Driving to Spain with a 2.5yo and a 12mo

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DH and I are planning, given the volcano probs, to get a ferry to France and then drive down to northern Spain through France to stay with family. We're both teachers, so no pressure of time to get there, and planning to take several days each way(google maps reckons it's 12hours from Calais).

I was wondering if anyone has reccommendations of activities to do in anywhere in Northern or middle of France(anywhere but the coast really) Has anyone been on holiday in France and stumbled across any gems in terms of parks, theme parks, zoos, aquariums, aquaparks etc.

Also looking for ideas for accommodation. We're hoping to do hostelling but obviously need a family room and bathroom. So if anyone knows of a good one please let me know. Or even better if there are any hostels or hotels with adjoining rooms so DH and I can actually have some privacy!

Any reccommendations would be most welcome.
Thanks

Futuroscope at Poitiers is pretty good. There's also a zoo around Tours but the name escapes me. HTH

Have you considered the tolls though? I think if you plot your journey on the Via Michelin website, it will guess-timate the tolls for you - it may work out expensive enough to maybe warrant the longer Santander ferry? Not sure.

Have fun! We did the same trip a couple of years ago, driving down through France to Northern Spain (but we travelled along the coast) and came back home on the 24 hour ferry. Biarritz was a highlight, along with Saint Jean-de-Luz. But the Euro was less strong then

Hi

If memory serves, tolls will be around £160 in total. Personally I would rather drive with small children than take a ferry even on a short crossing. No.1 child prone to all forms of motion sickness to the point where she was known as Colonel Chunder. At least in the car she could sleep. Joyrides worked for her - we still buy them in industrial quantities for long trips.

As an alternative to hostelling have you considered the inexpensive chain hotels such as B&B (www.hotel-bb.com/)? They arent luxurious but they are quite good value and normally have some sort of eatery nearby or you can visit the local hypermarket and have a picnic in your room. Formule 1 is another cheap chain but wouldnt recommend these with small children as the bathroom is shared with the whole floor. Whichever you choose you will probably need to book or otherwise face trawling from place to place only to find the sign up saying 'complet' (full). Our experience in France is that you are unlikely to find communicating rooms at anything other than a very high price. I'm afraid you will have to contain your need for privacy until you get where you are going!

It's been a while since our children were that age but we have a couple of recommendations:

1.Crocodile park in Rhone Valley 1.5 hours south of Lyon:
eng.lafermeauxcrocodiles.com/sitemap

Our children loved this. Water is from nearby nuclear power station but all crocs seemed to have only the regulation number of limbs and heads!

2.A castle being built in Burgundy using traditional materials and techniques:
www.guedelon.fr/en/the-guedelon-adventure_01.html

We havent been there(yet), this was recommended to me by a French colleague. If you like castles I think this will be a good one.

Will you be staying on the Atlantic or Med coast? There are great places to visit on both sides.

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. We'll be staying on the med coast side.

We've driven through France before (pre kids) so know all about the tolls.

I will check out all these suggestions now. Obviously feel free to post more as well

There is a monkey park just south of poitiers but I can't remember what it is called I'm afraid!! You can walk around and the monkeys are free to roam too! IE they aren't in cages. My ds loved it!