France for a week. How far south?

[Anage]

Hi,
This will be my first trip to France and more to the point my first overseas trip in Cali (only 3 trips in total since reviving in May ).
Due to work commitments I will only have a week and was wondering if experienced travellers think this is long enough to go to south of France or indeed how far south I need to go to get some respite from our so far damp summer
There will only be myself and a dog travelling as my partner can't make the trip unfortunately. I am a bit unsure of what is realistic in terms of distance as I do want to come back feeling relaxed!
Any advice from people who have been away for similar length of time would be appreciated.
Am I just better sticking to uk for that kind of duration?
P.s. I will be getting euro tunnel due to dog.
Cheers
A

 

[TwoDogs]

I would say that wasn't long enough to go to the south. For a week, there's plenty to see further north and east.....we did a 5 day trip recently and went to Strasbourg area......beautiful

 

[Hotel California]

From Calias to say Nice can easy be done in one day....only driving.
All depends on "your " way off travelling.
Think you better stick to the west coast , so much nice things to see in France and places to spend the night on free aires everywhere....
Campsites also plenty , it can get busy in summervacation but the Cali gives so much oppertunities to change plans during the trip , i would make no reservations.
Also beware off the heat if travelling with your beloved doggie....
We try not to go down south in juli and august
There are some older posts on travelling in France witch maybe can be be intresting to look up.

 

[Californiaman]

We drove down to the Pyrenees, arriving at the campsite after driving for a long day and one overnight stop that left us an hour or so to of driving to the campsite in the morning (so we arrived in daylight!)

We spent 4 days in the mountains autoroute pretty much all the way there. On the way back, we took a few days to drive home, driving pretty much on minor roads and stopping in beautiful Aires. It is certainly doable...

We went all that way specifically to watch the raptor migration (amazing...) and only had a week available.

Depends on what you want to do - I would probably head for the west coast as said above... Don't set an agenda, drive as you feel comfortable!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[theonecraw]

Depends on how many miles you can clock up in a day. We recently did a tour to Lake Como in under a week. See my post here - https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/no-longer-a-euro-virgin.14610/#post-155780

 

[Max-Felix]

Anything is possible and we drive a lot in France - single hits to the South are relatively easy in a fast, modern car and all is forgotten the next morning! Have done it in old Landy's too but that's a bit wearing and we're 50 mins from Euro-tunnel.

However, Nice and the surrounding area is not somewhere I would particularly go regardless of time unless out of season. Stay back a bit in the Lac de St Croix area maybe, If you want to take it a bit easier then the Loire is probably the least far South to go but the Dordogne is a great area and easy to get to.

 

[Max-Felix]

Meant to add that the beauty of a camper is you're not tied down, just stop/go where you like, see the journey as the holiday. Grab a European sites guide and head S........

 

[GrannyJen]

Half way down, Loire Valley, Loire Atlantique, Vendee.

If you want sea, sand and sun warm enough but often without 30+ temperatures then the Vendee, South Brittany, Lore Atlantique. Delightful little places like Pornic. 6 hours from Calais, 3 from Caen, how short is a piece of string from St Malo.

If you want lazy river scenery, castles, wine then the Loire, Nante to Sancerre,

Me personally, for a week I would not want to look further South than Bordeaux. Having a Cali, for me, is about making life easy, go anywhere, go any time, take as long as you want to, explore all the little places, amble around. A week is not long enough to spend days staring straight ahead for hours and hours on an Autoroute.

Only me, we are all different, why we have cali's

 

[Anage]

Hi
Thanks for all of your replies. It kind of backs up what I was thinking. I think a leisurely amble down the west coast sounds appealing.
My partner always mentions vendee as one of her faves so i was intending on stopping around there and remain flexible for the rest .
Cheers

 

[GrannyJen]

Hi
Thanks for all of your replies. It kind of backs up what I was thinking. I think a leisurely amble down the west coast sounds appealing.
My partner always mentions vendee as one of her faves so i was intending on stopping around there and remain flexible for the rest .
Cheers

I was going to be travelling from Calais to St Nazaire to les sables d'Olonne next week but now doing nothing until August the 1st as a doctor has put me on hold until the neurologist comes back from his hols, so if you are down that way beginning of August we may bump into each other

 

[DavidofHook]

As it is your first trip and a short one I would try to keep your travel time as short as possible.
So I would Suggest that you use the autoroutes where you can, they are very quick and some of the best roads in Europe so don't worry about driving on the wrong side of the road, it works fine. You may have to pay but it will not break the bank.
We used to go to Brittany which has great beaches and also some interesting Neolithic stuff at Carnac.
Loire valley is also brilliant, Amboise has a great campsite on an island in the middle of the river. It has also got a Leonardo da Vinci museum as he spent his
last years there.
Vendee is also good but the last time we returned from Bordeaux the traffic was terrible, nose to tail on the autoroute.

 

[Anage]

As it is your first trip and a short one I would try to keep your travel time as short as possible.
So I would Suggest that you use the autoroutes where you can, they are very quick and some of the best roads in Europe so don't worry about driving on the wrong side of the road, it works fine. You may have to pay but it will not break the bank.
We used to go to Brittany which has great beaches and also some interesting Neolithic stuff at Carnac.
Loire valley is also brilliant, Amboise has a great campsite on an island in the middle of the river. It has also got a Leonardo da Vinci museum as he spent his
last years there.
Vendee is also good but the last time we returned from Bordeaux the traffic was terrible, nose to tail on the autoroute.

Thanks. I've not really considered traffic congestion, guess I need to factor it in.
Cheers

 

[Anage]

I was going to be travelling from Calais to St Nazaire to les sables d'Olonne next week but now doing nothing until August the 1st as a doctor has put me on hold until the neurologist comes back from his hols, so if you are down that way beginning of August we may bump into each other

I'll have to get my forum stickers on just in case!

 

[shudycamps]

David of Hook mentioned Ambo is and the campsite on the Loire, the name of the campsite is Camping de l'Ile d'Or, 47.4168° 0.98697°. www.camping-ambrose.com

One of our very very favourites. Easily reached from Calais, we camp there with 6 dogs.

Wherever you chose, have a super first outing.

 

[Calicliff]

Driving down to Eguisheim in August, morning tunnel and then a cruise down, the beauty of the French roads are that they are not as busy as the UK's motorways.

 

[DavidofHook]

David of Hook mentioned Ambo is and the campsite on the Loire, the name of the campsite is Camping de l'Ile d'Or, 47.4168° 0.98697°. www.camping-ambrose.com

One of our very very favourites. Easily reached from Calais, we camp there with 6 dogs.

Wherever you chose, have a super first outing.

Thanks for that but your spell checker has been at work!
The site is at the town of Amboise

 

[GrannyJen]

Thanks for that but your spell checker has been at work!
The site is at the town of Amboise

Another vote for the Island campsite. Gorgeous place.

 

[shudycamps]

Ind

Thanks for that but your spell checker has been at work!
The site is at the town of Amboise

Indeed, but my satnav coordinates spot on.

 

[Loz]

Ind

Indeed, but my satnav coordinates spot on.

But not the url

 

[shudycamps]

Just punch them into Google Maps. Or your SatNav. If your SatNav, Loz, can't decipher decimal coordinates, I can provide them in degrees, minutes and seconds; GPS or UTM for you. But not url. Sorry.

 

[DavidofHook]

Ind

Indeed, but my satnav coordinates spot on.

Shudycamps, I was just trying to be helpful for anyone reading your post, if they had tried to find the website then they may have had difficulties. And I do struggle with coordinates at times. Apologies if it came across badly.

 

[shudycamps]

Shudycamps, I was just trying to be helpful for anyone reading your post, if they had tried to find the website then they may have had difficulties. And I do struggle with coordinates at times. Apologies if it came across badly.

No worries, I get ahead of myself in wanting to share tried and true campsites and Amboise is certainly on my high list. And the fingers get flying. Our first stop a week from tomorrow is Loches - La Citadelle - and hopefully it will turn out to be another great site. I have just started the slow, methodical packing today whilst the husband is away. Tendancy to get a bit overwrought, so what the eyes do not see, the heart can't grieve. I can highly recommend Camping de Tournon (Tournon on the Rhone), La Cite (Carcassonne) and Camping Blanes, south of Girona to you if you have not been already. X

 

[Anage]

long time since posting but my situation has changed somewhat , It now appears I will be travelling solo! albeit with my dog . I am looking to go first two weeks in august and have nothing booked. Dog passport is in order and thats about it as far as planning.
I am looking to head to south west of france and rendezvous with my brother and his wife at some point, they are focussing their trip on surfing. I have a list of places that people have mentioned and also have my brothers itinerary. I wonder whether people think I will be ok to just go on spec or whether I should try and pre book some sites (I realise I may have left it too late). I like the sound of le camping de l’Île d’Or and was thinking I may just book this as my first stop for a few days and then just take it from there. My brother is working his way up from san sebastian and I will be driving down from calais. I dont really mind how far south I go and alot will depend on heat with dog etc but I was planning on hooking up with him around south brittany.
Some places I though worth a visit are, Carnac, Amboise, Pornic. Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[Hotel California]

If travelling solo i would certainly make no reservations , there are plenty of campsite in France and also (free) aires . And France is a place where you can find some places to park up and spent the night .
Special in the summertime as you can simply stay at a nice spot near a lake until dark (late hour ) and just stay overnight get up early and head on...

Some campsites have pitches in front of the gate when theire site is full you pay a smaller fee and get to use the sanitairy block (sometimes even with hook-up) .

Many small pitoresk towns have free overnight parking , sometimes only For 1-2 campers next to the city hal or maket square , easy to find those .

 

[shudycamps]

long time since posting but my situation has changed somewhat , It now appears I will be travelling solo! albeit with my dog . I am looking to go first two weeks in august and have nothing booked. Dog passport is in order and thats about it as far as planning.
I am looking to head to south west of france and rendezvous with my brother and his wife at some point, they are focussing their trip on surfing. I have a list of places that people have mentioned and also have my brothers itinerary. I wonder whether people think I will be ok to just go on spec or whether I should try and pre book some sites (I realise I may have left it too late). I like the sound of le camping de l’Île d’Or and was thinking I may just book this as my first stop for a few days and then just take it from there. My brother is working his way up from san sebastian and I will be driving down from calais. I dont really mind how far south I go and alot will depend on heat with dog etc but I was planning on hooking up with him around south brittany.
Some places I though worth a visit are, Carnac, Amboise, Pornic. Any suggestions much appreciated.

l’Île d’Or is one of our favourite camp sites; but get thee on Archies App, look at camp sites that tie in with your brother's trip north and start booking. Personally, I feel much better when I have a booked camp site to travel to, particularly during AUGUST! On our way home in late September, I am not so worried. I have Hurrta and Swamp wear cool jackets for my dogs when we travel in the summertime; they work a treat.