New to France 🇫🇷

Welcome aboard. 

My honest advice is to choose an area of France you would like to visit rather than to begin by choosing a campsite. Every stretch of the French coast has campsites by the sea - the Channel. the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Where  are you crossing? How far do you want to drive? How long have you got? 

Michelle

We stayed at Pavillon Royal 20 years ago so my information may be a bit out of date? Its a nice site and I seem to recall we had a very nice meal in their restaurant. Facilities were fine. Only word of caution if you book through the Club we weren't that happy with the allocated pitch and asked to move which they were fine about. The Club pitches overlook the sea but even with a caravan we had trouble getting it level. Biarritz is just over a mile away but don't make the mistake we made by trying to walk along the beach, best to stick to the road. I have a rather old site review on my website here http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/camping_pavillon_royal.htm Our pitch was with the dark coloured Citroen Xantia parked across the pitch.

David

As EuroT rightly advises France has oodles of campsites around its coastline, which stretches for over 5,000 kilometres. In order to be able to give you advice on campsites we really need to know if you have a particular area in mind. How far do you want to travel?

In addition can you let us know if you need anything specific, apart from access to the beach, such as a Restaurant, walking distance to a nice town, a swimming pool etc.

As you will have a teenager in the party I'm guessing you will be visiting in the summer high season. At this time of year beaches in the south will be a bit "warm", which if you like to melt then great. If you prefer it simply a bit hot, then I'd be thinking of the west coast. The Isle-de-Re or Isle-de-Oleron may be of interest. This would also have the advantage of saving you a tankerful of fuel in not having to pull your twin axle so far and it would be across flatter land. The only issue may pitches are on the small size and access can be tight for larger vehicles so you would have to check on this. 

To give you an idea of tight access, when we visited the very nice https://www.clicochic.com/camping-france-poitou_charentes-camp_du_soleil-FR.html

back in 2019 we had to motor mover our small the van about 40-50 metres onto the pitch. A French couple turned up about 1/2 hr later in a motorhome and took a different approach to the problem. They drove through the boundary hedges, wound out the awning and then sat down to a nice long drink.

Colin

I just thought that the opening post asking about one site in Brittany and one near the Spanish border was a bit random.

Many sites in France do not accept twin axles. Check before you book.

Go online and look at the   ACSI  web site. You will find campsite info and reviews there as well as discount off season prices.  They also show if twin axle is accepted under campsite rules for each site - for instance

Campsite rules

Caravans allowed
Tents allowed
Small extra tent permitted
Motorhomes allowed
Twin-axle vehicles permitted
Dog(s) in low season (on lead)
Max. total:1
Barbecues permitted
type of BBQ:gas | electricity

With the exception of two occasions due to Covid we have been going to Pavillon Royal since 1990.

When the previous manager suddenly passed away around 2017 the new, younger and more commercial management started making alterations to aspects of the site. Mostly for the better.

In the last two years the access road to the site has improved considerably by banning parking on the road. In the past the road was jammed with parked cars and vans. Many staying overnight or longer.

The higher, golf course side of the site has had a new landscaped retaining structure installed to replace the old banked area resulting in improved pitches. The old lifeguard's building, at the gate to the beach, has been demolished and a new building has been constructed on the road access.

The site doesn't open this year until June 1st because the existing swimming pool is being reconstructed. So if anyone hasn't been to Pavillon Royal since before Covid they would notice some significant improvements.

These however have now made a very popular site even more popular. Over the past two years the site no longer take bookings via CAMC during high season, so you would need to book direct for late July to early Sept.

Over the last two years and for this year we are going end of May to beginning of July. It's not crowded, no queuing for anything and less traffic.

For me August is now too busy, too crowded and too expensive.