France with kids, for us, is a campsite and a long stay. We have been going back to Argelès-sur-Mer since 2021, most recently for six weeks. Add weeks among the vineyards near Vidauban, the Vendée, the Jura in summer, and two winters: Disneyland Paris and Center Parcs Les Trois Forêts.
Below, all our stories, from the campsite to the snow.
Port Grimaud with kids: shallow water, no cars and where to park
Port Grimaud with kids is mostly about the beach: very fine sand, water that stays shallow for a long way, and Saint-Tropez across the bay. Plus where...
Camping La Sirène with kids: six weeks, new pools and a huge terrace
Six weeks at Camping La Sirène in Argelès-sur-Mer, from early May to mid June. The water park was expanded and finally heated this year, the terrace a...
Center Parcs Les Trois Forêts in January with kids: lots of forest, one night of snow, expensive groceries
Center Parcs Les Trois Forêts in January with kids: a six-hour drive, one night of snow, and the laundrette three kilometres from our cottage. The Aqu...
Disneyland Paris with kids: what worked for us (and what didn’t)
Planning Disneyland Paris with kids can feel overwhelming. After three winter days in the parks, this is what worked for our family, what we would sk...
Three days at Disneyland Paris in December with kids
Three days at Disneyland Paris in December with kids: Newport Bay Club as our hotel, up to 30,000 steps a day and fake snow on Main Street. This is th...
Camping Les Brunelles, Longeville-sur-Mer with kids: lazy river, low tide and Puy du Fou
Camping Les Brunelles in Longeville-sur-Mer with kids, in June, in a lodge bigger than expected. The heated pool with its lazy river featured every da...
Argelès-sur-Mer with kids: why we keep coming back
A place we have returned to again and again. Argelès-sur-Mer combines pebble beaches, mountain landscapes and a relaxed family rhythm. From quiet May...
Vidauban with kids: a holiday park among the vineyards, coast 45 minutes away
Seventeen nights at Le Clos des Oliviers in Vidauban, among the vineyards of the Provence Verte. Not a campsite but a holiday park, with an unheated o...
The Jura with kids in summer: a stone house without air conditioning, Lac de Chalain
A summer week in the Jura with kids, in an 18th-century stone house with no air con while it was over 30°C day after day. Lac de Chalain (half an hour...Questions about France with kids
Which campsite in France with kids?
Argelès-sur-Mer: first Le Bois Fleuri, then La Sirène, and that is where we stay (the musicals are genuinely good, madame chantilly's waffles too). May is green and quiet there, the outdoor pool is still cold in the first half of May. Near Vidauban we stayed until late September at Clos des Oliviers among the vineyards, with Fréjus three quarters of an hour away, Port Grimaud, and a pool that was getting chilly. In the Vendée, Camping Les Brunelles near Longeville-sur-Mer: heated pool with a lazy river, Jard-sur-Mer at low tide and Puy du Fou on Father's Day.
France in winter with kids
Doable, with expectations to match. Three days at Disneyland Paris in December, two nights at Newport Bay Club, 20 to 30 thousand steps a day. And in January Center Parcs Les Trois Forêts, a six-hour drive: the snow was gone after one night, the Abreschviller train turned out to be closed, and groceries on the park are very expensive. Europa-Park is almost two hours each way, keep that in mind.
And summer?
The Jura, in a stone house without air conditioning, day after day above 30 degrees, with Lac de Chalain half an hour away. Lovely, but not again in high summer. Paris itself we did in one day, because the kids wanted to see the Eiffel Tower.