Dont worry about missing this Summer of Sport while Camping in France !

If you are worried about missing the major televised International Sports Event this summer (25th July - 12th August) while you are on your French Camping holiday, then dont worry any more. The following campsites are just some of the ones which Keycamp and Eurocamp go to which will be catering for a summer of sport !

This is a selection of some of the campsites which Eurocamp and Keycamp go to and which will show the Event on Big Screen television :

Le Ranc Davaine (in Auvergne or Ardeche) ,
La Bugue (St Avit Loisirs) in the Dordogne,
Le Vieux Port in Gascony, Domaine de Chalain in the Jura , Club Farret, Domaine de Massereau and Les Sablons in Languedoc
Esterel on the Riviera
La Pointe St Gilles, Les Deux Fontaines and La Grande Métairie in Brittany

In addition, some of the children's clubs will offer a Mini Sports activities and some of the sites are even getting adults involved with the entertainments - so if sport is your thing you should have a fantastic summer !

Keycamp and Eurocamp are offering a two hour Fun Sports session per week as part of their Children's Clubs and these sesssions which will aim offer a combination of traditional events such as Javelin, Hammer, Discus, Shot, Long jump, Relay race and Short individual race as well as fun events as well such as bean bag races and obstacle courses.

For more details of all of this please check the Eurocamp and Keycamp websites :

          

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Weather Forecast with XC Weather

I really like this weather forecasting application from XCWeather to check out the weather in France or in the UK as well. It was recommended by a campsite manager here in the UK as we were hoping to go camping this week but the winds were far too high. So if you want to plan your camping holiday this might be a good tool to use. I like the fact you can click on the arrows to zoom into the information for a particular place.

I've no idea if its more accurate than the Met Office or the BBC or France 2 weather but we find we increasingly can't rely on forecasts so anything which helps a bit would be useful. We have even gone as far as cancelling plans for a weekend at one point only to find out the weather was lovely and I think the opposite has happened too.

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/FR/forecast

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Interesting French Camping Statistics from FFCC

Here are some interesting statistics from the Federation Francaise de Camping et de Caravanning (FFCC).
I may not have got my translation entirely right so if you want to check for me the original stats can be seen at http://www.ffcc.fr/53/html/campings/chiffres-cles.aspx

Camping is the No.1 type of holiday in France with the most numbers of "tourist beds"
French camping is the 2nd largest in the world after the United States.
France is the most popular place in Europe for camping.
People slept a total of 103 million nights in French campsites in 2009 (and increase of 4.2% over 2008)

There are 6 million French campers and 2 million foreign campers who come to France each year, with the majority being Dutch, Germans and British.

Camping in France employs more than 13 000 permanent employees in 10,430 campsites.

There are 83,051 mobile homes available for rental.

Campsites are currently graded in a star rating rather like hotels. Basic campsites, perhaps offered by a farm, might have for example just shower and washing facilities would have a 1 or 2 star rating, while if you stay in a four star campsite you might expect to find a restaurant, swimming pool, shop, tennis courts etc.
1 and 2 star campsites represent 40% of total emplacements but make up only 30% of nights, with their clientele being three quarters French.   3 and 4 star campsites make up 70% of nights and host 40% of tourists visiting France from elsewhere

The more basic campsites also tend to be smaller with 1 star campsites covering an average of 1.3 hectares while the 3 and 4 star campsites are larger, with the 4 star campsites covering an average of 5.5 hectares.

The number of emplacements in France has increased from 165,000 in 1960 to 900,000 sites late 1980.

Since 2005, camping has become very "trendy" or "chic" if we are to believe the media.

The FFCC believe that the popularity of camping has increased for a variety of reasons :

• Economic reasons - its a low budget holiday,

• Camping gets you closer to nature,
• The excellent facilities offered on many campsites, and,

• There are all sorts of varied new types of accommodations on campsites to satisfy the demands of consumers - so you can now find such things as kids' tree houses, gypsy caravans, log cabins and yurts on campsites.

A new system of classification of outdoor accommodation was launched on 1 July 2010 to replace the classification of 1993 which no longer reflected the quality of provision of campsites today.  Professionals have until July 22, 2012 to comply. Plans are to have a new grading of  "five stars" to keep up with some of the huge improvements seen on many campsites.

I hope you have found some of these statistics interesting !  I didn't realise camping was so popular in France !

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Le Mans 24 Hours Race

For the Le Mans 24 Hours Race in June, here is an interesting link to a provider of tickets and camping at the race. http://www.speedchills.com/index.php
The official site is at http://www.lemans.org/

Or if you are happy to camp elsewhere and travel to the track then you could stay at our recommended campsite at Chambord in the Loire where you can stay with either Keycamp at Les Chateau des Marais or Eurocamp at Les Chateau des Marais

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September is last month to Visit Puy du Fou Theme Park this year

September is the last month for 2010 when you can visit the fabulous Puy du Fou historical theme park. It opens again April 2011 for summer 2011.
Its definitely worth a visit !
If you want to see all our photographs please visit our flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/best_french_campsites/sets/72157624495744356/

So if you are camping in the Vendee or Loire areas then this is definitely worth a visit ! You can also stay there in either a Roman Villa Hotel or some huts on stilts over water. So that might be an option - combine a couple of nights stay there with a camping holiday.

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September Sun Selection from Eurocamp

September holidays are becoming more popular for Eurocampers every year. It's a great time to get away. For exploring, excitement or escape, whatever your reason for getting away you'll find some great options in Eurocamp's September Sun Selection.

More details of this offer can be found here:

Link to Eurocamp

Don’t forget there are great savings to be made if you book your 2011 holiday or at least reserve it. You can make savings of up to 30% off next year’s holiday.

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Keycamp Celebrates 35th Birthday !

Keycamp are celebrating their 35th Birthday by allowing you to reserve your 2011 Holiday for only £35 !!

There may also be lots of last minute summer bargains as according to the Radio 4 news this morning holiday companies are reporting low bookings in Europe for this year.

Click here to book a last minute 2010 holiday or look at holidays with Keycamp for next year ! www.keycamp.co.uk

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The Seaside Still Favourite Destination for French holidaymakers

French holidaymakers still prefer to holiday at the seaside, with 60% choosing it as a destination this year. The next most popular destinations are towns (19%) and the countryside (15%). Only 8% choose the mountains as their holiday destination, possibly as people think this might be too energetic a holiday ! And only 1% go on a wild camping/walking holiday. However if you really want to get away from the crowds, the mountains could be an excellent choice of holiday destination. During the very hot summer weather, you can expect a cooler night high up in the mountains so you might actually enjoy a good nights sleep after all that walking !
http://www.francesoir.fr/vie-quotidienne/les-francais-plebiscitent-la-mer

There are some excellent campsites up in the mountains, with beautiful swimming pools with mountain views. We will be reviewing some of these mountain destinations on our website at www.bestfrenchcampsites.com or if you would like to look at campsites in the meantime please look at www.keycamp.co.uk

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