This May half term, we will be going on our first Eurocamp holiday as a family.
The first thing on our agenda back when we first started planning our Eurocamp holiday, was which Eurocamp parc to choose? We began with a blank canvas in terms of destination preference, and a whole lot of options – Eurocamp has 180 parcs across Europe,how would we work out which is the best Eurocamp for our family? In this post I am going to run through the process of how to choose a Eurocamp holiday parc.
The backstory: I approached Eurocamp last year to see if they would be interested to work together in producing some content showcasing Eurocamp holidays. I got in touch because I really think Eurocamp breaks could be the ideal holiday option for our family in the years to come and I was keen to try out a Eurocamp holiday to test this theory. Eurocamp were on board, and so we began the process of choosing the best Eurocamp holiday for our family.
Why choose a Eurocamp holiday?
Two things that really appeal to me about Eurocamp holidays are the many activity and entertainment options for children, and the freedom that older children can have on-site. Plus the cost effectiveness of a Eurocamp holiday for larger family sizes.
As a family of five, we are classed as a large family when it comes to travel and holiday bookings. It can often prove difficult to book a holiday for five without needing an extra hotel room, which comes at a significant extra cost. Eurocamp price their holidays per family, instead of a per person price. This really appeals to me as a more cost effective option for our family.
With many of Eurocamp’s accommodation options sleeping 6 – 8 people, it also gives us the option to invite friends and family on holiday with us at no extra accommodation cost.
Eurocamp activities for children
At the time of our Eurocamp holiday, our children will be 8, 6, and 3 years old. These days, we find that our older two children especially really thrive on holidays where they have a greater feeling of independence, and the sense that they can decide what they want to do with their day. With its kids clubs and varied activity schedule, Eurocamp can really tick this box for our family. I’m pretty confident that our children will waste no time signing up to every football activity going and wanting to hang out with their friends at the Eurocamp kids club.
On an enclosed parc like Eurocamp, there is a fun sense of freedom for older children. Ours will be perhaps a little young this time round, but I have very fond memories of my own Eurocamp holidays as an 8 to 12 year old, where we’d be allowed free run of the parc and had a ball riding around on our bikes or in the play areas with new friends we’d made that week.
A Eurocamp holiday gives children a chance to rediscover the outdoors, to explore and play in safety, and I can’t wait for our children to experience that.
So, the variety for children and the ‘per family’ price where the two main things that initially appealed to me about Eurocamp. Now it was time to pick our destination!
Which is the best Eurocamp parc for you?
With 180 Eurocamp parcs across Europe, you can literally find a Eurocamp holiday in every European destination you can think of. If you are starting off like us, open to all destination options with no particular area of Europe you need to base yourselves in, the Eurocamp website is a really helpful resource to help you narrow down your holiday options. Eurocamp have even created a simple guide to hassle-free holiday selection to help anyone new to Eurocamp create the perfect holiday.
Eurocamp break down their parc destination options into easier to digest sections: hot destinations, beach destinations, destinations that are near to the airport, destinations where you won’t need a car, fly drive holidays, city holidays, holidays with teenagers…the lists are pretty expansive. We found this method of browsing all the different Eurocamp holidays really useful when trying to choose the best Eurocamp parc for our family.
Choosing a Eurocamp parc in France
As our Eurocamp break would be during the May half term week, we quickly decided to narrow our focus to destinations that were a manageable drive from Calais. Saving destinations that were a flight away, or doing the longer drive to the south of France, for future trips during the summer holidays, where we would be able to do a ten day or two week trip in order to take our time breaking up a longer drive, or to make flights and car hire more worth the cost.
Eurocamp self drive holidays
Most years, our travel budget is fairly minimal. We don’t always have the money for flights and car hire, etc. Which is why a self-drive option – going via ferry or the channel tunnel to Calais – is really appealing to us. Driving our own car to a Eurocamp holiday can save a huge chunk of the money we’d usually need to spend on travel during a family holiday. Book far enough in advance, and your ferry or Eurotunnel crossing will likely cost you well under £100.
We will be travelling to our Eurocamp parc via the Eurostar channel tunnel service. Our crossing was booked through Eurocamp at the same time that we booked our accommodation. So far, we’ve found Eurocamp really easy to deal with regarding travel arrangements. We recently changed our outgoing crossing time via the Eurocamp online chat service, which took just minutes to arrange.
We’ve also been very impressed with Eurocamp’s efforts to keep us up to date with any changes that could affect our holiday as a result of Brexit. (At one point, a potential Brexit date was being discussed for just a few days before our trip, but we no longer have to worry about that!)
Eurocamp sent us an email detailing any changes we’d have to make just in case we do leave the EU before our holiday, which is basically just applying for an driving driving permit and making sure our passports have over 6 months validity, which we always do anyway.
Consider the weather when choosing your Eurocamp holiday
Weather was also something that we considered when choosing our Eurocamp destination. As with any holiday outside of the summer months, we could luck out with amazingly warm weather in May, or we could have a variety of weather. Because of the time of year we are visiting, it was important to us to choose a Eurocamp parc that had indoor swimming options.
Which Eurocamp holiday did we choose?
After considering travel time, plus all the things that were important to us in a family holiday, the Eurocamp parc that stood out to us in terms of ticking all the boxes was La Croix Du Vieux Pont.
Nestled in the Aisne Valley, with its gently flowing rivers and sleepy towns, La Croix Du Vieux Pont is 241km (a 2.5 hour drive) from Calais – making a very easy journey time for our week long half term break.
What’s on site at La Croix Du Vieux Pont?
There are four swimming pools at La Croix Du Vieux Pont, including one with a retractabe roof – whatever the weather, La Croix Du Vieux Pont has ideal options for swimming.
La Croix Du Vieux Pont is also ideally located for holidaymakers considering a trip to Paris or to Disneyland. Being approximately a 1.5 hour drive from both. Being close to Paris is a bonus for us, as one of our children has, for a long time, expressed a particular interest in seeing the Eiffel tower. Although I have a pretty good inkling that our children aren’t going to want to lose any time away from our Eurocamp parc once we arrive, so we plan to play any potential day trips by ear and just decide during the course of our holiday.
Once we are home from our break, I’ll be posting a trip update and travel video all about our Eurocamp holiday at La Croix Du Vieux Pont. We are super excited to test out Eurocamp as an affordable, family focused holiday option!
Disclosure: AD – Our Eurocamp accommodation and channel tunnel travel is being provided by Eurocamp for the purpose of review and content creation.
