Posts Tagged ‘Camping’

Choosing Where to Take a Camping Holiday in France

If you are interested in camping holidays, France will no doubt be near the top of your list of destinations. It’s easy on the budget and conveniently located (with many campsites in the north of France just a few hours drive from the UK), but it offers much more than just good value and convenience. From golden beaches to mountain vistas, and numerous cultural highlights, there’s plenty to offer the eager camper no matter what kind of camping holiday in France you’re after.

If you are after the beaches…

Little is more relaxing than a holiday that combines countryside camping and time on the beach, and France has many outstanding coastal regions where you can relax and soak up some sun. The Côte d’Azur in the south of France is perhaps the most famous, with its mixture of beaches and cosmopolitan resorts such as St Tropez and Cannes.

If you are looking for something a little more family focused, the beaches in the Royan may be more to your taste. Located in the west of France, it is a region of beautiful beaches and pine forests, and with many campsites located within walking distance of the coast it is one of the most convenient places to camp if you are after a relaxing beach holiday.

If you want spectacular scenery…

If dramatic scenery is what you are after on your camping holiday in France, you have plenty of places to choose from. The rolling hills, winding rivers and numerous chateaux make the Loire Valley perhaps the most naturally beautiful region in France, with the Dordogne and Burgundy also offering some great landscapes to camp in.

For great mountain views, go camping in the Alps and the Jura and enjoy one of the most striking mountain ranges in the world. There a plenty of opportunities for hill walkers and climbers of all levels…or you can just relax in your campsite and enjoy the mountain vistas!

If you are a culture vulture…

From gastronomy and wine to literature and philosophy, French culture is famous around the world, and a camping holiday can be the perfect way to experience the attractions on offer. For those who are interested in sampling French culture, Paris will always be the highlight of a camping holiday in France, and there are numerous campsites that give convenient access to the capital city.

If you’ve visited the museums and historical sights of Paris before and want something a little different, Brittany is an excellent option. With its unique, distinctive culture (including its own language) and many prehistoric sites, it can be a real cultural highlight of any camping holiday in France.

This is just a taste of what France can offer. With a little planning and research you’ll be able to find just about anything you could possibly want to do or see. So, whatever it is you like to do on your camping holidays, France will have something for you!

5 Festivals to See Whilst Camping in France

Interested in seeing more of French culture? Visit France in time to see one of these major festivals.

5 Festivals to See Whilst Camping in France

Every country around the world has unique festivals which are an essential part of its national culture, and France is no exception. From festivals celebrating film and music to events for gardeners and gourmets, France’s cultural calendar is diverse, and well worth your attention when planning your holiday. If you want to go camping in France, consider timing your visit to take a look at one of these exciting spring and summer festivals.

Cannes Film Festival

For independent and artistic filmmakers, this festival matters. Every May, the biggest names in international cinema descend on Cannes, and it is often where many of the best films premiere. Needless to say, it’s a great place for both film watching and celebrity spotting!

Most of the hotels will be booked out months in advance (at exorbitant prices), but if you go camping in France near Cannes, you can experience the excitement of the festival without breaking the bank. Better yet, you’ll be able to get back to your tent if the crowds become too much!

Avignon Festival

The Avignon Festival is one of the biggest arts festivals in France, staging hundreds of theatre performances over the first three weeks of July. It consists of two separate festivals, the “In” and the “Off”. The “In” stages larger shows in the major theatres, whilst the “Off” concentrates on unusual performance spaces such as schools and public streets.

Of course, you’ll have to speak some French to get the most out of it, but many of the more physical shows can be enjoyed without knowledge of the language. Regardless, the city is a great place to visit during festival time.

Nice Jazz Festival

The Nice Jazz Festival has been running for over sixty years, and it is one of the oldest, biggest and best in the world. Held every July in venues all around Nice (including a spectacular Roman amphitheatre), the festival has played host to music legends including Miles Davies, Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles, and it continues to attract the very best jazz, blues and soul musicians. Jazz fans and music buffs who are camping in France will not want to miss out on this one.

International Garden Festival

Held in the scenic location of the Chateau Chamont in the Loire, this collection of over 30 landscaped gardens is open from April until October. Each year, the gardeners are given a theme, creatively shaping and designing their gardens to give visitors numerous little worlds to explore. The Loire Valley is one of the most beautiful places to go camping in France, and a visit to the International Garden Festival is an ideal day trip.

Bastille Day

Bastille Day is one of the biggest celebrations in France. Held on the 14th of July, it celebrates the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the turning point in the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. It is a national holiday, with parades and fireworks going off all over France. Try to make it to one of the major cities to see a truly spectacular Bastille Day celebration.

4 Interesting Cities For a Camping Holiday in France

For those who like to incorporate city visits into their camping holidays, France offers a number of exciting destinations. Camping near a major city can give you the best of both worlds – the relaxation of spending your evenings under canvas in the countryside along with easy access to the attractions and sights of a city.

For most, of course, Paris is still the Mecca of France, however there are many other cities that are well worth visiting on a camping holiday in France. Here are four interesting cities where you can blend excellent camping together with city sightseeing.

Bordeaux

Wine lovers on a camping holiday in France will naturally gravitate towards Bordeaux, the principal city of one of the country’s major wine growing regions. If you time your visit right, you’ll even get the chance to be in the city during its famous Fête du Vin at the end of June and the beginning of July, an annual festival celebrating the very best of Bordeaux’s wine.

But the city has more to offer than just fine wines – the charming 18th century buildings make it a lovely place for walking and architectural highlights in the city include the Grand Théâtre and the Cathédrale Saint-André. If you need to get away from the bustle of the city, head over to the beautifully designed Jardin Botanique.

Cannes

Cannes becomes the centre of the film world every May with its International Festival, but it has plenty to offer visitors at any time of the year. Situated in the sunny Côte d’Azur, Cannes boasts a range of attractions, ranging from the designer boutiques on the promenade to the luxurious yachts that are moored in the Old Port. Chic, trendy, and boasting a gorgeous beach, Cannes is the ideal destination for fashionistas, beach lovers, and celebrity spotters.

Grenoble

Known as “The Capital of the Alps”, Grenoble is located just at the foot of this famous mountain range. The most dramatic sight in Grenoble (apart from the mountains that loom in the background) is La Bastille, an ancient fortification that overlooks the entire city. Visitors can also catch a cable car from here up into the mountains for some stunning Alpine views. Other notable sights in the city include the excellent Museum of Grenoble, filled with ancient antiquities, and the Palace of the Parliament of Dauphiné.

If you choose this area for a camping holiday in France, you’ll get access to both Grenoble itself and the mountains that surround it – an outstanding combination!

Dijon

It may be most well known in the UK as a brand of mustard, but the city of Dijon has much more to it than that! The fine Renaissance architecture of the old town is a pleasure to walk around, and the city’s cathedral is unmissable. The city is a gastronomic centre and home to some of the finest restaurants in the country. Gourmets will be in heaven here, especially since it is the capital of Burgundy, another very important wine region.

As can be seen, there’s more to French cities than just Paris, and each of the examples we’ve given have excellent campsites only a short distance away.

Camping in Eastern France

While the recession is affecting tourism globally, more affordable holiday options such as camping holidays in France are increasing their share of the market. Read below about increasingly popular destinations for camping in France along the country’s eastern border.

Early in September, Associated Press reported the recent findings of France’s Secretary of State for Tourism. The report describes the increasing trend for French holidaymakers to stay in France for their breaks from work, with a growing number opting to spend their holidays camping. France is the world’s leading tourist destination, attracting visitors to its cities of culture and its varied, beautiful landscapes, so it’s no surprise that French holiday makers are increasingly enjoying what their own country has to offer.

Jura

The first on our list is Jura in the east, a department halfway down the country, four hours’ drive from Paris and six hours from Calais. The Jura Mountains are enjoyed by nature lovers, ramblers, and winter sports fans, and it is a beautiful place to visit all year round.

Jura is close to the Swiss border, with Bern only a couple of hours’ drive away. As a result, the region’s cuisine and architecture has a Swiss flavour so you can enjoy the best of two neighbouring cultures while camping in France.

As well as exploring the rich pine forests, visitors to Jura flock to see the Cascades du Hérrisson waterfalls. The descent of the water over the Cascades du Hérrisson is spread along two miles of beautiful countryside, during which the water drops six hundred metres into the Val-Dessous. This is a green and idyllic place, and, like the rest of the region, is perfect for hiking excursions during your camping holidays in France.

The Alps

The French Alps is undeniably a stunning mountain region of France. Camping la Serraz is a campsite well-placed to enjoy the plentiful views of snow-capped mountains and serene lakes that you can find here, including the crystal clear Annecy Lake, just ten minutes walk from the site.

The Alps is also home to the country’s largest National Park, the Parc National des Ecrins. It’s a must for visitors on camping holidays in France who will appreciate landscapes of rugged beauty plus the historic and interesting towns of Grenoble and Aix les Bains warrant a visit.

For those with a taste for adrenaline-fuelled fun, there are jet skis to race across the glacial lake at Lac de Bourget. If you enjoy the scale of the Alps and have a head for heights, you should visit Chamonix, which lies close to the border of Italy, Switzerland and France. At Chamonix, you will find the cable car – the highest in the world – that ascends a mountain called Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m), part of the Mont Blanc Massif.

Cote d’Azur

Two hundred and fifty miles further south is the Cote d’Azur on the south east coast of France. Camping here puts you among the delights of the French Riviera, which is a desirable stretch of coastline washed by the Mediterranean Sea.

More than just a region of beautiful beaches, the Cote D’Azur offers a mix of the traditional and the modern with sophisticated beach resorts rubbing shoulders with rustic fishing villages. Camping in France here means having access to some of the finest beaches in Europe, and being within reach of the famous cities of Cannes and Nice.