Key Post: Camping in France.

Has anyone been camping in France before? I've been reading up on Alan Rogers and Eurosites offerings and they both seem very reasonable but both seem to cater for groups of 4 or more. Does anyone know if any of these sites cater for couples? Also, how much roughly does it cost to travel to France by ferry with a car? I've seen some quotes which seem really expensive (I would be travelling in July or August), like up to 500 euro for a return trip! Is it really this expensive?

Ferry to France

Hallo CB

If you can get a return trip to France on a car ferry for €500, please pass on the details!

I've been getting a few prices to leave last weekend july and return a fortnight later.
Off the top of my head the cheapest was with Irish Ferries from Rosslare at €1,150, Brittany Ferries €1,250 from Cork and P&O €1,350 from Dublin.

Thats a car, two adults and cabin.

I nearly fell of my chair when I got those prices, we could fly to Thailand for that!
I've come around since as there doesn't seem to be a viable, cheaper alternative

Looked at flying Aer Lingus / Ryanair / Easyjet and renting a car for 1 or two weeks, the small savings are outweighed by the hassle involved versus being in your own car.

Looks like we're going to cough up....

I think I remember reading a post about this before but think it could have been several months ago.

All the best
Boots

Yikes!

Ooops ... on rechecking, those prices were GBP, not Euro!! I got them via www.cheapest-ferry-crossing.co.uk/ ... I guess that works out at about 760 Euro. Still a lot cheaper than the prices you were quoted boots ... but a lot more than I expected to pay! Just out of curiousity boots, how much was the car rental for a week?

Thanks,
CB

Ferries

Hi Ceist Beag
We've done the Irl-France crossing a few times over the last few years - and of the two ferry companies leaving from Cork, I would recommend Brittany Ferries (www.brittany-ferries.com). Irish ferries is the other, but by comparison, I have always found the accomodation cramped and everything on board just grubby if not downright dirty.
We've trusted to luck on many occasions and just wandered into campsites - always got somewhere to stay (that is with own gear - not so easy if you want everything prearranged).
My advice would be to take as little as possible in the car - that way you recoup some of the ferry price by filling up the boot on the way back.
And yes I agree the ferry prices are ridiculous -especially in these times of such cheap air fares - but the freedom of having the car to just take off and go somewhere else if you don't like where you are is great.
Happy holidays
Laoise

Edited by ClubMan to fix link.

Car hire and grubby Irish Ferries

Hi Laoise
Have to agree with you about choosing BF over IF.
IF are grotty, and a bit of an ordeal.

Good idea about keeping the boot empty on the way out.
We're thinking of mostly staying around Brittany - any tips?

Ceist Beag

Re Car Rental - Europcar quoted €310 for 1 wk, €550 for two wks for a Peugot 307 or similiar.
Upgrade to a Golf or the likes and pay 420 / 670.
I checked out Connect car rental as well and got similiar prices

Add inconvientant opening times of some car rental places, the fact that you can still only carry home what you get on the plane, etc etc....


The freedom and comfort of your own car is hard to beat - especially if your girlfriend drives an nice car!

Regards
boots

Camping in France

This might be a useful site for you, if you are looking for a package with ferry and campsite included: www.keycamp.ie.
I have never used this company but know that they have been around for years.

Edited by ClubMan to fix link.

camping

Hi Ceist Beag,
I go each year to France /Spain etc camping and enjoy every minute of it. I suggest to you that you purchase a tent yourself and try out the holiday you will enjoy along with the freedom to go where ever you please. Look in buy&sell for camping supplies. Try [www.francecamping.com] for a comprehensive list of campsites. No need to book if you have your own equipment. Many campsites have caravans/cabins/chalets you may book, especially the bigger ones. Each town/village in France seems to have a "camping".
Try it you will have a great time

Camping in France

Hi CB

Have done this a couple of times and I enjoyed it immensely. However, I would say that all the usual firms, Keycamp, Eurosites etc are really aimed at families. The onsite facilities are excellent but entirely family focused. There is also a noise curfew of 10.30pm.

I have been checking out the possibilities for this year. Ferrying it is great value if there is a family as 5 travel for same price as 2. However, having driven the direct Cork-Roscoff and Landbridge routes, I have decided that the long drive just to get there is not for me anymore. Budget airline Ryanair have an extensive service to France fron Stansted and I think there is a Cork-Dinard service in Summer.

I would recommend flying budget to France and hiring a car. This is cost effective and less tiring. A copy of the Michelin Guide to campsites in France will provide you with a good list of all campsites. Most towns have a municipal site and I believe the facilities are excellent.

Brittany is nice but the weather is very dodgy as is most of the atlantic coast. I suggest the Loire Valley or further south. You could even fly to one airport and return from another.

Bon Voyage.

Camping in France

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies. In the end we decided to get a cheap flight to France and hire a car. We booked a cottage for 7 nights as they are quite good value and suited us better than the camping sites.

france

bon vacances!

France

Hi Ceist Beag

Could you tell us a little more about your planned holiday, if you wouldn't mind.

Like where you're flying to, cost of cottage, who to book with.

The reason I ask is - we had planned on taking the car but not so sure now.
Thinking of flying in and out of Dinard via Stanstead @ €300 each, or maybe a single to the likes of Biarritz and back out of Dinard.

If we had a cottage booked for a week in the south it would suit us as we have somewhere to stay for a few days around Lorient / Brittany, and could fly home out of Dinard.

Thanks
boots

France

Hi boots,
we're flying in to Paris (staying a couple of nights with a friend who lives there) and hiring a car then once we're leaving Paris. (Hertz are doing a great deal at the minute where you can hire a Ford Focus for the price of a Ford Fiesta if you book before the end of March)
The cottage is 380 Euro for 7 nights (although you can get some as cheap as 300 Euro) - I searched around for these - some handy links are www.frenchconnections.co.uk and www.gite.com - the cottage we're staying in is near Malo in Brittany. One thing, we haven't booked a flight yet as we're holding out for a good Ryanair or Aer Lingus deal - fingers crossed!!

Cheers,
Ceist Beag

Edited by ClubMan to fix links.

camping in france

Thanks for that CB,

I'll check those sites out.

regards,
boots

Keycamping in France

Travelled to France in 2003.
Stayed in a mobile home booked through Keycamp Ireland. During holiday got talking to the English family next door. Amazed to find that their (identical) holiday was costing them the equivalent of 185 euro per night whilst ours was costing 320 euro per night. On returning home we wrote asking for an explanation of the price difference. We were told it was because it was more expensive to travel with Irish Ferries. However,we had paid for our I.F. crossing to Holyhead ourselves, it formed no part of our Keycamp package. Never did get a satisfactory explanation. We feel it was yet another currency rip off. Our advice is to book through Keycamp in Britain if you want to use this company.

France

Last year we travelled to Brittany and stayed at Camping La Plage near La Trinite sur Mer (close to Carnac and Vannes). We booked the campsite directly - they have a website www.camping-plage.com

The mobile home we stayed in was top quality and the facilities were excellent. We were informed by an English couple who were staying in a Key Camp Tent that we were paying less than them. I think the rental cost for the two weeks in our mobile home was under €500.00 (this was the end of May).

The previous year we had used an english camping company which proved to be a lot more expensive.

A lot of french campsites now have websites and once they are 3 star or above, they invariably provide good quality accommodation and you will see that all the large companies - Kellair/Keycamp, etc have pitches in those places.

The only real difference in it are the Kids Clubs organised by Key Camp, etc. The french campsite only offer kids club stuff in high season. We didn't miss it. The above campsite runs directly to the beach (you cross a small lane) and the kids were quite happy with that and the pool.

The other nice thing was that was that most people in the rentals around us were French with small kids so you had to work hard to communicate but it was worth it.

I have a funny memory of my four year old daughter spending 2 days playing with a little four year old french girl (Matilde) - neither understood each other - but they were the best of friends.

Good Luck

Camping holidays

I have taken the car to France for the last 2 years
(having listened to friends saying how great it was and the kids old enough to endure the car drive.) and it was a brilliant holiday.
Some things to note however.
The first year we went (with another couple) we booked
through French Life (one of the English campsite operators) and booked the Ferry through them as well.
What a rip off!
The holiday was the exact same as booking it yourself (apart from the kids club where you had the courier instead of the campsite entertainer to keep the kids amused, no big deal).
The difference in price was over 1,000 Euro per family
just for the company, nice mark up!

The following year we went to the Holiday Show in the RDS (on this w/e!) where there are some French campsites and you can book direct with them instead of going through the tour operators and save a fortune!
You book the Ferry yourself (no big deal but just make sure you can get the dates and times to coincide).

We went to a campsite that was excellent
www.camping-le-fief.com
It was about a 5 hour drive down from Roscoff (all main motorway), and an awesome view from the St Nazaire Bridge.
The campsite had everything, kids club, swimming pools, slides, 5 a side football pitch, basketball, playgrounds and even things like archery for the adults and lots more
(all FREE).
The campsite puts on a major show a week but it's mostly in French so unless your French is good, you will have to guess what's going on.

TIP:
If you are going with another couple don't get the mobiles beside each other, get them at a right angle to each other then you can have your barbeque's together and be able to see the other Mobile front door rather then the back window.

Tip:
The campsite DOES NOT have barbeque's to rent so either bring one with you or get one in the French equivalent of Atlantic (about a 5 minute drive from the campsite).

Re: Camping holidays

I also travelled to France last summer. As I booked late I got a great deal on Keycamp as long as I arrived on or before thr 26th June. This meant that I booked flights with Aer Lingus(cheaper than Ryanair!) for the morning of 26th and hired a car through eBookers (Avis - cheaper than direct with Avis).

The campsite was in the south west and was beautiful(Camping les Lacs de Trois Vallees) with excellent facilities. The only problems were;
Missed exit from the Peripherique and zoomed into central Paris and lost an hour or so trying to get back on the correct road.
Autoroute food was brutal.
Campsite was 800kms from Paris. Nobody talking to one another by the time we got there late at night - exhausted.

This year going on a package to Salou! But I already miss France.

Slim 8)

Re: Camping Holidays

Hi,
We are going this year for the first time.
We were talking to friends you have gone for the past few years. they advised to price the keycamp and hallofrance geting their brochures and then contact the sited directly.
they also gave me a brochure teh site that they went to for the past 2 years and found it to be great. I emailed the site and git a reply the following day.
the ferry from cork is costing €1310 going out on the 18/19 th jue and back on 3rd of july .
the site for the two weeks is €542 for the following Mobil-Home O'hara 4 people rate 5 : 1 double bedroom, 1 bedroom with two single beds, addittional double bed in the living room, kitchen with gas cooker, fridge, bathroom with shower, separated toilets, table, chairs, covered terrace with garden furniture. Surface area : 28,20 m². Here is the price for this mobile-home :
- from 19th to 26th June : 255 euros
- from 26th June to 3rd July : 255 euros
- booking fees : 20 euros
- local taxes : 12,32 euros

TOTAL 542,32 euros.
the site is in the verdee - Zagarella ! - St Jean de Monts.

Re: Camping Holidays

Would recomend St Jean De Monts to anyone going to France ,went there a few times when kids were small great for camping ,lovley town and good beach

Re: Jean de monts

Bring your raincoats as the weather can be very changeable in the Vendee. Agree St Jean de Monts is very nice. Take care you do not make the mistake I made and drive into Nantes - eek! Watch out for the directions for Pont Chateau.

It seems that the ferry prices are incredibly dear if you are an independent traveller. By booking direct your kids may miss out on the kids' clubs?

Slim 8)