Richnliz100 Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 We are off to France in August and have booked 7 nights @ a site in Argeles sur Mer (SW France close to Spanish border), however, we have 4 days and nights either side of this time to wander our way down the country (the beauty of a motorhome, eh?) and back and I wondered if you guys could suggest good routes, aires, areas of interest from your own experiences? We drove across France when we picked up our motorhome from Germany so we are happy enough driving - it would just be nice to see lots of interesting places on the way as it makes for a better trip! We will be travelling with our 3 children aged 14, 10 and 2! (Have thought about Eurodisney but decided not to do that on this trip!!) We are using Eurotunnel to get to Calais and will arrive very early Saturday morning! We are thinking about venturing towards Bordeaux maybe, across into Spain and up into the Pyrannees, or should we venture more towards the south east of france? - any advice, things to consider, beware of, very welcome! :-D Thanks for your help Liz :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ike Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 My geography is hopeless and I don't have a map handy but a couple of suggestions Versailles is beautiful and there's a campsite in Ramboullet (spelling?) within driving distance. The Palace is fab with water gardens where the children can get soaked! Boat trips and horse drawn carriages too. you can visit the palace plus grounds or either or. Also Loches near Tours good campsite lovely chateau. En route to Bordeaux is Chatellaillon-Plage (spelling again?) lovely beach. town Much further south east in Provence Saint Remy de Provence good site Pegomas with pool, beautiful town, Van gogh country, Roman/Hellenic remains nearby. Good restaurants. Oh I wish we were back there! Enjoy yourselves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 If you're heading towards Bordeaux, which makes sense bearing in mind your final destination, you could do much worse then stopping off at the Puy du Fou (See: www.puydufou.com). It's only a little way off the route you would take from Calais towards Bordeaux - you'll love it - and the children also of course. There is also an evening show (starts at 2230 hrs, finishes at 0030hrs) on Fridays and Saturdays - totally mind-blowing - although a little too late for your youngest perhaps. You can park your van in the car park and stay in it overnight if you've been to the show. The alternative, or as wel as, is to stop in any one of the many (I mean many!) camp sites on the Atlantic coast in the Vendee. Beware however that you are arriving in the busiest tourist month of the year in France so tranquility will be hard to find. That's why we stay at home from early July to end of August! Cheers, Jacko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Hi From that part of France Bordeaux is a long way off your route. The A75 through Clermonte F errand is a good road, and south of CF a lot is not toll which makes it cheaper, and its motorway. Using that route you can see 1) The Millau Bridge + the area around is nice 2) Just south of Clermonte F errand is Le Puy Du Dome - the old volcanoes - good walking and some cable cars We took that route a couple of years ago - very nice. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Totally lost me there Peterjl. Calais to Bordeaux with a stop at the Puy de Fou (which is 12 ks from the peage) is about 850 ks. Calais to Bordeaux via Clermont Ferrand is over 1000 ks! Or perhaps I've misunderstood your post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Going up to Bordeaux is a bit odd - it's big and for kids the coast and drive is a bit bland. Adults can enjoy the plonk and vineyards with more enthusiasm! I'd suggest that if you're taking the classic route South/North then you're probably going via Toulouse - which has the Space museum if the kids are boys and ideal stop. Revel, (30km from Toulouse, Haut Garronne), is great old market square and where you can still buy live chickens on a Saturday and is one of the picturesque 'special' villages with an Aire de Service - above the town is the Lac du St Ferreol in the Montagne Noir - literally 5 minutes up a windy road - the lake's the head water of the Canal Du Midi which has an inland beach with a geyser in delightful pine woods- euro sized one like old faithful in the US. Get back to the main N/S route via Albi, the birthplace of Lautrec and nice town on the river. To save cash and have fun the Aires north of Toulouse are safe and easy to find on Campingcarinfos.com. There's plenty of stuff to do and see and discover along the Canal du Midi with Aires a plenty. Taking the the main road north/or south depending which way you're going to I'd stop over at Futurascope at Poitiers (cracking camp site across the motorway on the hill - you used to be able to overnight in the secure car park) But do make sure you see the evening show which is stunning and a great end of holiday treat for the kids and adults too. The french do these 'spectacles' so well. My strategy has always been to break long journeys with short morning drives and stops with a variety of different things to do and see at strategic points en route. If you want more details let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnliz100 Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Thank you everyone for your contributions, gratefully appreciated - many ideas to think about and research over the next few days! Anymore?? ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 one of our favorite routes is to visit the Dordogne (a great area for Kids) on our way down. and lake Annecy on our way back. don't see why you are discounting Euro Disney a good stop of either on way out or back... shame that you can't squeeze a little more time for your hols.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnliz100 Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 I note what you say and unfortunately Rich is to blame :-) for both issues! *-) We did venture to disneyland on eurotunnel package a couple of years ago and Rich has vowed never to return, he didn't like the expense and refuses to pay £100 for tickets to return, its something I will do with the kids again at some point!!! 8-) Secondly, he's the one with very little holidays, and unfortunately this year his colleagues booked up early so we only got the two weeks that were left in August! Back in January we had no idea we were going to buy a motorhome! :-( Plus he's an insurance motor engineer so you can imagine at the moment he is up to his neck in flooded vehicles! Still hoping for some good weekends again in it on our return and through the winter too! Got the bug now! :-D 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 According to Auto-Route, if you drive starting at 09:00 and ending at 17:00, allowing for meal and comfort breaks, it will take you just under two days each way using autoroutes all the way. There are two main routes: via Reims, Troyes and Lyon, at 778 miles or via Paris, Orleans, Clermont-Ferrand and Millau at 742 miles. There is only around 20 mins calculated difference between the two routes, in which case I'd go for the more Easterly route, to avoid any possible time penalties around Paris.If you take the nearest straight line route, which is somewhere between the two, passing just East of Paris, but using the same road as the Paris route from Clermont Ferrand South, it will take you around 2.5 days each way on the above 9-5 with breaks basis.Depending on how you drive, and on how much you want to spend on tolls, you'll therefore have about 1.5 - 2 days to play with each way. However, if you have to travel at weekends, especially at the beginning of August, be prepared for a lot of relatively slow traffic around Paris if you go that way, or around Lyon if you go that way. For greater pleasure and a more relaxed trip I would avoid the autoroutes and N roads wherever possible and just accept the slower rate of travel down the D roads. Where you overnight will mostly depend on what time you actually start driving in the mornings, but I don't think you'll have all that much choice once you take all the factors (such as availability of swimming pools at overnighting stops), into account.I assume you know Argeles sur Mer is about 3Km inland from the coast? The bit on the coast is Argeles Plage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Hi Jacko I was trying to say Argeles sur mer via Bordeaux is a long long way round - see Brians post for distances via Clermont Ferrand. Regards Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Yes Peter, via Paris and Bordeaux Argeles sur Mer is 833 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigal55 Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Richnliz100 - 2007-07-06 10:22 AM We are off to France in August and have booked 7 nights @ a site in Argeles sur Mer (SW France close to Spanish border), however, we have 4 days and nights either side of this time to wander our way down the country (the beauty of a motorhome, eh?) and back and I wondered if you guys could suggest good routes, aires, areas of interest from your own experiences? We drove across France when we picked up our motorhome from Germany so we are happy enough driving - it would just be nice to see lots of interesting places on the way as it makes for a better trip! We will be travelling with our 3 children aged 14, 10 and 2! (Have thought about Eurodisney but decided not to do that on this trip!!) We are using Eurotunnel to get to Calais and will arrive very early Saturday morning! We are thinking about venturing towards Bordeaux maybe, across into Spain and up into the Pyrannees, or should we venture more towards the south east of france? - any advice, things to consider, beware of, very welcome! :-D Thanks for your help Liz :-Di recommend you take note of brians post,last year we drove from estartit, costa brava, in 2 days,the vino shop was closed on the day we planned to leave,when we got home we were so travel weary we felt we hadn,t had a holiday. this was in late sept with no kids and away for 3wks,france is a great place for camping but is also very big and very crowded near the beaches in august Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Richnliz100 - 2007-07-06 10:22 AM We are off to France in August and have booked 7 nights @ a site in Argeles sur Mer (SW France close to Spanish border), however, we have 4 days and nights either side of this time to wander our way down the country (the beauty of a motorhome, eh?) and back and I wondered if you guys could suggest good routes, aires, areas of interest from your own experiences? We drove across France when we picked up our motorhome from Germany so we are happy enough driving - it would just be nice to see lots of interesting places on the way as it makes for a better trip! We will be travelling with our 3 children aged 14, 10 and 2! (Have thought about Eurodisney but decided not to do that on this trip!!) We are using Eurotunnel to get to Calais and will arrive very early Saturday morning! We are thinking about venturing towards Bordeaux maybe, across into Spain and up into the Pyrannees, or should we venture more towards the south east of france? - any advice, things to consider, beware of, very welcome! :-D Thanks for your help Liz :-D Hi Richnliz100, i am sorry, i don't have any idea about france but last year i went to gumbet turkey. it's very good place for expending holidays. we ca get there all things like rental cars, hotels and lot of places. good luck!! jordan gumbet turkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 @ Argeles sur mere. Use the local train ( four circuits using motorised trains for ferrying the population about) if you can, driving / parking can be difficult. There have been a number of changes with regard to where M/homes can now park up. ( Basically nowhere in the town / plage areas) Valmy is worth a visit.( 5K from town centre) Good parking Gorges de fou, wth a look. Lots to do in the area. Camping Le Dauphin have plots with an individual shower/toilet/ and kitchen sink area. Makes life a lot easier than going to the communual showers / toilets. Shady, but could be muddy if wet. Good facilities for children, 2 play areas, resturant, shop ( Closes mid september) 3 swimming pools @ different depths for all heights ! http://www.campingledauphin.com/ang/menu_ang.php Ment to add that we go Calais, Rouen (Slightly longer but avoids Paris), Blois, Tolouse. Usually take 3 days @ pottering speed. Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianR Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 When I travel down to this area I go A16/A28 to Rouen (mostly free) then N154 to Chatres and Orléans then A71/A20 to Toulouse. You can use the N20 South of Brive if you want to save the tolls - upto there the A20 is toll free. Then N20 to Foix and D117 to the coast. There are lots of aires on or about this route, which you can just about do in 2 days. You could stop at Amiens, the Loire, the Dordogne, divert to Poitiers (Futurescope), Toulouse, Carcassonne, Andorra. The aires I can recommend are - Conty; Gourney; Giday; Brézolles; Marboué; La Ferté-Beauharnais; Mery-s-Chere; Bessines; Le Grand Pressigny; Villaine-les-Rochers; Uzerche; Sadroc; Alvignac; Montauban; Venerque; Serres-s-AgoutPuivert; Revel; Fanjeaux; Routier; La Redorte; Duilhac; Rigarda; St Marsal; Port-Vendres. Details of all these can be found on www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm If you have time, don't miss the Cathar castles - Peyrepertuse, just above the aire at Duilhac is one of the best. Others good ones in the area are Quéribus and Puilaurens. Carcassonne is worth a visit, though it will be very crowded in August. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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