Eurocamp

[NewAdventuretobemade]

Happy New Year everyone!
This will be a long post- I need ideas please First time mum!

I am thinking about doing my first eurocamp holiday on the 1st week of September 2024. I will have a 4 month old baby, we do drive but never driven abroad before.

I am wondering if any one can recommend a good beachy Euro camp a family of 3 to go. IDEALLY without driving as it will probably be my partner having to do most of the driving, if I am breastfeeding and because we will probably both just be absolutely shattered from a lack of sleep with a 4 month old. I have a few friends who go to France often for Disney and said it was a super was journey, to get into France, so this is where I have been looking for today.

Also if you have been to eurocamp do you recommend them for a little 1 week getaway with a 4 month old or would you stick to a package holiday such as BA or Tui? - We do usually go a typical package holiday with TUI, BA or First choice but I like the idea of a eurocamp abroad and the prices are much cheaper!

The 2 options so far are- there are more but so far out or not near a beach its over an hr walk to a beach & im not sure what transport is like in these areas ( if we dont get a car hire), so dont want to risk it.

LE DOMAINE DU CLARYS - LE CLARYS PLAGE- 10 hours journey ( by car) - Nearest airport is Nantes 76km ( 1 hour by car) and nearest port is- St Malo - 257km. (3hrs drive) I have found cheap ryanair flights to nantes from stanstead and is only a 1.5 hour journey but the issue is I can not seem to find any car hire's from the airport to the campsite. I dont know if this is because its too early or if I just wont find any!

Domaine les Charmilles- 12hr journey( by car)- I feel this will be way to long for a 4 month old and also way to long between me and my partner we will already be getting little to no sleep so I cant imagine us doing a 6hr journey each
or La Rochelle airport is g 31.2km ( 25 mins away) or the nearest port is Saint-Malo - 340km (4hrs by car)- Again same issue I cant seem to book any car hire from La Rochelle & can only find 1 flight from stanstead to la Rochelle which is leaving at 3pm and the flight back is at 6pm- I believe check out is 10am for eurocamp,, so normally I would love the free time before a flight but with a 4 month old it feels like it will be terrible.

Does all this journey all sound to long winded with a 4 month old? Help please! :)

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MNHQ update: If you’re short on time, here’s a selection of the best Eurocamp sites that Mumsnetters are recommending on this thread:

😎 La Chapelle, Roussillon, France

😎 Marina di Venezia, Adriatic, Italy

😎 Le Sérignan Plage, Languedoc, France

😎 Le Châtelet, Brittany, France

For more inspo, check out our guides to the best Eurocamp sites in France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, all featuring recommendations from Mumsnet users.

@Mapletreelane I was actually looking at September because I don't have any time prior and the baby is due is last day end of April, so wont want to travel soon after having the baby and we will need to figure out a little routine before even considering travelling. September will still be warm and I am used to going away yearly so would love to squeeze in a little holiday. I dont mind it winding down, will hopefully result in a less stressful trip and less busy plane!

To be honest with a 4 month old ill probably just use this time to sleep, swim and get some sun on my skin. It wont be relaxing with a baby anyway lol..

If you are still keen on eurocamp then I'd suggest overnight Ferry to Roscoff or St Malo and then stay in Brittany - far less driving needed then! Obvious downside is potential for bad weather but you won't really be able to sunbathe with a small baby anyway, and Brittany has a beautiful scenic coastline with lots to see and do.

@Jijithecat wow! This is beautiful!!! I bet your kids had the best time here. it really looks amazing I am checking this out

@Jijithecat I just had a look and this one is actually on the SUN950 holidays- in case you are looking to go again this year! I think I actually love it, I cant believe this is a eurocamp 😮.

Can you share how you got to this venue from the airport please and if you think this is a feasible journey with a 4 month old.

Thanks so much for the recommendation. Im now between this or the Vilanova in spain.

@hazelnutlatte Thanks for the reply. I have changed my mind and will do a eurocamp and I have nailed it down to two areas. The first was recommended by @Jijithecat and it looks absolutely amazing, so I am really into exploring that now
https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/italy/adriatic/marina-di-venezia-campsite?ranMID=45726&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-guFFdbXWdbU5NIId9EsUXw

the other one that I found was this- its also nice but does not have direct access to a beach for nice family walks but does have a bus that goes into barcelona which is cool.
https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/spain/costa-dorada/vilanova-park-campsite?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17989253010&cq_con=142809891551&cq_term=vilanova%20park&cq_med=&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA44OtBhAOEiwAj4gpOTFC8l_4NsdWrnY9-43tNrML0MAxjLePI9Uf9pWLo28l9p3PnKPPjBoCb4EQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

As these locations are such known areas, transport should not be a problem and exploring Barcelona with the baby will be great as we have never been and the weather is still in the 20's for both locations so perfect.

I hated every single second I was there. (Went to two different ones). Not my type of holiday at all.

@chatenoire Oh no, what did you not like about both experiences? :( how old were your kids?

It was too crammed for us (inside) and even outside, there was absolutely ZERO privacy. Pools were OK in Spain and too small in France. Plus having the fridge was too small so we had to go shopping every other day.

I had only been to 5 star all inclusive places in Mexico so, it was a completely new experience for me. Definitely not my thing like I said.

We got a bus from the airport, it was actually a coach and a really nice one at that, but public transport nonetheless. It stopped at a bus stop very close to the campsite and we then walked from there. I seem to recall it's maybe 15 minutes to the entrance so make sure your luggage has wheels! I think it would be doable with a baby, we did it with a toddler so had a pushchair with us.
It is a big campsite and my first holiday of this type. You might want to hire bikes to get around. They're handy just to get across the campsite! Also meant we could cycle to the ferry to go to Venice and Murano and we spent a beautiful day cycling round the lagoons. The beach was lovely too.
We had a really nice holiday there. I would like to go back one day.

We went a few times to camping le chatelet in St Cast when ours were little. It's not far to drive from Cherbourg. It's small site.

We've not been but Center Parcs in France is much more affordable than uk & I reckon it would be nice with a baby.

@converseandjeans Oh yes center parcs, I forgot all ab out this company. I have heard adults talk about it but thats in the capacity of using it for a girls weekend away or a hen! not for a family trip but your so right, the pictures I saw were definitely good for a family trip. I will check it out. Thank you :)

@Jijithecat Ok amazing, thank you very much. I have been trying to find a quick route by transport yesterday it says 2 buses and its an hour and 40 minutes or get 2 couple boats but thats over 2 hours, both have a 25-30 minute walk. To be honest with a cheap accommodation like this ( it will cost us £200 in total for 1 week) and I checked flights, it will be ( 390 on Ryan air with baggage for us all) I will probably opt for car hire or just a taxi,. we will have a buggy to push, 2 checked in luggage's and 2 hand luggage's, it wont be possible to do that all on foot and I have no idea if bringing a car seat/ cot is necessary, Ifor our first family trip I want it to be as smooth sailing as possible.

This is still working out cheaper than a standard package holiday which at the moment is £600 per person for venice or Barcelona so either way this will be a saving.

Never done a package holiday with my kids but have Eurocamped lots of times. We live close to Portsmouth so overnight to St malo and then two hours drive to one of the Brittany beach ones around Carnac/La Trinite. Including with a 3 month old and a 9 month old (separate holidays, older siblings both times).

if I’m brutally honest, for me the four month stage with my first one was so knackering I found the effort and stress of a holiday (or anything) really hard - but eurocamp isn’t difficult and by the time I had my subsequent babies it was manageable. And Self catering in france is basically baguettes, pastries, cheese, nice fruit and salads for this family, with sausages and their burgers (which are much nicer than ours). And lots of crepes out and about.

@DrearyLane Ok that really good to know, I will probably also be exhausted :( but anything after September it will be getting cold & I hear so many mixed stuff, people say its the best time because they are so little so they just eat and sleep so you can actually have a holiday and others like you have said its exhausting and they would wait until they are around 3 years old before starting their first holiday! I cant wait that long lol.. I THINK we will be alright but I wont know until we do it.. Also a few people on here have suggested Brittany, but we are about 3 hours drive from portsmouth then its the overnight ferry ( which wont mean sleep with a 4 months old so no benefit and it cost £490 return for September which is a lot. Dover is closer by about 1 hour but the drive to get to Brittany from our side with the ferry from dover is 10 hours. Im leaning towards the options someone gave me above and im now very interested in just getting the plane- stanstead is only 30 mins from me and a lot of budget airlines, so the destinations someone suggested is cheaper than the ferry.

Thank you so much though.

Going against the grain I would totally drive with a baby rather than go on a plane. You can take all the stuff you need. We have done Eurocamp lots of times with older kids. It will be quiet early September. We live near Stansted but always do the Portsmouth-St Malo crossing to have an easy drive the other side. When mine were babies they slept well because of the vibrations of the boat! There is a big Eurocamp at Dol de Bretagne near St Malo, Les Ormes. I haven't been there but it usually gets good reviews. St Malo is lovely. Otherwise Carnac area is nice and easy to get to. Weather in Brittany never reliable though - could be very hot and sunny or could be rainy.

Ohh thats interesting your also towards us then as Stanstead is close to me too and you do that 3 hour drive to the port 😲

me and my partner did talk about driving and we both have never driven on the 'wrong' side of the road so dont know if its something that would scare the crap out of us attempting with our new baby.

Yes I was looking at the weather for Brittany and people said it was actually cooler than they thought which they didnt like, I do want to go somewhere nice and sunny for beach day and sitting outside, so wont got there unless it was in July/ August.

Thanks for your recommendations. I wish I had tried driving abroad before I got pregnant then I would feel comfortable doing it abroad but now i'm pregnant I dont even have an opportunity to travel and test it out!

The drawback of Brittany is that the weather will
not be too dissimilar to that in England though. Might be work a think especially if like you say you want enjoy a summer holiday where your little one can paddle.