Camping Holidays in France

When you think of a French camping holiday you may start to think of cold wet weekends away, you could not be so wrong, and with absolutely thousands of campsites in France, you have so many different ones to choose from, and whether you have your own tent, are touring with a caravan or a motor home, the choice of camp sites is endless.

If you were to pick an area of France, then you will not have any trouble in obtaining information on campsites in that particular province and in fact you would probably be spoilt for choice. But there is one place called Brittany that is one of the most popular destinations for a family camping holiday in France and this is due to sandy beaches, hidden coves, rock pools and the coastline that the children just adore.

Yet the Alps is a vast area waiting for the more adventurous camper with mountainous climbs, pretty villages and lakes to explore along with Chamonix, which is the highest town in Europe.

Then there is Paris, the capital city of France, which has everything a beautiful city can offer, and with several campsites around Paris, the closest is just a few minutes from the centre, you will also find others that are located near to Versailles and Disneyland Paris, let alone others near golf courses and fishing lakes.

And although most people end up going through the Rhone Valley without really much of a stop, it is well worth taking a detour either side of the river which is where you can find some beautiful countryside to explore, and in this area you will also be able to find some glorious wine produced on these slopes bordering the river, along with major towns like Lyon.

Most places will be able to provide hook ups for electricity from either 6 amps or 10 amps, plus many other facilities. And on a lot of different sites, rather just touring you can even hire out the caravans, chalets or mobile homes, but whatever you decide is best for you, this is a great way of touring through France.

As you can imagine, there are a vast amount of campsites with lots of different facilities, which you will find are rated with stars in a similar way to that of hotels, so the more stars a site has, the better it will be, although inevitably the more expensive they will be, especially in certain areas of France.

A camping site with one star is a basic site and there is no where near as many these days, due to competition from other campsites, whereas a two star camping site is rated for comfort and has some good amenities, then three star and four star campsites are of a very high standard, not only for the amenities and facilities they have to offer, but also for the quality of these facilities. For example, on a four star site you will often find top class restaurants that are even frequented by the locals for their phenomenal French cuisine, but also complete pool complexes and evening entertainment as a regular occurrence.

But apart from the typical camping sites available, you can also find places to pitch such as camping on farms, but lots of these do not have a wide range of facilities available, in fact some are so basic you will need to have all of your own facilities or they may just about have a toilet and hot shower for you to use.

One quick point, please do remember that it is only in authorised locations around France that you are able to camp and not in places such as woods, yet saying that, when travelling through France it can take hours or days, and we have seen many tired travellers putting up their tents on the grassy areas in the service stations alone the toll roads!.

Most people think of camping as purely a summer activity, but for an extremely reasonable holiday, which can be as low as 50 to 60 percent less in cost, you can go camping in the low season, and dependant upon the area of France you wish to go to, some campsites are even open all year round and still even have facilities such as indoor swimming available.

France can therefore offer you freedom and flexibility, whether you wish to stay in one place for the duration of your holiday, or why not try hopping from camping site to campsite, these types of holidays can offer you everything from excitement and family fun by the coast in places such as Brittany, through to the more sedate holiday staying in the grounds of chateaux in rolling countryside of the Loire valley, but for the more adventurous, you could even have a camping holiday incorporating adventures like kayaking in the Dordogne, or mountaineering in the French Alps

You will be able to get to see ancient ruins, quaint villages, monuments and scenery that you would never think possible in any country, but France has it all, and this is possible in many regions within only a few miles of where you have decided to stay, yet do not forget about the wonderful activities that are available to you on site, which sometimes makes it a hard job deciding on whether you want to leave!