We had a week off in mid June so decided to booked a ‘camping’ holiday in France. This was initially due to be our first holiday in Europe with Eoin so we thought going camping would be a good week away for him (and us).

Logistics

We looked at airports that had a relatively short flight time from Dublin and was cheap to get to in June. We got good Ryanair flights to Toulouse so began looking at campsites within driving distance. A lot of the airports in the south of France were pretty expensive for the four of us, so renting a car and driving down ended up being the cheapest option. It also meant we weren’t stuck in the campsite and could go exploring around the area. The car rental at Toulouse was terrible and we were over an hour waiting to leave. They did seem to upgrade us to an BMW M5, which had a nail in a tyre we didn’t realise until we were out of the airport, but the breakdown service that we called after we made it to our site was very quick and easy to deal with.

Campsite – Sandaya Aloha

Sandaya; I had never heard of Sandaya before, but they have a large amount of campsites across France, one of which Sean had stayed in when he was younger. We found Aloha which had availability on our dates and was listed as a 5 star campsite, with a small number of pitches. As we went in June it was still low season, so it wasn’t booked out – but on the last day it was quite busy with Irish and English families starting to arrive.

Accommodation: They have a selection of cottages to chose from ranging from premium down to two star. All the premium cottages were booked out, so we chose a 4 star with three bedrooms. It was great for a week as the kids had their own room, we had a living room and kitchen and a big decking for dinner/chilling out. The cottage was listed as new, and we could tell this was the first year it had been open (the site only opened in May, so a matter of weeks old!). It was really nice for the four of us and I wouldn’t have gotten anything smaller than a three bed.

Campsite; The campsite had two big playgrounds for the kids open from 7am – 11pm, a massive babies room for kids up to 4, a kids club everyday and a bouncing castle twice during the day. There was also a teen space the other side of the campsite away from the main area. There were a couple of shower areas along with a laundry room which you could use if needed. The site had direct access onto the beach which was nice, but as Eoin is currently afraid of the sea we didn’t get to visit too much.

Water Park: There is a water park onsite which is quite well designed with three different pools. The adults only pool is elevated and away from the kids, there is a babies pool which was massive and had a range of slides and activities to keep them busy, and there was also a mixed pool that anyone could use. In the middle of the park was a structure with three water slides for bigger kids. To the side of the park were three bigger water slides, one of which was for rafts. We only realised on one of our last days there was a ‘mountain’, which included various areas for sunbathing, along with an adults only jacuzzi built into the side of it.

Food: The food was pretty poor compared to the last campsite we stayed at in Italy. There was a snack bar with pizza, burgers etc. close to the water park, and a bar upstairs that did cocktails and tapas. Towards the other end of the campsite was a tiki bar with more cocktails and a bar menu (pizza) or a fancier restaurant that opened later in the evenings. Three times a week you could also pre-order a roast dinner and roast potatoes which we got once and it was delish.

Local Treats

Markets: Close to the campsite is a range of markets, but my favourite was the fruit and veg market here. They had some fantastic local produce along with local wine and sangria. Unlike some of the other markets, they had a small indoor section with a selection of wines, spirits, cocktails, tapenades etc. however, it was cash only so be prepared to have money with you!

Restaurants: Along the river Orb there are a couple of restaurants that looked quite good – one in particular being La Table de Rive Gauche which looked fab. We did find Mon Restaurant d’été close to the campsite which did really fresh food (and unreal cocktails!). The owner was pretty sound and on a couple of occasions made me take away cocktails for the walk back to the campsite.

Activities: There are a selection of ranches close by which would be a great activity for kids who wanted to try it out. There are also some great beaches to explore, along with a local lake which is quite big but apparently has flamingos. The beach looked fab, and there were bouncing castles for the kids – however with Eoin’s current fear we stayed to the pools.

Beziers

We were only 20 minutes from Beziers so we spent some time visiting. We parked close to Pont Veux and walked across the bridge towards the old part of town. There has been amazing work done to make the town accessible, and we were able to get three lifts to bring us to the old part of town. Having a 2 year old in the buggy would have been an impossible trip without the lifts! Once we got to the top, we visited the Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire which was super impressive, there was also a little kids table with activities to keep them busy while we explored. We used this guide to Beziers to walk around and see the main sights. Its a really impressive town and on the return drive we went by Les 9 Écluses de Fonseranes, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Narbonne

We were a 35 minutes drive from Narbonne so it was my time to drive the rental car. I hadn’t looked up much about Narbonne before but I had heard of it. We weren’t disappointed! We parked close to Les Halles and explored the city. We got to see a part of the ancient road (Via Domitia) dating from 118BC. We walked through the winding streets and found a lovely little place for coffee and great cakes. We took some time to explore the cathedral and cloisters which were fab. After a walk through the winding French streets, we went back to the market to get some food for lunch. I was in heaven with the amount of cheese, olives and cured meats on offer 🤤 so we got some supplies for lunch!

Musee de Dinosaur

Sean spotted this museum and when we looked into it, there were dinosaur eggs founded at the site during an excavation in the 90’s. In June it only opens from 2-6pm, which was a bit awkward but we decided to drive that way as Ben is obsessed with dinosaurs. We didn’t know what the expect as we knew it was an actual excavation site and not an activity type of site, and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. The site is pretty big, and the walk through it covers everything from the history of dinosaurs, explanations of the various types and periods before talking through their extinction and the evolution of humans. You also got to see various bones, skulls and even real eggs along with seeing the area where the excavation took place back in the 90’s. At the very end there is a cool gift centre but also an area for kids to do their own excavating through sand to find the various fossils that have been buried. Ben has said the dino museum was his favourite part of the holiday so its a win win!

Airbus Museum

We had an issue with our car when we arrived, so we decided to head back to Toulouse early on our last day just incase of any issues. We decided to visit the Airbus museum close to the airport and wasn’t expecting it to be as great as it was. We got to go into the A380 and see the Concorde, along with a massive variety of other planes, helicopters and blimps. As its home to Airbus the campus is huge, and the restaurant in another building close by actually looked unreal. I would highly recommend for anyone with a couple of hours to spare and will be visiting again the next time we are in Toulouse.