Calais - Biarritz

[Anage]

Hi,
I am finalising my itinerary for a two week trip to south of france, I depart from calais at the start of august and intend to drive down to biarritz, i am unsure of what is acheivable but would like to get down to biarritz within 3 days so would like a couple of decent stop overs on the way down, any suggestions of good stop overs would be appreciated.
I am meeting my bro who is surfing in hendaye and mimizan over the first 6 days so I would like to get there in time to hook up with him. I thought Biarritz would be a good half way point between mimizan and hendaye but I dont want to kill myself with driving! Do people think three days to get down there is enough?

I then intend to work my way back up the coast stopping off at some of the places I have picked out below.

rouens
amboise
tours
pornic
ile de re / Île d’Oléron
saints
la rochelle
cahors
dune du pilat
royan
saint emilion
biarritz.

Any feedback suggestions / advice welcome.
cheers

 

[Freeley]

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as we might be doing something similar.
You could get to Biarritz in 2 days fairly easily, we did Calais to French Pyrenees in 2 with an overnight stop. Looking back we should be driven a bit further the first day but it was still doable.

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[briwy]

You can do Calis to Biarritz in a day but be aware that it could well be busy on the autoroutes with French holidays. It's well worth getting a toll tag to avoid the queues at the tolls.

 

[BillyCasper]

Re, La Rochelle, Royan will be heaving and campsites very busy. Was there last year and stayed inland in the Marais Poitevin around Arcais. Really enjoyed it camping places were easy to find. Also the Charente river was nice around Jarnac. Nice, simple site right on the river at Bourg-Charente. Like oysters? Cite des Huitres. On the journey down, I like Chinon.


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[Anage]

You can do Calis to Biarritz in a day but be aware that it could well be busy on the autoroutes with French holidays. It's well worth getting a toll tag to avoid the queues at the tolls.

Hi, yes thanks Ive purchased a liber t tag.

 

[Anage]

Re, La Rochelle, Royan will be heaving and campsites very busy. Was there last year and stayed inland in the Marais Poitevin around Arcais. Really enjoyed it camping places were easy to find. Also the Charente river was nice around Jarnac. Nice, simple site right on the river at Bourg-Charente. Like oysters? Cite des Huitres. On the journey down, I like Chinon.


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thanks , I will add tose to my list, im fairly flexible in terms of where i stay so the more ideas the better.

 

[jts46]

Salbris has a good campsite it is between Orleans and Vierzon, just off A71 about a 5 hour drive from calais. Then about another 6 hour drive to Henadaye.
If it was me (71 years young) i would take 2 overnight stops, i assume you are a lot younger than me?
On your return i would visit dune du pilat, Ile de re and rouen. All of these are worth visiting.
remember A20 from vierzon to brive la gaillarde is free, then across A89 toll route towards Bordeaux

 

[Anage]

Salbris has a good campsite it is between Orleans and Vierzon, just off A71 about a 5 hour drive from calais. Then about another 6 hour drive to Henadaye.
If it was me (71 years young) i would take 2 overnight stops, i assume you are a lot younger than me?
On your return i would visit dune du pilat, Ile de re and rouen. All of these are worth visiting.
remember A20 from vierzon to brive la gaillarde is free, then across A89 toll route towards Bordeaux

thanks for the info, i was thinking of taking 2 overnight stops as i want to enjoy the journey down.

 

[sidepod]

August, France and enjoy. Not words you'd normally find in the same sentence.

 

[Anage]

August, France and enjoy. Not words you'd normally find in the same sentence.

I guess not ideal time of year for crowds but im limited in when i can take leave from work.

 

[Dave650]

This year will be the first time we will manage France in September. Usually limited to July and August but still managed to enjoy it. Should be much nicer though. Did one year in the south and the lastt 300 miles took over 10 hours, then spent the next week in traffic jams....

 

[hirsty]

Maybe I've been lucky so far, but it's never been quite as busy as I'd feared - famous last words ...

Two overnight stops / three days driving should be plenty to get down without breaking your neck, though it's perfectly doable in two days driving if you don't muck about.

 

[TwoDogs]

On both my recent surf trips to the coast west of Bordeaux, I stopped overnight at Le Petit Trianon campsite,at Ingrandes, just north of Châtellerault. Not far off the motorway, and about 5 hours (plus coffee stops) from Calais. Left with about 3 hours the next day and was in the sea just after lunch.

 

[T6 CFO]

Salbris has a good campsite it is between Orleans and Vierzon, just off A71 about a 5 hour drive from calais. Then about another 6 hour drive to Henadaye.
If it was me (71 years young) i would take 2 overnight stops, i assume you are a lot younger than me?
On your return i would visit dune du pilat, Ile de re and rouen. All of these are worth visiting.
remember A20 from vierzon to brive la gaillarde is free, then across A89 toll route towards Bordeaux

Just about right for our stop in September. Do you recall the name of the site in Salbris?


Mike

 

[sstflyers]

Just back from France. Ils de Re very busy and we left early. Understand Oleron may be quieter. Bike is useful. There is an 'aire' top end of Island if you fancy trying on Ils de Re. We went inland at Coulon. Very nice - again cycle routes are very nice way to see waterways. There is a big motorhome stop just outside town but we went to campsite Vernise Verte just down the road. Busy but nice and swimming pool.

We could the Michellin 2017 camp guide for France very useful and descriptions pretty accurate. Stayed in the 3 'tent' sites.

Have fun!

 

[laurentfox]

Anage,
Understand you are aware of the traffic problems (I live in southern France and it's getting really busy here). You may want to extend the days allotted for getting to/from or travel at night. Here is a recent small article about the traffic coming up, especially in the last paragraph. Good luck! http://bit.ly/2tAnIdH

 

[Tom Downie]

Hi,
I am finalising my itinerary for a two week trip to south of france, I depart from calais at the start of august and intend to drive down to biarritz, i am unsure of what is acheivable but would like to get down to biarritz within 3 days so would like a couple of decent stop overs on the way down, any suggestions of good stop overs would be appreciated.
I am meeting my bro who is surfing in hendaye and mimizan over the first 6 days so I would like to get there in time to hook up with him. I thought Biarritz would be a good half way point between mimizan and hendaye but I dont want to kill myself with driving! Do people think three days to get down there is enough?

I then intend to work my way back up the coast stopping off at some of the places I have picked out below.

rouens
amboise
tours
pornic
ile de re / Île d’Oléron
saints
la rochelle
cahors
dune du pilat
royan
saint emilion
biarritz.

Any feedback suggestions / advice welcome.
cheers

I know it would miss out a couple of places on your list but why Dover - Calais? I see you are in the W Midlands to me a crossing Plymouth Roscoff would make more sense. Straight down the M5 and miss out London and the M25 .. and closer to Biarritz in France too. The Brittany Ferries are nicer too (but try and avoid the Amoric). We always count the crossing as part of our holiday. We are club members which gets us a substantial discount on the crossing and on anything you buy on board including food. We take a night crossing when we can and eat on board and have a cabin (free on some day crossings). For a shorter route try Poole Cherbourg.
We are off again in September and taking our time driving down to the Alps.and

 

[Anage]

Looked at Poole Cherbourg but pricey. I have mate who owns campsite in Dorset so would have been ideal but I think it was circa £500
I think I just want to count the journey down as part of my holiday and to be honest the whole journey is a bit of a soul searching episode. Busy roads and the like I can handle I drive on m6 every day. I'm really just getting used to having the van on my own which wasn't the original plan! So if I don't go now I may never!

 

[Anage]

Appreciate all the advice though