Where to camp for a nice beach holiday in France

[welland99]

Can anybody suggest a nice location for a camping with beach holiday in France. We prefer smaller camp sites, as long as they have a little play ground for the children, and would prefer a quieter resort.

We'll be driving ourselves and taking our own camping equipment. Hoping for last two weeks in August. (why does that sem so far away?)

 

[swannymere]

Can't personally recommend any sites but around Biarritz is lovely, fantastic beaches and not very busy when i was there around the end of August 5 years ago. I'll try and recall where we stayed but i do remember looking in both directions whilst on the beach and counting a handful of people at the most.

 

[Piff]

Hmmm
Camped about half an hour north of Biarritz a few years back - went for 2 weeks.
Started raining about half an hour up the autoroute before we got there and didn't hardly stop. Eventually with every thing wet through we gave up after 9 days & came home.
Nice location, but wouldn't go again due to weather experiance.

Nice beaches further up on the same coast line - stayed near Royan & St Jean-de-Monts.
Northerly French resorts tend to shut up shop in early to mid September.
Great beaches also in the Perpignan area.
If you like it busy, the Port Grimaud/Ste-Maxime is great - especially if you have access to a boat.

 

[stevieb15]

if you decide against travelling all the way to biarritz, try dinard, camp site at saint enogat.
nice little camp site, amenities, access to beach from site, dinard itself is great and only 15 minutes from the ferry at st malo which is also wonderful

 

[corned]

I have stayed at a nice camp site near L'Ile d'Oleron north of Bordeau. Very close to Fort Boyard coincidentally!

Camp site was good; lots of kiddie activities.

BUT - halfway through the stay we had the same weather issues as Piff, and gave up and buggered off down to the Costa Brava for the remainder of the break, only returning to the site to check out and pick up what we didn't want to take south!

That was a September, when for the previous 4 months it had not rained one drop!

 

[Piff]

If you don't want to take your own gear, I've had good experience with Venue

 

[welland99]

Thanks for your suggestions. I think it is too far to drive to biarritz, but I haven't yet ruled out taking the ferry to santander.

Has anybody else tried that ferry?

I have this idea that the further south I go, the better chance of fine warm weather.

 

[st4]

Will onlt take you 2 days driving to get to Biaritz.

Concerned about the wet weather reports as this is the exact holiday me and some mates are planning in August/September.

Sunshine, its a must.

 

[Ade B]

As a kid we did two trips to somewhere near Royan, Le Grande Cote I think - beautiful beach with massive WWII gun emplacements and enough surf to be entertaining but safe. Stayed on a camp site somewhere in the nearby pine woods. As a kiddy beach holiday it was excellent.

We did a trip further south to Biarritz and all I remember was it being far more crowded and the massive Atlantic breakers being intimidating to this 10 year old.

This was back in the early 80's mind so I imagine its changed a bit..

I've done the overnight Plymouth Santander Ferry with the bike a couple of years back. It was pretty much a floating shopping mall - not too cheap but chopped out a huge amount of motorway for our Spain/Portugal trip.



Ade

 

[Howard]

I've done the ferry from Plymouth to Santander and then drove into France .

It's a nice ferry ( 24 hrs ) , but book yourself a cabin rather than a 'sleeping chair' ....

We drove into France via St Jean du Luz , and camped at Hossegor ( we were surfing at the time ) .

 

[BTB 500]

We drove into France via St Jean du Luz

We used to go to St Jean de Luz every year for family camping holidays in the 70s. First in this (that's me giving it a wash!)

Then this

Took 3 days (IIRC) to drive down fairly gently from Cherbourg ... we used a small tent and the VW for sleeping on the journey and a big frame tent (all set up for you, with crockery etc. provided) when we got there.

 

[snoop51]

Thanks for your suggestions. I think it is too far to drive to biarritz, but I haven't yet ruled out taking the ferry to santander.

Has anybody else tried that ferry?

I have this idea that the further south I go, the better chance of fine warm weather.

We've camped down the vendee coast quite a few times, weather has always been good (Early September). We thought the same as you further south = better weather, went just south of Biarritz, torrential rain for 3 or 4 days mid way though the 2 weeks. I mean rivers where roads used to be all the clothes lived in the car for those days.

Il de Re just off the coast from La Rochelle has some fantastic sites, lots of cycle paths. We've been twice and parked the car up for virtually 2 weeks each time, just cycled everywhere. Great if you do a lot of miles per year, also safe for kids. One bridge to get there 15 euros to go onto the island, use the bus to get to La Rochelle it's cheaper and you can have a couple of glasses of wine.

Camping ile de Ré Interlude

Try cutting and pasting the link above, best campsite I've stayed on by a country mile. It backs onto the beach, good facilities, not too large and a fantastic location.

 

[312 Sprinter]

I love Aigues Mortes. Very historic. It used to be a major port and then the harbour silted up so all the business shifted to Marseilles; back in 1480

 

[312 Sprinter]

 

[Piff]

If you get an early start, the Vendee area is easily driveable in a day. Coming back always seems a bit quicker due to 1 hour time difference.
Only thing to be aware of is much of rural france closes on a Sunday. So if you are planning to drive back on a Sunday, make sure you fill up the fuel tank the day before. I once had a worrying drive back on a wet sunday looking for a petrol station - its amazing how far a car will run on fumes!

 

[Mr E]

We'll be going back to the Vendee this year (although not camping - 4* is Mrs E's idea of roughing it) after having gone further south for a few years. Seems to be a bit more sedate and relaxed. Just don't try to beat the tide on the causeway between the mainland and Noirmoutier... I have strict instruction that, having nearly drowned the car last time, we will use the bridge only.

It is a little less commercial, and the pineau is one of my favorite tipples. Beaches are nice, and less crowded than down south.

 

[sc320]

We've camped in Sete in the south of France. Facilities were pretty good and only 50yds from the beach ( although across a road).
Being so far south the weather is pretty much guaranteed. We've done Bordeax, Bergerac and Loire Valley but even in summer the weather has been a bit patchy.

 

[w124nut]

Thanks for your suggestions. I think it is too far to drive to biarritz, but I haven't yet ruled out taking the ferry to santander.

Has anybody else tried that ferry?

I have this idea that the further south I go, the better chance of fine warm weather.

Last year (2010) I took my car from Plymouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries' Pont Aven. I booked an outside large 2 berth cabin with en-suite facilities as we departed at 16:30 and arrived 13:00 the following day.

The facilities on the boat were very good and the cabins clean.

Brittany Ferries provide each cabin with instructions to getting out of Santander avoiding long delays in the city.

From Santander to Biarritz is approximately 250 kms.

About 5 years ago I stayed just north of Biarritz having drove there from St. Malo. I did the French part of the journey in one day having stayed in St. Malo overnight at a hotel.

The beaches in this part of the world are suitable for children of all ages but with a word of warning, the seas I experienced were not for paddling in but more suitable for surfers.

Hope the above is helpful.

 

[sc320]

Last year (2010) I took my car from Plymouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries' Pont Aven. I booked an outside large 2 berth cabin with en-suite facilities as we departed at 16:30 and arrived 13:00 the following day.

The facilities on the boat were very good and the cabins clean.

Brittany Ferries provide each cabin with instructions to getting out of Santander avoiding long delays in the city.

From Santander to Biarritz is approximately 250 kms.

About 5 years ago I stayed just north of Biarritz having drove there from St. Malo. I did the French part of the journey in one day having stayed in St. Malo overnight at a hotel.

The beaches in this part of the world are suitable for children of all ages but with a word of warning, the seas I experienced were not for paddling in but more suitable for surfers.

Hope the above is helpful.

I'd agree with that - the beach is lovely in Biarittz , but the sea is quite rough. Another option around there is San Sebastian, close to Santander, still in Spain and a little more sheltered for swimming.

 

[matty.13]

argeles sur-mer is a wounderfull place to go , good food , bars , great beaches . i honestly cant recommend it enough . i have been there for the last 8 years .