driving holday to france

[Andreakate]

Hello,

We live in London and are looking at where to go for our summer hols.

We are looking for ideas of places we can drive/ferry to. People have suggested brittany or the south of france but really don't have a clue here to start!!

Does anyone have any hints for locations to go to, and how long the drive is to get there?

Thanks!!

A

There are LOADS of good places for a family holiday, it is difficult to know where to start.

Brittany is nice and close,so you would not need a stopover, but the weather is similar to SE England so a bit of a gamble.

South of France, if you mean Riviera area, is a long drive - would be two full days. Also I have always found it uncomfortably crowded and expensive in summer holidays.

If you want to be that far south, try beaches in Languedoc - cheaper and less crowded than Riviera.

Other good places to try are the Loire valley (lovely chateaus, beautiful riverside towns and countryside, but not as warm as further south) and areas round the Dordogne (nice and warm with great countryside, prehistoric caves and swimming lakes with beaches).

Just depends what you want to do and what area you want to be in, really.

A good cheap ferry company is Norfolk Line which does the Dover to Calais route in 2 hours, fares from £19 one way. Friends of ours use them all the time and say ships are high standard and can get a good meal. Eurotunnel is very good if you are in a hurry but a bit more expensive.

Anyway, if you let me know what area you are interested in i can give you more specific advice.

We have been on many driving family holidays in different areas of France and have found it a really good option for families.

La Rochelle which is about 6 hours drive from Caan is really lovely. . .went there several years ago with 3 yr old and it was boiling but that was a freakish very hot summer. Beach lovely and so was the icecream.

Just logging on here to post the exact same thing.

We are thinking of driving to Bordeaux with 2 children (4 and 1). Are we mad?

Would like to spend a few days driving down, stay for a week, and then spend a few days driving back.

Where would be good places to stop off?

or should we just sod it and fly!

Can also highly recommend the area between La Rochelle and Bordeaux, have stayed on "I'le D'Oleron" for many years and have always had good weather. Lots of lovely sandy beaches and plenty of things to do with children.

Aquarium at La Rochelle, Zoo near Marennes and loads of rock pools along the coast, which is great fun for kids from 3 years right up to teens!

I was about to post a similar thread so hope you don't mind me joining in. We are looking r
to go to France via eurostar (with the car). How long roughly to get to the la rochelle area do you suppose? And are there any companies that you would recommend for sourcing good accomodation?
We have never done a villa/driving type summer holiday before and we want to make sure we get it right! Dcs are 9 & 5.

TIA

La Rochelle area is about 8 hours driving from Calais. Motorway all the way so really is very easy, however motorways over there are generally toll roads so be prepared for that.

The local websites are generally quite good, so type in the region/place you are visiting, sometimes best off using www.google.fr

La Rochelle tourism website is here you can select in english at the top right of the page.

Any help with french please don't hesitate to ask (lived out there for 16 months!)

Hope that helps.

thanks very much claire. That's a job for sunday night, after the pile of ironing

What about the Vendee? Beautiful area, great beaches, fabulous weather, and you can do a trip to la Rochelle as well.

Count on about six and a half hours from Calais to the southern part of the Vendee. Even better get the Brittany Ferries route from Portsmouth to St Malo, then it is only three hours drive.

I'll second the Vendee. We've just got back from there and it was lovely -great beaches, beautiful towns and villages etc .

We went via Eurotunnel -the drive from Calais to the Vendee was 6.5hrs (plus we did 1.5hrs of stops including a picnic lunch).

We did a hotel stopover both ways to avoid long drives in both the UK and France on the same day but as you live in London the UK drive might not be too bad for you.

A few years we also went to Ile de Re (island just off La Rochelle) -very beautiful and quiet if you want that sort of holiday

We live in the Dordogne, it is incredibly popular during the summer, best time to come is last 2 weeks of august as the French are pretty traditional about taking their holidays in the first 2 weeks of August, and also last 2 weeks of July. Also it is not quite as blisteringly hot.

As mentioned there is lots to see in the Dordogne, but it may be better for slightly older children, say about 8yrs + Most of the campsites have swimming pools, and there is canoing, markets, gorgeous villages, loads of caves and chateaux to visit.

Bordeaux is a beautiful city, like a mini Paris, so again good for older children. You are also very close to the wine region with simply stunning chateaux; Rothschild, Latour etc.

Close to Bordeaux is Arcachon which has fantastic white sandy beaches and the largest sand dune in Europe. Dune de Pyla. It is very popular with french holiday makers(again be aware of the dates.) The sea is really clean, although can be a bit bracing even in august.

I think Ile D'oleron is great for families. There are loads of car free cycle paths, huge sandy beaches, lots of little local markets. There is a big water park on the island, Horseriding, wind surfing, kayaking, widllife sanctuary. La Rochelle is less than an hour away and the aquarium is defintely worth a visit. La Rochelle has lots of lovely shops, reasonably priced restaurants and a big marina and harbour.

(Ile de Ré is nearby, but there is a big toll about 16 euros to drive onto the island.) St martin de Ré, the capital is very pretty, but the rest of the island is no better than Oleron. Ile de Ré is full of Parisians on their summer hols so has that snob factor, but it is worth a day trip visit.

Thanks for all your recommendations. Like the OP we too are considering France for this summer's holidays.

Just wanted to add that if you collect Tesco Clubcard vouchers you can use around £40 of these to get a Eurotunnel return journey to France - bargain!

Romilly - are french motorways likely to be busy on the weekend of 10/11 July? We are travelling then and would be nice to know what to expect.

Having had a few holidays to the Charente Maritime area of France staying at camp sites, we have experimented a number of options for driving down there (going to Cherbourg or Roscoff)

• Overnight ferry, then driving all day to arrive in the afternoon (hopefully)
• Morning ferry, then stopping half way at an Ibis hotel or similar and finishing the journey in the morning
• Afternoon ferry getting to France in the evening and driving through the night to arrive at the campsite first thing in the morning.

Personally I preferred driving through the night as the roads are virtually empty and the children slept most of the way (bliss). Also, the afternoon ferries tend to be cheaper than the morning ones or the overnight ones when you have to take a cabin. Last time we arrived as the bakers in the camp shop were baking the croissants and the smell was wonderful. Only thing was we couldn't get in to the accommodation straight away.

Just did this with 7 and 1 yr old to PAGEL.Its close to the Dordogne. Brilliant place to go with kids- lovely gites with lots of toys etc for kids and lovely grounds with lots of stuff for the kids to play with!Ours didn't want to leave.The food in that area is to die for too!

Pagel is great but so popular you have to book 2 years ahead.

We have stayed at Novotels before in Rouen area as I go stir crazy after 6 hrs let alone kids. However most people do seem to do it in one day. Would worry a little about a 1 yr old being in a car seat for so long though.

Also second La Rochelle area. There's a great miniature railway museum and a ride on train outside. We only came acropper when planning a visit to Isle D'Aix to cycle for the day as there was such a long queue to park we missed the 12 o'clock ferry and next wasn't until 4! However with a 1 yr old you will probably be up and out earlier than us.