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

Peckham

Heading to Saint Jean de Monts for first two weeks in July. We're now considering extending our holiday by a few days and stopping for 4 nights somewhere en-route between Saint Jean de Monts and Cherbourg.

Any suggestions as to where we should consider? We have a 6 month old, 3 year old and six year old, so keeping them occupied is primary focus.

Heading into Brittany means that the journey to Cherbourg is quite far. Looking at Loire Valley and Normandy I presume.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Peckham wrote: »

Heading to Saint Jean de Monts for first two weeks in July. We're now considering extending our holiday by a few days and stopping for 4 nights somewhere en-route between Saint Jean de Monts and Cherbourg.

Any suggestions as to where we should consider? We have a 6 month old, 3 year old and six year old, so keeping them occupied is primary focus.

Heading into Brittany means that the journey to Cherbourg is quite far. Looking at Loire Valley and Normandy I presume.

you'll do Cherboug to SJDM in just over 4 hours, not a bother on you if you stop for an hour along the way. If it were me, Id head further south to la rochelle for the extra few days, then bite the bullet with a longer drive up on the last day.

Peckham

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote:

you'll do Cherboug to SJDM in just over 4 hours, not a bother on you if you stop for an hour along the way. If it were me, Id head further south to la rochelle for the extra few days, then bite the bullet with a longer drive up on the last day.

Thanks. Really want to head in the homeward direction though.

Looking at Domaine des Ormes, which seems to get good reports and perfect for our kids

hurler32

Going To raguenes Plage Eurocamp the end of June for a week...3 kids 15,13,11...have a feeling it might be catering for a younger family...any recommendations in the general area for us??
Sailing Rossalre to Roscoff out and Cherbourg to rosslare back.....

Charliebull

Peckham wrote: »

Thanks. Really want to head in the homeward direction though.

Looking at Domaine des Ormes, which seems to get good reports and perfect for our kids

Domaine Des Ormes , I would highly recommend

Peckham

Charliebull wrote:

Domaine Des Ormes , I would highly recommend

Booked!

redmissb

saggycaggy wrote: »

Cool we're heading there too at the end of August (aaaaages away!) on our first campsite type trip so i'll be dying to hear how you get on! We're going from Rosslare to Cherbourg so it's a bit of a drive.

I'll let you know how we get on! Hope the weather improves over there:)

yellow76

Heading away shortly to Clarys Plage. Planning a visit to Planete Sauvage and wondering is it best to book it online or buy tickets at the gate? Anyone any discount codes for it? Any other advice about the park? We are family of 4. 2 adults and 2 kids under 7.

Also after a few yrs in France I wonder has anyone brought meat over with them on the ferry?

We miss our steaks for BBq and find meat inn France extremely expensive and not as nice.

Mountainsandh

Stab*City wrote: »

Anyone have any experience of driving to Italy? We have done both western France and the Costa Brava in the car before but this will be my first time going to Italy. Just wondering the best route options and maybe if anyone knows any camping sites similar to France but in the Italian Riviera.

I was there a few times. Once driving from Lyon through tunnel. It's a boring enough route, and the tunnel and tolls cost a lot.

Other times we were already on the French Riviera so it was a case of just driving along the motorway. It's very windy and goes through lots of tunnels and bridges, but it is short enough from Nice or thereabouts.

Italian campsites are expensive, and the ones we tried weren't a patch on the French campsites, but it's a different atmosphere I guess. From what we saw Italians tend to go for the social aspect rather than the amenities, it's really all about meeting family members and friends from previous years.
That's just our experience, and it was good fun nevertheless. Everything was clean and functional.

One lovely little campsite that we returned to is Camping Baciccia, in Ceriale. It's an easy reach from France, has a lovely restaurant and pool (although the pool is very deep for children who are not good swimmers, but there is a little square paddle pool beside it), is within walking distance of a supermarket, and even of a public beach (sand is gravelly and it's not as glamourous as the private beaches in town centre). From the campsite there is a free shuttle that will take you to the town centre, there's a lovely walkway with craft stalls along the private beaches areas (they're lovely too). The beach is pebble-y, and it gets deeper quickly, but it's very pleasant.
If you stay at the campsite during the day, all the Italians are either napping or at the beach in the afternoon, so you often have the pool to yourself.
Ceriale is famous for growing stuff, like flowers, lemons, fruit... You pass a lot of glasshouses on the way to the supermarket.
There is an aquatic centre pretty close to the campsite too.
https://www.campingbaciccia.it/en/

Don't know much else as we did an aire and then went inland.

BailMeOut

yellow76 wrote: »

Also after a few yrs in France I wonder has anyone brought meat over with them on the ferry?

We miss our steaks for BBq and find meat inn France extremely expensive and not as nice.

We bring coolers of the French Toulouse sausage back with us. Just put fresh meat into decent quality coolers with LOTS of ice packs and keep closed/sealed for duration of the trip. When you get to other end freeze what you are not eating in next few days.

54and56

BailMeOut wrote: »

We bring coolers of the French Toulouse sausage back with us. Just put fresh meat into decent quality coolers with LOTS of ice packs and keep closed/sealed for duration of the trip. When you get to other end freeze what you are not eating in next few days.

It's like you read my mind!!! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057738468

yellow76

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

It's like you read my mind!!! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057738468

Are You planning to freeze your haul before you go?

54and56

yellow76 wrote: »

Are You planning to freeze your haul before you go?

Yes, i think so. The posters on that thread an an experiment i did a few weeks ago (freezing and then thawing and cooking two steaks) have convinced me. Will probably bring 20 steaks or so. I'll be feeding 4-5 people for 20 days so I'll easily get through 20 steaks over a few bbq's.

loyatemu

yellow76 wrote: »

We miss our steaks for BBq and find meat inn France extremely expensive and not as nice.

we generally get the Bavette steaks in the supermarket and half the time the meat is actually from Ireland. Bavette is a flank cut you don't really see here, it's a bit chewier than (say) Striploin but is very tasty.

BailMeOut

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Yes, i think so. The posters on that thread an an experiment i did a few weeks ago (freezing and then thawing and cooking two steaks) have convinced me. Will probably bring 20 steaks or so. I'll be feeding 4-5 people for 20 days so I'll easily get through 20 steaks over a few bbq's.

I would bring them fresh with a lot of ice packs as if they are defrosted by time you arrive you cannot freeze again.

54and56

BailMeOut wrote: »

I would bring them fresh with a lot of ice packs as if they are defrosted by time you arrive you cannot freeze again.

That was my logic too but the other experienced posters said that if you freeze them properly i.e. in a proper deep freeze for 7-10 days before you go and get their temp down (my freezer gets down to -23c) it provides a much greater range of safety than bringing them fresh and cool. If -23c steaks warm up by 15c in the 36hr's it generally takes from home to walking into the mobile home in France they will still be at -8c and safe to refreeze. If the outside ones are close to 0c you put those in the fridge and use within the first 4-5 days onsite.

If you bring chilled steaks which start off being 2c (the temp of my fridge) and they rise by 15c to 17c by the time you arrive at the mobile in France there is a much higher risk that they will have started to go off and be bad.

I guess if you start with chilled and are confident of keeping them under 10c until you can pop them in the freezer in France you will be fine but the logic of starting at -23c and having tons of wiggle room whilst maintaining them at below 0c appeals to me so that's what I'm going to do.

54and56

loyatemu wrote: »

we generally get the Bavette steaks in the supermarket and half the time the meat is actually from Ireland. Bavette is a flank cut you don't really see here, it's a bit chewier than (say) Striploin but is very tasty.

Yes, I'm going to try that this year also. Doesn't look much like a traditional "steak" but it's meant to be pretty tasty and is what is generally used when you order steak en frites in France.



Great article on Bavette steaks here.

The secret seems to be to keep it simple, BBQ it on a very high heat and cook it rare or at most medium and then let it rest for 5 or 6 minutes before serving.

I'm also going to try marinading them in some balsamic vinegar and minced garlic. If you do that for at least an hour before BBQ'ing during which time you turn and prick the steak with a fork a few times not only does it impart a really nice flavour to the steak but it keeps it moist.

BailMeOut

an insanely easy and tasty meal to do over there is to BBQ some of those thick toulouse sausages and serve on fresh baguette bread with fried onions and peppers and mustard.

These toulouse sausages that are sold everywhere are fantastic but can be really difficult to cook all the way through on a BBQ before an Inferno of flames will engulf them so top tip is to boil them first for 5-10 mins and then finish off on the BBQ. Yum!

Mountainsandh

Merguez in a crunchy baguette with moutarde de dijon. Yum.
I don't think there's such a difference between French meat and Irish meat that I'd bring Irish meat over. Like another poster said, a lot of the meat over there comes from Ireland, speaking of which, veal (le veau) is beautiful with a little bit of creme fraiche and mushrooms, with rice. I'd say a very large part of veal consumed in France comes from Ireland.

Pavé is a big square steak (well not big big, like a pebble sort of), it stays very juicy due to the thickness, and it's usually a great cut, I think it's sirloin in English (Rumsteak in French).
Médaillons are round, medium thickness cuts, and very tender too. I think they're closer to bavette.
If you want to be closer to the ribs, then it's faux-filet.

edit : I had to Google the Toulouse sausages, I'm French but from Lyon, we call them Godiveaux up there.

Mountainsandh

yellow76 wrote: »

Heading away shortly to Clarys Plage. Planning a visit to Planete Sauvage and wondering is it best to book it online or buy tickets at the gate? Anyone any discount codes for it? Any other advice about the park? We are family of 4. 2 adults and 2 kids under 7.

Also after a few yrs in France I wonder has anyone brought meat over with them on the ferry?

We miss our steaks for BBq and find meat inn France extremely expensive and not as nice.

I wouldn't chance transport myself so sorry I've no tip on that.
I just asked my nephew (he's a butcher in France) what's the best meat for barbecue in France, he gave me the following tips :
go to a real butcher (not supermarket) and ask for Araignée (yes, it's the word for spider), Onglet or Hampe. These are the 3 best cuts in his opinion for bbq (and he knows his stuff) but they're sometimes hard to find.
Failing that, cote de boeuf is nice too. ( big lump with the rib bone).

Stab*City

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I was there a few times. Once driving from Lyon through tunnel. It's a boring enough route, and the tunnel and tolls cost a lot.

Other times we were already on the French Riviera so it was a case of just driving along the motorway. It's very windy and goes through lots of tunnels and bridges, but it is short enough from Nice or thereabouts.

Italian campsites are expensive, and the ones we tried weren't a patch on the French campsites, but it's a different atmosphere I guess. From what we saw Italians tend to go for the social aspect rather than the amenities, it's really all about meeting family members and friends from previous years.
That's just our experience, and it was good fun nevertheless. Everything was clean and functional.

One lovely little campsite that we returned to is Camping Baciccia, in Ceriale. It's an easy reach from France, has a lovely restaurant and pool (although the pool is very deep for children who are not good swimmers, but there is a little square paddle pool beside it), is within walking distance of a supermarket, and even of a public beach (sand is gravelly and it's not as glamourous as the private beaches in town centre). From the campsite there is a free shuttle that will take you to the town centre, there's a lovely walkway with craft stalls along the private beaches areas (they're lovely too). The beach is pebble-y, and it gets deeper quickly, but it's very pleasant.
If you stay at the campsite during the day, all the Italians are either napping or at the beach in the afternoon, so you often have the pool to yourself.
Ceriale is famous for growing stuff, like flowers, lemons, fruit... You pass a lot of glasshouses on the way to the supermarket.
There is an aquatic centre pretty close to the campsite too.
https://www.campingbaciccia.it/en/

Don't know much else as we did an aire and then went inland.

Thanks for all that but we have changed our minds.. We are driving to Spain instead Costa Brava.. So will be driving through France again. Did it over two days last time was a bit much will probably do 3 maybe 4 this time. Have a hotel booked in La Rochelle so doing one or two more stop overs.

Also for anyone with an Iphone have a look at the satnav app NAVMii its free with some ads and works great. You can get different ones for each country. Try the Uk&I one before you go see what you think. It works offline so is a big download but worth it. If you do have roaming you can search places via google right inside the app then set a destination to it. Or just do all your searching when on free wifi. I have the uk&I, Spain and France ones and use them all the time over there.

Mountainsandh

Thinking of doing Spain next year maybe myself, might be on here to ask about campsites

otterboy

Anyone done airotel in the Pyrenees? Down near Lourdes... Any recommendations? Heading there in 2 weeks with a 16, 13, and 10 year old......

yellow76

Just to update. Arrived in France on Tues. Meat vacuum packed and In cooler box (didn't freeze before we came) surrounded by plenty of frozen freezer blocks. Popped most in freezer when we got here and bbqed some already. All perfect. Definitely worth the effort. Kids eating well, what they know etc. Has worked for us.

Weather is super In Vendee at the moment:-)

54and56

yellow76 wrote: »

Just to update. Arrived in France on Tues. Meat vacuum packed and In cooler box (didn't freeze before we came) surrounded by plenty of frozen freezer blocks. Popped most in freezer when we got here and bbqed some already. All perfect. Definitely worth the effort. Kids eating well, what they know etc. Has worked for us.

Weather is super In Vendee at the moment:-)

Great to hear transporting the steaks went well and the weather is fine. What more can you ask for.

We're on the countdown to our departure on July 14th already. Car has just been serviced, new tyres on front and a test run of four adult size bikes on the bike rack planned for this weekend. It used to be a squeeze with 3 adult and one child bike in the past but the child has now progressed to an adult size frame so I'm hoping the investment I made in four of these will pay dividends!!

Munsterbhoy

Greetings, just a little Info for anyone heading to La Sirene as I'm on the last few days of our hols. The back gate is now permanently closed and they have security on the main gate 24/7 and you must show ure park bracelet when driving in. The Wi-Fi has improved considerably but you still must sign in every 30mins I watched the lions games thru mobdro perfectly. We found a bar in laroque des Alberes (15mins drive) owned by a Wexford man and has Guinness+Magners on draught plus he shows all the GAA games live its called cafe des artistes. It's in a beautiful setting in the Pyrenees.Have a great holiday everyone..

pmpa

Hi all, we have been going to France for a few years now. We never brought bikes with us, this year we are hoping to bring 3 adult size bikes with us on a saloon boot bike rack. My question is for those of you who bring bikes, do you use a lights/ licence plate adapter board as well or just use the bike rack? Total newbie when it comes to transporting bikes. Just to add we will have a roof box as well so bikes have to go on boot .

wall

For the 4 o'clock Friday eve sailing at the end of the month from Rosslare to Roscoff, what is a good time to arrive at the port to check in/Q?

alias no.9

pmpa wrote: »

Hi all, we have been going to France for a few years now. We never brought bikes with us, this year we are hoping to bring 3 adult size bikes with us on a saloon boot bike rack. My question is for those of you who bring bikes, do you use a lights/ licence plate adapter board as well or just use the bike rack? Total newbie when it comes to transporting bikes. Just to add we will have a roof box as well so bikes have to go on boot .

I would recommend a tail board if the licence plate or lights are in any way obscured.

Do you have a tow bar? Tow bar mounted bike racks are the business, we brought one last year with 4 bikes and it was rock solid and with a saloon, you'll even be able to access the boot with the bikes on.

pmpa

alias no.9 wrote: »

I would recommend a tail board if the licence plate or lights are in any way obscured.

Do you have a tow bar? Tow bar mounted bike racks are the business, we brought one last year with 4 bikes and it was rock solid and with a saloon, you'll even be able to access the boot with the bikes on.

No, don't have a tow bar. We bought the Halfords cycle carrier board, but we would also need to buy a light adapter kit for e50 and get a mechanic to set it up. I'm really in two minds whether to bring the bikes or not but it would be great to have for Les Charmettes.