Camping in France: Eurocamp, Sandaya or Yelloh?

[PeanutsFamily]

We are due a new baby this January. With that in mind we're thinking of making our summer holiday plans a little easier. (Already have a 2.5 yr old) looking at camping in France. Has anyone stayed with Eurocamp, Yelloh or Sandaya. The properties and prices seem to vary. How do each company compare?

Looking the brace ourselves for the long drive (with some stops in between) and stay at a campsite in the south of France for the guarantee of better weather.

Any advice or tips for someone who has NEVER done this before? Also any recommendations of specific campsites? By summer our baby will be 6 months and our DS will be 3.

The only thing I'd say to think about with the heat is that 30+ in a caravan, even a very nice one with air con, is very different to 30+ in hotels/villas/apartments. You can't escape it in the same way. We were in the vendée the year before last and it was 35 for the week and it was hot. I wouldn't have wanted to be any further south for us.

I'd also consider the size of the site with such young children - normally the bigger the site, the more lively and therefore noisy it is. You might be ok with that but for us we tend to want it a bit quieter so the kids can sleep. Campsites tend to have an 11pm quiet rule but even so, on a big site there can be a lot of noise until that time. Just something to think about because the sites in the south of France can often be these bigger sites.

Personally I would say with a small baby and your first time trying campsites in France, I'd go easy (Vendée, Loire, Brittany) and then go further next year once you've sussed out what you like.

We drive down to the Pyrenees every year in the winter and to the south of France for a summer holiday. Have done since our daughter was 6 months old - she'll be 12 this year and my son 9. Yes it's a long drive but the Aires (services) are often very good with parks for the kids to stretch their legs! We get the overnight boat from Portsmouth to st Malo. We've stayed here and it was fantastic
https://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/les_grands_pins
Direct access to the beach, completely set up for families. Can rent bikes, pools are brilliant and entertainment great.

Also it was 43 degrees all week when we were there. We had a two bed cabin and it was an absolute sweatbox. I'd definitely pay a bit extra and get Aircon. Unless you are actually camping in a tent

@mafsfan oooh yep, you raise some very good points there. We would be choosing a caravan with air con, but you're right. It is a different heat in those types of accommodations...Brittany I think is too north for us, but yes Vendee looks promising. Thank you!

@Ifyourfondofsanddunes Thank you!! Yes, I agree with you - having sweated in caravans in England I think air-con is a must!! Which month did you go?

We went at the start of July so were not expecting it!

Jumping on this as looking to book Yelloh Village Club Farret for June. Only problem is our flight would arrive around midday but check in is not until 5pm. Does anyone know if Yelloh Village offer early check in OR a place to store luggage before check in? (I have emailed but not heard back yet) Thanks!

Update (in case it is of any use to someone) Very prompt reply from Yelloh to say they have a storage room for luggage and we are welcome to arrive at any time on check in day to use the facilities and store our luggage. If our accommodation is available before 5pm then they will let us check in earlier. I was impressed!

I have been to lots of French campsites and have researched literally hundreds! I say avoid Eurocamp itself and just book through the site direct as often cheaper. We take our caravan but having seen lots of different types of accommodation on site the Eurocamp often doesn't look as good as the site-owned accommodation.

We liked a couple of Castels sites (which often have Eurocamp). Both good. La Garangeoire has loads of kids stuff. I thought it was very expensive though. Friends stayed at Yelloh La Foret in the same area and liked it. We have booked for Yelloh this year and found it cheaper than other chain sites. Haven't stayed at Sandaya but have explored their website thoroughly when looking for a site. Looks like they are usually very big sites with loads of facilities and activities - maybe not necessary if you have very young DC?

Another chain we liked was Huttopia. Quieter than some of the other sites but still with a pool and activities. They didn't have water slides etc but I don't think you would use those with a 1 and 3 year old. Have never stayed in a site further south than the Vendee/Loire personally but we were considering this one west of Bordeaux https://europe.huttopia.com/en/site/lac-de-carcans/?gadsource=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAqY6tBhAtEiwAHeRopaMLYkq9ga4CjJ3enwya0izqls59gzxMQluJHDi62ShyQTwN5C3eZRoC_fcQAvD_BwE

@lavenderlou thank you so much for this!! I've researched further and yes, it seems that Eurocamp accommodation is more expensive and far less superior, the reviews for them generally are not the best compared to the others. We're now looking at Yelloh and Sandaya.

Hi, I'm just researching the exact same thing. I was all ready to book Sandaya and then read a few few bad reviews on Trip Advisor. We've stayed with Canvas holiday and Yelloh village previously. Yelloh village were much better. What did you decide on?

Agree with another poster who advised you to book your accomodation direct with the campsite you've chosen. We have found that a campsite's own accomodation is usually cheaper, cleaner and nicer than Eurocamp etc.

We've booked Sandaya for 2025 - have been to capfun which was great. I had a wobble before we went this summer, because the reviews weren't great, but it was fab - the reviews for the Sandaya we've booked are 50/50 but I'm taking them with a pinch of salt as some people want a 5 star hotel for the price they've paid. Also, some of the negative reviews are for camping pitches and I'm not bothered about them! I also find people dont tend to leave glowing reviews actively - when looking on the allcamp sites (and similar) the one or two word reviews from people who have booked are positive. It also seems that the reviews on google all site between 3.8/4.1, even for the more expensive places.

Also resurrecting this thread to ask- has anyone had experience of some of the Yelloh villages? The ones I'm looking for don't seem to have A/C in their cabins for environmental reasons (pin parasol). Has anyone stayed, is it baking in summer? Campsites look great but realistically can't see it being much fun at night in midsummer. Thanks in advance!

We were at Yelloh Les grand pins 3 years ago in August, in the middle of a heatwave.
(Further south than PP)

I think it reached 40 odd degrees during the day.
To be honest, it really wasn't that bad. We had the windows open, and had taken 2 decent fans with us that kept the air circulating.
It was also dry heat so not the horrible muggy, humid atmosphere that we get here in the summer.

I'm probably not selling it very well- but it honestly wouldn't (and didn't) stop us returning.
The pool was open until 8pm each night and quite often we went down to the beach at 9pm and it was just idyllic.

We have camped at a site a few minutes away from Pin Parasol in July/August and that was also fine. Tent got hot during the day when closed up, but as soon as we were back, the doors were opened up and it soon got back to a more acceptable temperature. We had an event shelter on our pitch for shade and coped fine with the hot weather.

Huttopia

We stayed in a eurocamp mobile once, and it was pretty grim. My fault for not researching properly.

We now book directly with the campsite, and choose their most luxurious or second best accommodation type.

Hello! I’m looking for recommendations for a budget holiday to France - ferry crossing to St Malo (first time abroad with our kids). We’d rather not be in the car too long once in France but happy to drive a few hours. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Love this site. Fab facilities for kids, beach is a few minutes away and amazing and it’s an easy drive from St Malo.

https://www.sandaya.co.uk/our-campsites/le-littoral#menu

I don't know about Yelloh etc but like PP we have really loved Huttopia. The villages are a bit nicer ime and cars are parked at the edge of the site so it's really safe for children to run around. Rille is great and we also loved Sud Ardeche. When the kids are older you can send them to collect the morning bread and the activities are free and can be booked each day as to go along. Nice laid back vibe with lots of Dutch and French families. The cabanes are the nicest accommodation. No air con though!

Personally I wouldn't want to drive to the south with toddler/ baby but it sounds like you are well practised!