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Dog and child friendly campsites in France


Willows18

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Hi

 

I'm new to this forum! We have just recently upgraded from a tent to a caravan (we have caravanned and motor homed before).

 

We have 3 children, 14, 11 & 10. We would like to go to France in August this year and take our 2 dogs too. Can anyone recommend any good campsites that would cater for both dogs and children. We were thinking of Les Rivages in Millau and/or Lac des Trois vallee which is midi Pyrenees. Has anyone been to either of these sites? Any recommendations greatfully received!

 

Thanks

Kirsty

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Not quite sure wha you mean by 'child friendly'. All sites cater for children to one degree or another, but if you want organised entertainment then the larger sites are probably the best. They are more what could call the 'Thomson' type where children's activities are offered during the day. The also usually have entertainment for adults in the evening. Again, the age of the children means different strokes as teenagers are notoriously difficult to keep happy anywhere. Your 14 year old may be in that phase of life so unfortunately as you cannot leave them at home, you have to grin and bear it as we all did. Do try to avoid murdering the little perishers, as we all nearly did. Toddlers are happy with a sand pit and a paddling pool. Under 12's can usually be kept happy with a swimming pool and games park, and lots of soft drinks. Have a look at the CC Overseas Booking Guide as they list many sites in this category.

 

As for dogs, again most sites allow them and expect you to monitor them as with anything. However, some French sites are very lax and not ones that we would go to if possible. Having dogs wandering freely about is not our cup of tea. All the sites books indicate if dogs are accepted and depending on where you are will define what walks are available etc. Beaches tend to be out of bounds to dogs except at the remoter ones. The areas you list are inland in river valleys so are wooded and probably better for dogs, but for the kids.....well, others may have more info. If they like canoeing etc then that is available. Hope you have a generous wallet though or take your own canoes. France is becoming very expensive for everything.

 

Good luck with what ever you do and enjoy yourselves.

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By the way it is maybe a bit too far for you but Vilanova Park just south of Barcelona has lots of entertainment but I am not so sure about the dogs. Or have a look at Yelloh Villages in France. Better book soon though as you are looking at high season, so expect high site fees. €40 per night could be the norm.
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By the way another PS. If it was my choice I suspect I would get someone to look after the dogs and fly to an all inclusive hotel somewhere, cheaper in the long run especially on the soft drinks. Do you know how much fizz costs??? Plus your beers etc

 

Sorry speaking as an old has been who has been there, done it annd lost all his hair.

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Guest pelmetman
We stopped at Vilanova park a couple of years ago on the way back no problem with Troy................Its the biggest campsite we'd ever stayed on...................went for a walk around the site and got lost 8-).............took us 2 hours to find our way back :D................We were there in January...........in high season it would be our vision of hell (lol) (lol)
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I agree with Pelmetman, however it is a good site for kids. Being old and decrepit (well my wifes says so) we only use it for over night stops on the way to the deep south of Spain. The 'high season' now starts about March if the discos were anything to go by.

 

However it is very popular with the main Clubs for ra;llies and the facilites are very good. Also you have the beach nearby or Bareclona if that is your wish.

 

The other site similar was the Yelloh village at Agde where we stayed for a week. Again very well organised especially for families, but maybe less so for oldies although I admit there were plenty on the site, so maybe I just like my early shut eye.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed holidays with the family when they were of a younger age but as they passed 12/13/14 it was much harder. Trying to explain to a 14 year old daughter that 'no' she could not go to the local nightclub was interesting to say the least. She stomped off in the huff to the local phonebox to call her mate back home and tell her that 'her parents were being horrid again'. Now she has kids of her own and we can laugh and smile as she goes through the same things.

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Stayed one night at Vilanova in September 2010 and hated it. Took me almost 2 hours just to book in - queue was a mile long and I had a reservation. I was given, or more accurately dumped near, the smallest kerbside piece of ground which even with imagination could not be called a pitch. Yes, they did accept dogs but you have to walk miles to get off the site to excercise them.

 

There are lots of excellent sites though but all will be very expensive as has been said already. The Castel group are very good, although they too vary, and are a bit more upmarket to the Yello group. Most have huge pitches and lots of English children to help keep yours amused!

 

If you intend to go far south, or even south of the Loire, remember that the heat can be overpowering for the dogs, particularly in a caravan. My dog was always fine in my motorhome for about an hour, for instance whilst I went swimming, as it is very well insulated from the heat and I always have fans running. My caravan was not so good.

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