“Can we go straight to the pool, PLEASE?” shout three excited children as we arrive at our home for the week. A wave of nostalgia hits me as I stand breathing in the smell of BBQ’s, to the sound of happy children playing and sunlight twinkling through the trees overhead. I race up the decking steps, keys in hand, as excited as the kids for our holiday together and what an amazing week we have. My fondest memories of holidays as a child are of Eurocamping in sites across France, endless sunny days playing in the pool and making friends, before finishing each day with a BBQ. It’s something I have really wanted to do with my own children and this summer we did, but in Italy! It was a dream come true and if you are wondering, Eurocamp holidays are just as good as I remember!
Eurocamp Holidays
So what is Eurocamp? I hear you asking.
Eurocamp is a self catering holiday, with various accommodation choices from the classic tent, to safari tents and luxury mobile homes with dishwashers and covered decking. With a huge amount of parcs across Europe, including France, Holland, Switzerland, Croatia and more. You can choose between beach, inland, mountains, even rivers and lakes and create a holiday that is right for you.
You can also decide on whether you would like a small and quiet or large lively site to stay on. Some like the one we stayed on have direct beach access whilst others are near to major attractions, have splash parks on site, or offer adventure sports.
“We build holidays around you. Not us. We’ve over 180 parcs in wonderful locations throughout Europe, each offering its own unique recipe of active adventures, peaceful moments and soothing treats. The mix is different, but the promise is the same: holidays the way you want them.”
One of the things I love about Eurocamp holidays is there is no pressure to do anything in particular, or times to keep to for meals. You can stay at the parc and relax by the pool or the beach. Or you can get out and about exploring the local area. You can also set the budget and spend as little as you want whilst on holiday. We ate out one night during our weeks holiday and instead cooked meals at the mobile home. We also went back for lunch most days or made some to take to the beach and it really keeps the cost down.
Many sites have kids clubs for various ages, plenty of activities for the kids to do and there are reps available to help you when you need it. (Ours came over within 10 minutes to help fix our aircon) or to let you borrow inflatables, buckets and spades and advise on where is the best place to visit locally, or the best wine on tap in the onsite supermarket.
Do you need a car?
A preconceived idea people have about this type of holiday is that you need a car, you don’t! We did this holiday to Italy without hiring a car. We flew from Luton to Venice airport then made use of the fab local bus services that stopped directly outside our site. It was a lot cheaper and a more eco friendly way to get to our destination.
If you have a look, Eurocamp has a list of sites that are easily accessible without a car. Also look to check there is a nearby town, within walking distance for picking up items you might not be able to get at the onsite shop. Our shop was great and the only time we walked in to the nearest town was to visit a pharmacy after seeing the onsite doctor. You can order towels, including beach towels and bedding packs to make your packing lighter if you aren’t taking the car.
Where we stayed
We chose to stay on the Venice Coast at Portofelice. It’s just over half an hour away from Venice airport. The area is beautiful with a huge stretch of sandy beach, reached through a pine forest. It is also close enough to visit Venice for the day and the islands Murano and Burano.
Our Accommodation -The 3 Bed Azure
The Azure is a new style of mobile home, with a fresh design. It’s a mid-range option and unlike the Avant or Aspect, there’s no dishwasher. But it has the same ample shaded decking area of the two more high-spec mobile homes. the Azure has an airy, bright interior and the living area felt the most spacious of mobile homes I have stayed in.
Our Azure’s kitchen included a single oven, hob, large fridge freezer and microwave. It also had plenty of plates, bowls, cutlery, cooking utensils, pots and pans and of course wine glasses. Outside we had a gas-powered barbeque, sun loungers, outdoor chairs and table as well as a handy clothes airer. Eurocamp’s mobile homes are designed with changeable weather in mind. A covered decking to provide both shade and shelter as well as air conditioning and/or heating units. The decking was also gated so super safe for little ones.
The three bedrooms (One double and two twins) weren’t enormous, but we preferred having more living space. I was impressed with the size of our bed (European Queen size) and there is plenty of storage in each bedroom, with bedside tables, overhead cupboards and even hangers in the wardrobes. Every window has a mosquito screen and black out blind, perfect for travelling with kids!
Make sure you remember to bring plug adaptors, there were plenty of sockets, even in the kids bedrooms which meant no fighting for space to recharge those electronics.
Our Azure had two bathrooms: one with a shower and sink, the other with just a WC. The shower room was huge with a large shower, big enough for two and rectangular porcelain sink. There was also plenty of storage space, hooks for hanging towels and even a step stool for Ava.
For a complete tour of the accommodation have a watch of our video.
Extras
You can order an essentials pack which includes matches, washing-up liquid, a couple of cleaning cloths, a tea towel and cleaning fluid. The idea is that you try to leave your mobile home as you find it, when you leave. Eurocamp staff do come in and give the place a clean, before the next guests arrive and ours was spotlessly clean when we arrived. We also had the welcome pack which is a lovely treat to find when you arrive after a long journey, especially the coffee and wine for whichever takes your fancy!
We also pre-ordered bed linen, which was laid out, all crisp, in sealed bags, ready for us to make up the beds. Our linen package included towels and we also had beach towels which really saved on the packing.
Portofelice On The Venice Coast
Portofelice has plenty of facilities with a large pool complete with two water slides and a pine forest that you walk through to reach a private area on a beautiful stretch of beach complete with a beach cafe.
There is a site run kids club which we didn’t make use of, but peeped in whilst visiting the shady outdoor play area and it looked lovely. There were also organised sports like football and aqua aerobics each day. Every night had entertainment from a foam party (the kids LOVED this), to kids discos, karaoke and shows. One thing we really liked was the fact that everything finished by 11pm, the site was very peaceful overnight which is great for kids. It also meant we could sit out on the decking after putting them to bed without having to shout over loud music.
For food you have a large supermarket and also a store with toys, inflatables, even flip flops and shoes. We did all of our food shopping here and the prices were reasonable. There is also an onsite restaurant with takeaway and bar areas as well as that all important gelato. The kids loved the trampolines and ride ons in the centre and it was a great place for them to meet up with friends in the evening.
The site had everything we needed and it wasn’t so large that it was hard to get around, which came in handy on the very hot days!
Siesta Time
Like many others in Italy, this site, also has a siesta time with the pool closing between 1-3pm. The beach is still accessible during those times, but we often used it as a chance to chill out for a bit and eat some lunch back at our mobile home.
Pre Bookable Sunbeds
Portofelice has a system where you pre book your sunbeds and you can even choose your location around the pool and beach. It meant no fighting for sunbeds, or people putting towels out early. We opted not to book sunbeds for the pool, instead making use of the decking areas, but did book for the beach and we loved having our beds at the front reserved.
Mosquitos
One thing I would say about this area is there will be mosquitos. We found the mosquito repellant they sold in the shop onsite to be the most effective and came prepared with a plug in for the mobile home, however we did all still get a few bites.
A Sustainable Holiday
By going self-catering we could choose the food products we bought and Italy is great for unwrapped fruit and vegetables. We also took our refillable water bottles with us which we used every day. I packed things like reef safe, natural sunlotion and our shampoo bars too.
Portofelice is very clear on recycling, providing instructions on arrival. With food bins in the mobile homes and large bins to seperate your other rubbish into I was really impressed.
What We Thought
“The swimming pool and slides” says Ava, “Everything” says Finlay and “Probably the beach and gelato” says Kyle when I ask them what their favourite thing about our holiday was. We all loved our holiday with Eurocamp. The kids in particular enjoyed having a bit of freedom and made some great friends. So great that Finlay was upset when him and his friend were going home on the same day. Being able to spend time at the pool and beach every day meant we could please everyone, which isn’t always easy on a family holiday. We had plenty of chilled out time together too playing cards on the decking or sitting with painting and play doh. I managed to read 2 whole books and enjoyed a few Aperol Spritzs and we also had gelato most days. Eurocamp is a pretty perfect holiday for us, with space and time to do what we want as a family with the freedom to make each day different and go with the flow. We all can’t wait to go on more Eurocamp holidays!
*Disclaimer – Our accommodation was provided free of charge for the purpose of this review. However flights, travel, food etc was all paid for by us*