Brittany is the Breton coast that’s closest to home for us Brits. If you’re sailing with Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth or Plymouth, Roscoff and St Malo are both a short hop away, which makes it one of the easiest regions in France to get the kids to without a huge drive once you’re off the ferry. We’ve stayed at four very different parcs here, from a huge Eurocamp resort near the Carnac stones to our own tent on a Sandaya pitch on the Pink Granite Coast, so this guide is built entirely from what we actually found.
Carnac keeps pulling us back. We stayed at Camping des Menhirs in 2020, and went back to the same stretch of coast six years later for a gifted ten-night stay at La Grande Métairie de Kermario with three generations of the family in July 2026. We’ve also done a last-minute October half term in the north at Domaine des Ormes, and our own tent for ten nights at Le Ranolien near Perros-Guirec. That’s four parcs across the whole region, not every campsite in Brittany, but enough to give you a good feel for what’s out there.
Quick picks
- Best for toddlers: Le Ranolien, the toddler pool has a little slide in and the baby club is there for wet mornings.
- Best for pools and slides: Domaine des Ormes, the Dome is epic and has some great slides inside.
- Best for the beach: Camping des Menhirs, minutes on foot from Carnac Plage and the town itself.
- Best for wet or cold weather: Domaine des Ormes, the indoor Dome pool kept us warm and swimming right through October.
- Best for your own tent: Le Ranolien, a spacious, grassy three-shell pitch with the Pink Granite Coast on the doorstep.
- Best for quiet evenings: Le Ranolien again, we were asleep by 10pm most nights and the campsite was mostly retirees out of school holiday time.
- Best budget find: Domaine des Ormes, we booked two days ahead and got 4 nights for €159.
- Best for activities: La Grande Métairie de Kermario, tree top climbing and sports activities are great here.
La Grande Métairie de Kermario, Carnac
This was a gifted stay (AD) for ten nights in July 2026, and it’s easily my favourite of the two Carnac parcs we’ve tried. The pool complex is genuinely lovely, palm trees and flowers around a heated lazy river, a lagoon pool, four racer slides and a warm indoor pool that opens at 9am, a full hour before the outdoor pools. We went every single day. The only real downside was the lack of shade in the afternoons and towels left on empty loungers for ages, so get there early if a lounger matters to you.
We booked a Premium Exclusive with a private hot tub, which sounds flashy but turned out to be more of a nice-to-have than essential, our ten-night stay fell right in the middle of a heatwave, so we only dipped in for half an hour most evenings. Our pitch, M155, backed onto the neighbours’ bedroom window looking straight over the hot tub, so next time I’d pay the roughly £50 to request a pitch like M137 instead, bigger and much more private. It’s a big, activity-filled parc that suits families wanting a full-on holiday with kids clubs, an on-site treetop course and a mini farm with goats and an alpaca. Quieter families might prefer it outside the school holidays.
Read our full La Grande Métairie review
Camping des Menhirs, Carnac
We stayed at Des Menhirs in September 2020. It’s compact compared to La Grande Métairie, but you don’t need much on site here because the beach, Carnac town and its supermarket are all within walking distance, you could leave the car parked for days. The outdoor pool is a decent 23m x 10m, heated, with three slides including a space bowl style one that starts fast, plus a toddler pool just 20cm deep that was perfect for our baby to toddle around in. The indoor pool, on the other hand, felt dated and we found the floor dirty and hairs in the drains both times we used it.
Carnac Plage itself is one of our favourite beaches, no big waves, great for paddling and digging, and the town has dozens of restaurants we worked our way through over our ten nights. The shop is tiny and low on fresh produce, though that’s easily explained by how close the actual supermarket is. The campsite sits right at a crossroads and our sat nav told us we’d arrived a good minute before we actually spotted the entrance. This suits families who want the beach and a real French seaside town more than a resort full of entertainment.
Read our full Camping des Menhirs review
If you’re trying to decide between a basic mobile home and something with more room, we also reviewed our Azure Plus 2 bed mobile home at Des Menhirs, our favourite Eurocamp accommodation we’d stayed in at the time, with a dishwasher and a covered canopy for rainy Brittany days.
Domaine des Ormes, Dol-de-Bretagne
Les Ormes is easily one of the most impressive, well-rounded campsites we’ve ever stayed at, and that’s saying something because we visited out of season in October. The 4,500 m² indoor Dome pool, with its wild animal sculptures and greenery, was the real highlight. Even the small outdoor section of the Dome felt comfortably warm on a chilly October day, and we felt fine swimming the whole stay. The resort goes all out for Halloween during October half term too, with decorations and spooky-themed events, so if you’re after a half term break with a bit of seasonal magic, this is it.
We booked through Eurocamp at the very last minute and the price was ridiculous value for everything included, far cheaper than an Airbnb would have cost us for that many nights. The only thing that let it down was the mud. It had been raining and the campsite got really muddy, so pack wellies if you’re going outside of summer. The play equipment felt a bit outdated compared to other parcs we’ve visited, and the bouncy castle near the Dome is oddly marked for over-8s only despite not being that big. This is a parc that suits families who want a countryside, almost Center Parcs-style escape with golf, lakes and wakeboarding alongside a real camping feel.
Read our full Domaine des Ormes review
Le Ranolien, Perros-Guirec
This was our own tent on a 3-shell pitch for ten nights, €284 including our fridge hire and tourist taxes, booked out of the main school holidays in June. Le Ranolien is a Sandaya site built into the pink granite rock of the coast, and the pool complex is genuinely one of the best we’ve found, four racer slides and a flume set into the rock, a toddler pool with its own little slide in, and everything heated to close to 30 degrees. The swimwear rule is strictly enforced here. Mike was asked to change his shorts almost as soon as the lifeguard clocked him, so pack jammers.
The only thing for us was that we were almost the only family with young children on the whole pitch, it was filled with lovely retirees, and we missed having other toddlers around for ours to play with. There’s a lack of toddler-sized slides in the main play park too, built into the same granite rock as the pool, and our two-year-old hurt herself coming down one that was really meant for older kids. There’s no ATM on the campsite at all, so we had to send Mike five minutes down the road to Crédit Agricole in Trégastel for laundry coins, and avoid going on a Monday, that’s market day and it took him 20 minutes instead of 5. The coastal walk out to Ploumanac’h and on to Perros-Guirec’s Trestraou beach, with its tiny hermit crabs, was the highlight of our stay. This suits families happy with a calm, nature-focused own-tent holiday rather than a big kids’ club scene.
Read our full Le Ranolien review
Getting there
Brittany really is the closest French region for a UK family heading over on a ferry. For La Grande Métairie, Roscoff is the closest port, though depending on traffic and your crossing, going via Saint Malo can work out easier, and the nearest airport is Lorient, around 50km away, though Nantes (around 140km) has more flights from the UK. Le Ranolien is roughly 1 hour 30 from Roscoff and 2 hours from Saint Malo. Domaine des Ormes is a short drive from the Saint Malo ferry crossing, with the nearest airport at Rennes about 45 minutes away and a train station at Dol-de-Bretagne just 10 minutes off. If you’re coming from further afield in the UK, it’s worth reading up on driving through Europe or check campsites near an airport if you’d rather fly and hire a car.
When to go: Brittany in October and the shoulder season
We’ve camped in Brittany across the seasons: September at Des Menhirs, June at Le Ranolien, July at La Grande Métairie and October at Domaine des Ormes, so we can say honestly that the region doesn’t need a heatwave to be worth visiting. North Brittany is really comparable to Cornwall or Devon for weather, mild but changeable, and we found the campsite really muddy during our October stay, wellies are not optional. What makes October work so well is a parc with a genuinely good indoor pool. The Dome at Les Ormes kept us swimming in comfort the whole trip, and the resort’s Halloween events during the October half term gave the girls something extra to look forward to. If you’re booking late in the year like we did, a last-minute Eurocamp deal can be a real bargain, ours came to €159 for 4 nights.
Our July stay at La Grande Métairie, by contrast, landed right in the middle of a ten-day heatwave with temperatures up to 36°C, while our June stay at Le Ranolien only had one day of rain out of ten and needed a jumper most evenings. So Brittany genuinely can swing from Cornwall-cool to full-on heatwave, pack for both.
If half term timing matters to you, our October half term deals page is worth a look before you book.
FAQ
Is Brittany good for toddlers?
Yes. Le Ranolien has a toddler pool with its own little slide and an unmanned baby club for under-5s on wet days, and the toddler pool at Camping des Menhirs is only 20cm deep, perfect for little ones to walk around in while holding your hand.
Which Brittany campsite is closest to the beach?
Camping des Menhirs, hands down. The beach, Carnac town and the local supermarket are all within walking distance, so you barely need the car. La Grande Métairie is around 3km from the Carnac beaches, so you’ll be driving there.
Do you need a car in Brittany?
At Des Menhirs, not really, everything is on foot. At La Grande Métairie, Les Ormes and Le Ranolien, a car makes beach days, supermarket runs and local day trips much easier, even though all three parcs have plenty to keep you on site too.
Is Brittany good for a half term break in October?
We think so. Domaine des Ormes has a big indoor pool complex that stays warm right through October, plus Halloween events during the half term week, though expect mild, muddy weather rather than sunshine.
Is Brittany good for own-tent camping?
Yes. We pitched our own tent at Le Ranolien for ten nights for €284, on a spacious, grassy, private 3-shell emplacement, with a heated pool complex and the Pink Granite Coast walks right outside the gate.
Not sure which of these would suit your family best? Try our find your campsite quiz, or head back to our full France guide to see how Brittany compares to the rest of the country.
Planning your days out? Our things to do in Brittany with kids guide has the places we’ve been from these campsites. Camping somewhere else in France? We’ve also got guides to the Vendée, the Landes and Hossegor, the Gironde and the Dordogne.
