly with some families and 2 of the grandpas used to bring us big bags of fresh mussels they'd collected that day! So fresh and tasty!! We had some amazing holidays there.