Spain, Sweden or camping in Europe?

[emmarocks]

We are family of 6, DC teens and a 9 year old. Looking to have a proper holiday this year. Our max budget for the whole week/10 days is £3k.

So far I have found cheap flights to Stockholm and a youth hostel and cheap apartment in L'Estartit in Spain. The other possibility is driving and camping in Europe. We have a really nice tent so I'm happy to camp and don't mind the drive, bit concerned about the costs of fuel and tolls.

Any other ideas or campsite recommendations? We like outdoorsy things and visiting nice towns and cities. I just want it to feel like a proper holiday, I haven't been out of the UK for 12 years and only my eldest has been abroad.

have you looked at ukcampsites website? I havent used it for a few years but it used to have lots of sites in France. We used to love going to Brittany when our kids were that age as its a bit like cornwall without the crowds and better weather.

Did your max budget include our exclude local costs such as eating out, local excursions, etc? Because those sorts of things are expensive in Stockholm/Sweden. If you think you can make it work financially, then Stockholm isa lovely place to visit. You could combine it with a few days in the Stockholm archipelago, where there's opportunities for swimming, kayaking, etc. There are a few hostels in the archipelago, but people also rent out simple cottages on Airbnb and the like. The boats to the islands are part of the local public transport systems and not too expensive.

With a budget of £3k I’d go camping

Sail Poole Cherbourg, pick a campsite in Brittany so not much driving or tolls

Ask on the camping section for site recommendations for Brittany

I like Dol de Bretagne and there are a couple of sites near there with water slides and many days out to visit nice towns and amusement park type activities. St Malo is a beautiful port, Dinah is pretty etc

we liked dol de bretagne too, mainly because ours loved the football pitches there but pools also good. Also liked the Carnac area. we ferried from portsmouth to st malo but i think thats more expensive espec as you would need a cabin

I'd avoid Sweden unless you have a much bigger budget. If your tent is big enough for you so then that would be my option. There's so many amazing campsites that would give the teenagers lots of freedom and also keep the younger child occupied. We've had amazing camping holidays in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain so depends how far you would drive.

Dover Calais world be a much cheaper ferry (depending on where you are coming from).

Go to the Dordogne area in France. You can do so many outings and there are a lot of activities on the river.

Campsites: coolcamping.com/campsites/europe/france/aquitaine/dordogne

We stayed at Mathevies and it was nice (if you get the right spot)

Les valades is a MN favourite site in the dordogne. It's fab for families. Also, back to the auvergne, the site you want is sunelia la ribeyre

Dover Calais world be a much cheaper ferry (depending on where you are coming from)

Have you factoured in the 600 miles and toll roads into that equation?

Also I’d avoid diver ferry crossing, why would you want to travel through that port with the chaos?

Thanks for all the campsite recommendations. We live quite near Portsmouth but those ferries seem to be about 3x the cost of Dover-Calais or the Eurotunnel.

I would love to drive down to the south of France/Spain but a bit concerned about time and cost. We can go for 1 week/10 days max. At the moment Northern France, Belgium and Luxembourg seem like good possible options. Brittany looks fab but seems nearly as far from Calais as the south of France.

We're a family of 6 too, flying to Spain at the end of the summer holidays for a week plus renting a house with a pool for £2600 all together. We find this sort of holiday suits us well. We find the accommodation through Homes to Go or holiday lettings. Hope you find something that works for you.

@ivykaty44 it was definitely cheaper for us. Plus we saved time with the shorter crossing. Obv it depends where you go to once on the french side.

www.sanef.com/en/my-journey/price-of-my-journey

Website will calculate cost for you to compare