Eurocamp in the Vendee - help and advice needed!!

[gerbo]

We are hoping to book a week long hol in the Vendee, with Eurocamp, after weighing up options about travelling there, weather, seaside vs lakeside, etc.!

Our budget isn't huge (£1000 all in?) so were thinking of a cheaper band camp (A-C) for one week in a tent.

Toddler friendly would be good as we have 1 dd who will be 2.25!

Questions -

1. Any sites to go for/avoid? (I know La Garang... is meant to be good but it's band F!)

1. Is it important that it's Toddler Friendly or not?????

1. Is it worth going for more expensive and paying the supplement? Why are they better anyway?!

1. It's not going to be all booked up already is it?

Thanks in advance mnetters for any advice.

we went to camping bel. very good. small site. kids entertainment early every night..magician, film, clown etc. we loved it. we booked throough keycamp. walk to beach, into town. lovely "big sea"beaches short drive away. lots of good family biking.

Fab littlemiss - thanks - can I ask a few questions? (Forgive if they sound a bit daft)

Is it clean? (sorry!) And quiet at night? - my dh would kill me if noisy. (It's mu idea to go) Can I ask if the countryside around is pretty - we've never been? And what's the pyramid thing?! The photos in the Eurocamp brochure are weirdly grainy and un clear.....

Take a look at Matthews Holidays. They have a forum where people talk about the different sites.

And we found them much cheaper - we ended up paying the same for the basic caravan as we would have for a tent with Eurocamp.

What time of year are you thinking of going? We went once during the first week of September and it was really quiet as all the schools had gone back, the year after we went during school holidays and it was busier, but I wouldn't describe it as noisy.

I am trying to remember where we went the second year, it was the Vendee and St Jean de Monts ... oh Clarys Plage!

gerbo. the pyramid is the jacuzzi. the pool complex is sealed off with toddler proof gates so littlies cant get in. but the jacuzzi is in the pool complex. nice kids pool,with small slide. no lifegurads, so you have to be extra vigilant.
very clean. pool areas, and facilities all excellent.
very quiet at night. all the campsite "street" lighting is turned off at 10. so very dark and quiet. there is no teenager club so doesnt ttract this age group. no maurading teens getting drunk on cheap wine.
full of families with toddlers. we went with a 3yr and 4 tr old, a 6yr old and 18mth old, site small and sfe enough to let 6 and 4 ry old bike around on their own. it was really lovely. we have done huge sites too, and much prefferred this.
countryside is nice. big forest to picnic/walk cycle in. 5 mins away in car. huge super u hypermarket walking distance from campsite. (5 mins )
anything else?

Go outside school holidays and it will be massively cheaper - you might get a frotnight for your budget. Look at the pricing table in the brochure to see where the prices jump.

Your DD is too young for kids clubs etc, so unless you specifically want access to a MiniFunstation type facility, try the less well-known companies like Matthews, Vancansoleil, Ian Mearns, Camping Life etc. With the big names you are paying for facilities you won't use.

Have a look at Camping Acapulco. Small-ish, quiet and the toddler pool is heated. I was eyeing up this company's mobiles last summer.

Thanks everyone. We're limited by having to go in school hols i'm afraid but i'll def check out other companies - you never know!

Littlemiss - last thing! could you tell me about the beach??? Is it rockpooly or long and empty? Clean? Stuff to do?

Did you self-cater completely with your bunch then? I'm guessing you packed up the car with food for the trip...? We eurocamped when I was little and I seem to remember eating a lot of tinned food!

beach. local one is rock pooly at low tide, but gets some lilltle waves at full tide. beaches 5-10 mins away in car are bigger, but with a big current. at high tide. which is great. but keep your wee one in ankle depth at this time. so best of both worlds really. big beach was busy but never like sardines.
not much to do if weather poor. we went for 3 weeks and had average 1 week of rain. over the 3 weeks. indoor pool 5 mins walk awaay.
we had 2 fab days out at parc des dunes, an "amusement"park from the 70s. the kids loved it.
we went on overnight ferry, about 3 hours drive in france. self catered mostly, we had a caravan this time. raelly would recommend if you want quiet family stuff. x

thanks little miss for your advice!

we are pretty keen and were pleased to see on the eurocamp website that we could maybe even afford a mobile for a week in the vendee - around £500-700 - because for some reason the prices are much lower in the last week of the summer hols (21-27 aug) so we're hoping to go for it.

any more eurocampers out there with advice??? thanks...

hey Chippy Minton - you must ahve enjoed Acapulco last year!! I can also recommend it as CM knows... fab place!!! I agree, shop around!! My mate just got much cheaper quotes with Thomson Al fresco (WHAT????!!!!! was our reaction!) and Select Camp than we did with other 'discount' operators - just cos she could go out of season. think the Thomson one even incliuded a patio heater!!! Have stayed with a few operators and Eurocamp incidentally is the only one where I've had to get the reps in to clean on day 1 as it was so filty .

Scuse typos! Was leaning over while eating and typed wrong!

Had a look around the neighbouring sites and much preferred Acapulco.
Thomson Al Fresco have really good mobiles.
Where are you going this year Leslaki - Italy again? I'm not booking anything yet, as I haven't enough clubcard points - may take a gamble on a cheap last minute deal, if there is such a thing in these credit-crunch times.

If you are on a budget I would really recommend booking directly with the campsite once you have settled on the one you want to go to - though it may be too late for v. popular places like La Garangeoire...

We have done this several times and never had any problems - in fact the mobile homes let directly by the campsite are often newer/higher quality than those let by Eurocamp et al.

We have also used this company which does the booking for you, again much cheaper than the main operators:

www.camping-france-direct.co.uk/

Failing that, the last week of the holidays is often considerably cheaper than the others.

Hi Cm - yes back to Italy!!! here again booked it the day after we came back last year!!! Used all my tesco vouchers on that a 4 day trip to a campsite near DLP for May half term! not bad for free!! Just gotta find the spening money now!!

DH was peering over my shoulder at the site - looks lovely btw - and muttering about wanting to go to Italy sometime. Then DS2 wandered past and asked if we were going there this year. Did you hire a car or not bother?

And what's happened to canvas life? is it totally canvas hols now, and can you book using tesco deals?

Canvas Life is now canvas - you can book that site and some others in the canvas brochure with your tesco vouchers - tend to be most of the old canvas Life sites. Of course, I've used vouchers!!! I didn't hire a car and was glad I didn't!! The bus into Venice airport (marco Polo) was 3euros!! direct to campsite and the bus route was fab!! I got a taxi there as I panicked but bus stop is right outside and they are coaches with luggage compartmet underneath - think National Express with manners!! IE driver willingly unloads your luggage!! Direct buses into venice/jesolo in one direction or caorle in the other. Didn't do Jesolo as v built up and british looking but Caorle was gorgeous. prob was the site was so good we were hard pushed to find the energy to leave it!!! Can thoroughly recommend it! can't wait to go back. walk to nearby town is through a pine forest which also leads to beach - 5 mins max walk to each and town has lots of fab restauarants.

Thanks for all the info. DH would be in heaven if he didn't have to drive on holiday so defiantely one on our list for a flydrive.

eurocamp more expensive than other companies, choose a site then shop around