Pre - book OR Take a chance during school holidays

[JRinatintent]

:-D We are planning on travelling around France/Spain/Belgium/Holland for the UK six weeks holiday. We like the idea of just travelling where we fancy. Has any one any experience of travelling during the six weeks hols.

Is it a problem just turning up or should we be planning a route and booking sites in advance.

 

 

[Guest pelmetman]

When are you going? if August in France and your going anywhere near the coast, then its probably a good idea to book a site...........inland its normally quieter:D 

If your planning on visiting France/Spain/Belgium/Holland in just 6 weeks you wont have time to stay long on sites;-).......

[malc d]

Hi JR and welcome to the forum

 

 

We have been crossing the channel, off and on, since our first trip in 1963.

 

We used to go in the school holidays but now we are lucky enough to go out of the high season.

 

We've never booked any site on the continent and I can only think of one or two occasions when sites were full.

 

If you do go ' un-booked ' it's best to arrive on sites by about 3 pm - that usually means you will get a pitch.

 

Also, if nowhere is booked, have a plan B ready, i.e. another site in mind.

 

Most crowded sites are the coastal ones as 'pelmetman' says.

 

Good luck

[Robinhood]

We're much like Malc, though this year, and for the previous 23 of owning a motorhome, we have been tied to School Holidays for our main break (escape next year :-D ).

 

We've only ever booked Continental sites twice for the first night; being late off the boat (and then only where there was a very restricted choice within driving distance).

 

There are places where it will be more difficult to get a pitch, but these are mainly in the very popular, crowded areas that are largely anathema to us anyway.

 

We usually go abroad with a loose plan, and then completely abandon it having found somewhere we really wanted to dally at, or chasing better weather. To us, it's the essence of the motorhoming life, letting the road take you where it wishes.

 

That isn't to say that we avoid prime areas even in the School holidays, we've stayed in central Prague in acres of space, Vienna with a good choice of pitches, visited Berlin, Dresden, Salzburg, Venice, Copenhagen, Carcasonne etc, all in prime tourist season.

 

The only areas that would deter me are certain bits of the Mediterranean coast, and frankly, they're not where I want to be in High Summer anyway.

 

Take some good guidebooks, or alternatively a SatNag with "Archies Camping" POIs on it, and start looking for a site (as Malc suggests) at mid-afternoon in the busier places, and you should be fine.

[Mike B.]

Hi and welcome

I think it depends what you are intending to do-if you want to stay somewhere for a week or so then better to book-especially if you have kids and want a site with all amenities. You will also get a discount for 7 nights stay. However, if you intend to move around a lot, then I wouldn't bother booking. Usually a French site owner will squeeze you in somewhere for a night or two rather than lose the money and as a last resort there will be an aire somewhere near where you will squeeze in.

If you are intending to move a lot and don't have kids needing amenities then why bother with sites at all? Work out where you want to go roughly then just use the aires in that area-arrive around lunchtime before they fill up and you will not have a problem-you will also save some money as well-bear in mind a big French site will set you back around £30 per night in July/August-an aire around £8

Enjoy your trip-we will be coming back just as you arrive!!!

Mike

[BGD]

Spain: have you any idea of how hot it actually gets down here in July and August?

Really?

 

High thirties at least. And remember, that is the ambient temperature, ie in the shade. in direct sunshine it is MUCH higher.

It is murder. And every campsite is utterly chocker, I mean rammed, with loud families and screaming kids. And bloody pricey to boot....and that's if you can get a pitch at all.

 

We live here; and the one time in the year that we don't go away in our MH is July/August.

We just live in our own pool, or in our Air-con bedroom to survive.

Honestly, it's like a blast furnace down here then.

 

Maybe further north (eg France, or the Northern coast of Spain) is bearable then, but unless you really do like living in an oven, a constantly sweltering airless oven, I'd suggest extreme caution about coming down to mid/southern Spain in those two months

[Brian Kirby]

School holidays? Crowded and expensive, but what can you do? BGD answers well for Spain. You might get lucky in the North, or possibly inland, but inland can be punishingly hot as well. Holland and Belgium are both densely populated so, despite the impression that the Dutch summer exodus empties Holland, I think you'll still get an awful lot of the stay-at-homes on campsites, and not all the Dutch are friendly and English speaking, especially, it seems when en-masse. Not prejudice, just from experience/observation. So, I'd be inclined to target inland France and try to find interest away from the tourist traps. You shouldn't need to book and by following the advice above, and arriving soon after 2:00 PM, you should get in almost anywhere. Also, as above, it will pay to have a backup site in mind, just in case. However, if you want a good pitch, in shade, by a pool or near a beach, you'll pretty much have to book well in advance, and you'll probably find the popular sites will charge a booking fee, or will insist on a non-refundable deposit, and will refuse a booking for less than 7 days, possibly 14 days. It is the season when they make their money, and many of them make that rather obvious!

[BGD]

One option, to avoid death by roasting in Eastern/Southern Spain in July & August, might be: whizz down the Western side of France, cross into Northern Spain at San Sebastian, then slow trundle along North coast of Spain, then into top end of Portugal, and tour down the Atlantic west coast of Portugal as far as say Porto.

 

Those bits of country are usually a lot cooler, and thus survivable - but all camping sites will still be utterly chocker and you'll pay absolute top-dollar on any of them (as none of the usual discount schemes such as the ACSI card are valid for these peak tourist months); and tolerance of wild-camping will be absolute zero as the coasts/beaches are all totally rammed.

 

I'm not trying to put you off, but simply forewarn you; it's difficult to explain to those who haven't experienced it just how crowded all of the Spanish coasts get, and just how hot the Mid/South of this country gets, in July and August.

All of Madrid empties out to the coasts in those two months to find some relief from the even more intense dry heat (which literally kills lots of old/sick people in Madrid each summer) in the centre of the country, swelling the millions of other Europeans who've come here to roast themselves and their seemingly tens of millions of non-sleeping, constantly screaming/wailing/shouting sprogs at the same time.

 

At any other time of the year this really is a super country - both coast-ally and in the often overlooked vast areas inland, full of ancient towns and cities, national parks, countryside, river gorges, excellent roads, culture, wonderful food, cheap prices etc; but personally I'd avoid motorhoming here from mid-June through to mid September, because of the heat, the crowds and the costs.

[neillking]

In the August just gone we toured inland France without booking anywhere. Our route varied according to weather forecast and our inclination but in the end took in parts of the Loire, Bourgogne, Alsace and then on to the Mosel, Dusseldorf show and into the SW Netherlands to finish.

Having come across a decent Free Aires guide in one of the surpermarkets, and just for the hell of it really, we decided to use that as much as seemed reasonable. Our lifestyle isn't 'arrive early' but more usually to arrive really quite late. We did reject the odd aire as unsuitable but in general found some delightful spots away from the crowds and in the 3+ weeks in France we spent barely 10 euros on 'camping' and services! (Actually I lie, in addition I did also splash out 9.90E for one night on an 'aire naturel' with a great view just for Dilys' birthday - I know how to give a girl a good time!).

As backup we did usually have a second and sometimes third aire choice in our chosen area but don't forget you also have a right to rest in France so if there isn't a "stationnement reglemente" sign on the outskirts of town you can simply park up in the town square.

Not everyones cup of tea but as long as you stay away from the honeypot locations there's no reason why you can't roam around freely using whatever is available - the aires could well be your backup if you're keener on campsites.  

[Guest JudgeMental]

we have always travelled peak school holidays because of wifes job, and yes it is busy but to be honest we prefer the atmosphere as deserted out of season sites have little attraction

 

If you want a top site on beach locatin book well ahead, for instance we have already booked our favorite site In Italy for next year. as for the rest of the time we tour around and you will always find a place, maybe not your first choice..

[terryW]

With regards to Spain and the heat in July/August all I can say is that in the dim past work took me to Madrid and one of the chaps I dealt with was a caravaner and came from southern Spain, he only ever went to the Costa Verde when Madrid closed for the summer and would never consider going south. It's probably one of the most beautiful parts of Spain but even in July you can get plenty of rain. We go down south of Valencia for June but always have to leave before the end of the month and move north to cooler climes. I wouldn't go to the coast in those months without a booking.

[lennyhb]

Until a few years ago always went in the school holidays never booked a site never had a problem in France or Belgium. Bookings not our style often change our mind where we are going on route.

 

Have to agree with Eddie, now we go off season empty sites don't have any atmosphere prefer to stay on aires or go wild.

[JRinatintent]

:-D thanx for the advice, we intend to book for the first week and then decide on which direction to take depending on the weather. :-)

[chris]

We have never booked other than Croatia but having been there in August I would never book again. Motorhoming is freedom and you could regret booking if weather bad or like a site so much you stay longer. Use the aires and stellplatz in Germany and as said before arrive late mornimng or by 2/3pm at latest. People are always moving off site.

chris