European holiday parks

MrOneLung

With the prices of holidays this summer going through the roof, exploring the idea of driving down to a French or Spanish holiday park ( staying in chalet or mobile home not camping) 

any recommendations or experiences?

looking for something suitable for two boys ages 10&12, good evening entertainment, and plenty of food choices for fussy eaters. 

 

HastingsRed

Campsites Yelloh Village : camping rentals for your holidays

Might be worth a look at this.

AFKABartram

Some of the Eurocamp ones look great. I’ve never driven abroad and that puts me off a bit tbh, plus the cost of ferries was much higher than I expected when I looked last year 

HastingsRed

AFKABartram said:

Some of the Eurocamp ones look great. I’ve never driven abroad and that puts me off a bit tbh, plus the cost of ferries was much higher than I expected when I looked last year 

Prefer driving in France then SE England if I'm honest.

ShootersHillGuru

El Delphin Verde

Just across border into Spain. Fantastic lodges and bang on coast

https://www.eldelfinverde.com/en/

DaveMehmet

We stayed here last year. To be honest, I wasn’t overly looking forward to it (my wife fancied a change from all inclusive) but we had a fantastic time. Being in Normandy, you are at the mercy of the weather somewhat but we were lucky and was sunny pretty much every day. Decent food on site but the nearby town had a good selection of places to eat/drink

https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/france/normandy/la-vallee-campsite

ForeverAddickted

AFKABartram said:

Some of the Eurocamp ones look great. I’ve never driven abroad and that puts me off a bit tbh, plus the cost of ferries was much higher than I expected when I looked last year 

It gets easier the more you get used to it, they'll swerve round you as they try to avoid a head on collision - Everyone knows that driving on the left is the way it should be done after all.

Jokes aside, thats reminded me of when it happened in Sicily.

I'd driven hire cars in Europe a few times so was used to being on the wrong side of the car, I'd even taken my car over to France a few times so driving on the wrong side of the road was equally fine - Got a hire car in Sicily, drove away from the Airport and went to a Supermarket car park after a brief test drive.

Turned into one of the parking aisles, and have some car right in front of me... He sits there, and I'm thinking: "Why the fuck is he just sitting on the wrong side of the aisle"... In the end he got fed up and aggressively drove round me... Allowing me to park up - I've turned the ignition off, and just had that shock realisation slowly dawn on me

Athletico Charlton

Been to a number of the Eurocamp parks over the years in France, Italy, Germany and Holland but always when the kids were younger and so that week or two before the summer holidays start meaning they were comparatively quiet.  We really enjoyed them but some observations:
- beds are small so we always booked one for 6 even though there are 4 of us for a bit more room.
- not all have Aircon which was an issue when we were somewhere really hot.
- be careful that all is included, some are a bit sneaky and you find you have to pay for the pool or similar.
- the units are closely packed. It wasn't an issue for us but a mate went in high season and had. Family next door who parties loud every night meaning his family were permanently tired the whole time (take ear plugs/eye masks with you).

It's not luxury but they were relatively well priced, have everything you need, if lucky your kids make friends with kids near by etc.  So I would recommend generally but hard to know in peak season. 

https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/netherlands/south-holland/duinrell-campsite?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17989237806&cq_con=143533601481&cq_term=eurocamp duinrell&cq_med=&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gclid=CjwKCAjwjYKjBhB5EiwAiFdSfsQENuWSc0tVDX2Ok-bAcrEwy2TbtdtK7c3z2uu7u8dZrKYJyIsohxoCYakQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Was good but you had to pay for the pool. The amusement park was free though (when we went)

Justin20474

This is a great choice, my two kids have grown up going on these type of holidays in Europe, and they loved everyone of them. We have done a camp site in Vias, south of France, and four different ones in Spain, down as far as cambrills, all driven, we also done one in Italy which we flew into Venice for then hired a car. 

We used to go the last week in august as the European holidays come to an end, choose you date wisely and you see the price drop dramatically.

driving is a good option, when you get there you can use the car for offsite shopping to save money, I found that when I hired a car and didn’t use it because we spent the day on site I would be thinking of the wasted rental whereas with your own car it didn’t matter, also, taking your own car you can fill it up with all the shit you can fit in. 😀

if you want any info on the sites we stayed drop me a message, I would certainly make sure it is adjacent to the beach.

MrOneLung

Thanks guys 

BalladMan

Duinrell (Holland) well worth a visit. Inside the theme park itself with a great indoor water park in addition. 

MrOneLung

Have looked at Duinrell but northern France and above is too much of a risk weather wise. 

falconwood_1

Anyone with young kids, best place we liked (and we have done the whole of the French coastline) is Yelloh!'s Sylvamar near Bayonne.

MrOneLung

falconwood_1 said:

Anyone with young kids, best place we liked (and we have done the whole of the French coastline) is Yelloh!'s Sylvamar near Bayonne.

Hi @falconwood_1

our boys are 10-12 so would be less kids club, and more independence and making their own friends and making use of facilities themselves

would that park suit them ?

9goalswentpastperry

MrOneLung said:

falconwood_1 said:

Anyone with young kids, best place we liked (and we have done the whole of the French coastline) is Yelloh!'s Sylvamar near Bayonne.

Hi @falconwood_1

our boys are 10-12 so would be less kids club, and more independence and making their own friends and making use of facilities themselves

would that park suit them ?

We have done Sylvamar too. It's a great site (bigger than others we've been to) and had loads going on. My daughter was 6 when we visited four years ago and I'd say for a ten year old it would be great. 

How are you travelling ? We use the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo usually which is an overnighter and a great way to start the holiday. However going to Sylvamar we went all the way to Bilbao (or Santander, I can't remember) and the crossing was pretty choppy and sleeping was tricky. 

We use Yelloh! and are again this summer. They always hit the spot. 

ShootersHillGuru

I think a major factor in choosing a park is weather. You can get lucky in northern europe but strike out too. There are no guarantees of course but the further south you head increases the chance of good weather. Not too much to do in these parks if the weather is iffy.

MuttleyCAFC

I have driven abroad a fair bit. It is more stressful in towns, especially in Italy but once you have done it it is no big deal. The only bits of advice I would give in France is that a lot of roads are toll roads so make sure you know the symbols so you go through right pay gate. Also, transferring roads from motorway to motoway can be a bit different. Easy, but different.

We did an 8 week drive through Europe last year, mainly Italy, and I would say, with a sat nav it isn't difficult. The biggest barrier is the mental initial one deciding to do it. You can pay for Eurotunnel with Tesco club card vouchers btw. Driving through Belgium and Holland next month.

Also, took the dog last year which was great and it went so well, taking him with us this year.

Elthamaddick

https://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/domaine_d_arnauteille

stayed here and would highly recommend

also stayed here last year and loved it https://leportdelimeuil.com/ would say I enjoyed this one better as the river was amazing and the kids had a ball (a shorter drive as well!)

Chippycafc

My Engineer always uses Eurocamp in the south of France goes almost every year, Argeles-sur-mer is where its at.