France Ferry & Campsite info (use Search function) mod warning post 1

54and56

Just to add to the list.

Our kids loved a couple of trips to Luna Park http://www.lunapark-lapalmyre.com each time we stayed in Le Bonne Anse Plage which is in La Palmyre - location of Luna Park here -> https://goo.gl/maps/M44tP5oLTWo

It's basically a carnival with roller coaster type rides and all that goes with that sort of thing. Good craic for a couple of hours but it can add up if you've a few kids who want to go on everything!!

scuzz

With oil prices so low doesn't seem to be reflected across ferry prices or indeed airlines, I guess the ferry trangle Monopoly holds true, wonder if they hedged prices for the better part of 2016

54and56

scuzz wrote: »

With oil prices so low doesn't seem to be reflected across ferry prices or indeed airlines, I guess the ferry trangle Monopoly holds true, wonder if they hedged prices for the better part of 2016

I'd say airlines and ferry operators did indeed hedge fuel for 2016 so are likely locked into costs higher than current spot rates but regardless of that IMHO airlines and ferry operators will set their pricing to maximise income so with high demand from a rising economy where people have more disposable income (paying reduced USC etc) and a rare event like the Euro football Championship finals in France also driving higher demand I fully expect pricing to be set towards the high end of what people are prepared to pay given the fixed supply of seats on flights and berths on boats etc. I wouldn't expect to see too many discounts being offered in June/July that's for sure.

Mehapoy

Hi all,

We're going to book a ferry/drive holiday for the end of august with kelair campotel(from reviews etc. they seem slightly better than eurocamp)...there's 3 kids 5, 3 and a toddler so looking for something where the kids can be occupied... We were looking at southern brittany campsites le grande metairie or Clarys plage as options, anyone got advice on either one? Much difference?
Also was going to go onto LA Rochelle and then drive up to Cherbourg with an overnight stop thrown in, anyone have a recommendation to stop roughly half way up, preferably with something for kiddies thrown in!

manshay

Mehapoy wrote: »

Hi all,

We're going to book a ferry/drive holiday for the end of august with kelair campotel(from reviews etc. they seem slightly better than eurocamp)...there's 3 kids 5, 3 and a toddler so looking for something where the kids can be occupied... We were looking at southern brittany campsites le grande metairie or Clarys plage as options, anyone got advice on either one? Much difference?
Also was going to go onto LA Rochelle and then drive up to Cherbourg with an overnight stop thrown in, anyone have a recommendation to stop roughly half way up, preferably with something for kiddies thrown in!

We have booked 5/6 years with Kelair, they are excellent. Usually cheaper too which helps. We usually travel the first weeks in August. We have stayed at La Grande Metairie for 3 years, La Loubine for 1 and last year at Le Clarys. It was noticeably warmer at Le Clarys, even on days with poorer weather felt warm. This year we are going further south to La Pinede, hoping the weather will be better again. The weather is very subjective, use www.wunderground.com or meteo france for historical weather.
We haven't made any overnight stops. Enjoy your hols

westgolf

Mehapoy wrote: »

Hi all,

We're going to book a ferry/drive holiday for the end of august with kelair campotel(from reviews etc. they seem slightly better than eurocamp)...there's 3 kids 5, 3 and a toddler so looking for something where the kids can be occupied... We were looking at southern brittany campsites le grande metairie or Clarys plage as options, anyone got advice on either one? Much difference?
Also was going to go onto LA Rochelle and then drive up to Cherbourg with an overnight stop thrown in, anyone have a recommendation to stop roughly half way up, preferably with something for kiddies thrown in!

With little people x 3 you should look at les genets with kelair campotel. 150 metres from clarys plage but not as mental in high season. Were there last june with our busy then five year old and he and we thought it was excellent.

Wine Goddess

IF offering 3 day sale 20% off the Dublin-Holyhead route.

Book by midnight Monday 8th and travel up until Dec 18th 2016.

average_runner

Wine Goddess wrote: »

IF offering 3 day sale 20% off the Dublin-Holyhead route.

Book by midnight Monday 8th and travel up until Dec 18th 2016.

Its also a flash sale to France, doubt many cabins are left

helqui

Hi, we have booked our first holiday to france this year and are travelling with Stena. Having never driven on the continent before am just wondering what other peoples experiences were... also am wondering what the crossings are like eg. calm, choppy etc and why so many people travel with IF. Have travelled alot to the UK before on fast crafts and never had an issue till lastyear when we got a normal ferry and i never felt as nauseous in my life, did not get sick but spent most of the crossing in the toilet. Took kwells for the crossing home and to be honest i felt worse.... both crossings were not particularly choppy either.

Cianmcliam

Driving in France is pretty easy compared to Portugal or Spain, never really had any trouble or bad experiences. Sometimes a big deal is made of the 'give way to traffic coming from your right' but it's never been an issue in the four years we've been there. The only time I got confused was with this crazy sign they sometimes have on motorway slip roads. It's a blue sign and has a car with a big line drawn through it. The first time I saw it I thought I was somehow after driving the wrong way up a one-way road but all it means is that the road you are leaving is restricted for tractors and the like but the road you are joining is not. Would love to know who came up with the crazy graphic though!

The Stena ferry is not as smooth as the Oscar Wilde, which has stabilisers, it's also smaller inside and feels a bit more cramped. I'm not sure the stabilisers make a huge enough difference but we've been lucky on our Irish Ferries crossings. Went with Stena last year and two of us felt sick while myself and the youngest were pretty ok. There seemed to be a lot more people sleeping in the public areas on the Stena ferry and the evening 'entertainment' was dire. If you only want to get a bite to eat and then sleep then either will be fine. The shop in the Stena ferry is tiny and has very little in it, we had to go to the bar and ask for a cup of milk for the cereal we packed!

Munsterbhoy

helqui wrote: »

Hi, we have booked our first holiday to france this year and are travelling with Stena. Having never driven on the continent before am just wondering what other peoples experiences were... also am wondering what the crossings are like eg. calm, choppy etc and why so many people travel with IF. Have travelled alot to the UK before on fast crafts and never had an issue till lastyear when we got a normal ferry and i never felt as nauseous in my life, did not get sick but spent most of the crossing in the toilet. Took kwells for the crossing home and to be honest i felt worse.... both crossings were not particularly choppy either.

Hi in regard to driving in France you will get used to driving on the other side quite quickly, roads are superb and if you are using the motoways then its fairly uneventful.Just take caution when coming off the motorway and geting on to a secondary road but the main thing is to keep calm and your driving instincts will kick in. Get yourself a good sat nav and dont worry about missing a turn sure we ve all done it and lived to tell the tale. On the IF question , we have travelled on all the ships to France , we usually go out with BF and go home with IF purely because of BF in the fastest and gets in on Sunday morning when roads are very quiet. We get IF home because it sails on Fridays
and the ship is very nice( we always get the 5 star cabin which is great and can sleep 4).Depending when you go the sailings are fairly comfortable and its not the norm for poor crossings in the summer months.

average_runner

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

Hi in regard to driving in France you will get used to driving on the other side quite quickly, roads are superb and if you are using the motoways then its fairly uneventful.Just take caution when coming off the motorway and geting on to a secondary road but the main thing is to keep calm and your driving instincts will kick in. Get yourself a good sat nav and dont worry about missing a turn sure we ve all done it and lived to tell the tale. On the IF question , we have travelled on all the ships to France , we usually go out with BF and go home with IF purely because of BF in the fastest and gets in on Sunday morning when roads are very quiet. We get IF home because it sails on Fridays
and the ship is very nice( we always get the 5 star cabin which is great and can sleep 4).Depending when you go the sailings are fairly comfortable and its not the norm for poor crossings in the summer months.

BF is only quicker because its closer!!!!

helqui

Thanks for your replies/info guys.

BailMeOut

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

, we usually go out with BF and go home with IF purely because of BF in the fastest and gets in on Sunday morning when roads are very quiet. We get IF home because it sails on Fridays and the ship is very nice

BF sails back on Fridays as well. It departs Roscoff late Friday evening.

kevin700

Hi
Could anyone recommend a good campsite in northern France suitable for children no more than an hours drive from either Cherbourg or Roscoff
Many Thanks
K

average_runner

kevin700 wrote: »

Hi
Could anyone recommend a good campsite in northern France suitable for children no more than an hours drive from either Cherbourg or Roscoff
Many Thanks
K

Can't remember the one my friend went to in Brittany, but it was good, But ensure you have indoor pool etc as the weather could be bad there

nompere

kevin700 wrote: »

Hi
Could anyone recommend a good campsite in northern France suitable for children no more than an hours drive from either Cherbourg or Roscoff
Many Thanks
K

I've been to this place a number of times, and my kids always loved it: http://www.frenchcampsites.co/campsites/detailed-information/brittany/dol-de-bretagne-chateau-des-ormes.html

It's probably more than two hours from either Cherbourg or Roscoff - but then they're about 4 hours apart by road, anyway.

Stone Deaf 4evr

kevin700 wrote: »

Hi
Could anyone recommend a good campsite in northern France suitable for children no more than an hours drive from either Cherbourg or Roscoff
Many Thanks
K

Siblu have a camp called domain de kerlann, near the town of pont aven, it's a nice spot, but maybe 1.5 hours from roscoff.

ECO_Mental

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Siblu have a camp called domain de kerlann, near the town of pont aven, it's a nice spot, but maybe 1.5 hours from roscoff.

Yeah I spent a few weeks there nice campsite. Not near a town so you have to drive to the shops. Less than 10 mins away though. Nice area some lovely beaches near by as well.

SusanC10

Hi Guys - Just doing some advance research. Is the below list a comprehensive list of companies doing campsite holidays in France ? Also if anyone could indicate which of these have flexible changeover dates and which of these have ovens (not microwave style ones) in the mobiles ?

Thanks in advance.

Eurocamp
Kelair
Canvas
Yelloh Village
Al Fresco
Siblu
Lifestyle Holidays
Venue Holidays
Vacansoleil
Quest en France
Roan Holidays
MS Vacances
Sunelia
Les Castels
Alan Rogers
Hello France
or
Direct with an Individual Campsite.

54and56

^^ Siblu have both traditional ovens and microwaves in all the mobile homes I've used with the over the last 5-6 years. They used to have flexible changeover days but have now standardised on Saturday as the changeover day.

kindalen

Not all Siblu parks have Saturday as only changeover day.

Stone Deaf 4evr

kindalen wrote: »

Not all Siblu parks have Saturday as only changeover day.

If you're travelling by Brittany ferries you wont be getting to the park until sunday anyway and I've never had a problem. (you pay from saturday to saturday though)

54and56

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

If you're travelling by Brittany ferries you wont be getting to the park until sunday anyway and I've never had a problem. (you pay from saturday to saturday though)

This year we're heading much further south than normal to La Reserve between Bordeaux and Biarritz so we're getting the Oscar Wilde on Thursday, travelling to La Rochelle on Friday, staying in La Rochelle Friday night and then completing the remaining 3 hour drive to La Reserve Saturday morning. We're coming back on Brittany Ferries on the Friday as we like to have a full day at home Sunday before getting back to work on Monday but we'll do the La Reserve -> Roscoff spin in one go as we have two drivers. We tried arriving back on a Sunday before and it was a mad scramble to get home, get everything unpacked and put away and then straight into work Monday morning. For the last few years we've come home on the Saturday, had a chill out Sat evening (usually an Indian or Chinese as that's what we'd have missed whilst away) and another chill out day Sunday with a BBQ Sunday afternoon. For some reason that routine seems to suit us a lot more even though it means we come home one day early from the holiday.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

This year we're heading much further south than normal to La Reserve between Bordeaux and Biarritz so we're getting the Oscar Wilde on Thursday, travelling to La Rochelle on Friday, staying in La Rochelle Friday night and then completing the remaining 3 hour drive to La Reserve Saturday morning. We're coming back on Brittany Ferries on the Friday as we like to have a full day at home Sunday before getting back to work on Monday but we'll do the La Reserve -> Roscoff spin in one go as we have two drivers. We tried arriving back on a Sunday before and it was a mad scramble to get home, get everything unpacked and put away and then straight into work Monday morning. For the last few years we've come home on the Saturday, had a chill out Sat evening (usually an Indian or Chinese as that's what we'd have missed whilst away) and another chill out day Sunday with a BBQ Sunday afternoon. For some reason that routine seems to suit us a lot more even though it means we come home one day early from the holiday.

We're actually doing much the same, heading over on the friday on the OW to roscoff, head as far as la rochelle on the saturday and then on for perpignan / la sirene on sunday.

coming home on the OW as well, but we'll come back via cognac and split the day again. TBH the only bit I'm not looking forward to is the drive to rosslare.

anchor man

kevin700 wrote: »

Hi
Could anyone recommend a good campsite in northern France suitable for children no more than an hours drive from either Cherbourg or Roscoff
Many Thanks
K

Les mouettes is lovely and only about 20 minutes from Roscoff, went last 2 years there with toddler. close to supermarket, beach. has good pool and indoor pool. good for young children, probably not great for teenagers. used eurocamp to book it.

54and56

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

TBH the only bit I'm not looking forward to is the drive to rosslare.

Why is that? I love the whole excitement of loading up the car, checking and double checking we've got the passports and tickets etc and then stopping in Culletons Bar or the Kilrane Inn 2 hours before sailing for a nice bit of food and a pre holiday pint after which we saunter onto the boat. I love that part of the trip!!

Stone Deaf 4evr

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Why is that? I love the whole excitement of loading up the car, checking and double checking we've got the passports and tickets etc and then stopping in Culletons Bar or the Kilrane Inn 2 hours before sailing for a nice bit of food and a pre holiday pint after which we saunter onto the boat. I love that part of the trip!!

Ah, I'm exaggerating really, I just prefer to be on the road in france rather than on the road over here.
It'll be my first time sailing from rosslare with the kids, we live only 30 minutes from the ferry in cork, so we've been spoiled that its only been a real short hop until we were on holidays proper.

Nekarsulm

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Why is that? I love the whole excitement of loading up the car, checking and double checking we've got the passports and tickets etc and then stopping in Culletons Bar or the Kilrane Inn 2 hours before sailing for a nice bit of food and a pre holiday pint after which we saunter onto the boat. I love that part of the trip!!

+1, great to take a wander down Wexford main street, have some food, and buy the last English Language newspaper for a fortnight
Have a mooch is some of the good bookshops and charity shops for a few extra crime novels in case the weather turns bad.
As its five to six hours drive for us to Rosslare, twice we came down the night before and stayed at St. Margret's Beach campsite for a relaxed sailing day.
(ever since I missed the ferry one year. Every man from Meath to Rosslare was cutting Barley and on the road with tractors)

dobad

Can anybody tell me what the weather is generally like in north France in May, were thinking of taking the ferry across, doing a campsite holiday. We've a toddler so not too far from port. But just wondering weather wise? Any advice would be great