South of France advice please

Davsal

Guest
Hello everyone. Me and my partner are off to the south of france in July. We are hoping to avoid the toll roads in France and, sorry about this, will be staying on a site for hopefully a week. We are looking for a site with a swimming pool, near the beach would be nice, not too expensive, maybe a municipal site and are hoping to stay in the Provence region. Any advice on any of the above would be gratefully welcomed. Also any secluded beaches, little gems to vist, what i want to do is plan the trip so i dont miss out on a lovely day out etc. I know this is a lot to ask and maybe too much for one question but if you dont ask, then.........Thanks in advance

Dave
 
south of fance is HEAVING with people during the french july/august holiday period
personally I stay well away at that time
 
Davsal said:
Hello everyone. Me and my partner are off to the south of france in July. We are hoping to avoid the toll roads in France and, sorry about this, will be staying on a site for hopefully a week. We are looking for a site with a swimming pool, near the beach would be nice, not too expensive, maybe a municipal site and are hoping to stay in the Provence region. Any advice on any of the above would be gratefully welcomed. Also any secluded beaches, little gems to vist, what i want to do is plan the trip so i dont miss out on a lovely day out etc. I know this is a lot to ask and maybe too much for one question but if you dont ask, then.........Thanks in advance

Dave
Click to expand...

look on the web and book a site good luck.
 
I cant help with a site but we have been to the south of France a couple of times in mid summer. It depends what you like. Personally I dont like crowds or busy places but there are plenty of places in the south of France where you can loose yourself even in July and August. My favourites are Provence around the Verdon Gorges and Lac St Croix area (although the main tourist bits will be busy) and then cut a line about 100 miles inland from the coast across through the Ardeche, Florac, Tarn and Aveyron region up to the Dordogne. You cant go wrong in those regions. Fantastic.

The coast on the other hand is just bonkers and much of it to me over rated. The Cote D'Azure (St Tropez to Monaco area) will be heaving and is one of the most motorhome unfriendly places we have been. I have been a couple of times now and explored much of the French med coastline but I wont bother again. Inland for us is just 100 times better.
 
Hi Davsal
do listen to what they are saying ,we had a little place on the med coast until recently and we would not go there in the summer ,we stopped mid june and diddent go again till august was out ,avoid the coast like the plague ,sorry to put a dapener on your trip but for a week it will be a mammoth task to do stuf and the prices go through the roof MOS
 
What they've all said above the south of France is manic in the July/August.
 
The other thing you should know is that the sites near the beaches they cram them in tight.
We stayed on one site in Port Grimaud not far from St Tropez in August and as was previously said the traffic was terrible and we spent hours in the car queing to go anywhere.

If you are hells bent on staying on the coast the site was called Camping marina and it is British owned. Expensive though.
 
We stayed at Le Yotel in Port Cogolin in September 2010 as we were visiting my sister in law who has a place there. Not sure what it would be like in the Summer months and not sure how it survived the floods last year as my sister in law has been back in uk since Christmas and wasnt sure.
The site was nice but they were reluctant to let us stay because they were worried about our Chemical Toilet (we used the Aire at Pte Grimaud to empty it)
We managed to convince them (as we had e-mailed them and they had confirmed we could stay) and had a good few days there - the swimming pool was nice.
 
Hello
Like lots of others I would avoid the Med coast in July. There are some very nice sites in the Tarn Gorge along the river but not cheap.
If like me you appreciate wonderful engineering pay the 9 or 10 Euros and drive over the Millau bridge and stop at the visitor centre.

Blue Skies
 
oldpolicehouse said:
Hello
Like lots of others I would avoid the Med coast in July. There are some very nice sites in the Tarn Gorge along the river but not cheap.
If like me you appreciate wonderful engineering pay the 9 or 10 Euros and drive over the Millau bridge and stop at the visitor centre.

Blue Skies
Click to expand...

Yes I agree the bridge is an amazing feat of engineering I've been over it several times.

Get off the beaten track around this area and you sample the real France.

And oh! the vin rouge. mmmmmmmmmm
 
We are in Spain at the moment & intend to travel along the French Med. coast for a bit before we head north, haven't done much down that way before so would appreciate any recommended places to visit. Intend to use aires & widcamping when we can.
 
Kontiki said:
We are in Spain at the moment & intend to travel along the French Med. coast for a bit before we head north, haven't done much down that way before so would appreciate any recommended places to visit. Intend to use aires & widcamping when we can.
Click to expand...

It depends how far east you wish to go ?

Collioure just over the border is well worth a visit has is Carcassonne inland for starters........

Channa
 
We've probably got about 2 weeks to spend down south, so just looking for a few nice spots before we head north. Prefer to stick to the coast as much as possible, hoping it won't be too busy this time of year.
 
This time of year no problem, Collioure as I mentioned is worth a visit ......there is a laybye on the right on the way in where I saw vans often parked....the town itself is an old fishing village....populkar with artists notably Picasso.

Between Beziers and Sete ,you have the canal du midi which you can literally wild at the side of near Portiragnes plage .....Cap d agde is worth a visit....and the coastal road between Marseillan plage and Sete still offers a wilding opportunity .....literally spill out the van on to the beach ...they have built a new roadbut April last year it was still possible to drive on to the old one.....just hope the sand hasnt reclaimed the old road completely.......

Best wildcamping spot ever in my opinion

Channa
 
Thanks for the info, have copied it to a text file for future reference when I can't get on the web.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Having chatted to my partner, and listening to all your advice, we will probably go to the south, but not as far as the coast. Sally likes hot weather, but will not fly, hence the campervan and driving to where the hot weather might be. Also, although I would and have wildcamped a few times, Sally likes her home comforts and insists on a shower etc. So any advice on a nice camp in a nice charming and quiet area would be very much appreciated. Still a big ask, but thanks again in advance.
 
weather

Kontiki said:
We are in Spain at the moment & intend to travel along the French Med. coast for a bit before we head north, haven't done much down that way before so would appreciate any recommended places to visit. Intend to use aires & widcamping when we can.
Click to expand...

Where are you in Spain?/ How is the weather now?? T shirt or jumper?/
Was in Marbella in Jan in T shirt and paddling n the sea ...
 
We on on an aire at Sant Feliu de Guix just north of Lloret de Mar. Aire is free with water & emptying & there is wifi, it's a small town & only a short walk from the aire, probably have a couple more days in Spain if we can find any more stopping places north of us.
Weather was nice & sunny yesterday but the wind was quite cool, needed a jumper or coat. Today is a bit cloudy but not too bad, not warm enough to go paddling in the sea.
 
We had great reservations about being in the south of France last summer in July and August. We were away from June to November so we had to be somewhere. As everyone has said if you avoid the coast there is plenty of great places and you can always lose yourself. We went to the Pont d'Arc at the head of the Ardeche Gorges in early August and it was madness but here is the thing. We still found a lovely Aire with EHU and facilities and the whole place had a great party atmosphere.

We went canoeing on the Ardeche. We got an early start thinking we would beat the crowds. Well we did for an hour then it was just canoe city but what a laugh. Hundreds of French people on the river just having the time of their lives. Baking hot sun, people building canoe rafts and shooting rapids. How hundreds of them didnt drown I will never know. We loved it.

When we got sick we simply looked at the map, found somewhere quiet out in the sticks and drove there. Around the 20th August it was like a mass exodus. Everyone went home and we had France back to ourselves.

When people say "The south of France" everyone automatically thinks of the coast and St Tropez or Nice. Well the best part of the south of France is definately inland.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top