The best European campsites for families

Many of the smaller sites are sustainable holiday options – independent, family-run outfits where your payment goes directly into the local economy. While those set away from honeypot coastal resorts offer the opportunity to get back to nature on a low-impact holiday in places where overtourism isn’t a concern. Lots of rural campsites, including European locations of Featherdown Farm, the UK’s glamping pioneer operation, are part of local farming communities, so you’ll often find fresh food on site, some offering the chance for children to collect eggs, feed the animals or help with seasonal harvests.

How do I avoid the crowds?

To secure the best spot, booking ahead is crucial. Savvy European families are poised to pounce on their preferred pitch in December when many of the popular coastal holiday camps in France go on sale for the following summer. Don’t want to join the fray? Scandinavia is a good option to avoid the peak season heat and scrum of southern Europe’s seaside. Sweden has some beautiful campsites, where you’ll find simple local food and a homespun hospitality, while Denmark has 4,350 miles of blond sand, dune-backed coastline. It’s true that without a ferry service or direct rail link from the UK, Scandinavia is tricky to get to if you want to cart your camping kit. However, Denmark is within reasonable reach overland by ferry or Eurotunnel to France, and more-so from England’s east coast ports to the Netherlands, where Denmark’s wealth of camping options are within about six-seven hour’s drive.

You can also escape the coastal crowds by heading for the Alps where many mountain villages in Switzerland, Austria and France are reinventing themselves as summer playgrounds, with accommodation ranging from treehouses to yurts, trapper cabins to safari tents, along with wild pitches at the foot of glaciers. With ski lifts to take mountain bikers to the tops of trails, almost endless hiking opportunities, plus swimming and kayaking in lakes and rivers, the Alps are a cooler, calmer and less crowded summer holiday alternative to the Med and French coast campsites.

What about small rural pitches?

Huttopia offers numerous campsites in the Alps – and across Europe – in some superb natural settings. The company is a favourite with James Warner-Smith, author of several camping guidebooks and editor at HipCamp, a vast resource for info and booking camping breaks. “For family trips, Huttopia is really well set-up,” he says. “They have great family facilities, a relaxed vibe and they're actively trying to avoid the more congested reputation of campsite 'chains' with natural settings, like woodland and dunes.” And many, like Huttopia Saumur in the Loire Valley and Huttopia Meursault in Burgundy’s wine country combine excellent credentials for foodie families.

How should I book?

Big players like Eurocamp and Canvas Holidays have hundreds of large family-friendly holiday parks on their books, whereas HipCamp’s database of some 140,000 campsites take in peaceful private spots, public lands along with equipped campgrounds. Other trusted resources include Canopy & Stars for special glamping spots in France, Italy, Spain and the Nordics, while PitchUp and Great Little Campsites offers bookings and info on near-countless campsites across Europe, many with eco credentials. And among the numerous websites offering site reviews by camping families, Mumsnet and Family Camping Europe are worth a look.

The 6 best European campsites for families

France: Camping Le Brévedent

With its lakeside setting, sweeping wooded grounds centring around an 18th-century hunting lodge, a farm-to-table restaurant and small organic vegetable garden, this family-run campsite in Normandy is a chateau-camping charm. Owner Raphael Bony serves cider and calvados nightly from the lodge bar, surrounded by ancestral oil paintings and often accompanied by a local folk band. Made from produce grown in the surrounding orchards, apple libations loom large here in the Calvados region, and the free kids’ club in July and August, during harvest season, sees children gather windfalls and hold apple-and-spoon races before pressing them into juice after lunch.

Plastic bags are eschewed in favour of the reusable ‘green Le Brévedent sac’, provided for guests to carry morning croissants home from the shop, which also sells freshly baked goods, eggs, coffee-to-go and myriad treats from the region including Pont-l’Evêque cheese made on a neighbouring farm and apple jelly compote made in nearby Le Bréveden. The restaurant serves local, organic seasonal produce led by plant-based dishes (unusual for this animal farm-fed part of France), featuring things like lentil dahl with yogurt and peanut butter, Buddha bowls and pizza. And where meat is served, it comes from breeders of the Pays d’Auge, two miles away.

There’s a heated swimming pool and plenty of space to run around. And you’re a half-hour’s drive to the Normandy beaches, surrounded by cider routes to follow and within launching distance of some outstanding coastal seafood restaurants, where kids can have a go at windsurfing and sand yachting. And within one-hour’s drive from Caen (for the Portsmouth-Caen ferry), and three hours from Calais, it’s within easy reach of the UK.

Great for: Sociable families who like a campfire singalong, with children from tots to teens.

Cost: A two-night pitch costs from €35 (£30); a week in a two-bedroom safari-style tent with an equipped kitchenette and bedding, sleeping two-four, costs €420 (£350). Larger tents are ensuite and the site has shower blocks and an outside kitchen area with sink and fridge.

Book it: Hipcamp.com – Camping Le Brévedent

France: Camping Domaine des Mathevies

This long-standing family-run campsite, set on a wooded hillside in Sainte-Nathalène, is a favourite for its sensational views of the Périgord Noir countryside, expansive shady grounds and local food. British owners Natalie and Patrick McAlpine run this boutique operation in the Dordogne with 40 pitches, many under the canopies of walnut, cherry, fig, apple and plum trees, all with electricity hook-ups, plus 11 well-furnished cabins spread around the edge of the site and farmhouse gîte accommodation. This is a laidback retreat for adults and kids alike. The toddler’s playground is overlooked by the Cosy Nook Café, so you can relax with a café au lait, keeping the kids in plain sight. There’s a sandpit and climbing area, along with a children’s pool, a larger pool, tennis courts and table tennis area.

The café has fresh bread and croissants delivered every morning; a superb spot to wake up slowly, seated on a daybed under the shade of a lime tree (and if you must, there’s wifi, plus satellite TV in the evenings). For something stronger, there’s local artisanal beer and a range of Bordeaux and Sainte Emilion wines. In July and August, the site hosts different food trucks, serving everything from pancakes and crepes to wood-fired pizzas, Vietnamese cuisine, fish and chips and gourmet burgers. Veggie and vegan options and children's portions are available.

The on-site honesty shop is stocked with local wines, cheeses, and fresh bread, and the medieval city of Sarlat is 10-minutes’ drive away. The Dordogne culinary hub has a renowned Wednesday and Saturday market selling premium Périgord produce – black truffles, duck confit, Cabécou goat cheese and various varieties of strawberries – plus restaurants taking in the Michelin-starred, traditional cafés, farmhouse inns and chic bistronomie spots.

There is easy access to castles, prehistoric caves, and the site can arrange canoe trips on the Dordogne River, passing the pretty villages of Beynac or La Roque Gageac and picnicking on one of the many beaches. Travelling from the UK, take the Eurotunnel or ferry, then drive (8h). Or take the Eurostar and change in Paris for a TGV service to Brive-la-Gaillarde or Bordeaux (shortest journey time 5hrs), then it’s a two-hour drive.

Great for: Families with children from tots to tweens, and nature- or food-loving teens.

Cost: Pitches from €19 (£16), and from €50 (£42) per night for a chic wooden chalet with a decked terrace, equipped kitchenette, loo and shower (bedding provided, linen can be rented).

Book it: Hipcamp.com – Camping Domaine des Mathevies

Netherlands: Camping Nij Wybranda

Surrounded by cycle routes in the Friesland lake district, this site is an excellent choice for sporty families. Set on a farm, with pitches in tree-lined meadows, kids are encouraged to come along and help feed the animals including goats, cows and chickens. Horse and pony trekking is available on site while there’s myriad water sports on offer in local lakes plus boating on the pretty canals around the village of Sneek.

The farm shop sells bread, goats’ cheese, and curd on request, along with locally made meat, honey and ice cream; Sneek (a 20-minute drive away) has restaurants and shops selling Dutch and Fresian specialities like stroopwafels, apple and cinnamon pancakes, various types of meatballs and sauerkraut-topped mashed potato, rollmop herrings and plenty of local kaas (clove) cheese. And along with the canals to explore, Sneek has a bevy of cultural attractions including a maritime museum, railway museum and art gallery with interactive exhibits for kids.

North Holland’s beaches are half-hour’s drive away, while Amsterdam is about 90 minutes, connected to London by direct Eurostar (3h52) and east England’s ferry ports. The site offers pick-ups from local transport.

Pitches come with electricity and wifi, and there are three apartments in the old farm building complete with kitchens and bathrooms, where breakfast can be provided, plus a trekker’s hut available to rent (with access to the campsite’s showers, loo blocks and washing up area with microwave and communal fridge).

Great for: Active families with kids of all ages.

Cost: Electric pitches from €20.50 (£17); three-night stays in a farmhouse apartment, sleeping three, from €199 (£166).

Book it: Pitchup.com – Camping Nij Wybranda

Spain: Camping Begur

Head to the Costa Brava for a campsite that’s been sitting pretty surrounded by coastal forest for more than 50 years. With a Biosphere Tourism certificate the site is committed to preserving the native environment. There are 3,458 listed trees spread over the grounds, and the site organises nature and bird-watching activities. You’ll find shady pitches and two large pools, one heated and one salt-water, plus a mini farm where children can feed chickens, donkeys and ducks. There are rides on the farm’s vintage tractor and vegetable-growing classes in the on-site garden. Sports and activities include a games room, an air-conditioned gym, Pilates sessions, table tennis and a climbing wall, plus a free kids club for ages three to ten during high season, with evening entertainment for all ages.

You'll wake up each day to the smell of fresh bread from the bakery, which is set at the entrance to the site alongside a little supermarket, butcher, fishmonger, bookshop and greengrocer, and there are 27 sturdy brick barbecues spread over the grounds available for use. The on-site restaurant serves local dishes – expect the likes of seafood paella, chilled gazpacho, grilled steak and patatas bravas. Don’t miss the chance to try the excellent wines of the DO Empordà region during tasting evenings.

Accommodation ranges from tents and motorhome pitches to two-bedroom safari-style tents sleeping five, all with water and electricity. Plus, little chalets, bungalows and mobile homes. There’s wifi throughout, four shower blocks and a laundry room.
Set just inland, the campsite is around a mile-and-a-half from both Platja Fonda beach and the mediaeval hilltop town of Begur. 78 miles north of Barcelona, and 36 miles east of Girona, the campsite is well-placed for arriving by plane, but also travel by train from the UK, changing in Paris or Lille in around eight hours

Great for: Families with primary school-aged children.

Cost: Seven nights in July staying in a Premium two-bedroom holiday chalet sleeping four guests, from £1,430 per party.

Book it: Eurocamp.co.uk – Camping Begur

Italy: Camping Delle Rose

Run by the Fortunato family since 1969, this idyllic Italian campsite just across the border from France is surrounded by the chestnut, eucalyptus and mimosa trees of the Nervia valley. Backed by the distant Alps, the hillside spot is dashing distance (around eight miles) to Liguria’s beaches and an hour’s drive from Nice – with both its international airport and train connections to the UK (11hs from London, with one change in Paris).

In summer, the swimming pool and paddling pool is perfect for cooling dips, while the playground and a pétanque court are favourite spots in the evening – and there’s a kid’s club (6-10 years) and entertainment in July and August.

Overlooking the pool, the restaurant serves regional food, from trofie pasta with Ligurian pesto, homegrown Taggiasche olives and rabbit ragu, plus wood-fired pizzas. There’s also a bar serving breakfast, sandwiches and quick bites plus an onsite grocery store selling the likes of fresh bread, wine, eggs, deli goods, fresh fruit and veg, along with some pharmacy essentials. The medieval village of Isolabona, with shops and restaurants is around a mile away. The site was voted a ‘gastronomic delight’ 109 times by customers who booked via Pitchup last year, a record for the platform.

Accommodation is in colourful clapboard mobile homes sleeping up to six, arranged together, hamlet-style, plus glamping safari tents and cabins along with camping, touring and motorhome pitches.

Great for: Families with primary school-aged children.

Cost: Pitches from €20 (£17), mobile homes from €33 (£28) with sheets provided.

Book it: Pitchup.com – Camping Delle Rose

Croatia: Camping Village Simuni

Pick a pitch under the shade of an old holm oak or pine tree in view of the sea and you’ll want for nothing at this large camping village on the Croatian island of Pag. The site has direct access to six different beaches, one with an inflatable water course. The pebble bays are great for families with small children, as the water depth increases gradually and the sea is calm. And there’s plenty for older children and adults to do, too with an on-site water sports centre offering sailing and windsurfing lessons, and a dive centre offering courses and excursions to visit underwater caves. On land, there’s a treetop adventure course, mini golf, driving range, tennis courts, beach volleyball and evening entertainment including movie nights. This is a busy site in summer but with its 900 pitches spread over 35 hectares, it should be possible to find some seclusion.

There are four restaurants and four bars including Pescaria serving fresh, local seafood and Mali Raj whose menu takes on breakfast toasties, crowd-pleasing risotto and pasta dishes, burgers and salads. There’s also a supermarket and weekly fish market. BBQs are permitted in designated areas on site.

Pag itself is known for its lamb, grazed on herb-scented rocky pastures, along with sharp, salty Pag sheep’s cheese, and is home to several of Croatia’s most feted vineyards including Vina Otoka Paga famed for reviving the local Gegić grape, which makes a straw-coloured, fruity-floral white wine. The campsite is seven miles from Pag Town, where you’ll find a respectable range of restaurants serving Croatian and international cuisine, and is connected to the mainland by a causeway bridge. The closest international airport is Zadar, about an hour by road, served by a local bus.

Accommodation, in clapboard mobile homes with decked terraces, sleep between four-six people in two-three bedrooms, with a loo, shower and kitchenette. Plus, pitches for tents and mobile homes with water and electricity and access to the site’s eight spacious shower blocks.

Great for: Beach babies, water sports lovers and active families.

Cost: For seven nights in July, staying in a two-bedroom holiday chalet sleeping six, prices start from £1,225 per party.

Book it: Eurocamp.co.uk – Camping Village Simuni