Holiday in Brittany

[ajh38]

I'm thinking of going on a camping holiday in Brittany with my girlfriend next month. Does anyone have any experience of going there and where to stay? Would be great to hear from some 1st hand experience of where to stay etc, what to do etc.

Going to be driving from Calais and staying for a week. Haven't camped for about 5 years and then I was at uni and probably pissed the whole time so not sure how I will get on with it....

Cheers,

Andrew

[BlackCup]

I love Brittany it's so beautiful, it's like Devon and cornwall without the traffic and pasties. Only stayed in cottages but there are some lovely places, erquay, saint jacut, dinard, saint malo- from which u cud nip over to jersey for the day. Great fun to be had- some beautiful sights apart from the scantily clad German midlifes! From our days out there seemed to be quite a few camp sights right on the beaches.
Hth
Matt

[Puggit]

Consider the ferry to St Malo - the drive from Calais is long and uninspiring! The ferry is overnight from Portsmouth on the way out, and daytime on the return.

So much better than slogging along the autoroute.

[Roo]

Puggit said:

Consider the ferry to St Malo - the drive from Calais is long and uninspiring! The ferry is overnight from Portsmouth on the way out, and daytime on the return.

So much better than slogging along the autoroute.

Sorry, got to disagree with that.

The ferry is an abomination.

It's overpriced and incredibly time consuming. We booked an upgraded cabin and got a room so small you couldn't swing a cat. You could only see the TV by sitting on one part of the bed that left you with a crooked neck due to the bunk bed bed two feet above you. It had so much engine noise it was almost impossible to sleep.

It's a five/six hour drive from Calais via Le Havre which is a much more enjoyable experience.

[GlenMH]

Me too! I live in Bristol and depart tomorrow for Saint Malo. I am doing it via Dover-Calais as it saves over 100 quid compared with any of the ferries that arrive further west in France. And this is in a diesel smoker that only gets mid-30s to the gallon. If your fuel economy is better, then you will save more.

Yes, the drive is not that great but get off the motorway and see some of the lovely villages in Normandy etc on the way.

[Black Frog]

Ferry/train is a personal thing...depends a lot on where you start from and how much of your holiday budget you want to allocate to getting to France...cheapest will be Dover:Dunkerque...a little slower and 20km more in France, but very little hassle and straight on to autoroutes...quickest is Chunnel, but at a cost...Newhaven Dieppe is a good short cut mileage-wise, but pricey...As to end destination, the area around La Trinite sur Mer is brilliant - Southern Brittany, so a little further away, but on an in-land sea (Gulf de Morbihan) so protected from the Atlantic and pretty much guaranteed hot. Try Camping de la Baie - http://en.camping-de-la-baie.net/. Key towns are Carnac, Auray and Vannes. Plenty to see and do, good food/wine/markets and nice French people. Oh, and if you want to escape the heat for a while, Manoir de l'automobile is just over an hours drive away in Loheac - if you time it right you might even catch a track day or some rally-x there too... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwSEof0gyc. Bon voyage!

[S2Mike]

Puggit said:

Consider the ferry to St Malo - the drive from Calais is long and uninspiring! The ferry is overnight from Portsmouth on the way out, and daytime on the return.

So much better than slogging along the autoroute.

Take the overnight to Portsmouth to St Malo, then fresh for the beautiful countryside of Brittany. I have done the Calais the Cherbourg and Dieppe crossings, and unless you tour the sights with overnight stops en-route its all rush especially with only the one week!

Any way once there southern Brittany around Carnac has wonderful beaches, we stayed at Le Moustoir, which is an excellent site close to all the beaches, the town one shop sells icecream of 300 flavours and is amongst a forest. 2 swimming pools with water slides and play areas for kids. For a meal a short drive out to Quiberon, a long narrow peninsula where you have the rocks and rough sea to one side and lagoon smooth sea with white sand on the other, drive right to the end and the town of Quiberon, at the end has a fantastic variety of excellent restaurants along the quayside, with huge car parks. A walk after your meal at sunset is idyllic !

Edited by S2Mike on Thursday 26th July 10:03

Edited by S2Mike on Thursday 26th July 10:09

[jogon]

I would look into the fast ferry from Portsmouth to Caen as its only 3hrs45m. It took us another 3 hrs to drive down to La Rochelle.

[ajh38]

Sadly I don't think the Boxster will save me any money on fuel! I live about 25 minutes from Dover and a good 2 and a half hours from Portsmouth so it wouldn't really make sense for me to go from there.

Thanks for all the replies though guys, much appreciated. Was thinking about going to Le Touquet for a couple of days first but haven't really made up my mind yet.

[Puggit]

jogon said:

It took us another 3 hrs to drive down to La Rochelle.

3 hours, and how many minutes?

As someone who does Caen-Le Mans many times each year I know how long that bit takes!

[Upinflames]

10 year bump!

Anyone know about the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo nowadays? Is it still awful?

Planning a week touring Brittany in the summer and it seemed like an ideal start, nice evening / night on the ferry then arrive refreshed in St Malo.

Also in summer can I rely on just rolling into town and getting a hotel or should I pre book?

Cheers!

[RicksAlfas]

Upinflames said:

10 year bump!

Anyone know about the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo nowadays? Is it still awful?

Planning a week touring Brittany in the summer and it seemed like an ideal start, nice evening / night on the ferry then arrive refreshed in St Malo.

Also in summer can I rely on just rolling into town and getting a hotel or should I pre book?

Cheers!

My parents use it regularly and are very complimentary about it. They always have a cabin though!

Where are you booking a hotel?

[Upinflames]

RicksAlfas said:

Upinflames said:

10 year bump!

Anyone know about the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo nowadays? Is it still awful?

Planning a week touring Brittany in the summer and it seemed like an ideal start, nice evening / night on the ferry then arrive refreshed in St Malo.

Also in summer can I rely on just rolling into town and getting a hotel or should I pre book?

Cheers!

My parents use it regularly and are very complimentary about it. They always have a cabin though!

Where are you booking a hotel?

Thanks for that.

I think the first night will be in St Malo but then beyond that I was going to play it by ear

[RicksAlfas]

Upinflames said:

Thanks for that.

I think the first night will be in St Malo but then beyond that I was going to play it by ear

Does that make sense?
You'll be paying a lot to sleep in a cabin on the ferry, so next day won't you be off on your travels? Not staying in St Malo.

[Upinflames]

RicksAlfas said:

Does that make sense?
You'll be paying a lot to sleep in a cabin on the ferry, so next day won't you be off on your travels? Not staying in St Malo.

Just thought St Malo looks like it's worth a day sightseeing. I have only just realised that the return ferry goes by day (duh) so prob makes sense to have the last day / night in St Malo then get on the boat the following morning

[aspirin]

We live in Somerset and use this route twice a year. Always book a cabin, I think there may be reclining seats on this route but it’s much better to have your own space. The food is good value and you arrive in St Malo quite early in the morning but as we are going on to Bayonne that’s not a problem. Coming home we usually do Cherbourg - Poole or Portsmouth, late afternoon, but again always book a cabin.
For us Dover is 180 miles away and the Autoroutes across France are busier than the west coast routes, at least until you get to Bordeaux.