South of France

[Moose]

Hi all, we are planning to have our first trip abroad in September to the South of France with our 2 Whippets.
We have nothing booked so far but just wondered if any of you have any recommendation.
We intend going via Euro tunnel and maybe book a geet once we get to wherever we end up, I don’t think Chris will want to stay in the camper for a fortnight
A lot to do I know, but any advise how ever small would be appreciated.

 

[TripleBee]

Can you be more precise? The south of France runs from Cerbère (near the Spanish border) to Menton (near the Italian border).

I never book for september trips. Once you might be unlucky to find no place in a more touristic place, but that will be more of an exception.

 

[Moose]

We really have nothing planned we were just thinking of booking sites on our way but presently have no plans to end up anywhere particularly, we would like to have 5 to 7days at least in a geet on the coast in the middle part of our trip so we are really are open to suggestions. Has anyone stayed in a geet in the south they can recommend that is on or close to the coast, bearing in mind we will have our dogs .
My original thought were to just book the train and drive once in France but my wife would like it planned, even if we booked just the first couple of nights and then go on from there.

 

[TripleBee]

Do you know ACSI?
It is a Dutch camping book with a lot of campings (only those who are in with ACSI). If you travel in low season, you might even get a discount.
Note that there are other clubs too, like ANWB, and probably a lot more that I don't know.
You can always look in Google Maps to a region and search for camping: all the known campings will show up, so you can choose and call ahead if they still have a place for you?

 

[Hotel California]

No need to book sites in september , go with the flow and see where you end up .
Plan only one or two days ahead , use free aires (plenty in France) or pop in a campsite (also plenty in France) without reservation .
We buy the ACSI book and discount pass each year as mentiont above ,it pays itself back and the book also holds free aires....

 

[Alform]

Just after the crossing on your way down there is a good aire which you can exercise the dogs after the tunnel. Area Somme Bay Service.
If you park at the far end there is a very large carpark next to a field with paths.
Depends on your route to the South of course.

 

[Melanie Day]

Hi all, we are planning to have our first trip abroad in September to the South of France with our 2 Whippets.
We have nothing booked so far but just wondered if any of you have any recommendation.
We intend going via Euro tunnel and maybe book a geet once we get to wherever we end up, I don’t think Chris will want to stay in the camper for a fortnight
A lot to do I know, but any advise how ever small would be appreciated.

We are in France now with our boy age 4 on last holiday before school.

We crossed the tunnel at 10.30 booked but got on 9.50. we stayed at friends in Folkestone night before.

We then went to Camping de la foret, jumieges for one night. Nice swimming pool lots of space not busy.

Camping 4 étoiles en Seine Maritime - Camping avec piscine couverte - Calme et reposant

Camping Seine Maritime, le camping de la Forêt (4 étoiles) proche de Rouen vous accueille pour vos vacances en Normandie et vous fait profiter de sa piscine couverte et chauffée.

www.campinglaforet.com

Then south of le mans to
Camping moredena, morannes. Quiet site swimming pool could walk to shop in villlage and restaurant outside entrance.

Camping Morédéna | 3 étoiles – Les Bords de Sarthe

Niché dans un cadre de verdure, bordé par la Sarthe, le camping Morédéna est idéalement situé aux portes de l’Anjou à Morannes sur Sarthe.

www.camping-moredena.com

Then to IL de Rae which was busier, we stayed at 2 sites one on beach with no pool and on at la flotte with great pool.

IL de Rae, huttopia wild coast

Camping Côte Sauvage sur l'Ile de Ré - Huttopia

Évadez-vous en pleine nature et passez des vacances au bord de l'océan sur l'île de Ré en Poitou-Charentes dans notre camping Huttopia Côte Sauvage

europe.huttopia.com

IL de Rae la flotte

Camping Les Peupliers****

Site officiel du camping Les Peupliers, camping 4 étoiles à l'Île de Ré avec club enfants, animations adultes gratuites, piscine extérieure chauffée, toboggans aquatiques, bar, snack, épicerie, location de vélos...

www.olela.fr

Now we are moving easy as heading to south of Calais.

This site is great and not too far east if you want to go more directly to it. Lovely pool and mini club.

Camping Parc du Val de Loire ***** Yelloh! Village à Mesland

Le camping Parc du Val de Loire à Chaumont-sur-Loire vous offre des locations haut de gamme, de nombreuses activités pour enfants pour des vacances de rêves.

www.yellohvillage.fr

Enjoy your trip.

We didn't book ahead just checked the site online and turned up, then looked at pitches. We found grass pitches with surrounding hedges is what we preferred. Some sites just line up the big white motor homes.

Also we had a toll tag which means we can drive up to the tolls and go through without any messing about. There wasn't any queing when we went but it saved faffing on passenger side.

Also stock up at Aldi / Lidl on route as meat, veg and fruit are really expensive.

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[Melanie Day]

We really have nothing planned we were just thinking of booking sites on our way but presently have no plans to end up anywhere particularly, we would like to have 5 to 7days at least in a geet on the coast in the middle part of our trip so we are really are open to suggestions. Has anyone stayed in a geet in the south they can recommend that is on or close to the coast, bearing in mind we will have our dogs .
My original thought were to just book the train and drive once in France but my wife would like it planned, even if we booked just the first couple of nights and then go on from there.

I am a big planner and organiser and love playing by the rules but the rules of camper van is that you drive, turn up and stay.

Saying that I had researched on this forum and the asci app to find potential sites. Funny enough we didn't stay in any I had originally ear marked for one reason or another.

We are loving relaxed Cali life even with a four year old and allowing pools and mini club it's still more relaxed and causal than standard hotel holidays.

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[TripleBee]

We then went to Camping de la foret, jumieges for one night. Nice swimming pool lots of space not busy.

Been there too!
Lovely place to spend 3 or 4 days.
Make sure you get to diner at Auberge des Ruïnes. Not cheap, but was very good back in 2017!
Plan your trip around Jumièges, and try to take the bacs as much as possible. They are free, and a lot of fun (if you take them the first few times).

 

[Melanie Day]

Been there too!
Lovely place to spend 3 or 4 days.
Make sure you get to diner at Auberge des Ruïnes. Not cheap, but was very good back in 2017!
Plan your trip around Jumièges, and try to take the bacs as much as possible. They are free, and a lot of fun (if you take them the first few times).

Ah we drove around the crossing as someone told us they don't take caravans so we didn't want to risk it so navigated around it. We did watch it whilst we stopped for bakery and provisions nearby. Looked cool. X

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[TripleBee]

Ah we drove around the crossing as someone told us they don't take caravans so we didn't want to risk it so navigated around it. We did watch it whilst we stopped for bakery and provisions nearby. Looked cool. X

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Psst, hey, don't tell anyone. You drive a big family car, no caravan!

 

[GSX1300R]

Wow there are so many options.... We are with ACSI. There are literally Hundreds of campsites that accept ACSI in France ... costs us about 18€ a year and the maximum you will pay is 20€ ... The campsites start at 12€ and I can tell you that although basic for 12€ they have everything you want inc electricity..20 € ones are fantastic..... You have the option of Aires but very few have any facilities only maybe water..... Don’t worry about Two weeks in the van that’s a doddle. We had well over 3 weeks last year in France and Spain in September.. Weather is normally beautiful and there’s no need to book as it’s the end of the season and school holidays are over... Enjoy you holiday...

 

[Melanie Day]

Wow there are so many options.... We are with ACSI. There are literally Hundreds of campsites that accept ACSI in France ... costs us about 18€ a year and the maximum you will pay is 20€ ... The campsites start at 12€ and I can tell you that although basic for 12€ they have everything you want inc electricity..20 € ones are fantastic..... You have the option of Aires but very few have any facilities only maybe water..... Don’t worry about Two weeks in the van that’s a doddle. We had well over 3 weeks last year in France and Spain in September.. Weather is normally beautiful and there’s no need to book as it’s the end of the season and school holidays are over... Enjoy you holiday...

Thanks, we are literally back in UK after 17 nights away - we had a blast.

We mainly stayed at ASCII sites and they were good value.

Just escaped before school holiday season starts.

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[DavidofHook]

Hi all, we are planning to have our first trip abroad in September to the South of France with our 2 Whippets.
We have nothing booked so far but just wondered if any of you have any recommendation.
We intend going via Euro tunnel and maybe book a geet once we get to wherever we end up, I don’t think Chris will want to stay in the camper for a fortnight ☹
A lot to do I know, but any advise how ever small would be appreciated.

We got back yesterday after a month in France. We don't book although we do have sites that we know, camping Claire at Neufchatel en Bray, near Dieppe, and then we just drove down to St Vallier on the Rhône, stopping at two sites we found on the way. Start looking at about 2 or 3. We then went down to a site near Tournon. Just two of us and we experienced heavy rain one day and very hot weather latterly. But we had no problems exisiting in the van, although we don’t have a dog ! The caravan club do have a book of campsites that they sell to non members but I would go for ACSI. Can give big discounts.
Just got for it! It's great!

 

[Moose]

HI all,
We are looking forward to our first trip to France. We have had lots of suggestion from fellow member's (THANK YOU) so we are checking them out, but have kinda decided not to book anything in advance except our 1st night which is a first for my wife Chris
We are thinking of heading down towards Bordeaux and then following the coastline towards Nice and see how far we get.
The thought is to use ACSI site mainly as recommended and possibly getting a toll TAG (but not sure we will need this). I have travelled all over Europe by motorbike in the passed sometimes with Chris but mostly with mates so looking forward to this a will be totally different
Do any of you have solar panels fitted and if you do what's your thoughts.

 

[kp64zl]

Solar panels are awesome. I've got 2 x 120 W from @Roger Donoghue in my Beach.
Don't ever use electric hook up.

 

[Melanie Day]

We got a toll tag for our recent trip to France. There wasn't any queues really only one or two cars but the toll tag made our life simple and stress free at the paege.

Even the french people were faffing at the paege with tickets and credit cards.

There is a thread on this forum about the toll tags and buying them through a French website where it is cheaper to buy.

Not as cheap but if you buy Eurotunnel tickets you can get some discount from normal price.

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[Alied]

HI all,
We are looking forward to our first trip to France. We have had lots of suggestion from fellow member's (THANK YOU) so we are checking them out, but have kinda decided not to book anything in advance except our 1st night which is a first for my wife Chris
We are thinking of heading down towards Bordeaux and then following the coastline towards Nice and see how far we get.
The thought is to use ACSI site mainly as recommended and possibly getting a toll TAG (but not sure we will need this). I have travelled all over Europe by motorbike in the passed sometimes with Chris but mostly with mates so looking forward to this a will be totally different
Do any of you have solar panels fitted and if you do what's your thoughts.

Look at mccp’s post at the bottom of this thread

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/bip-and-go-vs-liber-t-tags.19597/#post-270772

I had the Sanef one but returned it and got one from APRR. They also do a tag that covers four countries with the extra country being Italy.

 

[Alied]

HI all,
We are looking forward to our first trip to France. We have had lots of suggestion from fellow member's (THANK YOU) so we are checking them out, but have kinda decided not to book anything in advance except our 1st night which is a first for my wife Chris
We are thinking of heading down towards Bordeaux and then following the coastline towards Nice and see how far we get.
The thought is to use ACSI site mainly as recommended and possibly getting a toll TAG (but not sure we will need this). I have travelled all over Europe by motorbike in the passed sometimes with Chris but mostly with mates so looking forward to this a will be totally different
Do any of you have solar panels fitted and if you do what's your thoughts.

From post 15

Emovis tag

Got an email today from Euro tunnel with an offer on the Emovis tag. Thinking of getting one. Has anyone used one for driving in France? Sounds like a good idea to avoid hassle at the tolls, especially if you're travelling alone in a right hand drive vehicle! Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[GSX1300R]

HI all,
We are looking forward to our first trip to France. We have had lots of suggestion from fellow member's (THANK YOU) so we are checking them out, but have kinda decided not to book anything in advance except our 1st night which is a first for my wife Chris
We are thinking of heading down towards Bordeaux and then following the coastline towards Nice and see how far we get.
The thought is to use ACSI site mainly as recommended and possibly getting a toll TAG (but not sure we will need this). I have travelled all over Europe by motorbike in the passed sometimes with Chris but mostly with mates so looking forward to this a will be totally different
Do any of you have solar panels fitted and if you do what's your thoughts.

We too had many a holiday in France and Spain on the bike. We have a Hayabusa and from 2003 to 2014 we had some fantastic holidays but always staying in Hotels... Getting a bit old for that now still got the bike but decided to get a California... This will be The 4th year now and love it..... Down to the Spanish Moto GP in September again...Hot Hot Hot last year... You can’t beat a California...

 

[Moose]

Had many bikes and done most touring on BMW GS, GSA and RT’s - Now I have a BMW XR1000 it’s the most fun on a bike I have had in a long time, but not used as much as alway popping out in the Cali. Was meant to have a trip on the bike about a month ago but had to be cancelled due to things out of my control. But so looking forward to doing it in a Cali