Our Camping Adventure - The Route

WHAT A TRIP!

We all love camping even more than we did before. It's honestly THE best family holiday, and can be as luxurious or basic as you want to make it!

Having found ourselves without a home for a month, we decided that the obvious answer was to throw the bell tent and Bundle Beds into the boot of the car (along with all of the other camping kit) and head off on an adventure. We're based in Switzerland, so we decided to do a loop around the South of France, staying at places for between 3-5 nights.

Here's the route of our family camping trip around France...

CAMPSITE #1 - Huttopia Gorges du Verdon

 

This was probably my favourite campsite of the entire trip. It had brilliant facilities, was in an amazing location and completely exceeded expectations.

Best bit: The private beach and access to the Verdon.

Worst bit: The meal on the first night.

Good for Kids? YES! The parks, pools and beach meant entertaining them was very easy.

 

CAMPSITE #2 - Huttopia Foret de Janas

I'd recommend renting one of their chalets as opposed to pitching a tent here - the camping pitches were small and on a bit of a hill, so not ideal for sleeping or with little kids. It was still a great campsite though, with awesome facilities.

Best bit: The nearby beaches and the pool at the campsite.

Worst bit: The pitches themselves - on an incline and not very spacious.

Good for Kids? YES! The pool was perfect as it had two different depths, so ideal for little ones or older ones.

 

CAMPSITE #3 - Sandaya Blue Bayou

 

This was very different from the campsite's that we had stayed in before, but we booked it for the kids to enjoy the water slides and activities there. The beach was absolutely beautiful, and the slides were really fun. It was busy though, and a lot more noisy and hectic than other campsites that we have stayed at.

Best bit: The beach - it was absolutely stunning and a very easy and quick walk along a private path from the campsite.

Worst bit: The amount of people and the louder evening music and entertainment.

Good for Kids? YES! Our kids LOVED the water slides, parks and bouncy castle.

  

LOCATION #4 - Pierre et Vacances Holiday Village Moliets

This was our only "non-camping" part of the trip. The journey between #3 & #5 was over 7hours, so we decided to break it up with 3 nights in a hotel. It's probably the only place that we wouldn't go back to, but having a break with the kids club and from putting up and taking down the tent was good.

Best bit: The kids club.

Worst bit: The size of the apartment and the sofa bed. It was so uncomfortable so we ended up using the mattresses from the kids beds, and they had their Bundle Beds on top of the bed bases.

Good for Kids? YES! The kids club was brilliant, and there were two swimming pools that our two kids loved.

 

CAMPSITE #5 - Huttopia Lac de Carcans

We loved it here and could have stayed for 10 days! The campsite was in easy reach of the lake, and only a 15mins cycle from the beach, with great surf, so you really had the best of both worlds! 

Best bit: Having the option of both the lake & beach for water activities and beach time. The beach was beautiful and had really good surf, and the lake beach was lovely for the kids.

Worst bit: There really wasn't anything bad!

Good for Kids? YES! The campsite was brilliant for kids, with an excellent park, right next to the restaurant, meaning that parents could sit back and watch the kids play. And there was limited car access on site, so it was really safe for kids to roam.

 

CAMPSITE #6 - Huttopia Lac de la Siauve

 

This was our last stop, and we chose it because of it being in between Carcans and our home in Switzerland. The lake, although not as clear as the others that we had been to, was brilliant for activities, and the campsite was great.

Best bit: The view of the lake.

Worst bit: The path down to the lake was quite steep with a SUP & kids!

Good for Kids? YES!

 

We learnt a lot from this trip! We want to do the same next year, but here's what we'd do differently...

LENGTH OF STAY:

We'll try to make stays a minimum of 4-5nights, as 3 nights meant that setting up and pack down came along too quickly!

WHAT TO TAKE:

We definitely packed FAR too many clothes. It was so easy to do laundry on the site, and making sure that you take clothes that can be popped in the tumble dryer in case of bad weather makes it even quicker and easier.

Also, I took a toy box for the kids, but they hardly played with them at all! I think I'll take a pad of paper and some pens, a game of Dobble, a pack of cards for games of snap and then let them find other toys in nature!

Our day tent was BRILLIANT! We will definitely take that again, and the kitchen set up was fantastic too.

WHERE TO STAY:

We absolutely loved the Huttopia campsites. They provided the perfect balance of feeling rustic and in nature, but still provided great entertainment for the kids, and the ease of prepared food as and when you needed it. We didn't need the break from camping that we had booked, so would just stay at campsites for the full duration next time.