Advice on trip to South of France
Good day, My wife and I want to visit South of France with our caravan for 2 or maybe 3 week starting middle of September. We would love to hear from anyone with experience /knowledge of best places to stay. It seems that a lot of sites are shut by that time!! Your recommendations on routes would also be welcome.
The emphasis of our trip, is that it must be leisurely so plenty of stop offs on way down and back.
Diana is keen to have a dip in the Med whilst I want to do a bit of bird watching while there..
We will be taking the Euro Tunnel as our unit is stored in Kent so it's an obvious choice.
Thanks for your help.
Brendan
Comments
-
For bird watching I suggest the marshland in the Camargue or the big salt water lagoons from there all the way down to Narbonne.
For a huge isolated beach try and find the Plage de Piemanson, but on the other hand you may prefer a fully developed resort . They have them!
Coastal campsites down there will not be closed in September, and may be still quite busy, but it depends whether you want somewhere simple or more elaborate. There is the full range - some with swimming pools, saunas and jacuzzis, and some a little way inland without any of that.
A copy of the Club's Touring France site guide will be useful for the the journey down, and so of course will be the ACSI Camping Card book.
Good wishes.
3 -
En route stops we have used are the ex municipal sites in Beaune and Troyes, both within easy walks to attractive towns, for the evening stroll and meal/beer. Both a little quirky but absolutely fine. Not sure about opening dates, so best check.
also very close to motorway.
0 -
Direct route is straight down the Autoroute via Reims, Lyon, Valence. You can then turn left to do the traditional Med. from Marseilles to the Italian border (but very much out of season) or turn right towards the Carmague and Spanish border. Lots of stopping places but much depends on your crossing time. We usually go three hours to Guignicourt near Reims and next day you can reach Tournus, Beaune etc.
Dont book but take an ACSI card.
1 -
So much depends on what you like and require.
For instance:
how do you define "best places to stay"?
where do you actually want to go?
how long do you wish to spend in making the journey each way?
what do you wish to see on route?
I am not trying to be awkward or unhelpful but what you want may not be the same as those who reply. Just because some people have enjoyed certain places does not mean that you will .
(I once recommended visiting Carcassonne to my neighbours and they didn't like it at all!!)
"eurotraveller's" suggestion of campsite books is sensible. The ACSI camping card guide is still available at the Club shop and will give you savings. You will be able to see where sites are and when they close.
It would be worth borrowing some guidebooks from your local library and looking at a French atlas so that you can decide where you want to go,what you want to see en-route and therefore which route to take. Coupled with one of the campsite guides you can then plan your holiday. (You should not need to book any campsites so you can be flexible on your travels.)
Really, I would recommend that you do your own research and planning rather than basing your plans on suggestions from other people who do not know your tastes and requirements. You may possibly find that you have so many suggestions for different towns and sites near the Med with many different routes to get there and back that you will have to research them in any case. You will also have to decide if you wish to use peages or keep to toll free autoroutes.
For us, doing preliminary planning in the way I have outlined is beneficial and we then tailor our trip to what we wish to see and do. It can be enjoyable and isn't hard!!
3 -
One of our favourites is monplaisir at st remy de provence
http://www.camping-monplaisir.fr/en
They're open until 19 october and you don't need to book at that time of the year. Its the sort of place where you go for a day or two and stay for a week. The town is walking distance, I can't walk far but even i can manage. Plenty of cafes and restaurants with a super bakers on the way back! Supermarket just a few hundred yards along the road. Roman ruins (a city) on the other side of town.
0 -
Brendan
If you want to get to the Med coast and have relaxing holiday make it at least three weeks and if you could manage four even better. Quite a few sites are open until the end of September and a lesser number until the middle of October so always best to have a plan B!!! Our most recent trip to the South of France was four years ago but we had done it many times previously. I love the Mediterranean coast of France. I have a Blog here of that trip which might give you a few ideas.
David
1 -
Brendan, We went to the south of France and back in June- half on toll roads and half not because we mix and match. I have just had my credit card tolls bill for that month which gives you a guide for your planning. Converted in English it was 765 miles costing £140 - so allow about 18.3 pence for every mile you do on toll roads.
0 -
Please don’t recommend it too highly; we shall be there in a few weeks and it would be nice if it was empty.
Just before the that we will be a week or two at Les Genets d’or at Bagnols. Say hello to Yvette for me if you go and don’t take my favourite spot!
0 -
Sorry to butt in. Can I ask if it’s practically possible to travel around France using non-toll roads? I appreciate that toll roads will be quicker and that I’m generalising. Many years ago we went to Royan, amongst other places, using mainly ‘N’ roads and found them superb.
0 -
In some parts of France and on some routes the ordinary roads are fine - towns and villages have been by passed and dual carriageways built. But In other parts of France on other routes the road goes through every village with infernal speed humps, chicanes and roundabouts - which are self seeding year by year in numbers. Close scrutiny of good maps often gives clues as to which is which, but reaching Royan toll free from the western ports such as Caen, St Malo and Roscoff is still plain sailing .
1 -
AD, Your figures are cents per kilometre but mine are pence per mile.
0 -
Don't worry, this is Overseas. The Maths teachers won't see us.
1 -
For the direct route towards Marseille from Calais - Reims, Lyon etc. - there is no simple non-toll alternative but many travel to the South going via Rouen then on to the free Autoroute A75 which brings you towards Narbonne and you can then continue down to the Carmargue/Perpignan or loop around towards Marseille and the Med.
There is a toll at Millau bridge but you can avoid it by going into Millau (stay for a while, it’s a nice City and interesting area).
0 -
For the older ones amongst us the N roads are a pain as stopping places can be so few and far between, especially with a caravan. We tend to use the Peage for the simple reason that the "Aires de Parking" are frequent.
Next year we will have a motorhome and we are looking forward to the simplicity of it.
0 -
If you use the Viamichelin website to plan your route, and you fill in the boxes to select tolls/no tolls, caravan, it will usually give you 3 route choices, showing distance, time taken and cost of tolls and where they are charged on route (make sure you tick the caravan box or the tolls aren't correct)
You can then see how much the tolls cost, and how much time they save (aggrevation on non-toll roads is subjective, but agree with ET.
In my experience,the toll roads usually save a couple of hours on a 250 mile journey, but costwise, they effectively have the mpg!
I always try to avoid as many tolls as possible, as we aren't in a hurry, but have learnt that some towns/cities are to be avoided, regardless of the extra cost!
0
