We are going to France for the month of August wit hour motorhome - heading towards the La Rochelle area - we have never been in August before, but can't avoid it this time.
Do we have to book sites - or will we find coastal sitges?
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You'll be lucky to find space without booking. If you go inland,say 15-20 miles you should find somewhere. Nothing worse than hunting for a site after along drive though.
Book, no two ways about it Popular tourist spot and coastal - A double whammy But as said above, if you are willing to drive to the beach every day then go inland, the sites will be quieter and the pitches bigger.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We normally go after the mass exodus of the weekend after the 14th August and have never had to book. But nearly got caught out in the Vendee once when we went a bit earlier but just managed to get the last available space in les equirrels - this was because we had to find a site that the kids would like as well tho..
We never book but having said that, we use aires and France Passion sites and cycle about from our motorhome, moving on every night. Never been stuck once in lots of trips!!
Although wild camping is frowned on, we've overnighted in various places over the years...it's a matter of being discreet.
Good luck anyway.
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out of season away from tourist spots away from the coast or on lumps of concrete with no facilities that's when /where you do not have to book otherwise, what;s the point of adding stress to the holiday by worrying if you have asite or not
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
If you're not touring, and have already decided on an area, then you may as well book! After all, not booking is only useful if you aren't sure which area you're heading for - and are touring like many of us do, heading 'somewhere' (more often than not, not even decided in advance) for as long, or as little as we like. If you want the La Rochelle area for a month then you may as well book - certainly the first couple of weeks - and then find somewhere else once sites become quieter during the last two weeks in August.
Thank you all for the advice - we had decided on the general area of La Rochelle, but want to spend a few days in several different locations - we are also going to the Puy Du Fou during our trip. We are happy to use aires some of the time, but I think we will hedge our bet and book a couple of sites to be sure.
We travelled to theVanne/Port Navalo area for the last 2 weeks of July in 2011, and having booked the sites we used then found quite a lot of space in all of them except our final one, with people saying to us that there were less visitors about than in previous years - hence our asking the question about visiting in August.
I doubt its a case of you not finding spots, just you may not find teh spots you want to be at
Don't forget the Euro exchange rate is making European destinations more appealing again from a cost point of view so you may find sites busier this year who knows?
The Euro rate change appeals only to the British - and there don't seem to be many around this year, at all - certainly not compared to previous years. Our campsite commented 'Where are all the other British people this year.......' when we arrived!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
loads of sites just up the coast from LR but early August all seem to be busy ( has been the case for the last 5) and have seen cars turned away from 2 that i know
later on when the Parisiens go back they get a lot emptier
------------- 2022
North and West wales grand tour (in T5)
Matlock (in T5)
New forest and IOW (in T5)
New Forest
La tranche sur mer
jevea (Valencia)
2023
Cotswolds
Tenby
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Royan
La tranche Sur Mer
2024
royan
La tranche
Hello,
Over the last 2 years we have found campsites around Royan not to be full around the last 2 weeks, don't know if this would be mirrored further up near la Rochelle.
I would check the weekend dates you are travelling for the mass exodus to the sun. There is nothing worse than sitting in the Nantes ring road tailbacks (2nd or 3rd Saturday in Aug)for a good couple of hours, these carry on down to la Roch and further.
We are going to that area this year for a few days but we are staying in land a bit due to cost of campsites along the coast.
have fun and enjoy Pay de Fou it's great fun.
Hi,
We've been at the end of August, to the coast, with no booking. However, the Feast of Assumption could be a problem - this year Wed. 15th August. This can be like a mini-Bank Holiday/long weekend for some, attaching it to a weekend ( a 'Bridge' holiday like Ascension Day in some countries).
After then, as Sunseeker says, the French families go home,ready for the big return to school, leaving the sites available for the likes of us!!
We have been to france about 5 times in August and never booked a single site. We have been to le Rochelle twice and not booked and been able to find a pitch no bother. We do tend to favour smaller sites so cannot comment on the bigger more commercial sites.