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Hi, we are planning a trip to the south of France next summer and was wondering if anyone can suggest a great site. I have been trawling through the internet and don't seem to be getting anywhere despite the info overload!

We want somewhere for our Mazda Bongo camper on the South coast for guaranteed (well almost) sunshine, hopefully four star with a pool and ideally on a beach. As we have a baby (21 months by the time we go) we want to make a couple of stops on the way down maybe for a couple of days at a time? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

As a fellow bongo camper welcome.  Sorry, cant help you with coastal sites, there are several very knowledgable peeps here though that I'm sure will be along soon to help.  I used all their knowledge for probably the best holiday I've had in years (forget probably, it was definately the best!).  Went to the South of France but not the coast - the Tarn Gorge area - and the bongo covered well in excess of 3000 miles on that one trip and was brilliant.  One wee tip - a tarp was our "must have" for the holiday, gave us the shade we needed for us and the dog in 40 degrees heat!

   Hi klmx

  We have been to this site for the last six years and obviously love it.The campsite is on the beach and situated on the gulf of St Tropez, the name is la Plage and is at Port grimaud.There is no pool but the sea is always calm and from early june quite warm. The area is beutiful and plenty to see and do all within a 15 min walk.

On your way down try this site, I believe its a 4 star and has a pool. Its called Lac De Liez at a town called Langres, I believe that this is on the site finder.

Hope this is some help!

Steve  

This might be worth considering http://www.leserignanplage.com/ It has a lovely beach and excellent pool complex although to explore outside the campsite you really need to take a vehicle as there is not much close by.

David

Hi, a tarp is a tarpaulin - you get them for about £30 (not the kind you get in B&Q although they'd probably do).

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww16/feeblecat/DSCN0545.jpg

this is just one of the many ways we used ours!

klmx - when are you going?  Do you have to go in the school holidays, or can you go other dates during the summer?  The reason I ask is that if you can go in May/June and even early July or later in August/early September you may be able to take advantage of Camping Cheques, Touring Cheques, or an ACSI card, which will bring down the cost of your campsite to £13.95 per night for two people, campervan, awning, and electricity.  You can have a look on these websites for sites, but Camping Cheque offers several beach-side sites in the south of France, from Antipolis, near Antibes on the eastern Med (OK 0.8km from the beach) Azur Rivages near St Raphael, Selection Camping at La Croix Valmer,  to Ma Prairie at Canet Plage at the western end.  On some of these sites you can save up to 20 or more euros per night compared to the site's normal tariff.

We've been several times to Le Boucanet - which is directly on the beach, and loved it there, but in recent years the beachside pitches have been increasingly given over to mobile homes which has spoiled it a little because it's made the remainder of the site seem more crowded.  It is nicely situated between La Grande Motte and Grau du Roi, and the sea doesn't have too much of a 'shelf' which can be a problem on some mediterranean sites.  The only thing I would say about going directly 'beachside' is that some of the pitches can be very sandy indeed and with a campervan moving on and off pitch might prove problematic. 

A 'not quite on the beach' site is Camping Neptune at Grau d'Agde - nice pool with paddling pool, nice sized pitches, quietish site ideal for really tiny ones, especially if you can go outside peak weeks.  There's a small bar/snack bar and you're within walking distance of the beach at Grau d'Agde, and the old town of Agde itself (not Cap d'Agde which is a newish 'marina' with lots of razzamataz and an acquired taste - which we haven't acquired).   The Canal du Midi runs into Agde at the top of the town, and makes a nice shady walk along the canal banks.

As regards shade, we have a very cheap plastic 'pergola' that we bought in the Super U in Agde years ago, and we generally take that with us.  We used it first at Domaine de Champs Blancs, at Agde, when the pitch wasn't quite big enough for the caravan and awning, because it had it's own private bathroom in the corner.  It takes only minutes to erect and is 3m x 3m so gives a fair amount of shade.  My sons take it with them when they go camping too.  I think it cost us 12 euros (but that was about six years ago). 

We did a slow trip down to Collioure this year getting off night boat at 8 am at St Malo. 1 night at Le Petit Trianon near Ingrandes,2 nights at le Port de Limeiul near limeuil, then our long stay at Les Criques des Porteil, near Collioure. This has 3 little beaches directly accessed via steps from site and 2 smallish pools. If you book ask for sea view !

We dawdled home via Les Peyrelades near Riviere sur Tarn for 3 nights, then Chateau de Poinsouze, near Boussac Bourg for 2 nights,then Le Colombier nearish to Caen for 1 night before the 4pm ferry to Portsmouth next day. We decided this had been one of the most relaxing routes we'd taken there and back.All the sites are reviewed on this site. Several of them are Castels and Camping sites. we went in June so lovely weather, no crowds, cheap pitches!

Thanks everyone  i will have a look at the sites. I have to go during Jul/Aug as I am a teacher....I promised when I joined the profession that i would never ever complain about having to pay more to go on holiday and put up with crowds as a measure of gratitude for my magnificent 13 weeks off a year.

Thanks

FAO Feeblecat

I didn't actually notice any 'NO DOGS' notices but the 3 beaches At les Criques are VERY small and shingly...when the wind blew the sea in the beaches practically disappeared so probably not much fun for dogs here. Collioure itself is about a mile awayfrom the camp site by foot along the cliff path,or a bit longer along a path/small road you could cycle on and the town itself has several beaches, again not huge, and shingly with a few strips of sand but only 1 minute from the centre of the town and where the excellent market is. I don't remember seeing any dogs on the beach there either. 

I'm sure you could walk your dog along both tracks into Collioure with no problem.

Along the road there's bigger beaches with lots of space and sand at Argeles sur Mer but again I couldn't say about dogs. Why not send an e-mail to tourist offices at Colioure and Argeles and the camp site itself with your query ?

Hope this helps a bit !

FAO Feeble cat...and apologies for going off point!

Would you mind telling me where you're staying in the Pyrenees please? We're hoping to have a few nights there in June, then move over to the coast near the Camargue this year.

Thanks.