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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

France holidays with under 5s

24 replies

mamaknowsbest12 · 13/01/2023 12:08

Can anyone recommend anything?

We've been recommended Yelloh Village which look great although I expect we would need to hire a car, which is a thousand pound plus flight prices so it's not cheap. I may as well do a 5* all inclusive in Greece for the price difference.

Any suggestions of a French holiday, whether it be hotel or chalet stays etc which are decent (4 star quality upwards) and with enough for young children. Ours are 1, 3 and 5.

OP posts:
CopperMaran · 13/01/2023 12:14

We used to go through the tunnel taking our own car with us and stayed in eurocamp mobile home - so pool, park, takeaway and small shop on site. It was a lot of driving as we live in north of England but a great holiday for a price we could afford when the kids were young.

MaverickGooseGoose · 13/01/2023 12:17

We always drive, and stay on siblu sites in a mobile home, perfect for that age and you can pack as much as you want / need

Fivemoreminutes1 · 13/01/2023 13:08

La Sirene is excellent and doable without a car.
You could either take a transfer straight from Perpignan airport, or take the shuttle bus from Perpignan airport to the SNCF train station in Perpignan, then a train to Argelès and a taxi to the parc.

Galadali · 13/01/2023 13:14

We do Brittany Ferries most years. Less stressful than flying and obvs we have the car. We stay in Yelloh villages and they're variable but usually good. Always upgrade to the best accommodation you can afford though. The basic is very basic!

HappyJellyBaby · 13/01/2023 13:16

Look at baby friendly boltholes. We've stayed in some lovely ones in northern France. You get cots, high chairs, toys etc provided.

trevthecat · 13/01/2023 13:18

We drove last year, from nw England to just near Paris at a eurocamp. The kids loved it. Doing it again this year, different camp though

LIZS · 13/01/2023 13:23

Pierre et vacances https://www.pierreetvacances.com/gb-en?currency=GBP&&adlgid=t%7Cg%7Cpierre%20et%20vacances%7C435535914859%7Ce&gclid=Cj0KCQiAn4SeBhCwARIsANeF9DJRc5yj0OH51thAJqAOjgTOBaLkkkUUlEiMQy8VnyUTPXiqcTycx0aAotBEALwwcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you go at end of August most of the French families will have returned home for school. There are several within a few hours of the ports.

mamaknowsbest12 · 13/01/2023 13:24

trevthecat · 13/01/2023 13:18

We drove last year, from nw England to just near Paris at a eurocamp. The kids loved it. Doing it again this year, different camp though

@trevthecat which eurocamp did you stay at? We are north west based so sounds a similar journey. Did you do Dover to Calais?

OP posts:
NameChange30 · 13/01/2023 13:24

Depending on where you live, it usually makes more sense to go by car and ferry. We got an overnight ferry which my 5yo found very exciting. Went to an excellent Yelloh Village campsite in Brittany which we are going back to because DC loved it so much. The main advantage is the fantastic pool complex. There was a heat wave while we were there and it was unbearably hot in the mobile home - no air con. So I did find myself wishing we were staying in an actual building with proper roof and walls! But it's really difficult to find the combination of a cottage/gîte and lots of family friendly facilities like they have at these campsites. You could look at www.villagesdegites.fr

What I'd really like is an aparthotel with a fantastic pool complex and good options for all inclusive or half board, preferably in Brittany... don't think it exists, though!

mamaknowsbest12 · 13/01/2023 13:26

Galadali · 13/01/2023 13:14

We do Brittany Ferries most years. Less stressful than flying and obvs we have the car. We stay in Yelloh villages and they're variable but usually good. Always upgrade to the best accommodation you can afford though. The basic is very basic!

@Galadali had it tended to be warm enough for the outdoor pools in Brittany in July

OP posts:
ChickpeaPie · 13/01/2023 13:26

Drive, go to yelloh village in vendee, it’s amazing

mamaknowsbest12 · 13/01/2023 13:27

@NameChange30 which Yelloh site in Brittany did you stay at? That's what I'm looking at atm

OP posts:
weemouse · 13/01/2023 13:27

Yelloh villages are usually very good standard.
Check carefully what's included re bedding and towels, depending on the Star grading, you may need to add them into your booking and pay for them.

Rebootnecessary · 13/01/2023 13:28

We used to go to South Brittany when our dc were little. We went to this campsite about six times in total and loved it.

en.campingdelabaie.com/

It's bookable through Eurocamp too.

As others have already said, I strongly recommend taking your own car. We used to take bikes/scooters, body boards and lots of balls of varying shapes (!!).

MaverickGooseGoose · 13/01/2023 13:29

You could get lucky with the weather, or not. We used to have a van near La Rochelle so much further south and we have had amazing weather, heatwaves and rain for four straight weeks. You need to go properly south for guaranteed weather

trevthecat · 13/01/2023 13:29

mamaknowsbest12 · 13/01/2023 13:24

@trevthecat which eurocamp did you stay at? We are north west based so sounds a similar journey. Did you do Dover to Calais?

We did the tunnel and stayed at la croix du view point. Great site, loads to do for littles. Our youngest was 4 last summer and loved it.

CloudPop · 13/01/2023 13:38

HappyJellyBaby · 13/01/2023 13:16

Look at baby friendly boltholes. We've stayed in some lovely ones in northern France. You get cots, high chairs, toys etc provided.

Second this. Fantastic properties, really nice places that are ultra child friendly. We stayed at La Ferme de Longues in Normandy and it was superb.

Galadali · 13/01/2023 13:40

mamaknowsbest12 · 13/01/2023 13:26

@Galadali had it tended to be warm enough for the outdoor pools in Brittany in July

Last year in July it was 38-40 most days, so yes, definitely warm enough. In fact, it was too hot for us most days.

Moonlightsonatas · 13/01/2023 13:44

We did this Eurocamp last September (and it was still pretty warm in Brittany):

www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/brittany/bn013-domaine-des-ormes/ataglance.html

Great for young kids with a big indoor pool complex, the outdoor pools are only open in high season. We had a week for about £450 plus ferry costs.

HappyJellyBaby · 13/01/2023 13:55

CloudPop · 13/01/2023 13:38

Second this. Fantastic properties, really nice places that are ultra child friendly. We stayed at La Ferme de Longues in Normandy and it was superb.

We stayed in the same place! Small world!

CloudPop · 13/01/2023 14:00

@HappyJellyBaby fab place isn't it

RhubarbFairy · 13/01/2023 14:23

We've also stayed at Des Ormes, which is linked above. Amazing pool area, though vast, which may cause you stress if they try to go in three different directions at once.

We have also been to La Croix du Vieux Pont, which was also mentioned further up. We've actually been 5 times, starting when the DCs were 3 and 4 (so similar ages to yours).
Pool complex is nothing like Des Ormes, but I'd say better for little ones with a large toddler pool, complete with their own slides, and a splashpad.

It also has a man made beach and lagoon on site, which is lovely. We've spent many hours building sandcastles there.

There's also a sort of activity area there, which has always been a hit with mine. There's ride on quad bikes (perfect for your 3 - and 5 year olds), a bouncy castle, trampolines, and bungees. You can pay about €70 to get a card worth €100 and you just have it stamped each time.

There's also playgrounds dotted all over the parc, the biggest of which was upgraded a couple of years ago and is really lovely now. There's an indoor

www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/paris/pa012-la-croix-du-vieux-pont/ataglance.html

It's about a 3 hour drive from Calais, and it's all motorways until the last half an hour or so, so a really easy drive.

We've stayed in every form of accommodation on that site, excluding the Safari Tents. From the 'Classic' (cheapest) caravans to the Lodges. Our favourite was the Aspect range (the top end one). We actually preferred that to the Lodge.

All the caravan accommodation comes with a retractable baby gate on the decking, so you can open the doors and let them roam freely, without worrying they'll wander off.

RhubarbFairy · 13/01/2023 14:29

One of my sentences disappeared! There's an indoor soft play and bowling alley too.

Verite1 · 13/01/2023 14:31

We have stayed in yelloh Porte de plaisance in Brittany. It’s fab. It has outdoor and indoor pools with slides on site, a rope climbing activity centre, a lovely on site restaurant, kids club and bouncy castle and you can walk to benodet (a nice beach resort in 20 mins). We took overnight ferry from Portsmouth to st malo with the car and then it was about a three hour drive at the other end. I have looked at other campsites and can’t find one that has as much in its favour as this one.

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