South of France: Two week itinerary
Hello everyone, this is the first article I write on this blog and I‘m so excited to start this journey with you. I have never done anything like this before but I‘m sure I will find my writing style over time.This first article will be about our (my mom and me) two week camping trip (Aug 14-Aug 27) through the South of France. In these two weeks we were staying at 6 different campsites and I will try to summarize the best parts for you.
1. Dole
Our very first stop in France was in Dole, a very cute, small city in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Since it‘s a bit too far to drive from Germany to the South of France all in one drive, we decided to make a stop somewhere in the middle. This stop was not only convenient but there‘s also enough to see to fill some hours.
If your planning to eat dinner in the city, you should probably make a reservation beforehand because there are not that many restaurants, and those who exist were all fully booked when we arrived there.
We ended up having dinner on our campsite, which was also pretty good.
I found this a very pretty city with a few local bakeries and pastry shops aswell as some small art galleries. Our Campsite, the “Camping du Pasquier” , is also a nice place to stay for one or more nights, it‘s clean, the food is quite good and there‘s lots of green on site.
PS.: On our way back home we stopped here again and had dinner at the Cinq Sens restaurant, which is quite a fancy place . Since i‘m vegetarian, the options were limited of course but it was still good, not entirely sure if it was worth the price tho.
2. Ardèche
The Ardèche River is a very popular destination for mainly the French people and it‘s a good place if you love outdoor vacations. There are a lot of activities offered by different companies, such as Kayaking, Climbing or Canyoning. We were staying near Salavas and I booked a half day climbing „trip“ called “Via Corda“ with a company called Kayacorda, which was actually really fun, with a mix of climbing the signature rock walls and riding zip lines.
If you‘re planning to come here i‘d recommend not coming in the main vacation season in August, maybe a bit earlier. Not only was it very overcrowded, but it also got very hot during the day and in the evening it was raining very heavily on 2 of our 3 evenings. I don‘t know if it‘s always like this but you should definitely check the weather before going there and be prepared for sudden rainfalls.
We were staying at the “Camping Domaine des Blachas“ which was actually a very good campsite with direct access to the water, very good washrooms, different sport options and a good restaurant. The only downside was that the walking distance to the next town (Salavas) was quite far, around 30-40 min, considering that most kayak and climbing companies are located there and in Vallon Pont d‘Arc.
-> If you‘re a fan of Antique markets, you should check out the antique and brocante fair in Barjac, which takes place around the Easter weekend and august 15th. It was pure coincidence that we went there while it was taking place and we were so happy about it! It was probably the biggest market I ever visited with lots and lots of vendors with very unique and not too expensive pieces.
3. Orange/Avignon
Before talking about our next stop Avignon, I think the city Orange is definitely worth to mention. We were only staying there for around an hour, so I can‘t say that much about it, but we used that time to visit the ancient roman amphitheater, which is still in a very good condition and I‘m lowkey surprised that I‘ve never heard about it. There are still events taking place in there, so if you get the chance to visit one, I‘m sure that‘s a great experience.
Okay but let‘s continue with, what might be one of my new favorite cities in France: Avignon. If you learned French growing up, you might have also had to learn the song “Sur le Pont d‘Avignon“ which translates to “On the bridge of Avignon“, and as we were planning this trip, we knew we had to visit this famous bridge, and it did not disappoint.
Unfortunately we only had one afternoon/ evening there but there‘s definitely more to do! We started by visiting the Pope Palace, which was built in the 14th century and was surprisingly big. Some of the rooms had very pretty murals and there are a lot of historical facts to learn if you use the audioguide. There’s also a garden and a church in the same area, but we didn‘t visit these two. Instead, we spent some time looking through some local stores and made our way to THE bridge.
I think if you don‘t know the song, you might not find this very spectacular but it was just really fun to see the bridge in real life and it was a quite unique experience hearing people sing a song that you learned around 7 years ago and that connects so many people in such a funny way.
We were there on a Sunday, so unfortunately (or maybe it was better hahaha) most stores were closed, but if you come on a different day, there are lots of stores and boutiques, which are mainly on the more expensive side, if you’re looking for more chic pieces, but I‘m sure there are also more affordable stores that also offer nice things. We had dinner in the city at “ Au Cœrs des vins“ which is a wine bar, but we just had two salads that were really delicious :).
We stayed this one night at the ”Camping Aquadis Pont d’Avignon“ which was okay for a city campsite but if I come to Avignon again, which I probably will, I don‘t think I‘ll visit this one again, because the walking distance to the city center was still around 30-40 min and sanitary facilities weren‘t really clean, but at least you could see the Pont d‘Avignon from there.
4. Carcassonne
Our next campsite, called Camping Caroux in Mons, was located in the regional park Haut-Languedoc which is between Montpellier and Toulouse and it really did feel like a hidden gem. I have never really heard of this region before, but if you‘re an outdoor person, I‘d definitely recommend this over the Ardèche river. There are far less visitors, which I found very nice, but of course that also means there‘s less infrastructure.
There are some small towns along the streets where you can buy baked goods or some other food, and our campsite had a foodtruck offering Burgers and drinks.
The Regional Park offers a lot of stunning mountains with hikes and small water pools in the stones. You can also do kayaking on the rivers Orb and Le Jaur ( We didn‘t try that but I saw people on the water ).
We chose that place because we were planning to do a daytrip to Carcassonne, I can‘t recommend hahaha. Google maps told us we would need around 1:30h to get there, we ended up arriving after 3 hours because the streets in the park are very narrow with lots of curves,which made it quite hard to drive fast, so if you wanna visit Carcassonne, you should stay at a campsite closer nearby.
But now about Carcassonne; I think we spent around 3 hours in the old city which was a good time frame in my opinion. The entrance is free, eventhough it‘s a UNESCO cultural heritage so it was quite crowded, especially at the entrance. But as we walked further into the city, there was more space so it got less crowded.
We went to “La boulangerie de la cité” for some pastries and I can really recommend them (I’ll add pictures). The traditional meal they serve in almost every restaurant there is Cassoulet, which we didn’t try cause it’s not really for vegetarians, but it’s basically beans with different sausages and meat, cooked in a special pot.
Other than food, there are a lot of stores to buy souvenirs and local products like jewellery or ceramics, and of course you can just walk around and admire the amazing condition of all the buildings.
If you’re coming by car you might have difficulties finding a parking space but there are big parking slots a bit up the hill, around 10 min away from the main entrance to the old town.
5. Moissac
Well I honestly can‘t say much about this city. We stopped there on our way to the Atlantic and only stayed one night.They do have a pretty nice cathedral with a few restaurants and some stores around it but that‘s about it.
In the whole city were lots of houses for sale and there were basically no people on the streets which gave the whole place quite a weird vibe. We had dinner close to the cathedral which was not too bad I‘d say but we were happy to leave this place the next day.We were staying at the Camping Moulin de Bidounet, which actually was very pretty and would’ve been even better with a different location.
Wouldn’t recommend this city.
6. Bordeaux/ Atlantic Ocean
This was our longest stop, because we wanted to enjoy the sea for some time.
We stayed at Camping la Gringe in Le Porge, which had more or less direct access to the beach ( it was like a 20min walk I think). What you should be aware of, which we weren‘t, is that especially the Atlantic in South France is quite rough with very strong currents.These conditions made it nearly impossible to swim but there were small supervised areas where life guards were taking care that nothing happened. Apart from that the beach was huge and very beautiful and there are lots of surf schools, which I wasn‘t brave enough to try due to the currents.
At the campsite and near the beach are multiple dining and shop options.
But let‘s get to my highlight:
I have never been to Bordeaux before but I‘ve heard lots of amazing things which really made me look forward to this day trip.
Bordeaux is in fact a very beautiful city with amazing architecture and historical sights.
It took us some time to get to the center with our camper van due to the partly very narrow streets, so we ended up only having around half a day in Bordeaux.
I must say we did a lot of shopping, because the stores were just too inviting and they did have amazing stuff, mainly on the pricier side sadly.
Another point are the amazing Pâtisseries, we went to the Michelin et Paulette Pâtisserie and it was really extraordinary, like I have tried so many Pâtisseries in the two weeks but this one was definitely my favorite.
By the way, the local baked good of Bordeaux is called Canelé, you should definitely try it once :).
Tips for camping in France
Coming to the end of our trip, I thought I’d give you some general tips if you have never been camping in France.
1.The first thing is definitely personal preference, but I would always recommend booking your campsites in advance, especially if you’re travelling during main season. After a long day of driving it’s just unnecessary stress if you have to look around to find a free spot for the night.
2. The next thing always depends on the campsite, but be aware that, if they have wifi, it’s often just in a small area near the reception or some restaurant or sth and usually not on the whole campsite.
3. Also dependent on the place is the question if they have toilet paper or not. A lot of them do have it, but trust me when I say just pack some for the case they don’t, because you never know what the closest shopping option will be.
4. Connected to that topic is, that you should check beforehand, what the grocery shopping and food options in general are. The bigger campsites usually have at least one restaurant and maybe a small grocery store, but the smaller ones sometimes have nothing like that, so you’ll want to maybe buy some food before getting there. Especially if you’re travelling with a camping car, you don’t really want to leave the place once you set everything up.
5. And lastly, I think that applies to every vacation, but check the weather in advance. I expected the south of France to be really warm and sunny, so I didn’t pack any warm clothes like hoodies or jackets, but I underestimated, that the evenings and nights get pretty cold.
Okay so much about our trip to France, I hope you enjoyed reading my very first blog article and I’m already excited to share the next one with you :).