All together now!

This is the cornerstone of your holiday! After all, the reason you all want to go away together is to spend time in a place that is to everyone’s liking isn’t it?

Seaside, river, lake? Countryside or mountains? Once you’ve agreed on this point, you will be able to start looking for campsites or rental units without wasting time unnecessarily.

For Jeremy and Amelia, it's "only ever in a tent". Margot and Mark, with their little Agatha who is barely one year old, prefer a chalet. Remi and his family are campervan fans and just want a pitch. Emma and her two children are very drawn to the idea of a lodge tent. But rest assured; you can find all of this in one and the same campsite... provided you book early. The simplest option of course, is for everyone to bring their own tent or to rent one or two big cottages together. But we repeat: make sure you book early. If there are a lot of you, you can also choose one of our options for groups or take several adjoining rental options thanks to the "choice of pitch" option. Everyone will be together... but each in their own cocoon!

If you are more than two families, you will soon realise that it’s difficult to organise all your outings together. Group inertia is sometimes excruciating for those who enjoy being very active. If you belong to this category of campers, arrange to spend one or two days together, or to meet up with your friends for an aperitif or dinner (or both). But for the rest of the time, don’t feel you have to miss out on the outings you feel excited about. Work out a programme together and try to achieve a balance of time to spend alone with your partner or your family and convivial moments that you can look forward to with your friends.

When it comes to organising all the everyday chores, divide them up equally. There is nothing more aggravating than to see the same people always ending up doing the cooking or the washing up: Split up into teams of 2 or 3 people and draw up a schedule.

Monday: dinner – team 1, clearing up and washing up – team 2. Tuesday: dinner – team 3, clearing up and washing up team 4, etc. for every day of the week. You could even organise a competition to choose the best team. 

Little Simon is allowed to watch a film after eating, but not Lisa; Raphael can go to the pool in the morning when he wakes up, but not Fiona and Tom. Tina can stay up with her parents, while Leo, who is the same age, has to go to bed at 10 o’clock. If you don’t reach an agreement on times and rules during the holiday, you risk creating havoc and frustration among the children.

So, here’s a tip: agree on these rules together before you leave home or before you arrive at the campsite. 

7 to 10 days; that’s the optimal amount of time to be together and to be sure of having fun. We all know it full well: you can actually have too much of a good thing. And it’s always best to be left wanting a bit more so that you are eager to start all over again next year.

Once you have taken heed of this short list of precautions, you just have to make sure you relax and live each moment intensely, surrounded by people you like. That’s the main purpose of holidays with friends after all.