Low Season Discount Cards - any views

[Brian_374318203]

After my first trip to France using the Castels Discount Card (16 euros/night) I'm now planning a longer trip to Spain for 2/3 months this winter.

I've read about Camping Cheques and the ACSI Camping Card and I'm sure there are others. Are they as good value as they seem and does one have advantages over the other? Which do forum members prefer?

We're reluctant to just turn up at sites without pre-booking (despite everyone's assurances that it is OK out of season). Can you pre-book sites with any of these discount schemes and still get the full benefit of the discount and without incurring a non-deductable booking fee. I ask this because I was able to do this with the Castels card at four sites but a fifth wanted to charge me a booking fee on top. They didn't get my business and I told them why !

 

[ValA.]

They're all good - we use ACSI, Camping Cheques, and Touring Cheques. If you buy a Camping Cheques 'Gold Card' you can book without a fee at many sites. However, YOU REALLY DON'T NEED TO BOOK - that's the whole idea. Campsite owners decide on their 'low season' and they know they will have empty pitches. We've just come back - and on one site in early June only 5 pitches were occupied. At another (of 200 pitches) only 40 odd were occupied. A beachfront site, very popular, also had plenty of free pitches.

You'll find a combination of all of them will find you a site almost anywhere you want - and where there aren't any sites, then almost every town and village in France has a municipal site, which can be quite cheap. (Although prices have risen recently).

 

[DavidKlyne]

Camping Cheques and the ACSI Card are well worth having and on some site offer a worthwhile saving. Depends where you are going, in France Camping Cheques are well presented but less so in Germany where the ACSI Card has the upperhand. If you go onto either of the websites you will get all the information you need.

David

 

[albert3]

Eyup Brian

I have used camping cheques on several occasions including earlier this year, found them to be great and no problems did not book in advance at any time. The site that we stayed at for most of the holiday asked us for the maximum number of nights that we would stay, and if we wanted to leave earlier we could with no penalty. However we spoke to another couple who were using camping cheques and had booked for a specified period. The site took all of the cheques off them for the period on arrival and said that if they left earlier they would not get any back as they had booked in advance. Therfore my advice is dont book unless you have to

Hope this info helps