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There's a very helpful post in the section above this forum 'Advice for Continental First-Timers' which gives you basic information about caravanning/camping in Europe.

For me, I'd suggest trying France first.  It has over 11,000 campsites, so something to suit everyone, and the roads are quieter for travelling, facilities are better for stop-overs (small sites you don't need to book and 'Aires' where you can pull in for 'comfort' stops) and there are some beautiful villages, scenery, and beaches.

Where in France depends on what you want from a holiday - and it would help to know a bit more.  Do you have children?  Do you want larger sites with facilities like pools, bars and restaurants, do you need a Kid's Club, do you prefer medium sites, or smaller quieter sites, like our CL's or CS's?  Do you want beach, or inland?  Do you want mountains, or flat?  Rivers or lakes? Cycling or walking, shopping or wildlife, discos or nature?  There really are some beautiful areas, and it's difficult to recommend anywhere without knowing just that bit more.

You can do a campsite search on this website - see the button at the top of the page.  There is a map of France, and you can search by area, linking  to individual campsites if you like the sound of anything in particular.

Another website I usually recommend for newcomers is the Camping Cheque website (www.campingcheque.co.uk) - not specifically because you may want to use Camping Cheques, but because it also gives a useful map of France, where you can look at areas, an information page about each campsite with pictures, and then a link to the website for each campsite to check out more details.  

As far as areas go there are nice sites everywhere!  You may want to go south for the weather, or may be happy in Northern France, just for the experience - and may also get really good weather there too.  It's always said to go 'South of the Loire' for the best chance of sunshine, and generally that appears to be true(ish). 

My favourite areas in France are in the south - the Ardeche (wild country, fabulous river gorge for canoeing), the Cevennes and Gorges du Tarn/Jonte/Dourbie areas, and the Languedoc coast, but that's just me.  In the centre of France I love Burgundy and the Auvergne   Others prefer the Dordogne, or the more northern beaches of the Vendee, or the rugged coasts of Brittany and there are hundreds more lovely areas to visit. 

The cheapest ferries are those on the shorter crossings, and look our for special offers.  Some ferry companies such as Norfolk Lines (DFDS now) have special offers at the times of the Caravan Show at the NEC.  Lots of us booked ferries last October, for just £58.00 return for car and caravan using the 'code' issued at the NEC.  At the moment you can still get a return ferry in May for £90.00 for car and caravan (or could when I looked yesterday).  Or you can use Tesco vouchers (transferred to 'deals') to put towards (or pay for) a crossing with Eurotunnel.  The longer crossings are generally much more expensive but again the Caravan Club sometimes offers 'Caravans go Free' as does the Camping Cheques organisation.  There are sometimes restrictions on dates/sailings for these special offers.

Click any of the links underlined in this post to see more of these areas - but there are thousands more websites to look at and I agree, for a first-time it can be daunting to know just where to start.  However,you've come to the right place on UKCS where you'll get lots of help and advice.  Have a great time!

ValA as per usual is coming up with excellent advice and she is right that if you want more specific advice you need to narrow your criteria by saying,

1) Have you got children?

2) Are you looking for low or high season? Costs and ability to use campingcheque or ACSI card will change the cost dramatically

3) Do you prefer beach, lakes, touristy bits, walking, cycling etc. etc.

4) Are you definitely after sun or will accept a lesser certainty?

Loads of advice available but it would help if you could be more specific on your needs.