Hello folks,
At the planning stage of booking a campsite in France for a week in July. Live in Scotland so too far really to drive so looking at camp sites close to the airports in Paris, Bordeaux etc..
Does anyone know of any companies that do transfers to and from the airports to the campsites, dont fancy hiring a car just for transfers and hopping on and off buses and trains with 3 wee ones could drive me crazy.
Cheers

Hire a car, it will be invaluable just for getting to the nearby SuperU

Never camped in France but done plenty of Eurocamp type holidays, I think you might be a bit stuffed / very restricted without a car.

IMHO.

I concur – even campsites in cities are remote or near roads not ideal for walking. Plus you want to go visit places and that would probably involve bus or train anyway? Hire a car there or extend travel days and take your own.

the ones near Paris were crap on our Euro odyssey last year and were being used by workers/builders as cheap accommodation. Didnt feel especially safe.

The rest of our time in France camping was ace, apart from the shared/communal thrutch houses (think- grunting, farting, and lack of safety net plopping)…….. and that was just the women.

I think you’d probably have to taxi it, been a long time since I caught a taxi in France but think they tend to be a little cheaper than the UK equivelant. But I’d second suggestions to look at hiring a car – think a lot of campsites will have shops but they don’t tend to be big and can be expensive, so unless you happen to be in town or close to a supermarket, supplies are going to be a pain. Driving over there is sound, don’t take long to driving on the other side, just might be a bit of traffic if you’re near the coast at that time of year. We had a fortnight on Oleron a couple of years ago, not too far from Bordeaux, lovely round there. 🙂

Looking more and more like using our own car. A quick glance at hiring a car big enough for 7 was eye watering!
Good info about the Paris ones, will avoid or do proper research on them, thanks.
What happened to the days of a fortnight in Rhodes with flights for 189 quid!

Look at it carefully – via airbnb and homeaway we found a four bed house in lovely village for less than campsite….

Drive.

Scotland -> Hull
Overnight ferry -> Rotterdam
Rotterdam -> wherever you plan to go in France

Newcastle Amsterdam even better. Ages of kids makes a difference to cost. Never underestimate the feeling of rolling off the ferry with only a couple of hours drive to get home.

I spent a couple of years as a saisonaire on French camp sites a couple of years ago (well, over a decade ago now). Two observations, other than cycle tourer’s no-one turned up without a car, It just wasn’t done & logistically it would be a nightmare. Secondly having no car whilst I was there was a serious limiting factor.

Just drive, It’s easy once out of the UK. I’ve driven from Edinburgh to South of France numerous times, just take it easy and stop en-route.

We drive Scotland – Dover

It was shorter distance than Calais – Auvergne.

We avoided London rush hour, the ferry was £24 total, each way car and five of us..

Driving in France is easy. Factoring in 3 kids in the back is the stressful bit!

Think brittany ferries are doing package deals at the mo with accom and ferry reductions if taken together.

Numerous trips to France (from Lancashire) have seen us travelling on various routes in our car, sometimes with a caravan in tow, sometimes not.

I always preferred Portsmouth as the best place to set sail from, to Brittany, overnight.

mrs Coolhandluke always balked at the price so one year, ( to be fair it was over £700) to humour her, we went from Dover to Calais, then on to the camp sites in the Brittany region.

It added a day of driving each way, numerous toll charges, an additional overnight stop, both ways, and a few gallons of fuel not to mention the general stress of driving ( pulling our caravan) it simply wasn’t worth it.

When we added up the actual costs of going the cheaper route, it was about £50 less than taking the expensive route where your holiday starts at the ferry and the camp site is a leisurely 40 minute drive at the other end.

Mrs Coolhandluke has never suggested we go via Dover Calais again. Lesson learned. Just because ferries are cheap on that stretch of water doesn’t mean you’re going to save anything.

I would suggest you try to find a campsite near a train station, in a town, that comes out of Paris. Whilst as others have said this may be hard to find, it may not be impossible.

I could suggest one on the outskirts of Barcelona, but a) you dont want to go there and b) the normal clientele are normally up till 3 in the morning drinking and smoking joints. It is right next to the beach though…

hiring a car big enough for 7 was eye watering!

What about hiring two cars??

You could fly to Bordeaux, hire a couple of cars and drive an hour south to one of the campsites on the Arcachon Basin, great part of France.

We’ve been here a few times (mainly for 2-3 nights as a stop over but have also spent a week there which we liked)

http://www.la-croix-du-vieux-pont.com/en/

It’s alright, plenty for kids to do, near(ish) Disney (the have there own coach)

You can rent chalets / wooden house things / stairs or pitch up your own.

Camping du 4 Vents has a station a few miles away. Its on the outskirts of the Paris system. Its close to Disney. I think Jabline is closer but 4 Vents is a nicer site. Massive pitches, has a pool, small bar/restaurant, visiting bakers van etc. I suppose you could use taxi’s once your there. I don’t know how feasible that is though.
TBH, I wouldn’t want to do it without a car though.
I remember the day I went looking for a local shop…

We always go Dover-Dieppe. Its a bit further but there’s no toll road till your quite a way there. We came back through Calais last time & the kids were really put off by the migrants up & down the approach road. It might have improved though, but I’d go via Dieppe every time, the driving doesn’t bother me. The roads are a lot quieter that far north.
As regards the crossing, we’ve done it all ways, late night ferry, 3am ferry, 7am ferry. The 7am ferry was ok, but you have to factor in getting to Dover. Overnight its tiring, we overnighted at a small campsite just outside Dover. Its all about the time your going to be coming round the M25.
The last time we left the Midlands about 10pm. Caught a 3am ferry. Drove for an hour & stopped at an Aire. Picked a busy one, some are quite isolated. Dropped the legs on the caravan & went to bed for a few hours. Arrived at 4 Vents around 1pm. Was about the easiest one we’ve done.

Theres always the option of those Formula1 hotels. If your just after a bed for the night, they fit the bill.

The Brittany Ferries prices in the school holidays are eye watering: we’ll drive to Dover, take the tunnel and stop overnight on the way to Ile de Re. Hotel plus tunnel is way, way cheaper than an overnight ferry and the total journey time is the same.

Most but not all air ports have shuttle buses to the local town/city and from there you can take public transport to the nearest town to the campsite and finish with a taxi.

I worked on a campsite in Royan, a few families turned up with no car. One large family had taken the train from Paris and walked from the station with each kid pulling an appropriately sized trolley. I was admirative. They went everywhere on foot and probably had the most relaxed/hassle free holiday of all the people I saw that Summer.

We’ve been here a few times (mainly for 2-3 nights as a stop over but have also spent a week there which we liked)

http://www.la-croix-du-vieux-pont.com/en/

It’s alright, plenty for kids to do, near(ish) Disney (the have there own coach)

You can rent chalets / wooden house things / stairs or pitch up your own.

Best.Site.Ever.

We’re going again for our 3rd year in a row except we’re taking our own tent and gear this time as the Eurocamp prices have become silly £600 for a safari tent for the week, when site fees with hook up is 200 euro’s. Loads to do in the area. Even an afternoon in Vic sur aisne watching the world go buy is nice. The weather when we’ve been in May/June has been fine too. There are some great places to explore as well on the bike or on foot such as the resistance hideouts near the GR12.

A few pics here of the area, though not of the site!
Click!

I took my two boys aged 10 – 11 to Huttopia in Versailles last August. It was great. Train takes 20 mins to Paris central. Its was amazing.
If you do get bored or Paris just go to the the palace of Versailles – stunning and you can spend at least two days just visiting the palace.