One week in north west France.

James-Alex

James-Alex

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Hiya folks.

Looking for some nice places to visit in the Brittany/Loire area please. We only have a week and will be on ferry to Cherbourg or Caen. We love little traditional places. Lakes/sea/river areas. We aim to be going August and would like to use France Passion for some stays and maybe a site with a pool once or twice. Picture below of area we feel we have enough time to explore.

Thanks in advance
5B09AF02-8D04-4E1E-9D83-303F2A5390D2.png
 
who will be going? adults/children/teens?

the area you suggest is actually quite vast and you could easily spend 3 of your 7 days travelling ? Park4night is superb for France for finding aires to stay on,
 
Thinking more Loire valley but nice old places with a nice site and walk into town. Ideally an hour or two drive between stops just two adults 👍🏻
 
Last edited:
A week is too short,get some extra days or even weeks in ,it won't cost you much more for a few more overnights.

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One place to visit then would be Nantes. There is s campsite right in the middle of the city near the race course. There is a little train than starts at the cathedral and takes you around the city to see the major sites of interest. Then walk over to the old shipyards to see the mechanical elephant, it's a superb spectacle, lots of videos on you tube etc. I would try to be there on a Sunday, it can get busy then but everything will be running.

From there I would then go to the island of Normouitier and find a nice Aire to stay at, following which I would slowly make my way up the coast via St Nazaire.

Alternatively, go inland from Nantes over to Angers and work my way back to Caen from there.

There is so much to see in the area that it's a shame you only have one week. I will dig out some of my old travel history and add a few more stopovers in a couple of days though there are far more travelled and experienced motorhomers who hopefully will be along soon to offer their suggestions.
 
This is a real 'piece of string' topic. I kept our boat near Redon for twelve years, we have friends with places in the area, so I think you could say I know the area fairly well as I have been visiting that bit of France for more than half a century if you count my business trips as well.

But of course I don't. Even now we are planning a trip to tour the twelve oyster-producing areas of Brittany over two weeks, and that is only the top-left hand corner of you map! We've been to two, not all, so it forms the basis for a trip away.

My advice would be to refocus your aspirations, either by limiting your touring area, or by having a more specific view on what you want to do. There are so many places that are nice to be, and that have an interesting features - who knew that Villedieu-les-Poeles has a bell foundry you can visit, or that just east of Caen is (officially) one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France? So combine that thought with the excellent suggestion to visit les Mechaniques in Nantes and you have nearly half your week covered. Add in the charming St-Malo, and Mont-St-Michel as suggested, and you are more or less sorted. Then what about the Bayeux Tapestry, any one of the hundreds of Chateaux on the Loire; there is a car museum at Lohéac; the Valley of the Saints (amazing huge sculptures) in Carnoët; submarine pens in St-Nazaire... I could go on. You are bound to find things that interest both of you.

Pick the things you might want to experience, and build a tour around them.

I think it was Spike Milligan who said "Everybody has got to be somewhere." and this could be the mantra for touring in general. Some people like to visit cathedrals & churches, others go fishing, bird-spotting, visit museums or art galleries, tour vineyards (being food orientated we like markets). You just need a reason to move from one place to another. The French tourist offices are a terrific source of inspiration, all the big ones and many of the tiniest have websites in English.

Hope that helps!

Do pose more questions as you refine your plans, there is a wealth of help and experience here.
 
Just a friendly warning - August is when france is on holiday and the north-west is a very popular French holiday destination.......................

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With only a week you might want to consider only 2 or 3 places. 2 nights in a place only gives you one full day to explore and if it's really hot then a restful afternoon might be necessary anyway if you are to really enjoy the holiday.
For what it's worth, we like Josselin, La Roche Bernard, Rochefort-en-Terre. All a bit touristy, but then tourists go to nice places!
You also might want to get the Book of "les Plus Beaux Villages de France if you like old villages. We often plan a route via these villages.
Enjoy it what ever you decide.
Sue
 
Doing a search on the ACSI camping card website will help you refine a site with swimming pool. ACSI card not valid in high season so don’t buy it.
Loire is a good place and I would recommend DBK thread

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Two Potter Around Northern France

After our trip to Corsica earlier this year I felt our next excursion should involve less distance and fewer sheer drops on the side of the road. Corsica was a delight and the scenery stunning but something less demanding will go down nicely over the next couple of months. And so yesterday we...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
 
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Just for fun, and mostly to amuse myself, I overlaid an approximation of your proposed touring area over the UK, in three orientations. Broadly the area you are going to visit is roughly the size of Wales, or Scotland, or Ireland!!

Not a fair comparison, of course, but you'll see the point. Of course the French roads are so much better so you can get from A to B a lot quicker than in the UK should you plan your stopovers some distance apart.


Screenshot 2022-03-16 at 17.34.13.png
 
Thanks for all your input folks.

The area was specified as we don’t actually have any places we want to go for any real reason. Just fancy a few days meandering about.

I know a week isn’t long but that’s all we can manage at this time. The kids grandad wants to have them and he lives in Portsmouth so if we’re heading there to take them we’ve decided to jump on ferry and go. I know it’s not what most of time wise but that’s all we have with leave and children.

If anyone has any more suggestions of “stand out” places that you’ve been in rural locations that you would describe as really nice and have stuck in your head. Please if possible add links to websites. We really don’t have any plans and I’m happy to drive to a couple of areas.

I know it’s a massive place, and many miles to drive.

Thanks for all your tips and advice so far. Really appreciate it. Been a busy few days as I broke my bloomin wrist at work so have only just caught up with my original post.

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Jimbohorlicks said:
A week is too short,get some extra days or even weeks in ,it won't cost you much more for a few more overnights.
Click to expand...
Would love to but just not possible with work and childcare. Kids staying with grandad a week and lives in Portsmouth.
 
MisterB said:
One place to visit then would be Nantes. There is s campsite right in the middle of the city near the race course. There is a little train than starts at the cathedral and takes you around the city to see the major sites of interest. Then walk over to the old shipyards to see the mechanical elephant, it's a superb spectacle, lots of videos on you tube etc. I would try to be there on a Sunday, it can get busy then but everything will be running.

From there I would then go to the island of Normouitier and find a nice Aire to stay at, following which I would slowly make my way up the coast via St Nazaire.

Alternatively, go inland from Nantes over to Angers and work my way back to Caen from there.

There is so much to see in the area that it's a shame you only have one week. I will dig out some of my old travel history and add a few more stopovers in a couple of days though there are far more travelled and experienced motorhomers who hopefully will be along soon to offer their suggestions.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. Just the info I was after 😊
 
chuns said:
This is a real 'piece of string' topic. I kept our boat near Redon for twelve years, we have friends with places in the area, so I think you could say I know the area fairly well as I have been visiting that bit of France for more than half a century if you count my business trips as well.

But of course I don't. Even now we are planning a trip to tour the twelve oyster-producing areas of Brittany over two weeks, and that is only the top-left hand corner of you map! We've been to two, not all, so it forms the basis for a trip away.

My advice would be to refocus your aspirations, either by limiting your touring area, or by having a more specific view on what you want to do. There are so many places that are nice to be, and that have an interesting features - who knew that Villedieu-les-Poeles has a bell foundry you can visit, or that just east of Caen is (officially) one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France? So combine that thought with the excellent suggestion to visit les Mechaniques in Nantes and you have nearly half your week covered. Add in the charming St-Malo, and Mont-St-Michel as suggested, and you are more or less sorted. Then what about the Bayeux Tapestry, any one of the hundreds of Chateaux on the Loire; there is a car museum at Lohéac; the Valley of the Saints (amazing huge sculptures) in Carnoët; submarine pens in St-Nazaire... I could go on. You are bound to find things that interest both of you.

Pick the things you might want to experience, and build a tour around them.

I think it was Spike Milligan who said "Everybody has got to be somewhere." and this could be the mantra for touring in general. Some people like to visit cathedrals & churches, others go fishing, bird-spotting, visit museums or art galleries, tour vineyards (being food orientated we like markets). You just need a reason to move from one place to another. The French tourist offices are a terrific source of inspiration, all the big ones and many of the tiniest have websites in English.

Hope that helps!

Do pose more questions as you refine your plans, there is a wealth of help and experience here.
Click to expand...
Amazing reply and thankyou 😊 the oysters sound great places
 
Suenliam said:
With only a week you might want to consider only 2 or 3 places. 2 nights in a place only gives you one full day to explore and if it's really hot then a restful afternoon might be necessary anyway if you are to really enjoy the holiday.
For what it's worth, we like Josselin, La Roche Bernard, Rochefort-en-Terre. All a bit touristy, but then tourists go to nice places!
You also might want to get the Book of "les Plus Beaux Villages de France if you like old villages. We often plan a route via these villages.
Enjoy it what ever you decide.
Sue
Click to expand...
Thanks for taking the time to reply. All sounds just what we are looking for 😊

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Riverbankannie said:
Doing a search on the ACSI camping card website will help you refine a site with swimming pool. ACSI card not valid in high season so don’t buy it.
Loire is a good place and I would recommend DBK thread

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Two Potter Around Northern France

After our trip to Corsica earlier this year I felt our next excursion should involve less distance and fewer sheer drops on the side of the road. Corsica was a delight and the scenery stunning but something less demanding will go down nicely over the next couple of months. And so yesterday we...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
Click to expand...
Thanks 😊 I’m waiting on my France passion to arrive. Had read about high season with ACSI so won’t be buying but good suggestion to use the site for ideas 😊
 
If you’ve only got a week then we did Deauville, parked up at a campsite nearby for four nights, used the pools (and the bar a lot!!) and Deauville itself is a charming seaside town with a huge and very lovely beach. Obviously in August pitch prices in the area will be hideously expensive. After your days there you could spend the next few days (in any direction) hitting up
Aires and exploring places new.

We did exactly this but on the way back from a longer tour to the eastern side of France.
 
Bouchmaine is a nice place right on the river and if you bikes you can cycle down to Angers twenty minutes down the cycle path that runs beside the river. I think its about fifteen euros a night.
 
If you are thinking of visiting Nantes (as per previous post) then the route from Caen will take you past Fougeres. Take a look on the internet .... It has a fantastic castle and really pretty town. The advantage is that there are two free Aires, the best one being just over the road from the castle, downside is that due to the time of year you may struggle to get a park up on that Aire and may need to try the other one.
 
Further to my earlier post about it being very busy in August, if you intend to use aires plan on getting parked up by early afternoon, as close to 2.00pm as you can. And be ready for very tight parking - no "6m" rule here!

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What time does your ferry arrive, and where? The first night (and bit of shopping) can be a fabulous start to a tour.
 
James-Alex said:
Hiya folks.

Looking for some nice places to visit in the Brittany/Loire area please. We only have a week and will be on ferry to Cherbourg or Caen.
Click to expand...

James-Alex said:
SNIP

Hi. I post this link regularly because it is soooo useful!
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www.france-voyage.com

France Voyage - Guide Tourisme, Vacances & Week-end

Partez découvrir les trésors des régions de France, préparez vos vacances ou votre week-end: Une mine d'informations pratiques et culturelles.
www.france-voyage.com www.france-voyage.com
 
The Fougeres aire is a bit scrappy and no services that I found. Visit the park adjacent to Eglise Saint Leonard overlooking the castle. Some really clever metal sculptures.
 
cyberyacht said:
Having recommended Bayeux, ISTR reading that it is being lent to the UK this year although I don't know any dates.
Click to expand...
But we are lending them a tapestry of Welsh rugby successes.

It’s pretty threadbare and probably just as old.

ShiftZZ , eddievanbitz and Jim 🤭🤭🤭🤭


Just in case of knockers…I did contribute earlier in the thread.👍
 
cyberyacht said:
The Fougeres aire is a bit scrappy and no services that I found. Visit the park adjacent to Eglise Saint Leonard overlooking the castle. Some really clever metal sculptures.
Click to expand...
I assume you mean the Aire near the castle? We were only there for one night so didn't need any service, but not much use if you do lol! Does the other Aire have services?

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