Advice re. touring to SW France, July '25
I have lots of questions! Any help greatly appreciated.
Fairly new to touring and have not yet ventured abroad.
We're planning to honeymoon!! in SW France for first couple of weeks in July next year.
I've been told about Brittany Ferries and plan to do Portsmouth to Bilbao.
Seems to be a good option to take the pressure off doing so much driving through France. Would you agree it's worthwhile?
Do you book ferry then accommodation, or both together, or secure accommodation first then find transport?
Looked at CAMC deals on the crossing and it's dearer than Brittany Ferries website....what am I doing wrong?
Any recommendations for sites in Bidart / Biarritz, St. John area?
Seems to be very little in the way of touring sites, unless I am mistaken?
When do CAMC release those sort of sites as available?
Any pitfalls to be aware of?
Many thanks in advance.
Comments
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Going on honeymoon to France sounds a great idea! But you'll find France quite different to the UK for touring, and by that I mean mostly much easier.
As for booking ferry and sites: usually people book the ferry for the time they want to be away for and then start looking where they want to go in France. We ourselves have been going every year for about 30 years, and have never booked sites in advance, and I know that is what a lot of people do. France is a big country and outside of the peak periods of the 2nd half in July and August, there is not usually a need to book. Obviously some popular sites on the (Med) coast do get full even outside peak periods, but then again there are lots of sites, so if one is full, there will usually be another not far away. You can normally just turn up on a site and get a pitch. A lot of sites in France will ask you how long you want to stay and then that's it. You then normally pay the day before you want to leave
The ferry route you're looking at should be good for SW France; we've personally never done that route, preferring to tour through various parts of France, and that is part of the holiday for us. However, if you're limited to just a couple of weeks, then it would make sense to cut down on the driving and just get to where you want to be. As for prices via CAMC being more expensive than via BF themselves, that's quite possible, if BF are offering discounts themselves. We normally travel via Eurotunnel, so am not familiar with BF, but no doubt there will be others on her who can advise.
Now for the biggest difference: there are lots of sites in France without limiting yourself to CAMC bookable sites. I think you'd miss out on some great sites if you do limit yourself to only those sites and I think you've already found that, judging by your remark that there "seems to be very little in the way of touring sites in the Bidart/Biarritz area". There are a lot of sites in those areas! Google it and you'll see what I mean.
But of course, as this is your first trip abroad, and a honeymoon, you don't want things to go wrong, so perhaps you may feel that it's better to have every site booked beforehand, rather than not booking anything. Personally, we'd find that too restrictive; quite a few times, when the weather hasn't been that good, we've gone into the opposite direction than what we'd initially planned, to get better weather. If you book all sites, then you're tied to being on a particular site on a particular day. If a site isn't to your liking, then you're stuck. We've turned into a few sites, had a look, and driven out again, when we haven't liked for whatever reason.
France is a great country for touring, lots of sites to pick from; touring there is a real pleasure, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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Ina has put it very well.
My own feeling is that you have chosen a very expensive ferry route, a very busy corner of France, and a very busy time of year running into French school holidays.
But if you really, really want to go there and nowhere else, then do as she says - book the ferry with a good cabin now, and choose a site. That may be one of the three sites down there which the Club can book for you, or one of the ten or twelve other sites in the area from a wider internet search. They will all be busy and not a bit like UK Club sites so be prepared.
Good wishes for the wedding and life ahead.
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Congratulations and what a superb plan to honeymoon in France. I too have been caravanning in Europe for many years and lived in France for a number of years. I agree with all that InaD has said; however, I would think that is would be sensible to book sites in advance. Although not quite peak season early July can be busy and I would recommend booking in advance for peace of mind if nothing else. We have always gone in the shoulder seasons and never booked but in recent years we have seen it get quite busy in June and early September. I would also be pretty smartish booking your ferry as the Bilbao route books up quickly and you may not be able to find a cabin - on your honeymoon! If you cannot get on the Bilbao router there is the Santander route and also the St Malo crossing. Driving through France is a joy especially on the west side which is less busy, so don't worry about that. If you need en route sites I would suggest that you do not need to book but arrive at the site by 4pm and you should be fine. You may wish to arm yourself with the Club sites books for Spain and France in which you will see there are many sites other than the ones booked through the Club; There is also ACSI which gives off season discount you may find it useful and it can be purchased through the Club; do a little research as sites drop out of the scheme about the time you will be going - maybe someone else can help here as I have got rid of my ACSI books as I have sold my caravan recently
. however, you may want the security that pre booking offers offers but at a small price. So order of doing things: get ferry sorted asap then decide what you are going to do about a site. Later make sure you get travel/breakdown insurance sorted (Red Pennant but there are others), is car insurance covered for Europe, most companies have this included, get Health Card (was EHIC), mine was received by return of post (this is free so steer clear of sites that charge). Even if you do not plan to go into cities it is wise to get a Crit Air badge, it costs just a few euros and can be done on line, it is valid for the life of the car! You will find a Credit Card that does not charge transaction fees very handy; I have a Halifax Clarity Card (there are others) and a few week ago they used €1.95 + rate of exchange when I was over there. Allow a day to get to Portsmouth from Lancashire, no need to go anywhere near the M25! Then if getting o'night crossing off you go, if getting a next day stay near Portsmouth giving an easy start to your next morning.Have a lovely honeymoon and we also send our best wishes for your life ahead
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Just done a dummy booking and there is availability on the Bilbao crossing (very expensive!) and the St Malo crossing (less expensive and you will not need a cabin on the return trip).
Just seen ET's post. As he says there are lots of other beautiful areas of France both costal and inland dependent on what you want. Britany comes to mind for coastal and, well, anywhere inland! July weather should be excellent anywhere. Just realised that you may be in France for 14 Jul celebrations when sites can get busy thus reinforcing my comment about booking.
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Further to my earlier post, and having read commeyras's comments I agree that it would perhaps be wiser to book sites for that time, especially as it's your first time. I'd forgotten about the 14th of July in France, and your first 2 weeks in July would probably include that date.
The latest we've ever come back from France has been the 11th of July, and we didn't have problems with sites, but in fairness those during the last few days were on the way back to Eurotunnel, so not exactly in popular areas (other than being popular for overnight stops en route to the tunnel or ferries in Calais!).
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campingfrance.com and searchforsites.co.uk are useful sites to research.
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It might be worth giving the Club Travel Service a ring as there might be some advantage. price wise, in booking both the ferry and the sites through the Club?
David
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Just like others we have spent many happy summers in France, starting I think back in 1999. We have always wanted to go to the far south west, but realised the temperatures in a caravan during July could be HOT. 35c+ is common at this time of year in the Dordogne, so would you be happy with higher temperatures than this as you go further south.
We have done the overnight Brittany Ferries evening crossing to Roscoff once, and it was very nice. Arriving in Roscoff at 6.30 to 8.00 am was very civilised and allows for a relaxing drive down the west coast to for example Isle de Re.
During July you should have wonderful weather and could spend a week before travelling further south if you wanted.
You would save yourself a small fortune on this crossing as opposed to Bilbao, and have the cash to spare on some wonderful meals.
Whatever you decide, I would book sites in advance at this time of year.
I am sure you will enjoy your holiday and wish you a wonderful honeymoon.
Colin
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The reason why Brittany Ferries is offering a cheaper price than the Club may well be because the ferry company fare does not include the price of a cabin - which has to be added on separately.
Whereas it may be that the price quoted by the Club includes the cost of a basic simple cabin. Though that will be a windowless indoor cubicle with an upper and lower bunk - and you may want something better than that for a two night sailing toSpain.
Phone each company to check prices with a comfortable cabin.
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With due respect I priced both club and direct with BF on an overnight crossing and BF came out half the price of the club, this included a cabin. Off the top of my head I think an inside cabin as you describe was £55. If I remember correct if you booked site vouchers this brought down the ferry price, probably me but couldn't get that to work on the latest search.
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