Over the October half term we took a trip to France and stayed just an hour outside Paris in the Eurocamp La Croix du Vieux Pont campsite. This was the boys’ first time outside of the UK and they were so excited to visit France! We found the holiday very relaxing and it was a great place for our first trip to mainland Europe with a great balance of different things to see and do.
We travelled across to France by ferry which was so easy and convenient. It takes only 1.5 hours to cross from Dover to Calais, and the drive from London to Dover is only 2 hours (although we went down the night before and stayed one night in a hotel near the port just to make sure there was no rushing in the morning.) Being able to just drive onto the ferry with all our suitcases in the car, and then drive off again on the other side seems like so much easier to me than having to check everything in and take the kids on a plane so we were really happy with this method of travelling.
The boys are all keen on boats too so they were quite excited by travelling by ferry. Here you can see them looking out over the water as we were setting off from Dover.
When arriving in Calais, it was under 2 hours drive for us to reach the La Croix du Vieux Pont campsite which is not too bad at all. Since the travel was broken up into sections of driving to dover, then the ferry, then the drive to the campsite it was all very manageable for the children and I think would be fine with younger toddlers too.
When we arrived at La Croix du Vieux Pont, there is a main reception and a separate reception for Eurocamp and both were very friendly and helpful. The staff in the Eurocamp reception are British and of course all speak perfect English so there is no need for language barriers to be a worry at all on site. They showed us to our caravan and explained where to find all the different activities on site.
The site is a good size, with plenty to do but it’s easy to walk around from one place to another. You are allowed to drive your car through the site though if you prefer. There’s plenty of grass and open space for the children to play in as well as the activities on site, and the different types of accommodation.
We stayed in a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom Vista mobile home with decking. This has a kitchen area which we used to eat our breakfast every day and to cook dinner a couple of days when we wanted to have a quieter evening (on other nights we ate out)
We did find that the mobile home was slightly smaller than some others that we have stayed in, but the decking area was larger and it was a comfortable enough place to stay. You don’t get a TV or wifi in this type of accommodation, so I would advise that if that’s important to you then download a few movies or whatever you want to watch onto your iPad or laptop before you go and just bring it with you.
Here’s the living area and kitchen. As you can see, my family started to make themselves at home before I had the chance to take my pictures! But there is a long thin kitchen area on one side, and then the dining table at the end, with the sofas and living area on the other side.
The bedrooms come with two beds to each room, or one double bed, and do have storage space in each of the rooms so you can unpack your clothes.
Here’s one of the twin rooms which the children used.
And the main bedroom. The rooms are a little bit on the smaller side, but overall they were fine. You can rent all the bedding, towels and everything that you need from Eurocamp so no need to worry about packing those and bringing them across from the UK. There’s one bathroom which comes off the main bedroom, and another bathroom and toilet further down nearer to the children’s room. All of these were clean and fresh, as was all of the accommodation.
If you need a washing machine, there is a laundry block which was conveniently placed nearby to our accommodation. You can see it just across from our caravan in this picture (the wooden building) so that is all very handy. As you can see there’s plenty of space to play directly outside the caravan too, which was great for the boys to run around together and use up their energy.
There are also a few playgrounds around the site so wherever you are within the park there would be one nearby.
Those are always handy to have to keep the kids busy in any spare moments in between activities and it was fun for the boys to explore these.
Within the campsite of La Croix du Vieux Pont there are plenty of activities suitable for families like the swimming pool, bowling, laser, go karts, man made beach, exploring the lake, and more.
There is an extra charge for some of these but it was not too much, and it was convenient to have all of this on site as it kept the boys happy and occupied.
There are also kids clubs on site, along with a restaurant, a take away and a general shop. They don’t have 24 hour opening times as we are more used to in London but I think this is the French way (we noticed while out and about that a lot of restaurants have very fixed time slots just at meal times!) so just check those and be aware. If you time it properly, then there will be everything that you need there.
There’s plenty to explore in the local area too. We all enjoyed going a little further out from the campsite and experiencing more of France. If you are not confident with driving in France, then you can visit Disneyland Paris on a coach trip directly from the campsite. Luckily my husband is happy to drive anywhere so we made our own way there as well as exploring other attractions nearby.
This is Laon Cathedral which is nearby to the camp site, you can also get some great coffee and French pastries or crepes around here. There are lots of French supermarkets nearby too, to pick up any items for cooking back in your accommodation or just to try out some French produce. The nearest town is Soissons at 19km away so we visited there for supermarkets and also to find some restaurants to eat at. We found a lovely Moroccan place and some other great places too. Since we prefer to find Halal food, we used an app to track down Halal restaurants even in France. You do also get a booklet included in your welcome pack from Eurocamp which recommends some of the suggested local places to eat and visit.
We were able to drive in to Paris too, to explore and take a look at the Eiffel tower! The driving in Paris was a little manic, it seemed busier than London so perhaps we would have been better off taking the coach trip in!! But it was a fun adventure.
We also explored more nearby attractions like Disneyland Paris and Chateau de Coucy which I will post separately as I have so many pictures for each one.
There is also Parc Asterix nearby, which we would have visited if we had more time. There was so much available to do to fill our 7 days!
Overall, we really enjoyed our trip and would recommend this type of holiday for families. It’s a great and affordable way to explore an area with lots to keep the children occupied and entertained. We would definitely be happy to stay in a Eurocamp park again in future. There are lots to choose from. See the full list of Eurocamp parks here.
The total cost for this holiday for our family of 5 would be: £613.50 including the ferry travel and hire of linen and all essentials. I think this is pretty affordable especially considering our trip was during school holidays too!
If you want to find out more about La Croix du Vieux Pont, a couple of other bloggers visited the same camp a little earlier in the year so you could check out their reviews too since each of them have tried out different things on the campsite.
La Croix du Vieux Pont Review – Oh So Amelia
La Croix du Vieux Pont Review – Our World and Autism
To get a feel for some other Eurocamp sites, check out these reviews:
La Chateau des Marais – Red Rose Mummy
Le Brasilia – Transatlantic Blonde
We received a complimentary press trip in order to review
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I’d looked at this park as a possibility for us as I’d love to take the kids to Paris. This all sounds good, so thanks for sharing 🙂
It’s great for Paris since its nearby but you get the best of both worlds with everything to do in the park too 🙂
What a great place to stay if you want to visit Paris with children.
#WHWH
What a nice trip! Love the karts and bowling lanes. Those really helps in entertaining the kids! #pocolo
This looks beautiful. We went on a similar holiday last year and did exactly the same with Dover – stayed over the night before! It looks like you had a wonderful time. Thank you for linking to #PoCoLo 🙂 x
Looks like a great place to stay. Those go karts look fun and I love that the park thing is made of wood.
Looks like a wonderful place to stay, I want to go!!!! I love how close you can be to attractions, and the pastries nearby (always my favorite). Plus having activities for the kids is always a bonus when traveling.
We’re hoping to go on our first family holiday to France next summer!
I remember having a fabulous time on a Eurocamp holiday as a child – such great memories!
Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested this week x
What a fun trip! It looks like there’s so much to do in the surrounding area for kids. That’s great!
I want to go! This looks like the perfect place to to stay especially with having kids, there’s so much to do and your close to the attractions!
This sounds like a good place to stay for a first visit to France as you were so close to plenty of interesting places to visit and yet not too far from the ferry port. I’m glad you liked it and hope you come back to France again soon. If you want to venture further south then you’d be very welcome at Lou Messugo!! Thanks for linking up to #AllAboutFrance
I am so glad I found this review Anna! We have booked to come here this Oct half term! How long did it take you to drive to Disney? We are really looking forward to it, have never stayed in a Eurocamp before, I think Our accommodation is the same as yours! Do you remember how much the bowling was?
I can’t remember how much the bowling was but similar to normal UK prices I think – not too expensive. It took us about an hour to drive to disney I think, maybe just under. Have fun on your holiday, I’m sure you will all enjoy it 😀
Thank you, we can not wait, just hoping for good weather!
It looks like your boys had a blast! I’d love to visit France one day with my boy, although we live in Ireland so we’d have to fly there. I really want to go back to Paris 🙂 #travelwithkids
Fiona @ http://www.dollydowsie.com
That’s a great price, my brother always went on holiday with EuroCamp when his kids were younger. Looks like we need to investigate as I love France and haven’t been back since Monkey was born #travelwithkids
Looks like you all had a wonderful time. French playgrounds are so much better than those in the UK. What did you think of Disneyland? We’d love to go with our three children but as yet haven’t had the time.
We loved it! We only went for a day trip, so we are really keen to go back again and spend a few more days in Disneyland. I’m sure your children would enjoy it