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

SusanC10

Personally, we find it cheaper for us to get the Ferry and bring our own car than to fly and hire a car. 2 Adults, 2 Kids.
We tend to go the 3rd week in June.
We use Tesco Tokens to reduce the Ferry cost too.
We like having our own car as we can bring a lot of our own stuff plus Bikes which means we don't have to pay for Bike Hire on Site too.

P2C

Can anyone recommend a site for first time camp site experience. Looking at the Basque Country France or Spain. Two weeks end of June/ start of July. Will have 3 kids 7,5 & 6 months (all going well). Love biking, surfing and being active. Probably prefer somewhere small or medium size. Don’t mind rural. As long as the older kids can be entertained all will be good. The only other thing would be decent chalet or mobile home.

Thanks

Colm

First Up

SusanC10 wrote: »

Personally, we find it cheaper for us to get the Ferry and bring our own car than to fly and hire a car. 2 Adults, 2 Kids.
We tend to go the 3rd week in June.
We use Tesco Tokens to reduce the Ferry cost too.
We like having our own car as we can bring a lot of our own stuff plus Bikes which means we don't have to pay for Bike Hire on Site too.

The worst area for weather in Brittany is out on Finistere. If you go a bit further south towards the Loire is is usually much better.

I'd strongly recommend bringing the car. You have much less hassle and driving is a cinch.

average_runner

joinme wrote: »

First time planning a campsite holiday in France next summer. We are family of four (kids will 8 & 4). Our plan is to fly to Nice, possibly rent a car, and stay in a campsite on the Mediterranean coast. any recommendations?

Some or all these would be great but not essential - near a small town for restaurants, close to a beach, good pools and water slides, good activities for children under 5 and over 5.

thanks

Any reason why your limiting it to Nice? Other airports near Montepellier might give you better options?

We go to la carabasse which is south of france, worth a look, kids love it.

josip

average_runner wrote: »

Any reason why your limiting it to Nice? Other airports near Montepellier might give you better options?

We go to la carabasse which is south of france, worth a look, kids love it.

Would agree with this, the further east you go in France the harder it is to find a campsite close to the beach. For a campsite with direct access to the beach I think you'd be looking at west of Marseilles.

A lot of these campsites with direct beach access however would not have a town within walking distance nearby, but would have towns within 5 mins drive.

Toulon to Frejus, you'll get some nice campsites within a long walk/short drive.

macchoille

SusanC10 wrote: »

Anyone been to Des Menhirs near Carnac ? Thoughts on it ?

Also, are Eurocamp gone from La Grande Metairie for 2020 ?

Asking for a friend not on Boards.

We stayed this year in La Grande Metairie with Al Fresco (the sister company of Eurocamp). We heard rumours while we were there that the park had been sold to a tour operator that competes directly with Eurocamp/Al Fresco and they were going to loose their tenancy for 2020.

I don’t know if the rumours are/were true but we cannot book with Al Fresco for 2020; I’m assuming your friend is in the same position with Eurocamp.

It’s a shame as we had a lovely quiet road at the back of the park with no pass through traffic which was great for the kids.

joinme

average_runner wrote: »

Any reason why your limiting it to Nice? Other airports near Montepellier might give you better options?

We go to la carabasse which is south of france, worth a look, kids love it.

No other reason than it was suggested as a potentially good value airport to fly into as both Ryanair and Aer lingus fly there.

Thanks for the recommendation, I will check it out.

54and56

as a 10 year veteran with Siblu today I got a "VIP" offer email from them for their 2020 bookings, a whopping 30% off across the board using discount code SIBFID20.

Checked the cost of the identical mobile we had this year for the same weeks in the calendar.

Result? Next years VIP 30% discounted price is 50% higher than last years price which had a black Friday (or some other made up) discount of 10 or 15%.

It's embarrassing that Siblu behave like this. I love them as a company but their non discount discount "special offers" really get under my skin.

average_runner

54and56 wrote: »

as a 10 year veteran with Siblu today I got a "VIP" offer email from them for their 2020 bookings, a whopping 30% off across the board using discount code SIBFID20.

Checked the cost of the identical mobile we had this year for the same weeks in the calendar.

Result? Next years VIP 30% discounted price is 50% higher than last years price which had a black Friday (or some other made up) discount of 10 or 15%.

It's embarrassing that Siblu behave like this. I love them as a company but their non discount discount "special offers" really get under my skin.

Yeah i got one also. The discounts you get off the actual campsite before you leave are the best ones.

MizMix

Hi All,

We holidayed in vendee this year and last year (11 nights this time and 7 year before). We stayed in le pins parasol which is a fab campsite. My husband wants to go back again. I'm happy to go back as I loved it also but really want to try somewhere else also like the dordogne region. I'm not sure I can convince him to get the ferry and do a long drive (flying into nantes and renting a car is very handy- he likes driving a left hand drive car in France as it feels more logical to him). I'm considering doing two shorter holidays- one at start and one at end of summer. However is there direct flights to dordogne from dublin in summer? It looks like perhaps ryanair do in summer (to bergerac)? Has anyone here flown direct to dordogne?

SusanC10

MizMix wrote: »

Hi All,

We holidayed in vendee this year and last year (11 nights this time and 7 year before). We stayed in le pins parasol which is a fab campsite. My husband wants to go back again. I'm happy to go back as I loved it also but really want to try somewhere else also like the dordogne region. I'm not sure I can convince him to get the ferry and do a long drive (flying into nantes and renting a car is very handy- he likes driving a left hand drive car in France as it feels more logical to him). I'm considering doing two shorter holidays- one at start and one at end of summer. However is there direct flights to dordogne from dublin in summer? It looks like perhaps ryanair do in summer (to bergerac)? Has anyone here flown direct to dordogne?

We have done the drive from Cherbourg to the Dordogne twice but friends of ours flew to Bordeaux with AL and hired a Car there and drove. Approx 2 hours.
We stayed at St. Avit Loisirs - great Campsite.

MizMix

Oh thanks Susan- didn't even think of Bordeaux!

St Avit looks amazing- currently tossing up between it and Soleil Plage

SusanC10

MizMix wrote: »

Oh thanks Susan- didn't even think of Bordeaux!

St Avit looks amazing- currently tossing up between it and Soleil Plage

We love St Avit. Will go back again but trying something different next year.

Deeman83

That time of the year again,

What do you recomend for a great camp site around the Vendee/Loire Valley region?

Something along the lines of La Garangeoir and Le Clarys.

Young Kid friendly with good kids clubs.
Good pool slides etc.

Thanks in advance.

MizMix

We absolutely love le pin parasol in vendee- we stay in the new area which has a very plush indoor/outdoor pool complete with hydro pools etc. Then the order section has fantastic waterslides etc but we liked staying in the quieter new section and walking down to the older pool area as we wanted. Kids loved both pool areas.

MorganIRL

Deeman83 wrote: »

That time of the year again,

What do you recomend for a great camp site around the Vendee/Loire Valley region?

Something along the lines of La Garangeoir and Le Clarys.

Young Kid friendly with good kids clubs.
Good pool slides etc.

Thanks in advance.

Les alicourts in loire valley is very good, stayed in Clarys this yr, not for us. Going to go back and really explore Les Alicourts. Nothing to see or do outside the immediate site but all the usual attractions within a drive.

ellee

SusanC10 wrote: »

Anyone been to Des Menhirs near Carnac ? Thoughts on it ?

Also, are Eurocamp gone from La Grande Metairie for 2020 ?

Asking for a friend not on Boards.

Hi! Been to Des Mehirs 3 times would you believe!! The main reason we have been there so much is it is close to both beach and town which is rare enough.



As for what it is like, depends what you want. The pool/slides have improved a lot since our first visit. This area I think is really very good. There's even a slightly quieter area a little away from the pool if you want a more chill atmosphere. There was never any real pressure on beds and we were there Aug 2019.


Bar area has also improved with the addition of a "shack" type area, but tbh, this area is not their best feature. As others said, it lacks atmosphere. Food offering good though. Not high dining, but v decent quality burgers and chips etc.



Indoor pool needs work but is fine for those less sunny days. Husband likes the gym and used it a lot.



Kids really like the site, it's large, they can cycle around happily, the pool/slides are great, there's a playground (suitable for up to 10y I'd say) and kids club (8yo liked this, 10yo no). However there is also an arcade room with lots of video games and machines selling sweets. My 10yo could not be stopped spending every last bit of pocket money he had in there. Not really what I wanted for him on his French holiday to be honest.



The main thing I dislike about this site are the constant efforts to entertain you. Others like this kind of thing, but it is not my cup of tea. So there was something going on at the pool every afternoon (dancing/zumba/walk on water pod thingy) and the also the bar most evenings (karaoke, quiz, music). This is new from our first visit in 2016.



A final factor that I don't really like is that the town it is near is Carnac Plage not old Carnac. Old Carnac not far, but you wouldn't walk it. Carnac Plage v commercial in atmosphere esp the centre.



So, depends what you like/want. It's a busy site, all mobiles at this point. Near beach and town. Pool and slides lovely. A bit too upbeat for me and we won't be going back anytime soon. I must emphasise rest of family loves it however!

SusanC10

Thanks for very detailed review of Des Menhirs. Have passed it on.

Pretzill

Travelling over in a few weeks and just received a text from IF to say the WB's arrival time has changed for operational reasons - It's only by an hour (but same check in time). I'm actually surprised to get a head's up, the voyage seems beset with delays operational or otherwise - the last time I was onboard it was two hours late leaving Cherbourg because they hadn't finished refuelling. Oh well still looking forward to it

joney

SusanC10 wrote: »

Thanks for very detailed review of Des Menhirs. Have passed it on.

We spent a week on the site about 3 years ago & it was the only site in France where we parked the car on arrival & never moved it again till departure day.

Poochie05

Pretzill wrote: »

Travelling over in a few weeks and just received a text from IF to say the WB's arrival time has changed for operational reasons - It's only by an hour (but same check in time). I'm actually surprised to get a head's up, the voyage seems beset with delays operational or otherwise - the last time I was onboard it was two hours late leaving Cherbourg because they hadn't finished refuelling. Oh well still looking forward to it

Had family on the WB Yeats Cherbourg to Dublin sailing on Wednesday. Same check in time but as soon as they boarded they were told it would be an hour late arriving in Dublin for 'operational reasons' then when they got to Dublin they had to wait for another hour in the bay while cruise ship went in before them to dock. Docking space seems to be an issue for them.

anacc

P2C wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a site for first time camp site experience. Looking at the Basque Country France or Spain. Two weeks end of June/ start of July. Will have 3 kids 7,5 & 6 months (all going well). Love biking, surfing and being active. Probably prefer somewhere small or medium size. Don’t mind rural. As long as the older kids can be entertained all will be good. The only other thing would be decent chalet or mobile home.

Thanks

Colm

Have a look at Sylvamar campsite near Bayonne. We have returned to there a few times, one of the best campsites we’ve been to, and we’ve been all over France.

vienne86

So the Brittany Ferries ship, Connemara, has done a strop again - it did something similar for a couple of days in May, when the Pont Aven was out of action.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/brittany-ferries-sailing-for-300-passengers-cancelled-hours-before-crossing-950697.html

Wonderful! I'm due to sail to Sandander next Wednesday, and got caught up in the Pont Aven breakdown in May. And got caught in the W B Yeats fiasco last year too.

In fairness to Brittany Ferries, they looked after us well in May. Fingers crossed things will get sorted by Wednesday.

Very nervous about making any more bookings!

westgolf

Three out of three ! Time to consider fly drive as a holiday option.

vienne86

westgolf wrote: »

Three out of three ! Time to consider fly drive as a holiday option.

Well I'm retired now, so delays are not as disruptive as when I was working. I took the car to France regularly during a 14 year period when I had a holiday home there, and never once had my travel arrangements messed around. I suppose it's payback time now!

kindalen

Brittany are meant to be using a different ferry on the Spain route next year, the AF MICHELA. It will be called the KERRY, and will be chartered for 1 year from November 2019 for the Santander route.

First Up

kindalen wrote: »

Brittany are meant to be using a different ferry on the Spain route next year, the AF MICHELA. It will be called the KERRY, and will be chartered for 1 year from November 2019 for the Santander route.

No bigger than the current vessel unfortunately. It currently operates between Ancona in Italy and Durres in Albania - a much shorter trip than Cork - Santander.

Pretzill

I see that the WB Yeats has been taken off the France route for the winter months - October 1st onwards, it's being replaced by the Epsilon - and looks to be heading to Holyhead (perhaps there's more footfall there?)

shanec1928

Pretzill wrote: »

I see that the WB Yeats has been taken off the France route for the winter months - October 1st onwards, it's being replaced by the Epsilon - and looks to be heading to Holyhead (perhaps there's more footfall there?)

It happens every year

Pretzill

shanec1928 wrote: »

It happens every year

The WB Yeats only started this Spring and last year The OW (and all the years previous) was sailing. First year I can see in a long time that a very budget boat is soley taking the route.