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Subject Topic: Family friendly area recommendations
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Personjaiash
24/1/2023 at 10:59am
 Location: nr Derby
 Outfit: Phoenix 440+ View jaiash's Profile View Profile   Reply to jaiash Reply   Quote jaiash Quote  
Joined: 09/7/2008

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When our boys were that age they always wanted seaside and we settled on the area near les Mathes - la Palmyre - a bit further down from La Rochelle. We preferred that area to the Vendée as there was a choice of beach types and plenty of places to visit. Lots of choice of caravan site at a range of prices too. We also settled on te Dordogne when doing to centres for the holiday. We still go to both areas in the summer having made several friends at the sites we use. We now 'do' touring earlier in the season. For Ls Mathes have a look at La Palombière but be aware there is a fairground close by and for the Dordogne we go to La Cabane now renamed Cmping cinq Chateau as there are new owners for this year - it has direct access to the river.

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Grahame


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PersonIronned
24/1/2023 at 6:08pm
 Location: None Entered
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St Jean de Monts is just about on the 7hr mark from Calais according to Google maps. We were a little further south east at La Tranche Sur Mer, but it was largely great weather in early July. You are within easy reach of Nantes which is great for educational and cultural as well as fun stuff, (Les Machines des Iles is great if you are into theatre and/or engineering) and the resorts around St Jean are pretty family friendly. Futuroscope and Puy de Fou are within day trip distance or have plenty of campsites nearby if you wanted to divert off in that direction.

As others have said, the Dordogne is fantastic for kids of the age that yours are but is a stretch from Calais. We did it in leisurely fashion with a couple of stop offs, but you could do it with one - there are cheap family hotels in many of the large cities en route.



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Seeking luxury in unexpected places


Personlongcol
24/1/2023 at 9:29pm
 Location: Perigord Noir
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Quote: Originally posted by Ironned on 24/1/2023
St Jean de Monts is just about on the 7hr mark from Calais according to Google maps . We were a little further south east at La Tranche Sur Mer, but it was largely great weather in early July. You are within easy reach of Nantes which is great for educational and cultural as well as fun stuff, (Les Machines des Iles is great if you are into theatre and/or engineering) and the resorts around St Jean are pretty family friendly. Futuroscope and Puy de Fou are within day trip distance or have plenty of campsites nearby if you wanted to divert off in that direction.

As others have said, the Dordogne is fantastic for kids of the age that yours are but is a stretch from Calais. We did it in leisurely fashion with a couple of stop offs, but you could do it with one - there are cheap family hotels in many of the large cities en route.




Have always found Google Maps timings pretty optimistic. It gives St Malo to where we live in the Dordogne at 7 and a half hours - best I've managed is nearer 8 and a half. OK, that includes a break of half an hour - but that's also out of season with no holiday traffic.


PersonPixie_Hez
25/1/2023 at 7:45am
 Location: Liverpool
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I agree with Longcol about Google maps timings. I am not sure how they estimate the time for a journey but we have never been even close to it! Our general rule is, for journeys over 4 hours, whatever Google maps says about timing, add 25% if you are just in a car and 50% if you are towing a caravan. This factors in a couple of short toilet breaks and has always given us a largely accurate travel time.

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Pixie


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Personallanguest
25/1/2023 at 7:30pm
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Re Google maps timings, we have found them to be accurate but they are just an estimate/guide.
I know the timing will be out if I hit traffic, stop for a break etc, etc but I find most people, and very much include myself, over estimate what their average speed will be.


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Allan


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PersonPaul and Nikki
via mobile 24/2/2023 at 5:02pm
 Location: Stoke on Trent
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Somewhere around St Jean De Monts (we stayed at camping Les amiaux last year and was a really nice site with some massive pitches- 160m2) would be my suggestion, nice beaches and usually good weather as well,we used to go camping and usually stopped around Pontorson for a night either side of the journey (camping haliotis), although not ideal we found it breaks the journey up and made you a bit more relaxed when you get where you want to be


PersonBaileyjake
28/2/2023 at 1:39pm
 Location: West Midlands
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as others have said, for families the vendee is hard to beat, it really is french holiday country and due to this the campsites are huge and there are many to chose from. some have lots of entertainment, waterparks, icecream parlours etc... like a holiday camp. some have just a simple pool and no entertainment. some are really expensive, some are cheap.

in addition to the campsites there are lots of activites in a relatively small area. puy de fou, chateu talmont, grand defi, parc des dunes, ogis park, ofun park (indian forrest) lakes to kayak or pedalo on, rivers to kayak in, fantastic beaches, a network of bicycle paths called the vendee velo route. and the prices to do these activities are way cheaper than the same in the uk (if they exist at all here)

we have always visited the region between les sables d'orlone and tranch sur mer. its 5h towing a caravan from caen and about 9 from calais but you could probably do it in 7 in a car, i dont know. its worth the extra for the area.

last august it was almost 40c every day for our first week which was too hot for us. second week was low 30s high 20s but dry and sunny. we have never had a bad holiday weather wise but our neighbors have in the same area.

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First van bailey ranger 550/6
Now the proud owner of a coachman amara


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PersonIronned
03/3/2023 at 7:22pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Baileyjake on 28/2/2023
as others have said, for families the vendee is hard to beat, it really is french holiday country

last august it was almost 40c every day for our first week which was too hot for us. second week was low 30s high 20s but dry and sunny. we have never had a bad holiday weather wise but our neighbors have in the same area.


We were there in 2018 which was another hot year. When stating at La tranche we had an incredible electrical storm where the thunder and lightning continued for about 10 hours. I was expecting our awning to br wrecked and our pitch to be flooded after all the rain. By 10am our pitch was dry and the sun was hot again


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Seeking luxury in unexpected places


Personlizzie
via mobile 04/3/2023 at 8:28pm
 Location: Surrey
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Our kids loved Ile de Re. Once there we never used the car but cycled everywhere which we all enjoyed. The morning spent cycling to a village, buying food at Les Halles or market, lunch out or picnic and then the beach in the afternoon. It is easy to visit La Rochelle from there on the bus/car. We all have really fond memories of these holidays. We had great weather and never too hot. Lots of sea based activities but to be fair, not much in the way of culture.

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lizzie


PersonBaileyjake
via mobile 04/3/2023 at 8:49pm
 Location: West Midlands
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Quote: Originally posted by Ironned on 03/3/2023
Quote: Originally posted by Baileyjake on 28/2/2023
as others have said, for families the vendee is hard to beat, it really is french holiday country

last august it was almost 40c every day for our first week which was too hot for us. second week was low 30s high 20s but dry and sunny. we have never had a bad holiday weather wise but our neighbors have in the same area.


We were there in 2018 which was another hot year. When stating at La tranche we had an incredible electrical storm where the thunder and lightning continued for about 10 hours. I was expecting our awning to br wrecked and our pitch to be flooded after all the rain. By 10am our pitch was dry and the sun was hot again



Our neighbours had a 3 week holiday with one good week bracketed by 2 dreadful weeks. They went out to the shops and when they returned a tree had fallen and flattened their awning. The campsite actually covered the costs of the awning poles and the repairs to their caravan I believe this was st Jean de monte


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First van bailey ranger 550/6
Now the proud owner of a coachman amara



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