Camping Riva Bella Ouistreham
Bad news for those of us that like to roll off the evening ferry at Ouistreham and stop overnight at Camping Riva Bella. They now seem to only accept internet bookings in July and August for 3 nights, arrivals on Wednesday or Saturday only.
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It’s still listed on here as a site which the Club can book for members - with the current low season price about £19, but rising to just over £30 in peak season. But this Club website doesn’t say whether single night bookings are allowed or whether the three night minimum applies.
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PS. But Riva Bella doesn’t accept Club site night vouchers.
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The problem with turning up on spec. is that if you are coming on the afternoon sailing from Portsmouth you get to the site at around 2200hrs. The site management are usually there to let in people who have booked, but not for on spec.
Its a great pity as it is so convenient for the ferry.
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Agreed, I have seen a depressing number of ex-municipals privatised. The only benefit is to the new owners who proceed to hike the prices. I actually quite liked Rive Bella (or Les Pommiers as was) in the old days. Admittedly fairly basic but always open when we arrived off the late ferry and very friendly staff - not to mention cheap prices. In fact we often stayed a couple of nights after the late night arrival as the walk into Ouistreham along the canal was very pleasant.
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Having set this hare running, I just tested a one night booking via the Club website and you can get a one night reservation there. Dont know if this is a going to change, but certainly at present you can still get a one night booking from CMC, even though the Riva Bella website wont allow it!
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And I just did a trial dummy booking for one night on 16 June on Riva Bella’s own website which was accepted with a price of 22euros. But it’s an incredibly clunky website and didn’t seem to want to let me to book more than a week ahead.
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We've used the site at Ranville ( is it Les Cappuccines?), a little further on, when crossing out of season when Riva Bella was closed. This worked out OK as long as you let the proprietor know when you would be arriving and then you have to ring the bell at the office for her to come and let you in.
Not as good as Riva Bella insofar as we were usually placed with the workers but as that was out of season and they have a separate more pleasant side for normal touring when in season this may be where you'll be placed.
Mind you it's a few years ago when we last stayed so best check to see if still OK as there has been a few changes to ownerships to various sites and Covid to disrupt matters.
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Have just left Riva Bella.
When asked in the office about their new policy, the girl there said she thought it was 2 nights not 3 and that it was only in the high season July and August. At any other time a 1 night stay was still OK.
The site looked very neat and tidy, the sanfacs were lovely and clean. To be honest this was the best we've seen the site in all the years we have used it.
Site was about half full maybe a bit less. I didn't hear or see anyone arrive last night and not many vans left this morning.
The migrants that have hung about outside the site seem to have gone and the area has been tidied up.
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Thank you Tammy. Good to hear the site is in good shape. But actually two (or even three) nights there is not a bad idea at all, and certainly no hardship - you get time to see the Bayeux tapestry, a look around Caen city, lunch at Lion sur mer, a look at the other seaside resorts along the coast, and use of the smart new on site swimming pool.
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I have now got a one night booking in July for Riva Balla via the CMC website, having first phoned CMC to ask if they can do one night .They said yes, but I am still waiting for my booking confirmation to come through!
If this works, it may be we need to book via CMC and not on the RivaBella website.
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The last time I used the late ferry there was a queue on the right waiting to book in at the office. At the gate, on the left of the queue was a staff member letting vans straight through. This was because they had pre booked and had a reference number which was checked by the staff and this told them they had paid. Simple!
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Yes we have done that in the past, very nice area to explore.
However if you only have 2 or 3 weeks holiday and you are using the site both ways the new rule could take out 4 - 6 days of your trip not what folk want.
As Jamsdad says booking through the club might be the best option.
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I only live 20 minutes from the Portsmouth ferry so nearly always catch the 0800 hrs arriving 1400 hrs, this gives you time to get to the likes of Tours, Nantes, Rennes for the overnight stay.
There is a club site at Rooksbury Park which is within easy reach of the ferry, would it not be easier to overnight there and then catch the early ferry ??, a little expensive, but arriving in daylight hours and being able to make good progress into France has to be a plus.
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We have just arrived back from France on Sunday 26th June 2022. We used the Riva Bella campsite for five days without prior booking using ACSI at 22 Euros. The site is excellent, very clean with swimming pool and cafe. It was a brilliant location for visiting the D Day landing beaches including the recently opened British Normandy site 17 miles away. A further 5 miles and we were in Arromanches to view the floating Mulberry harbour. Three miles away was the Pegasus Bridge Museum. All in all a lovely five days.
Many caravans and motorhomes turned up for one night only whilst we were there. I could see no evidence of minimum nights booking for any time during the season.
The only downside were a small number of immigrants loitering outside of the entrance but not on the site.
Our caravan was searched twice by customs officers on the way home searching for illegal immigrants.
No searches of our fridge were made on the way out looking for contraband food.
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Hi David, As you will know so far as anything ferry travel related it’s check, check and check again as things can be so different for what appear near identical circumstances.
We use the Plymouth to Roscoff overnight as the advantages suit us very well however, it was almost always the case that this would be considerably more than a day crossing but this year it was the better bet cost wise.
We are also finding that travelling shorter distances, so more overnights, is not as simple as maybe we thought as the setting up, negligible that it is, once added to the time spent getting off your main route to the site, checking in etc feels like it takes up a lot of the time you could have been travelling.
That being the case an additional night on arrival would not appeal but, at the moment, the timings mean we are not having to consider that.
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