France in August (1 Viewer)

Mizar

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Hi we are thinking of sailing to santander around the 2nd of August then either driving down to the south of france to the med for around 10 days then driving up to calais for our sailing home or do we do the atlantic coast for the 10 days drive up to St Malo?.

With being in a motorhome we dont really want to book any sites just see where we end up, We have 2 children so dont really want to stay in Aires for 2 weeks dont mind doing a few if we have to but would like somewhere they can let some steam off for a few days every now and again playground pools etc.
I know its the french holidays is this possible or is it just too manic that fortnight road wise and avalability.

Thanks Ged :thumb:
 

chatter

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It will be manic, July and August most of europe have those two months off and over there they tend to go off for a full month. It might be better to do a bit of planning and book a site or two although they are expensive in either of those months. French municipal sites are usually quite good and will have a playground on them and a lot are situated near the swimming pool/games complex of the town
 

Ven

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Both area are great, depends what you want really.

The med is prob my favourite part of France for gorgeous coastlines, azure seas and scenery but in August it can be sooo hot and mossie hell (only our experience). There are fewer aires in the east of the south of France which made it tricky for us sometimes.

The Atlantic coast is also lovely and tends to be a bit cooler and breezier with nice beaches and lots of great aires.

All the aires tend to be packed in August but last year we did 6 weeks with my parents in their van as well and we always got in althoughnot always together. We never arrived later than 3pm though.

Hope that helps, shout if you want any aire info and I'll try and help. :)

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laneside

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laneside

Hi Fellow Yorkshire Man

Afraid we have not tried France in August but I believe it can be quite manic.

We are just back from eight weeks over there and my only advice especially with children on board would be to avoid the Atlantic coast much of it is quite boring especially compared with the rest of France which is brilliant.

If you can pick the weather then Normandy and Brittany are particularly pretty and give a full flavour of France without boring the kids with long drives.

With Kids onboard you probably want sites with many facilities if so try and get hold of the ACSI book we found these sites to be superb and were fortunate to be over there in low season that made them especially good value,unfortunately in August you will have to pay full whack.
At least you could ring up before hand and check availability or even book but if so you will need to budget around about 40 euros per night in August.

One word of possible caution even in April and May the good aires were many times full to bursting with French motorhomers and absolutely nothing for the kiddies to do.

Whatever you decide remember it is your well earned holiday so ENJOY

Cheers Alan and Lynda
 

haganap

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Hi Mizar, you are actually talking about our favourite area.

However here is my advice,

Avoid the med like the plague. It is way too busy in school holidays. We could hardly get a site when we went with our two lads. Sites worked out about 60-80 £ night.

The Atlantic coast is the place to be, we often go there and do some surfing/bodyboarding. Its busy, depending on when you go but has a real nice atmosphere of fun and a nice French feal to it. The med just reminds me of Blackpool on a hot day. We go Dover- Calais and then set down for the night. We get up, check the Weather forecast and then just hit the road to the good weather.
We never have a set plan just a loose one. This year we are going to give this place a go in August, and then on to the Alps . http://www.chalain.com/en/index.htm

Its on the east which we have not done much of but its much cheaper and looks a good site. Like you, I think your right about aires. We have stayed in some fantstic beach aires as well as some historical ones right around France. The kids don't mind for a few days but after that they want entertining and that normally means other kids,,,,

The advantage of a dover-calais crossing is that you can go anytime, mid week, weekend, 3 in the morning or whatever you like so your not restricted, miss the ferry for Santanda and could be a bit of a wait.:Eeek:
 

dazzer

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We did France a couple of years ago in July/August in a 30 ft RV.
Book your sites in advance especially the ones with pools and facilites they get real busy real quick!!

We did the Calis route and spend a couple of days in Eurodisney/Paris which the kids loved so much that we cut short the latter part of the holiday to come back a day early and go again!!

We had a fantastic time in France but the weather was a bit hit and miss and we saw a good few thunderstorms during our time there.

My advise is dont do what we did and only plan on staying on a couple or 3 site, we spent far to much time driving around and not enough time seeing France:Doh:

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barryd

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If your sailing to Santander and thinking about heading to the med I am supprised that nobody has suggested you visit what IMO is probably one of the most stunning areas of Europe on the way! The Pyrenees! We spent two weeks crossing the Pyrenees from the Med side Spanish Border along the French side to Biarritz (Atlantic Coast) and it was simply fantastic. If you do go to Santander then I would check out Biarritz for an Atlantic coast resort. It quite buzzing and worth a visit. Head for Lourdes for a day and then check out Cauterets, Gavarnie and the Pic de Midi. These are the highest mountains and ski resorts and there are cable cars and fantastic place to explore. The Aires at Gavarnie and Cauterets are brilliant but there are also campsites as well. The kids will love the mountains, rivers, lakes and streams and you can go wild camping up beyond the resorts and look for Marmots (over 4500ft) big shaggy beaver type things, very cute. continue through the mountains until you reach Perpignan Area and the med and enjoy the sea.

The Aire at Gavarnie in April. 27 degrees but people still skiing up on the slopes.

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Marmots!

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brodie

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Hi

We too are going for 3 weeks in August as we did last year, only we have decided to break things up a bit with sites and aires this year.

Having kids and solely staying on aires we found there was not enough for them to do (7,3 & 8 months at the time), as someone has already said they like being around other children.

With this becoming apparant halfway through the holiday we tried to book onto some sites for a couple of nights but to no avail they were all packed. We had no trouble getting on the aires though apart from one in Biarritz centre which was full so we just drove along a few miles and found one half full if that, right on the beach front.

This year though we are doing the 'middle & the med' as this is somewhere we haven't really explored before.

My sister gave me the Camping Cheque book to have look for a 'stopover' on the way down south and for two nights at a 4 star site in Beaujolais has cost us 69.28 euro. Which is pricey compared to aires but for 80 euros that got us 5 hours in the waterpark last year! So money well spent I think:winky:, just booked that on Tuesday. We have got the middle week booked on a site in Cannes and the rest will be on aires.

Even when looking through this book and checking availability there were only the odd nights available here and there.

I would suggest having a look now if you can decide roughly where you want to go and if you do decide to stay on a site here and there to book it. Don't get me wrong it's great having the freedom to move around on the aires from one place to the next I personally love it, but if your kids are anything like mine they drive you bonkers when they can't let off steam then they may not love it quite as much!!!

Maybe good to break it up a bit & keep everyone happy:thumb:

Hope this helps, Vik
 

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