French camper van trip itinerary – help!

So…

My partner and I have a camper van hired from the end of April through the first week of May, and we’re going to head to France. Ferry in to St Malo, and out of Calais.

Our current plan is to aim for the Loire, Dordogne, Bordeaux area – hoping the weather improves and it’s nice!

Does anyone know the area well? We’d like nice campsites (not overrun with children!), some fun day activities (canoes/vinyards/gentle bike rides), and cute towns.

I’ve definitely sold the dream of a French holiday to my partner – she’s not really been, and most of my trips there have been with a bike haha.

Any suggestions on places to visit, campsites (that will be open early in the season!), and things to do would be hugely appreciated.

On top, though, if there are any other spots in France that are way too nice to ignore, please pop them here too – we’re not 100% tied to the above regions, but would like a moderately compact area so we’re not driving non-stop 🙂

Not got much to suggest, other than beware french supermarket car parks in a camper – we found many have 1.95m height restrictors, sometimes in bizarre places like the exit or hidden around a corner.

For balance we’ve rarely had a problem in 2.85m high van

Try the camping Huttopia or Seasonova camp sites. They are a chain but are consistently good quality and not too expensive.

Camping Huttopia in Bracieux is a good place to start from – you can easily ride to the river and the local chateaux. They also have site downstream in Saumur which is nice

Brantome is a good place to explore the Dordogne and you can paddle on the river there. Some areas of the Dordogne are overrun with middle-class Brits so it’s like the Cotswolds with some sun and can get annoying after a while.

Look at the ACSI Camping Card – you get cheap off-peak site fees across Europe

Have you considered the Auvergne? It’s beautiful.

I can recommend a couple of places to stop the night before the ferry back if you msg me.

Thanks ElShalimo!

How, er, family orientated are the Huttopia and Seasonova sites? We’re keener on quieter, low-profile places in some respects! Though, I guess late april/early may is likely to be fairly quiet.

I’ll give the ACSI a nose, thanks!

I’m a bit worried we’re a touch early for many sites to be open?

And, on the Auvergne, we’d not considered it yet – a couple of tips would be appreciated – I’ll drop you a message when we’re properly building our plans!

I’ve subscribed to this thread as we’re also thinking about a campervan trip, though it would likely be June. Of course, we also need to get to the Channel from Aviemore so I’ll also be thinking about stopping-off points in the UK.

The first thing I need to decide is whether we’ll stay in a couple of places, for a few days each, or be more peripatetic. The last time I drove in France I didn’t have AirCon, so this’ll automatically be better!

If you’re looking for an overnight on the way back to Calais there are some very nice free overnight spots in the champagne villages to the west of Reims. We use one every year on our way back from the Alps as it’s a nice spot and only 2 hours from Calais so not a big rush to the Channel. Have a look at an app called Park for the ignition. It shows loa£ of free and paid spots to stay at.

At that time of year, make sure you buy an ACSI book and card, worth a good amount of saving on nice sites, also electricity thrown in with the price, which is an expensive extra on most sites.

campsites are all overrun with children if its the school holidays, it’s the law.

never ever had a problem with height restrictions in supermarkets BUT watch out for the tunnel on the west side of paris because if you don’t realize until you get to the warning chains then its a right pig to avoid it.

stayed here in dordogne last year: http://www.mathevies.com/. Small/quiet/rural but near (drivable) to nice places and river stuff. Would return.

Thanks for the posts so far..!

Llama – that place looks lovely, but doesn’t seem to be open when we’re going to be there 🙁

I’m a bit concerned we’re gonna struggle to find campsites tbh!

https://www.lagrandeveyiere.com/en/home/

great campsite in the dordogne and open from April onwards. Set a bit away from the river so nice and quiet, loads of lovely villages and towns to explore locally. Won’t be overrun with kids at that time of year.

Consider motorhome hire and then staying in all the aires becomes available. France is great for motorhome aires. Cheap or even free sometimes, at that time of year and those locations they will be quiet and almost definitely child free.

second vote for the huttopia sites we have been to both the one in bracieux and saumur prefered the saumur one but we have two raucus kids :o)

https://europe.huttopia.com/en/

you can cycle through the woods to chambord from the bracieux one which is worth the trip if you like a french chateux and the saumur one is a bit more remote but has great views of the loire river and a fairly easy ride into saumur via a selection of wine caves where you can do tasting.  also you can canoe along the river and saumur is quite a interesting town to have a wonder round with a chateux and some good places to eat

this year continuing the huttopia theme we are stopping in the loire then onto carcans down near bordeaux for a beach and pine forest cycling extravaganza

also the tunnel that Llama mentions is great our van just fits its like something from starwars for 12 kms!!

We stayed here on the Dordogne and loved it. There were kids, including mine, but it didn’t feel like a kid’s campsite

Really spectacular location

https://www.campinglecapeyrou.com/

some nice Dordogne sites

Brantome

https://camping-dordogne.net/

Sarlat

https://europe.huttopia.com/en/site/sarlat/

Les Eyzies

https://www.lariviereleseyzies.com/en

If you end up going down to Bordeaux and passing near La Rochelle, Ile de Re is worth considering.

Stayed at Camping Seasonova, N. East of the island. Went middle of August, wasn’t busy then. Lots of other nice sites dotted around the island.

Easy to get around the island by bike, don’t need the van to get around at all. Nice little villages and ports.

Took an inflatable kayak and paddle boards, beaches were pretty empty. I’d happily go back.

Bordeaux area, we go to Hourtin, like you, outside of school holidays. Pleasant cycle paths through the pine forests, vineyards, lively sea, never that far from a hypermarket. Did it last year, avoiding motorways and barely saw a car,  and doing it again this year. Dordogne’s good for canoeing and the fascinating prehistoric cave paintings.

Also I would avoid the sites run by Sandaya – they’re little holiday villages, so great for kids and families but you don’t want that

ACSI

https://webshop.acsi.eu/en//campingcard-acsi-subscription-2024.html

Also available from UK Caravan clubs

Les Ormes in Hourtin is a nice base for the lake with the ocean walkable. (there are no doubt better cheaper sites but it’s convenient for doing everything on foot)

We use this site as a campsite guide, the reviews are usually representative:

https://www.camping.info/en/country/netherlands

Aires don’t always have bathroom facilities so if your campervan doesn’t have them, you’re a bit stuck.

Personally I’m not a fan of Aires at all…all the ones I’ve seen in nice places are very busy even out of season…motorhomes parked a few feet from each other.

I’d always pay for a campsite personally.  The Asci site is a good guide, also municipal sites in or near towns/villages are usually pretty good.

We do Hourtin plage, park the car up, walk to the sea or cycle everywhere else.

Worth calling them, it’s small and friendly

Ile de re mentioned, this is our fat, been here loads: https://www.interlude.fr/en/

Fair bit further down that side but another direct access to gorgeous beach: https://www.camping-cap.com/

Both best in the edge seasons

Thanks so much everyone, especially for the campsite recommendations – a lot to look through and consider, that’s really helpful!

More than happy to take on further recommendations haha!

As hinted as, we’re looking for quieter sites, open early in the season. We’ve hired a camper which looks lovely 🙂 quite keen to stay a couple of nights in a few places I reckon, so long as there’s plenty to do, as well a some nice views to hang out in and read our books – riverside and lake views especially!

Lots of love for Hourtin. We have had some great trips there. So rare to see a uk number plate

Download Park4night app. You don’t need campsites in France as there are so many aires with facilities for loading and unloading water. Most of the nicer spots are away from town.

Loads of Dolmens and other megaliths between the coast and the Loire that are worth exploring.

It’s worth signing up to https://www.france-passion.com/en/ it’s a directory of wine producers, farmers, cheese makers etc. that let you stay on their land, we found some great spots through them.

The camper contact  app is also good for finding sites, and I’d recommend looking at the municipal sites, some of the smaller towns take great pride in them, they’re normally a reasonable price and close to the town centre

To clarify, do you or don’t you have bathroom facilities in your camper? If yes, then you can have an amazing holiday in quiet places ranging from free to £15 per night.

We’re 8 days in to a ski trip in our motorhome (now en route home in Bourg en Bresse).  Total aire fees so far have been 99euros and we’ve had electricity all bar one nights.

As above, Park4Night is an excellent resource.  If you do need proper campsites, then I doubt that they’ll be too busy at that time.

Thanks again guys.

Our camper has a loo and shower, however it’s not massive and we’d prefer proper facilities if we can!