Don't worry - we never know where we're going until we get there! That's the lovely thing about Europe you really don't need to book (or even plan) months in advance. Just go where the mood, and the weather, take you - and have a great time!
We go on Sunday, and we only have a very outline plan - we're going to set off from the ferry in the general direction of Bordeaux and see what happens. Armed with practically every guide to French campsites! I'm a bit concerned some sites may be full during our first week, but after that I don't think we'll have any problems.
us too - set off through the tunnel on Sunday, then heading for the D-Day beaches, after that, probably down to Limousin!! .......armed only with a few example pages from here and an Aires handbook :)
Did it once before about 3 years ago, and despite angst-ridden, overly organisational-minded OH, we didnt book a thing in advance (except the ferry) and managed perfectly well and had a wonderful, memorable holiday :)
us too !!!- ferry to roscoff overnight on tues,... then where ever the sunshine is .. got my list of possibles in the areas we want to try if its sunny enough, but other than that its a magical mystery tour!! Love the lack of "have to's " that cpme with this kind of holiday. PERFICK!!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We're just back from 2 weeks in France with no plans and no bookings.
As we arrived in the heat wave there was little point in travelling so we saw parts of northern france we only normally drive through at night - Le - Touquet, Fort Mahon Plage and Le Crotoy - stayed on aires without problem ranging from 5 - 12 Euros (1 with EHU and WIFI). - Then on a cloudy day we drpped down to the Vendee staying a Longeville Sur Mer - 500m2 from a surfing beach for 12 Euros including Wi-fi and EHU then over to the Ile De Re which we expected to be very busy but got a oceanside pitch at Riverdoux Plage Aire with hook-up (16 Euro) and then we stayed on the motorhome Annex at Camping Interlude for 22 Euros with access to pools and showers (other families on pitches were paying nearer 70 Euro's. - then back up for another night and a day surfing at Longeville sur Mer, up to Beaumont Sur Sarthe near Le Mans where we stayed on a fantastic municipal with a riverside pitch and EHU for 23 Euros for five adults and on to Calais for a free night in cite europe carpark before heading home.
In all 16 nights in France for 5 people we spent less than 200 Euros on accommodation - Earlier in the year I nearly booked a pitch that with my 3 teenage children ( all now classed as adults on french sites) that would have cost 70 euros per night and the weather in that part was not as good.
In future I will never book a site again - The aires with wi-fi and hook-up were part of the camping-car-park.com network and were a hit with the kids for facetubing activities and the wifi was even fast enough to allow a skype call back to grandparents.camping-car-park.com
The weather helped but the freedom made this our best holiday in france ever!! and that is going some.
One final point - even on a busy Saturday I had booked a cheap tunnel crossing but rocked up early after cite europe shopping and Flunch and was allocated a spot on a much more expensive crossing 4 hours in advance of our booking for no extra cost - a perfect end to this years trip.
As in previous visits we have booked a site, we arent very courageous campers preferring to have the reassurance of knowing where we are going and what we are going to get when we get there. This year in particular we had specific requirements in that we felt like visiting a very small, quiet site. The one we found and booked only has 8 pitches (yes very quiet)so booked fearing that they would be fully booked, as it turned out we looks like we would have been ok as i've been regularly checking on their availability and it looks like they still have three vacant pitches! So i'm a happy bunny as it looks like our quiet site is going to be super quiet and improved our chances of having the pool even more to ourselves .
After a disastrous week, weather wise, in June though we have already decided that for future trips at that time of year we will just book a ferry and head in the direction of the sun....so in conclusion there are definitely pros and cons for booking or not in advance.
------------- Dec- Bath Marina
Dec- Chertsy ccc
Dec- Oxford ccc
May- Apple Orchard Forest of Dean
July- France TBC
Aug- La Grenouille Hautefort