Camping in France

[Adampy]

We are planning to go camping in France for two weeks in July. We will just have a tent but want to move around every to or so days. All the sights I find seem to be in French.

Can anyone help with planning a good camping trip in the mountains and countryside. Ideally I would need a sight where we could book various sites which sort of link together if that makes sense. i.e driving a route and stopping at sites along the way.

Thanks in advance

[Gef]

Try your local bookshop.

[Adampy]

Yes a bookshop.......

Actually I meant routes poeple have done before which they could recommend.

But thank you for your helpfull answer Gef

[puzzled54]

Get a Eurocamp (or one of the other companies like Haven, Keycamp, Canvasetc) and look at the sites they use. I know some of their sites are 'castels and camping' sites, but I don't know if they are linked by a common website, but if you Google the site names you might find something.

[Gef]

Sorry adampy, my previous answer didn't really tell you anything.

This one probably won't be any better but here goes.

I have had 15+ years of camping holidays in France. Dtarted with own tent but then moved on (with kids) to Eurocamp/Canvas tents and eventually mobile homes.

Enjoyed every area of France but generally the further south you go the more chance you have of better weather.

Campsites in France are generally very good and if you only have a small tent you shouldn't need to book in advance. However, it is well worth buying a guide book so that you can plan where you want to go.

We always found that it was better to spend at least five days at one place before moving on.

As puzzled says it is well worth getting brochures as apart from describing sites they also give info on the surrounding area.

Hope you have a good time.

[Machecoul]

http://www.campingfrance.com/index.jsp?lg=uk This site looks quite good. Should enable you to look for sites within the areas you wish to visit. Hope you have a good map.

Municipal sites in towns are often cheaper and quieter than the bigger commercial sites / and just as good (and cleaner)!

We stay at one for 5 weeks every summer and have a wonderful time.

[Adampy]

Thanks for the Answers.

Gef that was helpful. My problem was I don't know france at all and been on a limited budget, don't want to get things wrong.

We only have a small tent, well sleeps 8. Knowing that we probably won't need to book will make things much easier. Then we can just stop when we find something or somewhere we like?

The South is where most people say is the nicest (weather wise).

Machecoul Thank you for the website. I spent quite a lot of time on there before and have got The Official Camping and Caravanning Guide from their site.

Suppose the best is to pic a direction and head that way.

Many thanks

[Gef]

Thank you Adampy. Hope you have a great time. Nothing like sitting outside the tent eating a freshly baked baguette in the sunshine or having a nice barbie as the sun goes down. Already feeling jealous.

[markja]

mate, i had a camper van and did the south of france five or six times.after paris i tried to stay off the motorway (peage = toll) and went down through the middle (nemours, nevers, clermont ferrand, millau , beziers ) there are loads of sites and they are very well sign posted, tents can nearly allways get in no hassle. (n7 then n9. the road signs try to fed you onto auto routes but if you can map read you can avoid them if you want.

we went to the southern area towards spain because it's cheaper. and stayed at a campsite in tamarissiere.( across the river to Adge,on the coast) there are two sites,one is a eurocamp the other is a french one the owners are great,speak english, and has a lovely bar area for young families.

millau has a few sites right on the river and the view of the bridge is amazing.

take a couple of small, easy to put up tents, so you don't have to pitch your big one for a one night stop and the kids love the thrill of their own tent to have midnight feasts in.

sorry to be so long winded but i (as you may guess! ) totally enjoyed travelling through and camping in france.