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

loyatemu

just back from La Garangeoire. One word - wasps! They were everywhere, unusual for July. They weren't particularly aggressive (I didn't see anyone get stung) but any time you had a drink or ice cream they were all around you which was annoying.

other than those stripy feckers, a very enjoyable trip (we were also in Île de Ré), first time travelling with 5 bikes on the car - thought I was pushing it until I saw some of the hacked-together bike-carrying solutions some of the other passengers on the OW were using (one car l saw was barely visible under all the bikes strapped to the roof and boot).

boccy23

First Up wrote: »

I think you left out a digit. Its 17.5 hours. There isn't much difference in the length of the trips - it just feels shorter with IF because the ship is better.

No direct flights from Dublin to Brittany as far as I know. Ryanair to Nantes or La Rochelle would be the closest.

What about AL to Rennes?
We did this a few years back and drove to the Vendee. 2 hour drive.

First Up

boccy23 wrote: »

What about AL to Rennes?
We did this a few years back and drove to the Vendee. 2 hour drive.

Yes, of course. Forgot about that.

micks_address

loyatemu wrote: »

just back from La Garangeoire. One word - wasps! They were everywhere, unusual for July. They weren't particularly aggressive (I didn't see anyone get stung) but any time you had a drink or ice cream they were all around you which was annoying.

other than those stripy feckers, a very enjoyable trip (we were also in Île de Ré), first time travelling with 5 bikes on the car - thought I was pushing it until I saw some of the hacked-together bike-carrying solutions some of the other passengers on the OW were using (one car l saw was barely visible under all the bikes strapped to the roof and boot).

ok that makes more sense, so ferry leaves at 15.30 and gets in next morning at 11.? That might suit us better, would get to camp around 3 which gives us a good lot of day there. This year we missed out on most of first day as stena doesn't get to Cherbourg till 4. By time we were off the boat and drove to camp with bit to eat was around 8pm before we got there. I'm hoping the sailing times wont vary drastically? Also in terms of booking. Is January early best bet? You can't book online the website at the moment. When are the likely 20% off etc run?

Cheers,
Mick

micks_address

First Up wrote: »

boccy23 wrote: »

What about AL to Rennes?
We did this a few years back and drove to the Vendee. 2 hour drive.

Yes, of course.  Forgot about that.

Thanks will check prices there also when flights are bookable

First Up

micks_address wrote:

ok that makes more sense, so ferry leaves at 15.30 and gets in next morning at 11.?

Best check the timetable as it varies a lot (I assume tides have a bit to do with it.) I've left Rosslare as early as 15.00 and as late as 21.30.

talla

Brittany Ferries, Cork to Roscoff would be quickest direct sailing @ 14 hours.
Ferry leaves cork on a saturday at 4pm and arrives in roscoff @6am - 7am local time Sunday morning

helqui

It is my understanding that Irish ferries will have a new ship on the France route next summer(around April/May), since we have only ever travelled with Stena(because of six berth cabins) would anyone know if the new ferry will cater for same? Cannot find much about the layout of new ferry save it will be quite plush and I am sure will possibily be more expensive than they currently are, though we wouldn't mind throwing the extra few bob for the chance to travel on a new boat(just to see the difference)
Helqui

loyatemu

helqui wrote: »

It is my understanding that Irish ferries will have a new ship on the France route next summer(around April/May), since we have only ever travelled with Stena(because of six berth cabins) would anyone know if the new ferry will cater for same? Cannot find much about the layout of new ferry save it will be quite plush and I am sure will possibily be more expensive than they currently are, though we wouldn't mind throwing the extra few bob for the chance to travel on a new boat(just to see the difference)
Helqui

the reports from last year suggest it will replace the Epsilon; so doing Dublin - Holyhead during the week and Dublin - Cherbourg at the weekend but will be more along the lines of the Oscar Wilde in facilities (the OW is looking quite tired at this stage)

yellow76

Looking for some advice. Spent a few years in Clarys Plage near St Jean de Monts and ready to move further south next yr so looking for some recommendations. Kids are young and not very adverturous. they love a playground and a few slides into pool. kids club not important. We have to travel mid June. I think about 6 hrs drive would be the max (not including stops)

Thinking of Le Littoral, Les Charmettes or Bonne anse plage.

Any thoughts on any of these would be appreciated.

alias no.9

Parked up in Granville on the west coast of Normandie for our last night on an extended trip this year, our first in a Motorhome.

We mixed 5* campsites in Sequoia Park and Parc De Fierbois and added in a mix of municipal campsites Mont Saint Michel and a few on Ile dOleron, Aires in La Rochelle, Saumur, Fougeres and Granville and another campsite on Ile dOffard in Saumur. All told, we spent less on campsites this year for a full 4 weeks in France than for 2 weeks last year.

It's been epic, if you like oysters, get to Ile dOleron in July/August, if you like sparkling wine, get to Saumur and if you like the idea of Mont Saint Michel but aren't bothered by the island bit, the causeway that's not really there anymore and you could really do without the tourists and tourist prices, go to Fougeres instead, it's just as close to the motorway and just a short distance further south.

Edit: if you see someone shucking oysters in a corner of the bar on tomorrow evenings Stenas sailing, come over and say hello.

ECO_Mental

yellow76 wrote: »

Looking for some advice. Spent a few years in Clarys Plage near St Jean de Monts and ready to move further south next yr so looking for some recommendations. Kids are young and not very adverturous. they love a playground and a few slides into pool. kids club not important. We have to travel mid June. I think about 6 hrs drive would be the max (not including stops)

Thinking of Le Littoral, Les Charmettes or Bonne anse plage.

Any thoughts on any of these would be appreciated.

Bonnie Anse Plage every day.....great site, slides are great. Closer to town than Les Charmettes but not as busy. Les Charmettes is massive and busy of you like that then great but BAP is lovely. La Playmre is also a fantastic place so much things to do, only reason I won't go back is I have been there 3 times and I need to see something different. 10 years going to France this is my favourite place (and the Dordogne)

yellow76

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Bonnie Anse Plage every day.....great site, slides are great. Closer to town than Les Charmettes but not as busy. Les Charmettes is massive and busy of you like that then great but BAP is lovely. La Playmre is also a fantastic place so much things to do, only reason I won't go back is I have been there 3 times and I need to see something different. 10 years going to France this is my favourite place (and the Dordogne)

Our preference would be less busy/chaotic. Would BAP be walking distance to a town?
Are the pools heated in June do you know?
Who is best to book with?
Are the pitches spacious? Found Clarys Plage a bit crowded this yr. Would love a bit of space around the mobile..

Thanks for response

54and56

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Bonnie Anse Plage every day.....great site, slides are great. Closer to town than Les Charmettes but not as busy. Les Charmettes is massive and busy of you like that then great but BAP is lovely. La Playmre is also a fantastic place so much things to do, only reason I won't go back is I have been there 3 times and I need to see something different. 10 years going to France this is my favourite place (and the Dordogne)

Hard to disagree with this. Spent 2-3 years going to BAP when the kids were younger and it was magic. Very safe site, great entertainment and the zoo in La Palmyre which is literally 5 minutes away is world class. I'm not a zoo fanatic or anything but we'd usually end up going twice on a two week holiday driven purely by the kids demanding it and I've been to the zoo in Singapore which is generally regarded as one of the top zoos in the world and La Palmyre is not far behind IMHO.

Also, the local beaches are really good yet very accessable and there's plenty of restaurants to choose from the La Palmyre which is just a 10 minute cycle which my 6 year old had no problem going.

With young kids you won't go wrong with BAP.

mikerd4

When do irish ferries post the 2018 schedule. Be nice to go on the new boat. The oscar wilde is beginning to really show its age

ECO_Mental

It's 15 20 mins walking I suppose but La Playmre is a cycling town. All the cycling paths are segregated (separated from cars) that's the beauty of BAP the cycle path runs past the site, you could cycle to the zoo, the beach, town etc safely especially if you have kids. You can hire bikes there easy, you won't go back to st Jean de monts ever...

It's a siblu campsite and while they are reasonable they do make you clean your wagon before you leave and they are strict with this....Also I have come back to them after a few years with eurocamp and they want a deposit of €350 when I rocked up. Just took down the credit cars number but still. I paid the cleaning fee so they are going to work for it. Although I'm in a really nice wagon now in the Loire dish washer AND washing machine....

Sites in BAP are good they are not jammed in, but we always go for the excellance (why not)

First Up

mikerd4 wrote:

When do irish ferries post the 2018 schedule. Be nice to go on the new boat. The oscar wilde is beginning to really show its age

There's a better chance of finding out by asking IF than posting here!

mikerd4

You reckon? Last year i asked irish ferries and was told we dont know and will get back to you. I found out on here a week before irish ferries contacted me to say they were available.

yellow76

mikerd4 wrote: »

You reckon? Last year i asked irish ferries and was told we dont know and will get back to you. I found out on here a week before irish ferries contacted me to say they were available.

Last year it was early August when prices were available, I think before that it was always Oct. HTH

Orchids

yellow76 wrote: »

Looking for some advice. Spent a few years in Clarys Plage near St Jean de Monts and ready to move further south next yr so looking for some recommendations. Kids are young and not very adverturous. they love a playground and a few slides into pool. kids club not important. We have to travel mid June. I think about 6 hrs drive would be the max (not including stops)

Thinking of Le Littoral, Les Charmettes or Bonne anse plage.

Any thoughts on any of these would be appreciated.

Have been to both Les Charmettes & Bonne anse, would prefer Les Charmettes, better layout, more privacy with large garden & hedges between mobiles, very safe for small kids. Its a large site but didn't feel that busy, we went in June. We found Bonne anse mobiles quite close together and generally liked the feel of Les Charmettes better

yellow76

ECO_Mental wrote: »

It's 15 20 mins walking I suppose but La Playmre is a cycling town. All the cycling paths are segregated (separated from cars) that's the beauty of BAP the cycle path runs past the site, you could cycle to the zoo, the beach, town etc safely especially if you have kids. You can hire bikes there easy, you won't go back to st Jean de monts ever...

It's a siblu campsite and while they are reasonable they do make you clean your wagon before you leave and they are strict with this....Also I have come back to them after a few years with eurocamp and they want a deposit of €350 when I rocked up. Just took down the credit cars number but still. I paid the cleaning fee so they are going to work for it. Although I'm in a really nice wagon now in the Loire dish washer AND washing machine....

Sites in BAP are good they are not jammed in, but we always go for the excellance (why not)

Wow. Huge deposit!! Do you know can you check in on site any day of the week or is it limited to Saturday?

How much is the cleaning fee?

otterboy

SusanC10 wrote: »

Also thinking about next time round.
We tend to do 2 Sites per Holiday. Want to go back to St. Avit Loisirs in the Dordogne but also looking at Cote d'Argent at Hourtin Plage for the 2nd Site.

Anyone been to Cote d'Argent ?
Anyone know what the Eurocamp Avant Pitches are like?

Thanks in advance.

We stayed in Cote d’Argent in early July and would not recommend the Avant pitches (we have stayed in a Classic, but Avant are in placed in the same area of the campsite). We have been to around 10 different campsites with Eurocamp in different parts of France and this one has been a huge disappointment.
The Avant mobiles are placed between a football pitch (children kicking the ball until very late at night with balls bouncing off a metal fence), a swimming pool filter generator (humming 24/7, though this affects only the few mobiles in the immediate vicinity) and a water park (a bell ringing every 3 minutes from 10 till 7, before a gush of water spills out of a tank at the top). All in all, a bit nightmarish if you are looking for a bit of peace and quiet. If you are not, the campsite itself is very nice and has a lot to offer, the beaches are beautiful, the surf is great and the cycling opportunities are vast.

Baybay

First Up wrote: »

Best check the timetable as it varies a lot (I assume tides have a bit to do with it.) I've left Rosslare as early as 15.00 and as late as 21.30.

Wow! Been using the ferry to France for years & would've thought it very consistent as we've never had such variation. Huge delay in Cherbourg one year due to a mechanical issue but that was it. Maybe we've just been lucky!

First Up

mikerd4 wrote:

You reckon? Last year i asked irish ferries and was told we dont know and will get back to you. I found out on here a week before irish ferries contacted me to say they were available.

If Irish Ferries don't know, there isn't much chance of getting better information from someone here.

The new ship is for delivery in 2018. I don't know when it will be in service but from what I've read, it will serve both UK and French routes and will operate in conjunction with the OW.

So they are presumably working on it in consultation with the UK and French ports and calculating freight/passenger demand.

BailMeOut

yellow76 wrote: »

Looking for some advice. Spent a few years in Clarys Plage near St Jean de Monts and ready to move further south next yr so looking for some recommendations. Kids are young and not very adverturous. they love a playground and a few slides into pool. kids club not important. We have to travel mid June. I think about 6 hrs drive would be the max (not including stops)

Thinking of Le Littoral, Les Charmettes or Bonne anse plage.

Any thoughts on any of these would be appreciated.

Check out Ile de Re. It's the island off La Rochelle and where we go every year (5th time on Saturday!). It is quiet, relaxed, beautiful and very French. (where Parisians like to holiday seemingly!). The big attraction here is cycling as us use your bike as your main transport when there and since the island is pretty flat and full of cycle trails getting around on bikes is pretty easy. Beaches are really good and Eurocamp have two sites there. Hard to beat as a location.

yellow76

BailMeOut wrote: »

Check out Ile de Re. It's the island off La Rochelle and where we go every year (5th time on Saturday!). It is quiet, relaxed, beautiful and very French. (where Parisians like to holiday seemingly!). The big attraction here is cycling as us use your bike as your main transport when there and since the island is pretty flat and full of cycle trails getting around on bikes is pretty easy. Beaches are really good and Eurocamp have two sites there. Hard to beat as a location.

I'd be interested in this for sure. What are the names of the sites there that Eurocamp do? We have only every used Hello France so far but they only do Clarys plage and Sol a gogo.

Thanks!

BailMeOut

yellow76 wrote: »

I'd be interested in this for sure. What are the names of the sites there that Eurocamp do? We have only every used Hello France so far but they only do Clarys plage and Sol a gogo.

Thanks!

Les Ilates and Interlude are the two on the Island. Once busy and big (Interlude) and the other smaller and quieter (Les Ilates) next Loix.

The island is all about the bikes so if that is your thing then well worth checking out.

loyatemu

We were just in Ile de Re and it is really beautiful and fantastic if you like cycling. This year we booked directly with this place which was really nice and only 5 mins cycle from Ars-en-Re.

We stayed with Eurocamp in Les Ilates last year and it was very quiet. I'm not sure Europcamp still do Interlude - we were booked into it last year and then they move us to Les Ilates as they said Interlude were no longer taking third-party operators, and Ilates is the only site on the island in their current brochure.

tuisginideach

Not looking too good for our campsite near St Tropez from Saturday .....

BailMeOut

tuisginideach wrote: »

Not looking too good for our campsite near St Tropez from Saturday .....

how come?