Not a glorified Brit Centreparcs. The real deal. With fantastic riding nearby, road or off road. Thoughts? Plus where to book?

Cote D’Azur? Some really good road riding around St Tropez or Frejus/St Raphael for Massif d’Esterel for a spot of mtbing.
Edit;
We stayed here and here

St Palais Sur Mer has gorgeous roads nearby. Wouldn’t recommend trying MTB through their little woodland tracks near the beach tho unless you are looking to meet groups of sheepish looking men wandering about looking for friends.

Something in Les Arcs? Stayed in a few, one more touristy, one out towards Peisy was more French second home and one up the valley that was behind a classic French butchers shop.

Not a glorified Brit Centreparcs. The real deal.

I assume you mean squat and drops?

Look for municipal campsites, every one we’ve stayed on has been pretty cheap, great and largely populated by French, not many foreign tourists.

We camped near Annecy a few years ago and the trails on Semnoz are awesome but you need to tag onto a local to find them. The actual vtt is poor but if you treat the no vtt signs as the direction arrow it’s much better.
There is a cheap bike bus to uplift too.
Can’t remember the which campsite but there are lots to choose from and a cycleway that leads all the way up the lake to Annecy.
There’s something really special about starting your ride with a distant view of the lake and ending it with a swim.

This one is a personal favourite is got everything : toilets, shower block, rudimentary shop…
It’s at 1600m altitude in a forest and half the pitches are shaded underneath pine trees, there’s a river flowing through it and the riding is more than substantial.

Camping le giffre, Samoens.

Camping in the alps with a family is a bit of a risk IMO due to the weather extremes… not sure if you have family in tow.

La Baume in Frejus. Brilliant if you have kids.

Chateaux Lez Eaux, near Granville in Normandy? More suitable for roadies; the Tour has just passed by here.

http://welcome.lez-eaux.com

Campsite with everything? I accidentally stayed at the big one in Argeles Gazost, loads of stuff for kids and better bathrooms than most hotels, road riding is the ahem Circle of Death™ (Tourmalet, Aspin etc). Think it’s called 3 Valles.

Here:

http://www.campingderetourtour.com/en

Lovely site in beautiful spot. River next door for swimming/paddling. Great restaurant next door, 15 minute walk into lovely little French town. Fantastic roadying from the door, probably good MTB too with a little research.

We spent a week there, I’d go back in a heartbeat

Tagged for ref!

I stopped near ST Tropez the cotdazur 2 weeks ago and there are some trails to be found but it was not easy to string a ride together. As every one suggests local knowledge is a must to get the best out of it.
Last year I stopped near argles sur mer at the base of the Pyrenees. This was way better. About 3 miles outside of the town near an old chateau and there were some awesome enduro style trails. Stunning views at both locations.

We stopped with euro camp both times which was a static van but they had other types of camping on site.

I found that doing some research and get loads of maps printed off before you go. Being able to speak to locals for trails can be hard if you don’t speak the language.

Also tagging for future t reference

There are two at the foot of Alpe d’Huez, you can do a quick up and back every morning before it gets hot!