Does French Utopia exist??

[Harby]

We love France and all things French when caravanning, and I'm currently spending the same amount of time looking for next summer's holiday as I'll actually spend on holiday! I was wondering if anyone has found (and would be prepared to share!) a campsite which ticks these boxes - for a two week stay:

- Mediterranean coastal safe for children to swim/play in the sea - campsite actually on the beach rather than 500m away / crossing main roads
- Fully serviced pitches (an absolute must)
- Good swimming pool and slides on site - for children aged 6 and 7
- A bit of fun entertainment, maybe even a kids club,which stops c 11pm so it's not noisy late into the night
- No noise coming from the neighbouring campsite's entertainment after c 11pm (been caught out with that one before!)
- Located a few minutes (with young dawdlers) walk from somewhere, anywhere! Be it a little port, village, market, just somewhere 'French' that's stroll-able - this is where we've failed in the past
- No a huge campsite, but big enough that the children can make friends and play together without us worrying where they are (we do take walkie talkies!)
- Must accept a twin axle

I've searched everywhere I can think of. We've 'done' Valras-Plage and didn't like the fact there was no-where to walk to. This summer we tried near La Rochelle and it rained for most of the two weeks (in July), hence the need to go further south. As a child my summer holidays were near Port Grimaud, which was great but I need to spread my wings a little. I'm running out of patience and wondering if what I want just doesn't exist!!!!! Any help / suggestions appreciated, thanks

 

[Hutch]

Harby it does exsist, but you have to find it, that type of site is not for us, but have a look on ACSI or on Archies. Good touring. Hutch.

 

[Harby]

Thanks - I've not heard of Archies, will dig around in a bit
(It's not really for us either, but if the children are happy, we're happy)

 

[Craigyoung]

Is a serviced pitch a necessity or could you do without ? we have returned from Holland this year and after seeing service pitches on the site we were at it was terrible, they had no room at all and pitch was a horrible concrete kind of Pitch, ours was a lovely grass pitch loads of room and a tap just a few meters on the corner & a the sink just outside to empty the waste ? Done france twice and have not had service pitches and have been fine .

Craig

 

[Harby]

I like to shower in the caravan, so yes, serviced pitches are a requirement for more than a couple of nights away!

 

[Hutch]

Harby, we always use our shower , etfc, but don't need serviced pitches, love them when we we get them but. Depemds on the price and when, like pitches thatq say put grey water on trees and plants.

 

[Craigyoung]

I've never once showered in my van , I've always used on site facilities , if I was to have a shower in the van I would be in there for about 2o minutes because I love my showers so I can understand if you want a serviced pitch but like Hutch says on a previous post for the price that you may pay for it I don't mind walking a few metres to the shower block !

Craig

 

[outdoors]

https://www.campingpinparasol.fr/
Now when you look this up, you'll find it's nowhere near the Med' but a suggestion that I really think is worth considering.
Ideal for kids & grown ups, beautiful well kept Family run site.close to http://www.puydufou.com/fr
Set on a beautiful lake, within an hour to beaches.
Great savings on travel costs.
Happy caravanning.

 

[Craigyoung]

https://www.campingpinparasol.fr/
Now when you look this up, you'll find it's nowhere near the Med' but a suggestion that I really think is worth considering.
Ideal for kids & grown ups, beautiful well kept Family run site.close to http://www.puydufou.com/fr
Set on a beautiful lake, within an hour to beaches.
Great savings on travel costs.
Happy caravanning.

I can agree with Outdoors on the first one, pin parasol , this was our first French trip away and must say we loved it . lovely site, spacious pitches , three pools if I remember right with slides, entertainment on night-time , cheap facilities for food and drink and a takeaway also on the site . met people around us got on great , washing facilities and everything spotless , plenty of them , only thing though , if you were going to the pool you need to have Speedos , this is not a joke , they do not allow swim shorts or knee length shorts so me and my son had to go and buy some from the shop on site !! It's a long drive from Calais so I suggest a pitstop for the night in between. We stopped at Chateau de chanteloup . Didn't even un-hitch the car , left it attached to the car ready for a quick getaway in the morning . all we needed . Good luck and enjoy whatever the outcome

 

[outdoors]

Sorry to come slightly off topic but we too stayed at Chateau de chanteloup on the way down, must have been about Sept '05.

 

[Craigyoung]

Outdoors !! Never !! great minds think alike !! the site is a bit tricky to find though isn't it , through the village down on the left hand side if i remember rightly !!
The other site we have also done in France is domaine De Soleil Plage , which is in the Dordogne , site was lovely and spacious , two or three pools with a few slides ( no swim shorts rule on this site ) B) & a five minute walk to the river which was where we spent most of our time , shallow and decent enough to stay there for the day , canni for short drives into towns as well .

 

[outdoors]

We purchased our " Chateau Hovelle " at Concourson sur Layon in 2002 and moved in in 2007,
coming from Leic's never did like the Dover crossing so started doing Portsmouth / Caen.Enjoyed many sites from Picardy, Normandy, Vendee, Loire, Center and Dordogne.
Happy caravanning.

 

[alan29]

This site has pretty good search facilities.
And reviews.
Click here.

Have tries twice to get the URL link here.
Fail.
Give up!

 

[LizziePope]

This site has pretty good search facilities.
Have tries twice to get the URL link here.
Fail.
Give up!

Hi Alan. I've edited your post and the URL now works – hope that helps.

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

Well this site won't tick all your boxes.... but it may well suit you?

le Etoile sur Argens http://www.etoiledargens.com/en/

Near Frejus on the Riviera, on site pool complex with 4 pools, kids club & activities, High season "animations" every evening (read entertainment) finishes at 11pm, No noise from nearby sites 2 km from St Aygulf beach but with free taxi boat to the beach & back, equidistant from St Tropez & Cannes, great Sunday market on Frejus sea front every Sunday (nearly 2 miles of stalls along the sea front), Monaco within an hours drive.

We've been going there since 2003 & never been disappointed.

A more economical stay at the site is too not take the caravan but to hire one of their mobile homes, saves the extra costs of taking the van on the ferry & the tolls down to the French Riviera,

 

[Craigyoung]

Its nice , but one heck off a drive !! For us it would have to be a 3 weeka holiday , ( as we are just young ones and not retired ) thats my annual 2 weeks work holidays and a few lieu days before and after !!!

Craig

 

[Harby]

Thank you, Etoile d'Argens does look amazing and ticks just about all of my boxes! We've driven to Valras Plage before (first ever caravan trip abroad, within a month of buying it!) so we know we can do that distance. It doesn't look like booking's open yet for the site though, so will keep my eye on it. I've seen that some are already open (and already fully booked!) so am checking daily now.
This caravanning lark was meant to be more relaxing than scouring Thomson/Thomas Cook every summer but actually there's far more to it than I ever realised!

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

Its nice , but one heck off a drive !! For us it would have to be a 3 weeka holiday , ( as we are just young ones and not retired ) thats my annual 2 weeks work holidays and a few lieu days before and after !!!

Craig

Hi Craig,
Yep one hell of a drive if you do it in 1 hit, did that once...never again!, before we both retired, (me & SWMBO) we towed the van down to Le Etoile D'Argens & took 2 days down & 2 days back, stopping about 1/2 way, both ways, at Gigny Sur Soane (Link here https://www.frenchcampsites.co/campsites/detailed-information/eastern-france/gigny-sur-saone-chateau-de-leperviere.html).

We would get a late crossing on the Euro tunnel (SWMBO doesn't do boats) on the first Friday night of the holiday & get to Gigny (about 10 miles off the A6) about midday Saturday & then leave on the Sunday morning & get to L' Etoile just after midday Sunday, & the reverse on the way home, so it meant that our 14 day annual holiday was in effect 10 days on the main destination & 2 nights on the stop over site.

As I live in West Sussex, it's a 2 hour drive (towing the van) to Folkstone, so we'd prep the Van on the evenings leading up to the holiday & I'd leave work early on the Friday, load the car & couple up the van ready to get away, shower & change, grab a couple of hours kip & leave for Folkstone to get a crossing (pre booked) for between midnight & 1pm, as France is 1 hr ahead of us, if I got the 1am ish crossing, arrive in Calais about 2.40 am ish, so that I'd only have about 2 hrs driving in the dark. Happy days.

But the last couple of years we havn't towed the van there as, when you take into account the additional costs associated with taking the van, of the crossing, tolls & fuel, we found it was actually cheaper to just take the car & hiring one of their Klassic Mobile Homes!

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

Thank you, Etoile d'Argens does look amazing and ticks just about all of my boxes! We've driven to Valras Plage before (first ever caravan trip abroad, within a month of buying it!) so we know we can do that distance. It doesn't look like booking's open yet for the site though, so will keep my eye on it. I've seen that some are already open (and already fully booked!) so am checking daily now.
This caravanning lark was meant to be more relaxing than scouring Thomson/Thomas Cook every summer but actually there's far more to it than I ever realised!

Hi Harby,
Last year was the first time the sites been open after mid September, It was bought out August 2015 & is now under new ownership, but they have carried out many upgrades & improvements, all for the better, plus extended the season!

The camping & caravan section is not open this late in the season, hence seemingly no bookings available, but if you contact reception direct, & ask to speak to Angelika, she can & will take a booking over the phone or via email (the best way to contact them, in the subject line mark it F.A.O Angelika, booking required), contact details here:- Reception : +33 (0)4 94 81 01 41 email : info@etoiledargens.com

Once you've got a confirmed booking, book your crossing! as if you leave it too late, 1. You might not get the crossing you want. & 2. Perhaps more importantly, the nearer to the date you want the crossing the MORE EXPENSIVE it gets!

One of the best pitches for a van is pitch number 500! its about half way between the pools & reception & the river, so not too noisy if you want an early night!

All the Animations are free, as is the pools. there is a small supermarket on site & their prices are not too terrible, however there's a massive Geant about 3 miles away

 

[emmerson]

To answer the original question, yes, Utopia does exist in France, but I'm not going to tell anyone where it is!

 

[outdoors]

To answer the original question, yes, Utopia does exist in France, but I'm not going to tell anyone where it is!

We enjoyed 7 yrs of Utopia in Concourson sur Layon, ( Google Earth Concourson, there is a pic of our Chateau Hovelle ). Small village surrounded by grape vine and sunflowers.
Happy caravanning.

 

[JTQ]

To answer the original question, yes, Utopia does exist in France, but I'm not going to tell anyone where it is!

We enjoyed 7 yrs of Utopia in Concourson sur Layon, ( Google Earth Concourson, there is a pic of our Chateau Hovelle ). Small village surrounded by grape vine and sunflowers.
Happy caravanning.

Cycled there and all through the vineyards whilst staying at La Fosse-de-Tigne. Took our picnic on the tables by the "pond" there.
A location and area we return to and like, plus rose wines we more than like. Not a tourist "hot-spot" and all the better for our type of lingering, living style as opposed to "holidaying" type of caravanning; great.

 

[outdoors]

Hi JTQ,
We had the pleasure of meeting Kathy & Dave a few times at our Anglo/Franco coffee mornings.
A lovely couple and they have a very nice little site.

 

[Harby]

I thought someone might say that! We've booked Les Mediterranees near Cap d'Adge after seemingly hours of research. Some great looking sites wouldn't take a twin axle or 6.5m+ caravan (rules us out on both counts) and some I just couldn't risk leaving the bookings until they open in January, as every other option was quickly filling up. But I can relax now that we've booked. Next booking will be the tunnel which I'll do soon. Thanks for the tip about booking early, I was wondering if the prices go up as the day get closer.

 

[Gafferbill]

....I thought Utopia ran campsites all over France
.....or is it Huttopia