Our First Eurocamp holiday in France

When I was young, my family did a lot of camping in France and Spain. And while I'm not necessarily a fan of canvas, I'm keen for my children to have outdoors holidays with lots of activities on their doorstep. I'd heard good things about Eurocamp holidays so I set about investigating the various options.

The Park we chose for our First Eurocamp holiday

It was quite daunting booking our first Eurocamp holiday. There are 242 Eurocamp parks in France alone so there are a lot of options. I can't talk about how many hours I spent trawling through all the various options and deliberating about what sort of location and park we wanted.

The Toddler Pool at Fontaine Vielle

In the end, we decided we wanted a small to medium sized park as my youngest can't walk too far. Definitely one with a water park, a shop and restaurant and ideally with a beach within a short walk. 

We eventually booked 7 nights at the Fontaine Vielle in the Gironde region of France. This one stood out to us because of the English Speaking kids camp and the newly refurbished aqua park. As we can't cope without air conditioning, we chose a Comfort XL holiday chalet with three bedrooms and outside decking. 

The water slides at our Eurocamp
holiday in France

The kids had a really lovely time and, therefore, so did the adults! Most of our days were spent in the pool with our kids burning off a lot of energy going up and down the slides and leaping in and out of the water. My eldest even made a little holiday friend which made it really special. One night we went to the Moules Frites night at the restaurant and we also played petanque and went to the gorgeous beach which was on the edge of the park.

Fontaine Vielle is a really rustic sort of park in the middle of a forest. And we absolutely loved the natural and relaxed vibe of the place. Overall we felt really safe and we really liked how easy it was to get to where we needed to be whether by the pool, in the park shop or at the beach.

We also enjoyed exploring the nearby area. Including visiting the Dune du Pilat, Andernos les Bains and a nearby bird sanctuary.

Here's what would have made the holiday better:

I think we would choose a Eurocamp holiday again, but it wasn't perfect. Here are some of the things that weren't ideal.

Coming out of the park to
the beach

- Better location for our holiday home - our holiday home was in a very overlooked location, with the outdoor decking looking directly onto the rear of another holiday home. And because we were directly facing another holiday home and we were within the forest, we got little to no sunlight on our decking or outside space. Because of this it was hard to dry our swimming clothes and we came home to everything smelling damp in our bags. I love sitting in the sunshine on holiday and that wasn't really possible with the location of our holiday home. 

I contacted Eurocamp customer services when I got home and they told me that you could request a specific location on the park. The cost varies according to the Parc but is generally between £50 to £85. They explained that it was difficult to take generic requests like "please can we have sun on our outside area". But that we could look at a map and ask for a home near the pools or away from the facilities. We will definitely explore this next time as the location of our van was very depressing!

The slip n slide

-  More space in the main bedroom and living areas: Our double bedroom was unbelievably small. You could hardly get round the bed as there was less than a foot around the bed against the walls. Another family we met also had a Comfort XL holiday home and they also couldn't believe how small their bedroom was. We also could not shut out bedroom door without moving a chair out of the way because it was in the way. I think we would opt for a premium home next time or an ultimate home in the hope that we get slightly more space.

- More kitchen utensils: The details for our property said it was a "well equipped kitchen" which couldn't be further from the truth! There wasn't even a bottle opener or lids for the pans. We were also promised a stove top kettle in the details and there was not one. Another couple we met were disappointed about there being no kettle (I mean we are English, we need our tea!) but when I asked the Eurocamp rep about it he didn't even know what a kettle was! When we first arrived we had to go an buy things like a bottle opener, a lighter for the stove, cloths and tea towels. I'm going to write a separate post on the things that I think it would be useful to pack. Otherwise you'll end up spending money on things you could bring from home.

A drink at the bar

- Multi socket extension leads: so the kids' room had one plug in there. Given their night lights, music player and fan, this wasn't really enough for us. Thankfully we had one multi socket extension lead but a few more would have been really useful to charge everything up.

If we go again, we would definitely opt for a slightly larger park and perhaps one that is close to a town or village. I've been looking at some of the parks near to Vias Plage which is an area we know well. And we were there recently when we went on our Canal Boat holiday.

Now that we have been once, I think we would be more equipped for another time. And we would know what to look for when doing our research. I hope this has helped you if you're thinking of booking your first Eurocamp holiday in France or elsewhere. If you have any tips for me, I'd love to hear them!

The beach outside our Eurocamp Park

Taking the kids on a Canal Boat on the Canal Du Midi

When I was younger, my family went on a Canal Boat holiday on the Canal du Midi in France. So for my Mum's 80th birthday this year, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and relive this very much talked about holiday. 

Adam driving the boat

On the last trip, I was 14 years old and now I have children so it was definitely going to be a different experience for me. Especially as last time I did as little work as possible on the canal boat and this time I was unlikely to be able to get away with that. My children are also quite a bit younger than I was then. I wasn't sure how successful taking young kids on a Canal Boat holiday would be.

After several family meetings and quite a lot of online research, we decided to book a boat through the company Le Boat. And a one way canal boat route from Carcassonne Trebes Port to Port Cassafieres. 

Overall it was a really lovely holiday and I think the kids mainly did enjoy it.  The whole journey was unbelievably picturesque and I could have loaded up 1,000 photos from the trip. The Canal was so well maintained and France is just such a beautiful place. Nothing beats drifting in slow go past vineyards and picture postcard buildings with a glass of rose in hand (not for the driver obviously!)

Our three boats in convoy

If you are planning on taking the kids on a Canal Boat on the Canal du Midi this is what I think is worth thinking about. 

This is what worked really well:

- The boat we chose was perfect for us. The Canal Boat that we ended up having was called the Countess. It was ideal for us because the kids could be easily contained downstairs and they could still enjoy the view. When going through locks or when it was especially hot on deck, the kids could be downstairs in the living area of the boat and we knew they were safe. Other boats had more open living areas and we would have had to worry more about them while we were manoeuvring the boat. If you are hiring a canal boat with kids, think really carefully about the living space and whether they would be safe at all times. 

The back of our boat

- The weather was perfect. We went to France over May half term and the weather was perfect for our family - about 25-28 degrees Celsius each day. So not too hot and no rain at all. 

- The lake at Homps - When we stopped at Homps for the night we went to Jouarres Lake which is a 20 minute walk from the canal. The water was quite frosty but it was a relief for the kids to splash in the water and burn off some energy. We enjoyed watching some amazing kite surfers and my son even caught a fish. Whilst in Homps we also had a delicious and welcoming meal in La Peniche restaurant.

- The beach at Vias - The final stop on our route was Port Cassafieres which is just a short trip to the beach at Vias. Vias is a place we have spent many a holiday and it was lovely to spent our last couple of days on the beach. It gave the kids a chance to burn off some steam after being cooped up on the boat. Plus there are lots of nice bars, restaurants and gift shops there. My parents had their dog with them so we chose the dog friendly beach which is beyond the Vias Plage and to the right of La Plage du Delta restaurant beyond the river mouth. The kids also loved going to the Fun Fair there.

- The BBQ on board. We did go out to eat a few times. But it was really nice to have such great cooking facilities on board the boat. We especially used the outside BBQ griddle and cooked fresh fish, sausages and grilled veggies. I think we paid £45 extra for the BBQ for the week. 

Wild Mooring

- Wild Mooring. One night we couldn't find any place to moor the boats in a dedicated mooring place.

So we ended up wild mooring. It was a *bit* stressful getting the boats into position as we had to bang our stakes into the ground and tie the ropes around them. I also didn't sleep that well as I worried all night we were going to float away. But it was so calm and peaceful

What worked less well!

 If I were to book it again, this is what I would do differently:

- Shorter journey - so we travelled from Port Trebes to Port Cassafieres which is 13h34min of navigation and 4h35min passing through locks. So a total of 18 hours of travelling time. Now, this might not sound like a lot but - as we only actually drove the boat for 5 of the days we were there - it meant a minimum of 3-4 hours of driving a day which is quite a lot of time for the kids to be cooped up. You can use this website to calculate journey times.

Distance between locks

- Fewer locks. In total we passed through 31 locks on our journey. The most daunting of the locks was at Beziers where we passed through the Fonseranes Locks which has 7 in a row. The locks were quite hard work, most of the lock keepers were very unfriendly and unhelpful and they could be quite dangerous. For this reason, the kids had to be shut in the boat while passing through them. I think if we were to book it again, we would go on a circular trip from Port Cassafières up to Beziers and back. This would allow us to do a few locks and to see some of the beautiful scenery without having to be on the boat for such long periods of time. 

A lock opening

- More time enjoying the places along the way. I think because we had so much travelling time on the boat, we didn't have that much of a chance to do unplanned stops. As every day had to be planned out. It was quite heart aching to motor through stunning French towns or past quaint and charming lock-side restaurants and not to be able to stop at any of them. 

- Take more charging banks. Unless the boat is moving or you are connected to an electric point, the boat has no electricity. On the nights we did wild mooring or didn't stop at one of the dedicated Le Boat ports, we didn't have any electricity. So when the boat was moving we frantically tried to charge mobile phones, power banks, night lights and electric fans. Bringing power banks is therefore an absolute must. 

- Outside shade - our boat had no outside shade and on a couple of days, it was really, really hot. We were provided with a parasol but it was too windy and it kept threatening to take off into the sky. A number of the boats we passed had shade above the boat driver which would have been really useful. 

Overall, the holiday was absolutely magical and you can see some of my photos and videos on my instagram account. We chose Le Boat but there are other companies that operate along the Canal du Midi.

Definitely not a cheap holiday and - as well as the cost of the boat - there are other additional costs you need to pay. You have to pay a refundable damage deposit, we paid for insurance which isn't refundable and also you pay the estimated amount of fuel you are likely to use upfront. We actually used more fuel than the estimate and had to pay extra when we handed the boat back. We opted to pay extra for wifi on the boat and we also a BBQ.

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Our journey and where we stopped

In case it is of interest, this is where we stopped each night:

- Start of Journey and First Night - Port Trebes

There is a lovely port at Trebes with bars, restaurants and shops. If you are hiring from Le Boat, you can also plug your boat into the electric, have a shower and get fresh water.

- Second night - we stopped just before Puicheric

We had a proper mooring on the canalside but no utilities so semi wild! We had a BBQ on the canalside and walked into the town for fresh bread in the morning.

- Third night - Homps

This is another official Le Boat port, so if you are hiring from them you can plug into the electric and top up with water. Easy walk to the lake and lots of bars, restaurants and shops.

- Fourth night - Wild mooring between Colombiers and Beziers

Here we banged our stakes into the canalside and wild moored. Very beautiful and picturesque but we were nowhere near anything!

- Fifth night - Beziers

We decided to stop just before the 7 Fonseranes Locks as we felt we needed to build up some reserves before attempting it! Also, because the locks are only open for a short period for the descent, we wanted to ensure we were at the front of the queue. There is a shop and restaurant there and the little tourist train goes into Beziers from the top of the locks. So we also went into Beziers for the day and had ice cream.

- Sixth and seventh night - Port Cassafieres

Another official Le Boat port and where we handed back our boat. Electricity points and water refill. About half an hour walk to the beach with bars and restaurants. We also got a taxi very easily. There's a nice restaurant and bar at the port and my parents had a lovely meal there.