Euro camp holidays are they worth it?

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My partner and I have been discussing that we may go on a eurocamp.holiday this year. Some of the sites look great and are a lot cheaper than some holiday firms are offering.
I suppose I'm wondering what people's experiences are ? Do they work out cheaper ? How did people get there as in car and ferry or by plane etc?
Can anyone also recommend any other companies that may be as good and better value for money?
TIA

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

Italy

😎 Parc Albatross, Tuscany

😎 Camping Fabulous Village, Rome

😎 Marina Julia, Adriatic, Italy

😎 Camping Village Weekend, Lake Garda

Spain

😎 Castell Montgri, Costa Brava

😎 Vilanova Park, Costa Dorada

France

😎 Saint Avit Loisirs, Dordogne

Netherlands

😎 Duinrell, Netherlands

Germany

😎 Camping Kirchzarten, Germany

Other recommended providers
Canvas Holidays, Canvas Holidays, Roan Camping Holidays, Brittany Ferries Holidays, hu openair, Yelloh!, Sandaya

We love a eurocamp, been to several across France and Italy. The best camps in Italy by far are the ones run by human travel.

Are you planning on driving? Flying and car hire?

Our kids really do enjoy them and it can be a great option for keeping costs down

Hi @witchybits we can fly or drive? What would you recommend I have DD7 so unsure what to do.
Also we were thinking of Italy any sites we could look at ?
Thanks so much 😊

We've done them a few times and enjoyed ourselves. As long as you're not a person who wants luxury to relax on holiday you'll be fine. The caravans aren't particularly spacious but you have your own fridge, loo, shower and bed and that puts it above camping in my mind! We've driven a few times and once flew and hired a car (near Rome) and once flew and did public transport (near Venice). If you're doing public transport I'd recommend a site with plenty to do on so you're not wanting to leave the site every day.

It's often cheapest to book direct with the campsite but if you want the reassurance of an English speaking rep, dealing with a larger company etc the less well known companies e.g. Venue holidays, allcamp are often a bit cheaper. One year when our school went back a bit later then everywhere else we did 10 days in the south of France in a practically deserted campsite (had the pool completely to ourselves one day) for £350 for the caravan with Venue Holidays.

@DrinkFlirtShag thanks for the recommendation I will have a look 😊

In Italy we flew into pisa and hired a car and drove to Parc Albatross, about an hour away. It was brilliant, such a beautiful site. We drove to Pisa, went the beach etc and there is a great supermarket cafe and restaurant etc on site. High ropes course, summer outdoor markets two nights we were there, really great quality place with beautiful lagoon pools, park and scenery. We also went to the Rome one, but got transfers and glad we did as the drivers were CRAZY. Much smaller shop , but a great site if culture is your thing, my sister got the bus right outside with the older kids to go see the coliseum etc and they loved it.

Castell Montgri on the Costa Brava is a fabulous campsite, 4 pools, waterslides, an outdoor cinema, kids entertainment, evening entertainment, and plenty of choices of places to eat, there's a supermarket and a bakery on site if you want to self cater. Eurocamp have pitches there as do Keycamp. We used to travel by coach, but now you can get a flight to Girona then hire a car. My 4 DC used to love the place, so much fun and so many happy holiday photos to look back on.

I've booked one for this summer... so can't comment on park or value for money.

We'll travel by car and ferry, something we've done many times.

BUT (and it's a big one!) I find their customer service atrocious! I needed to slightly change my booking to add a towel package- meaning spending more money with them.

Phone, gave up after 40 minutes, chat bot gave up after 90 minutes... email, got a reply 4 days later... at this point I just told them to leave my booking as it is. On that note, I can't recommend them at all.

Thank you everyone this is really useful. Package holidays are so expensive if you want to see other parts of the world apart from turkey which just falls into our budget. (No snobbery here as we are going in August ) Would like to see more areas and this seems a more economical way to do it for next summer.
Thanks to all again and I will look at all your great suggestions 😊

We’ve done several European campsite holidays. We always take a ferry and drive. Most years we take our own tent but have done a few safari tent and mobile holidays. Never used Eurocamp but have used Canvas, Roan, Brittany Ferries holidays and booked direct with sites. Never had a bad experience. The kids are free to roam and make friends which makes things relaxing for the adults. My DH does most of the cooking when we’re away so I get to relax. We all love a foreign supermarket.

Have done Brittany, couple of sites near Paris, Annecy, Netherlands and Italy (Garda).

I’ve booked a 3 bed mobile near Carnac in Brittany for a week beginning of English school holidays this year. Including bedding hire and cleaning it’s euro 1,010. Near beach with pool slides etc. That’s direct with the site and cheaper than Eurocamp/Canvas. It can be cheaper to book with Eurocamp or Canvas as they can book ferry with a discount.

Duinrell in The Netherlands is expensive but has so much included with an amazing pool and amusement park on site. Lovely area as well. If you book direct the pool
is included but an extra cost if booking through Eurocamp.

We've done a few sites in Italy booking directly huopenair.com/

We had some fabulous relaxing holidays, my children are adults but have used the same company's sites closer to cities when travelling and loved them too.

We stayed at Weekend Glamping on Lake Garda a couple of years ago. We booked through Canvas Holidays, but I think they had other operators on the site - or you could book direct. We had a brilliant time, it was a lovely site with lots to do. We flew into Milan Bergamo and hired a car, but you could also easily fly to Verona and drive or public transport from there.

We loved parc albatross in Italy and castell montgri near Barcelona.
Cheap flights to either Pisa or Barcelona girona to either sites.

Lovely areas and relaxing sites but still lots to do.

We did a fabulous holiday in Germany, a little town called Kirchzarten.
Campsite there is lovely and has caravan for hire and free access to the local swimming pool.

It's a long drive... 10-12 hours, but worth it. Once there, you can park up the car and use the ticket for free lical public transport that comes with the tourist tax.
The bus & train network is excellent.

We paid something like €800.- for 2 weeks, family of 4 a few years back... pich & electric hook up.

Fantastic with kids that age, we did a few in France and spain and always went with Canvas. The Dordogne was our favourite.

We’ve always enjoyed them. We’ve driven, ferry from dover to Calais, my husband was fine on the French roads, I don’t have the confidence to drive abroad.

Make sure you check whether you will be using toll roads and allow for that in your budget, if you are travelling far they can add up.

Hi OP

We're just back from a week in marina julia campsite in Italy. It was our first eurocamp. The whole holiday including flights for 4 people was €941 and I was really sceptical but it turned out to be fantastic. DC aged 10 and 5 loved it.

I chose this campsite as it was just 10k from the airport. We did hire a car though which was €200. We then did a big shop in Lidl and had the caravan stocked up for the week. There was a thunderstorm at the camp site on day so we drove to venice and spent the day there - it was sunny in venice.

Campsite was great. Pool area amazing, large number of lifeguards makinf sure the pools and pool area were safe, supermarket very good with big selection and fresh bread every day, lots of different things to do eg free mini golf, big playground. Kids club - though mine didn't go to it but did join in the mini disco in the evenings.

The caravan was small and we didn't realise we had to bring our own toilet roll (much to DHs discomfort when we arrived late at night and the shop was closed) but other than that couldn't say a thing wrong about the caravan.

Eurocamp staff were also very good. Our flight was delayed and they were available on WhatsApp to reassure me there would be someone there to get us to our caravan. We had a power cut with the thunderstorm and also they also kept us up to date there too.

Sorry if above is going to sound like an ad . It's definitely worth trying one to see if you like the vibe. We are already looking for another one in the south of France for next year.

We are on our last day of a 10 day eurocamp holiday at St Avit Loisirs in Dordogne. We have been doing campsite holidays since before we had DCs and are still doing them now that DCs have grown and gone.

We take the tunnel and drive. We make lots of stops and change drivers very regularly. On the way down we did an overnight stop at Evreux. On the way back we will stop at Dreux. From experience we avoid Paris and drive via Rouen.

On the whole we have preferred French campsites over Italian and Spanish. We prefer inland over beach. Pitches tend to be larger and the campsites smaller and quieter. The campsite we are at now has a lovely pool complex as well as bar, restaurant and shop.

Mobile homes are well equipped but read the detail closely. If something isn't mentioned eg kettle or toaster then it won't be provided. Bedding, towels etc aren't provided as standard. You can book bedding and towel packs but if driving I would recommend bringing your own as you only get the bare minimum with flat not fitted sheets.

Depending on the level of accommodation booked, the end of let clean may be included or need to be booked & paid for at reception. This used to be included as standard for all levels but that has changed. You can do that clean yourself but then you will need to wait to be inspected before departure.

Sorry to slightly derail thread but @GnomeDePlume we are driving to a campsite near Sarlat on Saturday - what's the weather like?!! 😂.
We have stayed at several french campsites (in safari tents/mobile homes) because they do seem to be a lot cheaper. We have only booked directly with the sites though. I think the French school holidays go from July 14th for about a month so going outside of that period reduces costs. We are able to go early this year as DS just finished GCSEs. Our 3 bed mobile is approx €100 per night which I'm pretty happy with!. We are in London so drive to Calais for 9am ferry, then drive 5 hours to mid point, have a night in an Airbnb, drive another 4/5 hours the next morning. Same on the way back. We like a road trip though!
Hope you find somewhere great! Everything just seems so much more expensive now, holidays included - but there are cheaper ways. They do seem to involve quite a lot of planning and effort though!

Also with any of these places, you have to remember that in peak periods the staff are under huge pressure. They are so busy in the summer that the staff often have to clean dozens of caravans within a 2-6 hour period depending on which tier you have booked. Caravans tend to have to be empty by 9.30 -10am but often aren't cleaned and available to the next guests until 3-5 pm. So if you are planning on arriving at noon due to flights, I prefer to book the accommodation starting from the day previous so I can get my keys right away. It does cost more but it rapt eases the stress and you don't have to worry about anything. The looks of envy from my fellow Brits last summer when were went to Domaine de la yole was priceless. We arrived there at 10.30 and everybody had suitcases and bags as we were so booze to the airport petite didn't bother with car hire and got taxis. We were allowed to use the favourites but had to take our cases with us.... apart from me and my 3 caravans worth of people and cases. 100% worth it , and the same goes for late flights. If you plan to stay on park on your final day but your flight isn't until 7pm? Book an extra day so you have the van until you leave.

I also recommend Domaine de la yole in Beziers , France. Right on the bus route into the medieval town and a huge supermarket, lovely park with ash the facilities you need, beach right there as well.

I wouldn’t use Eurocamp after a bad experience, but have been to Bella Italia on the shore of Lake Garda and Union Lido near Venice. Like another poster, I recommend Human Travel as having the nicest vans.

We've done loads of the years - favourites I remember: Park Albatross, Union Lido in Italy (though not sure I'd go in August) Les Peneyrals and St Avit Loisirs in the Dordogne. Les Ranchisses in the Ardeche, a lovely one in the Jura (though it rained) - La Carabasse and Lac des Reves (both Siblu) in Languedoc.

Union Lido - we flew to Venice and got a taxi. La Carabasse - been a few times but last time went on the train to Agde, then 10 mins in a taxi. You could also fly to Beziers. Perfectly possible to manage with no car in both places. For all the others we had (and definitely needed) the car.

Perfect blue sky. Temperature due to get up to around 30 this afternoon.

A major improvement on when we first arrived as we had a lot of rain to start with.

We love eurocamp, used them as a kid and now we have to children of our own we’ve been with them the last 3 years. Children are currently 3 and 8m, and have 3 great holidays. All the sites we’ve been to have had great facilities.
Eurocamp has pretty variable customer service, next year I would be inclined to book direct through the campsite, look at Yelloh! Their sites are mostly france and Spain I think or Human travel which are mostly Italy, although we did go to one of their in Luxembourg.
I would recommend booking the nicest accomodation you can afford, we went with a slightly cheaper one this year, and honesty wished we’d gone for the more expensive one.

DH loves it because you can Chuck everything in the car and don’t have to worry about weight restrictions like when you fly, although I am pushing to fly to Italy next year.

I really, really want to go to a eurocamp and wondered myself if they were worth it. I really like the look of the Duinrell site. Really want to take my kids because I think they would love it . I tried to do some research if different sites the other day