France city centre camping

[Salty Spuds]

Look for Municipal Campsites in & around towns & cities. They are usually geared up for the short break stopover and have good public transport links to the city. Never found a bad one, all the ones we have stayed on have been top quality & cheap. They are usually subsidised by the ville to attract tourists.

 

[Bav]

I just can't understand why so many people seem to have such a downer on Paris

That'll be the Parisians

 

[Bav]

btw, I'm not a xenophobe. This was my first encounter with a Parisian (a waiter in a not very busy café):

Me: (in an a passable French accent) <<Pardon monsieur. Duex café au lait, si vous plait.>>
Waiter: (in a very irritated and dismissive manner) "In English! In English!"
Me: (in an equally irritated and dismissive manner) <<Vous êtes un connard, monsieur!>>
Me & Mrs Bav: [exit stage left... well, out onto the pavement]

 

[JamesD]

IMHO, the tunnel is a far more civilised experience than the ferry. We've been using it for a long time now and have never had any issue with traffic on the Calais side. We generally stay somewhere close the night before coming home and also leave ourselves plenty of time to get to the terminal which has always ended up with us being put on an earlier train. Traffic on the UK side has often been problematic as our drive involves the M25 etc. but, again, we tend to stay somewhere close(ish) to the terminal and book an morning train so the traffic has never impacted on the actual departure time - again, we generally arrive in enough time for them to just stick us on an earlier than booked train.

Also, we're all different but I just can't understand why so many people seem to have such a downer on Paris. As cities go, it's a lovely place with a lot to offer. I've foolishly done it in the past but nowadays would never consider trying to drive through the centre but there's really no need as the public transport system does the job.

Hi Ayjay
We are doing the France trip this September and the only site we haven’t booked yet is the one near to Calais for the tunnel back. Do you recommend any good one? Please.

 

[Ayjay]

@JamesD We have used a couple:

Camping La Fontaine des Clercs (Camping La Fontaine des Clercs). IMHO a fantastic site situated under the ramparts of Montreuil sur Mer which is a lovely old town with bundles of great places to eat and drink. It's a nice site run by a young guy who is obviously quite proud of it. The only problem is that it's about an hour from Calais which might not be as close as you want.
Camping Chateau du Gandspette (Campsite France Pas de Calais - ᐃ CHATEAU DU GANDSPETTE **** - Eperlecques). Another brilliant site less than 30 minutes from Calais. If you don't want to self cater (ie. me and SWMBO), the only issue is that their [good] on site restaurant might be closed later in September and you would have to go to the nearest town (Eperleque) for food - it's probably a bit far to walk but only a short bike ride. I've heard the odd comment from Brits saying that there tends to be too many Brits staying there but IMHO that's probably because it's so good! If you've got time, it's also a walk from a V2 Rocket site left over from WW2 which we found to be fascinating (Accueil - Le Blockhaus d'Eperlecques - 1ère Base V2 & V1). They also take the ACSI Camping Card which is always worth buying.
I've also heard good things Camping La Bien Assise which is even closer to Calais but we've never used it so I can't comment further.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you want anything else.

 

[Ayjay]

@JamesD. PS. I forgot to mention that I believe there is now an aire in Calais itself which would probably put it within 15 minutes (give or take a couple) of the tunnel. It's supposed to have replaced the old scruffy but very very convenient and now closed municipal camp site which overlooked the ferry terminal. Again, never used it and have no idea of what facilities there are so can't comment further.

 

[JamesD]

@JamesD We have used a couple:

Camping La Fontaine des Clercs (Camping La Fontaine des Clercs). IMHO a fantastic site situated under the ramparts of Montreuil sur Mer which is a lovely old town with bundles of great places to eat and drink. It's a nice site run by a young guy who is obviously quite proud of it. The only problem is that it's about an hour from Calais which might not be as close as you want.
Camping Chateau du Gandspette (Campsite France Pas de Calais - ᐃ CHATEAU DU GANDSPETTE **** - Eperlecques). Another brilliant site less than 30 minutes from Calais. If you don't want to self cater (ie. me and SWMBO), the only issue is that their [good] on site restaurant might be closed later in September and you would have to go to the nearest town (Eperleque) for food - it's probably a bit far to walk but only a short bike ride. I've heard the odd comment from Brits saying that there tends to be too many Brits staying there but IMHO that's probably because it's so good! If you've got time, it's also a walk from a V2 Rocket site left over from WW2 which we found to be fascinating (Accueil - Le Blockhaus d'Eperlecques - 1ère Base V2 & V1). They also take the ACSI Camping Card which is always worth buying.
I've also heard good things Camping La Bien Assise which is even closer to Calais but we've never used it so I can't comment further.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you want anything else.

Thank you so much. That’s really helpful. We will have a look at those and see which to go for. 30 mins seems fine our train is at about 12:00

 

[JamesD]

@JamesD. PS. I forgot to mention that I believe there is now an aire in Calais itself which would probably put it within 15 minutes (give or take a couple) of the tunnel. It's supposed to have replaced the old scruffy but very very convenient and now closed municipal camp site which overlooked the ferry terminal. Again, never used it and have no idea of what facilities there are so can't comment further.

Thanks Ill have a look at that one too