May half-term camping in Italy

If you mention Eurocamp or Canvas Holidays, chances are at least a handful of your pals might begin recounting fuzzy memories of family holidays; a summer spent working in France or start berating the lack of organised campsites in the UK. But just how does this European institution fare when returning as an adult with your own family?

Keen to get at least one family holiday abroad in before the baby turned two (when you then have to pay for an extra seat on the plane), we seized the chance to get in on a family reunion in Tuscany, Italy. Being married to a school teacher means we get stung by premium holiday prices so we were keen to keep costs down and these type of camping companies were our friend in this.

Booking early, autumn before a spring visit, a 6 person tent cost around £200 for the week. We weren’t quite as forward thinking with the flights, and ended up having to shave a day off either end of the trip to avoid a total airfare on a supposed budget airline of almost £1,000. The Sunday – Friday of May half term was half the price – at £500 in total for two adults and one infant. 

Flying from Bristol Airport was great, a short 15-20 min drive from home to the airport car park opposite the terminal, where we bopped across the road, up the escalators and through security into the departure lounge. Here’s where packing light comes in handy – as the queues for the bag drop were around an hour long, with staff trying their best to tackle the half term rush.

The two-hour Easyjet flight across the channel, the French Alps and into Pisa Airport in the northern part of Italy was perfect and after exploring the various transfer options, we decided to hire a car. Reluctant at first, after reading reams and reams of reviews warning of cowboy Italian car rental companies who cream hundreds off your credit card once you get home, I was a little nervous. But took heed of the advice of scores of disgruntled travellers and went with one of the bigger, more reputable but slightly more expensive companies. We got a 5dr hatchback through Hertz (via Holiday Autos comparison site) for around £100 for the week. We took out a separate excess insurance with an independent broker for £10 (the car hire company wanted to charge 4x as much). Just gives you that peace of mind that you won’t be thousands of pounds out of pocket for a minor scratch (excesses can be thousands).

Driving in Italy is a dream. OK, drivers are a bit more gung-ho, but the roads are clear and straight and petrol is so cheap. Our 90 mile return journey cost us less than a tenner. The campsite is about 40 minutes south of Pisa down one main road. Eurocamp appears to come and go from this site, but there’s Canvas there too and you can book direct through Vallegaia camping. Each has a relevant rep on site and reception areas with board games and outdoors games you can borrow, including table tennis bats for a game in the play park.

The site is small and welcoming – with good sized swimming pools, the best toddler play park ever, a well-stocked shop which also serves the most amazing homemade Tuscan biscuits and has a great selection of local wines including Chianti (try to say that without that infamous Silence of the Lambs line coming into your head…go on!). The staff are friendly and helpful and there’s a good mix of nationalities using the site – from Italian to English and German to Dutch, making it feel much more real – not like some of the bigger theme park-style campsites you can get.

The tents come equipped with metal-framed beds; you may not get the comfiest night’s sleep but at least you ain’t on the floor. There’s a fridge, socket, lights and a stove as well as chairs, table, loungers, BBQ and zippable units. If you’ve got kid(s) with you some places offer free loan of items such as travel cots, high chairs, changing mats, baby baths etc. This one did.

With all these in-tent amenities, you could be forgiven for resting on your laurels but it’s not all home comforts – you have to walk to the nearby communal blocks for the loos, showers and space to wash your pots and pans. Of course, you could always upgrade to a mobile home/chalet and avoid that palaver.

Providing you like sunning yourself, swimming, playing games, reading, eating and drinking (yep, me too!) you could easily while away most of the week at the campsite, however there are lots of interesting places in the region within driving distance.

There’s the small but perfectly formed Vada beach. White sand, turquoise water and all the knock off sunglasses and handbags you could want! Ahem. It can get busy in the summer, but in May there was plenty of space to enjoy a day on the beach. The kiosk serving hot and cold drinks, food and of course ice-creams was a nice addition too. What’s more, there’s free parking nearby – take note UK.

The coastal town of Cecina is a lovely little Italian place not dissimilar to Sorrento in southern Italy. It is clearly a touristy destination but retains its authentic Italian charm. With coffee shops, a train station with good links elsewhere in Italy and plenty of history (it was first settled in 1BC, apparently).

Volterra is one of the finest examples of a mountaintop town. A 40 minute drive inland from Vallegaia, it was made famous after it featured in the Twilight films. With great views over Tuscany, chilled out piazzas and some great places to eat, it is well worth an afternoon’s visit.

Pisa is the big one, but as with many places which hang their notoriety off a single monument so there is little more of interest to see and do in Pisa once you’ve taken the obligatory photo holding up the tower. You’ll never have seen so many selfie sticks in your life! It’s worth tagging onto your trip to tick it off the list, but your holiday won’t be lacking anything major if you run out of time.

A 20 minute jaunt along the coast to the south, brings you to the pretty marina town of San Vincenzo, where you’ll find lots of bars and restaurants, including the brilliantly named ‘Mum & Dad’ restaurant. The food and drink in here is bellissimo – especially the creative pizzas. The ? wine is out of this world, although someone’s got to drive so you won’t all get to enjoy it.

You’re also not too far from Florence and Siena and if you’re feeling adventurous, you can reach Corsica from nearby Livorno.

One of the excellent things about this area, is as well as returning to your favourite spots, it’s the kind of place you can keep coming back to and discover new things all the time. And you can enjoy it as a couple, a small family or, as I did, part of an extended family of almost 25 people. And even in school holidays, it can be done on a budget.