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

Deeman83

raxy wrote: »

I have booked a trip to France next year & am looking for advice on campsites in Normandy. We'll be going by car & have a 5year old & 2-3 month old.
I'm looking for people's opinions on campsites. We've found some nice looking campsites but the reviews online are very mixed & making it difficult to choose.
We'd like a nice pool with some slides & good playground for our daughter. We'd also like to be somewhere with a few places to visit around, either nice towns or sights.
We'll be budget conscious but haven't set a budget yet but with a 3 month old we don't want to have to do too much driving.
If anyone has been to any campsites they'd recommend I'd love to hear.
After camping we'll be driving close to the Belgium border so want a campsite within a few hours drive north from Cherborg but not too far

Domaine Des Ormes - Its the best campsite in France.
The only negative would be the less predictable weather as its so far north.

Miley Byrne

First Up wrote: »

Me too!



No, if you try looking in, you will find you can see a lot.

Agreed, not much tinting in the glass, and it's especially seethrough if you happen to have the lights on in the cabin(which is all the time!!!)

NIMAN

Any forum members been to Vilanova Park in Costa Dorada?

Thinking of booking for next summer.

westgolf

Deeman83 wrote: »

Domaine Des Ormes - Its the best campsite in France.
The only negative would be the less predictable weather as its so far north.

Would agree that DDO is one of the best equipped sites in France however in the event of bad weather there is a big shutdown of a lot of the attraction's. Were there for twelve days in August. Super site but got two very very wet days and we were almost confined to the kelair unit we were in.

raxy

Deeman83 wrote: »

Domaine Des Ormes - Its the best campsite in France.
The only negative would be the less predictable weather as its so far north.

We had looked at that one but it's a lot more expensive then most of the others in that area.
We booked Les Vikings. Only 40 minutes from the ferry with nice pools & slides & good reviews. I showed my daughter pictures of the pools from different camps & let her choose.
The kids pool is indoors so if the weather is bad it should'nt spoil the trip.
. €250 for 5 days. Domains Des Ormes would be 550 & staying in a much smaller mobile.

mikerd4

Currently tweaking our 2018 trip, we were going to visit Bordeaux again on the way back and then stop in Rennes as we really liked it last time.  However we are now thinking of checking out other spots in Brittany.  St.Malo or St.Brieuc look to be the 2 best options but can anyone recommend anywhere else or been to either of those 2 and can give their opinions?

54and56

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

The way I do it (and have done again for next year) is I pay the €15 fee for the Flexibility Option and that allows me to cancel with a 100% refund up to 42 days before departure so (I think) I get the best of both worlds i.e. I have my dates for next year secured nice and early with my preferred cabin type etc but if a better deal comes along I can take it and get a 100% refund back from IF for the original booking.

So I got a Cyber Monday sale alert email from Stena today (the code if you want to use it is "DRIVE20") and it turns out their return sailing Cherbourg to Rosslare suits us much better and is about €100 cheaper than the Roscoff to Rosslare sailing I'd already booked with IF so I'm going to use the Flexi option I paid for to cancel the Roscoff - Rosslare leg and replace it with Stena Cherbourg to Rosslare.

New price for the return trip (IF over and Stena back) is €926 down from €1,024.

I even paid the €8 supplement to have a Flexi option on the Stena leg just in case something even better (I'm looking at you WB Yeats!!) comes along last minute dot com :P

murt101

Looking for campsite recommendation to suit from toddler to teen. I think the likes of Eurocamps base camp for teens is important to help teens break the ice and make friends.
Ideally a quiet location but walking/cycling distance to a town would be nice....like Escale St Giles in Brittany only warmer! ðŸ˜
Hit me with your recommendations!

BailMeOut

murt101 wrote: »

Looking for campsite recommendation to suit from toddler to teen. I think the likes of Eurocamps base camp for teens is important to help teens break the ice and make friends.
Ideally a quiet location but walking/cycling distance to a town would be nice....like Escale St Giles in Brittany only warmer! ðŸ˜
Hit me with your recommendations!

easy. The Eurocamp at Loix on Ile de Re which has everything you are looking for.

Nekarsulm

raxy wrote: »

I have booked a trip to France next year & am looking for advice on campsites in Normandy. We'll be going by car & have a 5year old & 2-3 month old.
I'm looking for people's opinions on campsites. We've found some nice looking campsites but the reviews online are very mixed & making it difficult to choose.
We'd like a nice pool with some slides & good playground for our daughter. We'd also like to be somewhere with a few places to visit around, either nice towns or sights.
We'll be budget conscious but haven't set a budget yet but with a 3 month old we don't want to have to do too much driving.
If anyone has been to any campsites they'd recommend I'd love to hear.
After camping we'll be driving close to the Belgium border so want a campsite within a few hours drive north from Cherborg but not too far

We stayed 3 nights on the Municipal campsite in Bayeux in 2016. Nice and friendly, not expensive, the town's leisure plex is accessible from the site. You get a bracelet tbat givez you access to tbe pools. Kiddie pool plus 25 metre adult pool. (Deep, ifyourenot a good swimmer, don't be foolhardy)
The Bayeux tapestry and a variety of Cathedrals etc in walking distance of the campsite, plus the town has lovely medieval old streets etc.
D Day beaches an easy drive away, plus there are a few WW2 museum's etc around.
If you Google Municipal Camping Bayeux you'll see lots of reviews.
Could be an option for you.

loyatemu

BailMeOut wrote: »

easy. The Eurocamp at Loix on Ile de Re which has everything you are looking for.

that site doesn't have Base, or indeed any Eurocamp clubs. We were there last year - its a fairly quiet site and Loix is a very sleepy village. We went back to Ile de Re this year (because its a really beautiful island and the cycling is brilliant) but to a different site near Ars-en-Re.

blackeyedpeat

30% off Stena sailings to France.
I just got a loyalty email from Stena with a link to book through to their website. I saved a further €136 off my Summer sailng to France in July. So I just rebooked and canceled the original flexifare (€6 service charge) and got full refund.
Check your inbox if you have sailed with Stena last year. Hope it works for others.

micks_address

blackeyedpeat wrote: »

30% off Stena sailings to France.
I just got a loyalty email from Stena with a link to book through to their website. I saved a further €136 off my Summer sailng to France in July. So I just rebooked and canceled the original flexifare (€6 service charge) and got full refund.
Check your inbox if you have sailed with Stena last year. Hope it works for others.

Do Irish ferries have a january sale?

MorganIRL

juneg wrote: »

What sites would ye go to in the South of France ?

As someone has said. Les Sablons is brilliant. We would go every year but distance in car with 3 kids under 6 is too far.. great cycle routes outside site, site facilities are very good.. we use this site to compare our hols since ..

MorganIRL

juneg wrote: »

What sites would ye go to in the South of France ?

As someone has said. Les Sablons is brilliant. We would go every year but distance in car with 3 kids under 6 is too far.. great cycle routes outside site, site facilities are very good.. we use this site to compare our hols since ..

ThumbTaxed

Hi there,

I haven't done the whole campsite thing in France yet because I like to have a car and the accomadation looks rubbish but this year I am under pressure to go elsewhere than the UK.

Is it best to get the ferry over from Ireland to north france(ish) or get a flight and rent a car?

Flights from Dublin to Bordeaux are around €850 whereas the ferry cost €1,600 so you can see why the flight seems like th best option.

Has anyone been in the Bordeaux area? Any recommendations for aparthotels or good camps?

Thanks.

Nekarsulm

Ferry to Roscoff or Cherbourg shouldn't cost anything like 1600, if you have a bit of flexibility in your sailing dates.

ThumbTaxed

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Ferry to Roscoff or Cherbourg shouldn't cost anything like 1600, if you have a bit of flexibility in your sailing dates.

2 adults and 3 kids with car was that price yesterday from end of June to start of July.

Nekarsulm

Go on a midweek sailing, choose less "luxurious" cabins.

First Up

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Ferry to Roscoff or Cherbourg shouldn't cost anything like 1600, if you have a bit of flexibility in your sailing dates.

2 adults and 3 kids with car was that price yesterday from end of June to start of July.

If you like having a car, then you need to add rental costs to the flights for a more accurate comparison.

For me the car/ferry wins every time for sheer convenience and flexibility. The ships are great and the driving is easy.

54and56

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Flights from Dublin to Bordeaux are around €850 whereas the ferry cost €1,600 so you can see why the flight seems like th best option.

I'm getting a 4X4 with roof box + bike rack etc for 2 adults + 2 kids and a 4 berth outside cabin each way for €926 return and I'm sailing on Fridays in June over and July back.

You should be able to do much better than €1,600.

ShamoBuc

Sailing cork roscoff on 23rd June you can go for 1298 on Brittany ferries, including inside cabin.

micks_address

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Ferry to Roscoff or Cherbourg shouldn't cost anything like 1600, if you have a bit of flexibility in your sailing dates.

Booked four tickets with aer lingus for July Dublin to nantes for 590. Still need to add bags and car hire so reckon will be similar cost to ferry. Speed of journey being the obvious advantage

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

Booked four tickets with aer lingus for July Dublin to nantes for 590. Still need to add bags and car hire so reckon will be similar cost to ferry. Speed of journey being the obvious advantage

Actually anyone have good recommendations for a car hire deal?

Nekarsulm

314 out on 11 July to Roscoff
467 back on 26 July.
Plus cabins
Car with 2 adults and 3 children under 14.

That's just a quick search on the phone.

Stone Deaf 4evr

micks_address wrote: »

Actually anyone have good recommendations for a car hire deal?

I've always got on grand with rentalcars.com
I'm just after booking our flights too, 2 adults, 2 kids, 4 check in bags and 2 20kg bags if wanted for just over a grand. That flight lands in perpignan at 8:30am and is only 20 minutes from our end destination. I miss the ferry, but the extra days / quick journey time is hands down more beneficial to me.

k123456

micks_address wrote: »

Actually anyone have good recommendations for a car hire deal?

It varies but usually Ryan air and Holiday Autos competitive for car hire

First Up

micks_address wrote: »

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Ferry to Roscoff or Cherbourg shouldn't cost anything like 1600, if you have a bit of flexibility in your sailing dates.

Booked four tickets with aer lingus for July Dublin to nantes for 590. Still need to add bags and car hire so reckon will be similar cost to ferry. Speed of journey being the obvious advantage

Fair enough; we offset the costs by bringing back a car load of wine - a saving of at least €700.

josip

First Up wrote: »

Fair enough; we offset the costs by bringing back a car load of wine - a saving of at least €700.

And the more you buy, the more you save

First Up

josip wrote: »

First Up wrote: »

Fair enough; we offset the costs by bringing back a car load of wine - a saving of at least €700.

And the more you buy, the more you save

Exactly.