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Saturday 24 March 2012

Travel Blog Series-Plan your Holiday this summer on a shoe string and go camping in France


Travel Blog

If your thinking of getting away this summer and like me enjoy a spot of camping then I can strongly suggest nipping over to the continent. In particular I would highly recommend driving and camping in France. Last year I endured and enjoyed a 3500 mile round trip in just under 4 weeks. It was a little too long if I am being honest (referring to distance travelled) but the idea was to do a bit of recon on the best spots and favourable locations to camp.

Our trip took us through Epernay in Champagne, Tain L’hermitage in the Rhone valley, La Londe on the Provence coast and onwards to St Tropez. We crossed the boarder to Liguria and later Toscana Italy. The most noticeable outcome was the standard of campsite, even our 12 euro per night municipal in Epernay was fantastic. Clean equipped and sadly head and shoulders above that of any Italian site we visited.

Costing a trip like this is tricky because you just don’t know what to expect or where you may be on any given day or night but as a rule of thumb this is the breakdown of our main costs. You will notice some pleasant surprises like the Ferry crossing and certain campsites.

Return Ferry crossing from Dover to Dunkirque £54 with Norfolk Ferries.
Travel insurance £19, protectyourbubble.com
Kwik Fit European Breakdown Cover, £5.99 per month. Annual policies are usually cost affective against one offs.
Epernay campsite 12 euro per night
Tain l’Hermitage 30 euro per night
La Londe 39 euro per night
Liguria 35 euro per night
Toscana 39 euro per night

Note how the cost of campsite increases as you go further south in France or closer to the Med’

In all Fuel cost and road tolls will be your biggest cost, don’t expect it to be cheaper than flying to your destination because it won’t. However you do have the freedom to move around and explore. I probably spent £500 on fuel and if you are unlucky you could pay just as much on tolls. I probably spent £250 on tolls. So there is £750 straight off on car travel before you even think about camping and eating or visiting tourist attractions. However much that sounds though we where away for four weeks and I dare say you couldn’t stay in Hotels for that length of time on the budget we had.

So, over the next few weeks I’m going to put together a few instalments of my trip from last year and with the benefit of hindsight tell you of the plan we have for this summer.  

1 comment:

  1. I have to say that I detest camping with a passion! It might well be cheap but I'd much prefer a nice bed and a en-suite thank you very much, however delightful the views from the tent-flap are of a morning!

    :-)

    ReplyDelete