Driving with two teens and an 9 year old to the South of France next August.

[Agy10]

Hi all,

I would like to pick your brains please. I've heard a lot of families rave about driving to the South of France so I wanted to explore this further. Here are some factors when you respond:

We are a family of five (three active boys of which two will be 13 and 15).

We can travel from Calais or Dieppe.

We would like to make the travel part of the holiday and would like recommendations of nice stop offs on route and back up.

We have no idea the best place to stay in the south of France but our boys love waterparks, beach and adrenaline type activities.

My wife and I enjoy nice restaurants and quaint towns too.

We want to avoid camping as don't have the equipment but happy to stay in ready made tents but the boys love a big swimming pool so any of this would be fine.

I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks

Hi, we've been doing this for many years, with babies who're now teenagers!

Firstly, if possible travel on a Tuesday /Wednesday /Thursday, traffic is easier.
Eurotunnel is better than the ferries.
Get a Fast-tag for the tolls.
For the journey, get tablet bags for the setbacks so they can watch stuff without getting travel sick.
Picnics are your friend, although the Aires are about every 20k, so you can always find somewhere to stop for food and a comfort break.
Dijon/Macon/Saone are the best stop off points from the UK and are really setup as such. Hotels just off the motorways are plentiful.

Coming home, we usually plow through to Normandy /Aisne etc and then spend the last day in the North.

Places-wise, we like the Catalan region so Perpignan, Argeles, Collioure, Banyuls. Also around Nice, so Frejus, St Raphael. Bordeaux is lovely, Biarritz has been cold every time we've been (July/August!).

Thank you Mrs Warthog, very useful indeed. Can I ask what route you would recommend please. Thanks for the tips too, very handy. Thanks

We avoid Paris both ways as we don't like the periphique. Follow the Autoroutes des Anglais to Dijon/Macon then from Lyon it's the A6/ A7 down south then choose left or right

My parents live very close to Argeles so have done this trip with 6 month old right up to now 10 and 12 year olds. We go Calais, Chartres, Orleans, Claremont ferrand. This is lots of free motorway you also get to go past Viaduct du Garbit which was built by Eiffel and recommend a stop at the services to view this lovely bright bridge over a lake/river. Then you go over the millau viaduct, stunning feat of engineering, again stop at the view point!
Stopping points, Loire is always good, I like a mountain so around Clermont ferrand and it's volcanoes suits me, there is also the Michelin factory which looks good but not made it there yet. Argeles itself has hundreds of campsites, beach activities (kayak trips are good, but also usual banana boats etc), aqua parc, man made canyoning site plus great braces (racou but paulliles whilst gritty sand is interesting, was an explosives factory and there's museum, walks etc). The local roads get horribly gridlocked though at lunch time and at dinner time when people head home.

Oh, quaint towns in that area - collioure lovely but over run, walk there on the coast path from racou would be my rec. Cherry up in the hills is very arty and a nice change from the beach. Elne just outside Argeles is nice for late pm stroll. You can also head up the Cathar valleys to the castles on the hill tops (peyreptouse) which stand out from miles around. There's also Spain just up the road with Roses and Bezalu.

Ceret not cherry!

Put du fou theme park in the vendee is amazing.
Carcassonne is worth a visit too.

We flew so can't comment on driving but can recommend the area mentioned.by Jumbojem too. We stayed in a house with a pool near Ceret. We visited Collioure and Carcassonne and went across the border into Spain to see the Dali museum in Figueres and took the kids to an amazing water park called Aqua Brava. Really liked the area

We did this for years but drove to the chatente maritime region, which is past the vendee. We would take the tunnel to Calais and stop overnight at Rouen staying in an ibis budget. Maybe look at eurocamp, canvas, venue brochures for ideas of places to stay and email campsites direct for prices of their mobile homes/ static caravans. Def mid week travel, in France they often change over accommodation on Saturdays. Pack picnic and restock at supermarkets. We have great memories of these types of holidays. Lots of activities on campsites and nearby like quad biking, go ape, fairground rides etc.

And waterparks! So much fun!!

Thank you all for your advice. After a lull in holiday thoughts, I'm back on it and want to book soon. Any more thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

If you’re going the same way that we go via Le Mans and Tours, I’d definitely stop at Futuroscope. It’s hardly off your route at all and a really good full day out for all ages. There are several hotels within a stone’s throw of the park. There’s also a good campsite called Camp Futuristic which has some three bedroom mobile caravans which sleep 6. We’ve also stopped at Papea Park in Le Mans which turned out really well.
Futuroscope is just outside of Poitiers which has a lovely old medieval centre.

If you are considering the Catalan part of France, it is only a quick hop across the border into Catalonia, Spain and prices are cheaper here.

The Costa Brava has many attractions, not just the beautiful rugged coastline with tiny coves, to big wide sandy beaches. It's natural marine parc off the coast of L'Estartit, castles and medieval villages are doted all over.
Take a look around the central area, which is nothing like the image many may conjure of Lloret de Mar!!!!

Calella de Palafrugell, Tamaria, Llafranc, Begur and it's beaches, L'Escala, L'Estartit etc.

These areas are where Spanish and Catalans holiday, and lots have second homes here, along with many French and other Europeans, but not too many Brits.
Camping/holiday parcs are very popular and not just for touring, but with ready erected tents to deluxe mobile homes and glamping.

I recommend El Delfin Verde which is situated directly on the beach between Torroella de Montgri and Pals and has been recently updated to include it's own water park:
www.eldelfinverde.com/en/

The site rents it's own units, but other Operators use it too including: Eurocamp, Vacansoleil, Suncamp, Lifestyle holidays and more.

Lifestyle tend to be the best on price and although it is very busy during school holidays the last week in August into September tend to be a bit quieter and cheaper.

From Dieppe the drive takes around 10 hours and some of the motorway is free. Avoid Paris by taking the route via Chartres, Orleans towards Clermont Ferrand, across the magnificent Millau bridge, through the Cevennes National Parc, passing Beziers and Perpignan before crossing the border into Spain.
I have travelled extensively in France and lived there for a while, but Catalonia beats the South of France IMO

BTW you will get a lot more advice from Tripadvisor forums, once you have narrowed down your region.
The Catalonia forum is pretty active, not least because of the popularity of Barcelona, which is only a short 38 minute trip on the high-speed train from Girona

Love around Perpignan, as other poster advices over the boarder will often be cheaper

How long do you want to spend travelling?
Have you thought about getting ferry from Plymouth to Santander? Then drive home or visa versa?

Do you know the cost of the pay age from north to south? Could add €230 to your trip

Ibis I have found are clean, pleasant and easy to use. I take our own breakfast and we have in the room, then grab a croissant from a bakery

Rouen is a busy city to get through on a Friday afternoon

Chartres is beautiful and has all manner of Ibis type motels along with a fantastic cathedral, cobbled streets etc but I prefer Chateaudun which is very picture postcard

Rocamadour is very interesting stop, Brive was pretty

La Boulaye was a B&B I used in the summer - it is near Bonny sur Loire and beautiful garden to relax in after long drive, facilities in the accommodation to prepare supper and the most exceptional breakfast I’ve had for a long time

You would drive Orleans, Chartres, Dreux, Evreux

Which would be mostly free roads and obviously avoid Paris

I have another Bed and Breakfast I like, run by an English couple exactly 200 miles from Calais. They run a campsite along side and she cooks supper on Thursday and Saturday, the other nights she makes pizza

Forest view in Dorceau
I can guarantee the drive there will be easy and the towns you pass through as you get with 40 miles are very delightful

Thank you all for your superb advice, it has really helped tremendously. We haven’t booked yet as typically Christmas got in the way but like most I imagine, holiday bookings are very much high on the agenda.
TA forums speak highly of Eurocamps and whilst not our idea of heaven, it seems that the boys will really enjoy it. Such a minefield still but we are slowly narrowing it down. Keep any suggestions coming please. Thanks.

I was going to suggest looking at the Castels group of campsites, as these are very high standard but probably less commercial than Eurocamp; however, it seems the company has merged with a French one called Site & Paysages, and been re-branded as 'LeFrenchTime'. Can't think of a worse name personally, but would probably still be worth a look as they will offer chalet/mobile home accommodation in addition to pitches for touring tents. You could always get ideas for sites from there or from companies such as Yelloh Village, Canvas, Sunelia, check out reviews on TripAdvisor and then book with the campsite direct - it might work out cheaper.

I would strongly advise you avoid the 'Capfun' group of campsites if Eurocamp is not your thing; we had a pretty grim experience in the summer at a beautiful site we had been to for many years and which was sold to Capfun in 2019, who have totally ruined it. The sites are very much aimed at the French, so not suitable if you don't speak the language, with the expectation that people will want to stay on-site and want a lot of entertainment; guess it suits some, but not our idea of a camping holiday.

You may want to move the thread to the camping section for more suggestions.

Also meant to say that somewhere like the Ardeche might suit you; it's not south coast, so no beaches, but has the river for canoeing, swimming, canyoning, places to do 'GoApe' activities, walking, villages to explore, and is within striking distance of places like Avignon, Nimes, Pont du Gard etc. This site has rentals but no camping pitches - not stayed there, but gets good reviews.

Thank you stringbean for your suggestions and especially ones to avoid. You are right Capfun sounds the opposite to what we are looking for. I spent hours yesterday researching and my wife thinks that the weather in August is a factor. I know the south of France will be fine regarding this but I also looked at places on the west coast including southern Brittany and Vendee that have comparable temperatures but no where near the long drive from Dieppe or Calais. In addition by the time I weighed up costs of tolls, petrol, overnight stay and other car costs, it seems there wouldn’t be much difference in terms of flying. Decisions decisions! Back to the research today. Thank you.

It depends whether the weather is a significant factor in your holiday. We camp so, for me, having good weather is critical and, in my experience, the weather in the Vendee/Brittany is less reliable and can be very windy on the west coast. Having said that though, we drive to the south (-ish) every summer, so the journey is normal for us! I would recommend you get a toll tag for the peage - if you're travelling via Eurotunnel there is a link from here which waives the 10 Eu admin fee.