Unravelling the Côte D'azure on a family friendly budget.
Probably not an image they want to exploit.
Hello Adventurers,
Now, I could write about our recent family holiday to the south of France, drip in the luxury that we saw and pretend in a social media kind of way, that we ourselves are wealthy and glamorous. Yeah we fitted right in…
But if you know me and my family (and if you don’t you can gain a snapshot of us on Instagram) you will know we are FAR from glamorous and wealthy: made evident by our holiday snaps which include me pushing a bright blue pushchair through Monaco with one hand keeping my strapless dress up, (it was actually a little too big for me) and the other hand wrapped around the six year old who drags her feet and complains of the heat.
I do however want to sell the Côte D’azure to you, because one thing I strongly believe is that nowhere on Earth should be exclusive. You want to walk the streets of Monaco and peer through your supermarket sunglasses at some of the richest people in the world, then go for it.
We wanted to explore Monaco as we are fans of the F1 and to walk alongside one of the most iconic racing tracks in the world felt very special and slightly surreal. Read more about the important people we identified in this previous love note to Monaco.
When a bargain of a holiday came up as I browsed the Eurocamp website back in the grey days of January, I didn’t actually book the campsite because of it’s glamorous location…
The website informed me that the campsite was toddler friendly. SOLD!
Seriously, when booking a holiday with three children in tow, the most important things on my checklist are swimming pools, beaches, a menu that has chips, pasta and pizza and something that isn’t going to break the bank. My husband and I still lust over the five star, all inclusive package holidays but agreed that can wait for a few years until we are fully out of the “under 5” stage.
This holiday was going to be an adventure and from that point of view it didn’t disappoint.
Camping at Saint Louis on the French Riviera.
We booked our accommodation via the Eurocamp website and for under £600 we could spend ten days living in a lodge (think static caravan with a wooden exterior). I should add this is during term time… I know, I know but school holiday prices are too out of reach at the moment and the kids are still young. Family holidays are to be treasured. They hold so much value in bonding time and creating those childhood memories that last a lifetime.
This price was for five people (the accommodation slept six).
The campsite was nice (and indeed toddler friendly - phew!). There were various swimming pools and splash park, playground, French boules, bouncy castle, restaurant and bar. Because of the time of year we visited, the evening discos hadn’t properly started (sigh) but we did find ourselves back in the swimming pool at 10pm one night for a pool party. Yup, all five of us. We certainly earned our “parenting badges” that night.
The fabric of France - la baguette.
Self catering is a fun way to explore the local supermarkets, try different eateries and practise the language as you stumble over your “fromage” and “bouteille de vin”s.
Luckily there was a bar and very small restaurant that served delicious pizzas right on our campsite, as exploring different eateries isn’t actually quite as fun when you have a two year old who only sits still for a tenth of a second.
We enjoyed takeaway pizzas, meals in the restaurant and some cooked meals in our accommodation. Mostly involving pasta, sausage and bread. Between that and all the ice creams consumed, it’s no wonder I have come home to jeans that don’t zip up.
But that’s what holidays are about. Eating everything you love when you normally deprive yourself of it. (Just as an FYI we have continued eating baguettes and croissant because some things you just can’t give up.)
Because of the huge hike in English supermarket prices, we didn’t get too much of a shock when shopping and eating out in the south of France. At home we can easily spend between £50 - £80 for a meal out for the five of us and this reflected similar prices when eating out in France. Children’s meals were a little pricey but that’s probably because there are so few children visiting Cannes, they need to compensate…
Ice creams were the usual holiday rip off price; very similar to home.
Take plenty of spending money for parking, travel and days out.
But save by using public transport when you can. A bus to Cannes for the five of us cost €5 whereas parking there for a day was over €20! Except on a Sunday when parking was free…
Same for when we visited Monaco. The cost of parking there was eye watering, so we drove to Nice (€20 to park at the train station) and got the train for a €16 return for all of us.
The hire car was probably the thing we spent the most money on because we needed car seats for the kids and room for our luggage and a pushchair. You are allowed to take children’s car seats on the aeroplane for free, they go in the hold the same as you would with a pushchair. But we decided having our toddler strapped to some wheels was more important, so saved the space for that.
If we were really savvy and didn’t have young children, we probably could have got away with using just public transport.
Book days out in advance. We visited Marine Land in Antibes and booked the tickets online the night before. This saved us around €15 on our booking and included lunch vouchers for us all.
The free days out…
We spent a few days having “free days” where we swam in the campsites pools, played board games and watched the kids bouncing about in the park. Then I cooked tea with the food we had bought from the supermarket at the start of the week and gave the travel card a rest.
These were just as lovely and very much needed when exploring with young children.
Finally, before I round this up: we flew with Easy Jet but after having a cancelled flight at 10pm, an extra flight to Bristol then Edinburgh, I wouldn't be booking with them in a hurry. But everyone will have their own experience and opinions so I won’t go there…
Ooh, and the new French we learnt “où est la boite aux lettres?” - where is the postbox? Very useful, if like me you are still old school and like to send postcards.
A wonderful, tiring adventure that reflected all the highs and lows of family life - just in a different country.
Merci pour la lecture,
Bonne nuit x
Such brilliant experiences for the whole family! Well done team adventure!! ✨