Idiots guide to going to france on a budget please

[hercules1]

I want to take ds (12) and dd (4) to France this Summer Holidays but have never been there myself. We will be travelling from London.

I need an idiots guide to going there. I have no preference for a place to go there but it does have to be cheap as possible. We have a tent and can camp. I can drive if that's better. I would quite like to take them to see the Bayeux Tapestry but not compulsory.

It would probably be for a week

I also dont like really touristy type stuff kind of Butlins places.

So, I need advice on all that as well as getting there.

Thanks in advance

I've got to do and do some stuff with the kids so might not get back for a while.

Driving in France can be quite expensive because you pay tolls on motorways - plus you will need to pay for the shuttle or ferry crossing.

Why don't you budget out your car journey by looking at www.viamichelin.fr, deciding on an itinerary, and then working out how many kms you will drive in total, what the motorway tolls and petrol will add up to and what your crossing will cost?

Then you need to work out where you will sleep - I have no idea about camping but someone will be here in a minute to help I am sure.

Food if you self cater is very much the same price as in the UK if you shop in a hypermarket, but much more expensive in town centres or street markets.

If you don't like organised stuff, perhaps you would like to rent a cottage and then do your own thing. We have done that in the region that the Bayeux Tapestry is in. There are lots of other attractions in the area - D-Day landing beaches, Deauville, Lisieux etc. When we were there, we also took the train to Paris for the day, and drove out to Mont St Michel.

The nearest ferry port in the area is Caen, which has ferries coming from Portsmouth. Le Havre is nearby too.

If you rent a cottage, you can cook in (buying food from the local hypermarche and bread from the baker every morning), and can also eat out really reasonably.

Thanks for the replies. Tbh I was hoping to camp rather than book a cottage as there will only be 3 of us and dd cosleeps anyway so only need 2 beds really. Not sure though about taking a tent without a car. Anyone experience of camping there?

By a Lonely Planet guide book.
Camping is easy. Lots of lovely camp sites all over the place.Loire particulalry nice.I've only ever camped in France once but go a lot as bil is French and sister and kids there obv.

We stayed in lovely places just travelling on a whim.

Have a picnic lunch/dinner every day. (No sacrifice in a country with such great foood. Have fun buying from little shops and markets) Straight away you will have saved tonnes.

By a Lonely Planet guide book.
Camping is easy. Lots of lovely camp sites all over the place.Loire particulalry nice.I've only ever camped in France once but go a lot as bil is French and sister and kids there obv.

We stayed in lovely places just travelling on a whim.

Have a picnic lunch/dinner every day. (No sacrifice in a country with such great foood. Have fun buying from little shops and markets) Straight away you will have saved tonnes.

By a Lonely Planet guide book.
Camping is easy. Lots of lovely camp sites all over the place.Loire particulalry nice.I've only ever camped in France once but go a lot as bil is French and sister and kids there obv.

We stayed in lovely places just travelling on a whim.

Have a picnic lunch/dinner every day. (No sacrifice in a country with such great foood. Have fun buying from little shops and markets) Straight away you will have saved tonnes.

By a Lonely Planet guide book.
Camping is easy. Lots of lovely camp sites all over the place.Loire particulalry nice.I've only ever camped in France once but go a lot as bil is French and sister and kids there obv.

We stayed in lovely places just travelling on a whim.

Have a picnic lunch/dinner every day. (No sacrifice in a country with such great foood. Have fun buying from little shops and markets) Straight away you will have saved tonnes.

Thanks,Moondog. Did yoy drive when camping?

Yes.We had been to Glastonbury so were a bit shellshocked but just drove slowly down to Provence in the south where my sister lived.

Visited lots of chateaux in Loire which is what it is famous for.

There's a website called drive-alive.com who will book cheapo places to stay. You can do the ferry with them as well, if you like. (will try to do a link). I've used them several times & thy're great. Another one is Logis de France, for little inns etc.

I love France. It's not hard to eat well, and cheaply. (Or well, and expensively, if you prefer.)

A tip - in small towns & villages there is often a place where the locals eat, a canteen, where they doa set meal for peanuts, with wine thrown in. There's one near my ILs, near Limoges, and they charge 10 euros per head for at lunchtime for 4 courses, including a cheese course, with wine and bread. Another tip - buy local wine for yourself & give the dch a splash in a glass & top up with water, like the French do. If you buy Coke etc it really pushes the price of the meal up.

We booked a ferry last year when we went to Le Harve with a berth (and the car)for four of us it cost 167 quid for a return. My brother got a return for even cheaper going into Dunkirk (with car). Start shopping around now and if you're willing to do a longish drive you can probably get a really good deal particularly if you're not bothered which port you'll arrive at.

www.drive-alive.com

www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm

Sorry, didn't do the link very well.

Try this
and this

You have to pick your hotel carefully, look for the ones with family rooms.

Hope you have a lovely time!

Er, that still didn't work... anyone know how you do links???!

We didn't find it hugely expensive to drive in France, my parents live there part of the year so we didn't pay for accomodation but the whole holiday including ferry, petrol, tolls, spending money cost us less than 600 quid, probably nearer 5. So not hugely expensive to drive. We drove from Le Harve to the Auvergne and while we were there we also drove to my brothers partners place south of Montpellier, so we did a lot of driving.

the train is a very good way to go, especially with children - you can walk around, stretch legs, draw, read etc.

[http://www.seat61.com/France.htm#Other%20destinations guide to trains to places in France]]

if you stay in a caravan you won't have to take a tent.

general information about Normandy

tries train link again

here

you can also hire tents already up, but that would be more expensive than taking your own tent.

Campsites in France are normally excellent, with first rate facilities

If you drive you'll be able yo stuff the car with basic food ingredients. France can be cheap but the exchange rate at the moment is really bad for anyone with £££'s so it'll feel more expensive.

We have camped at Houlgate in Normandy; a lot of the site is Eurocamp/Keycamp but they do have ordinary pitches too and it's not too dear. The staff have some English so you could ring/email for prices.

It's a nice site with good facilities and you can walk to the beach - it's about 1km down a residential road. Houlgate is not too bad a drive from Calais. (Don't even think about a Caen crossing if you're doing it on the cheap.)

Bayeux is reasonably close and you could also look at the D-Day beaches. Normandy is lovely altogether

Ohhhh, have just seen you will not be in a car - that makes a big difference!

Campanile/Kyriad are sort of a French equivalent to Travelodge, but quite a bit nicer I think - they do double and triple rooms, usually one child can stay free.

Normandy is wonderful. At the risk of sounding like a stuck record and/or filling the place with MN-ers , I can't recommend the Cotentin peninsula highly enough.

If you get the chance to see the Bayeux Tapestry do. I think it's amazing.