The summer of 1987: Rick Astley was at number 1 in the charts, the bowl cut was the mandatory hairstyle for children, and for our family - like many across the UK - the school holidays were synonymous with a multi-leg mission across the Channel to reach a campsite somewhere in rural France.
I was only five, but still have vivid memories of the long drive to Dover, sandwiched in between my brothers in the back seat of the car, eating Murray Mints. A colossal tent sitting in the dappled shade of a pine tree with my very own bedroom compartment. Hunks of baguette slathered in President butter with every meal. Crying when I had to say goodbye to the entertainment team, and to my French pal Julien with whom I’d had an entirely non-verbal friendship for a fortnight.
Now, almost 40 years later, I have returned to a Eurocamp site with my own kids, hoping to create similar core memories for them.
The product has changed considerably in the meantime. With “camp” in its name, it’s difficult not to associate this brand with tents, but in fact, traditional canvas accommodation now makes up only around 5% of Eurocamp’s capacity.
Today, the focus is on premium mobile homes, lodges and chalets – with mod cons that might include a Nespresso machine and even (gasp) air conditioning.
As Eurocamp’s portfolio has expanded further across Europe – now in 12 countries – the proportion of customers flying instead of driving has increased.
And a new partnership between Jet2holidays and Eurocamp means travel agents can now book flight-inclusive Eurocamp packages with one of their favourite operators.
We fly from Gatwick to Girona, pick up our hire car (included in the package at many sites, but not all) and drive the easy 40 minutes to Platja d’Aro on the Costa Brava to reach our campsite, Cala Gogo.
This being Spain’s “brave coast”, the campsite is arrayed across rocky, pine tree-covered hills, which makes for some fantastic sea views, but does pose a challenge for those with pushchairs or mobility issues.
Our Premium 3-Bedroom mobile home is not the top category on-site (that’s the Ultimate range), but the accommodation feels brand new, with dishwasher, coffee machine, an air con unit in the living room, a lovely shower room with a surprisingly powerful shower, and a gas BBQ outside.
The focal point is the large decking area, with a dining table where we eat lazy breakfasts of fresh croissants from the bakery, and with lounge seating where we sprawl to play endless games of Dobble.
The decking area almost doubles our floorspace - a feature few hotel balconies could rival.
Our master bedroom has a comfy European queen size bed (a touch wider than a UK king) while two small bedrooms have two beds each meaning that, in theory, our five and two-year-olds could go to bed and wake up at different times disturbing the other. In a hotel, we would likely need at least two interconnecting rooms (doubling the cost), while a villa might offer three bedrooms but would likely lack the amenities and activities of a resort.
'Together forever'
Cala Gogo is adjoined by a sister site, Internacional de Colonge (which may soon merge entirely), and guests can roam between the two sites freely. This gave us an extraordinary range of different swimming pools and water-slides to explore, including two that were perfect for two-year-old Cora, with water depths of just 30-40cm.
Each campsite has a beautiful rocky cove which is practically a private beach since they’re difficult to access. From Cala Gogo, there is a little train that takes guests down the hill and underneath the dual carriageway to reach the beach, while at Internacional, there is a long walk and many, many steps to get down from the site.
Eurocamp’s smaller and quieter locations are categorised as "campsites", with "villages" in between, "resorts" offering the most extensive facilities, activities and accommodation.
Cala Gogo is most definitely at "resort" level, with multiple water slides, basketball and tennis courts, enthusiastic exercise classes in the pool, and nightly shows and quizzes – which unfortunately start at 10pm so we miss most of them, but we do stick it out for one K Pop Demon Hunters show which sends the kids delirious with excitement.
The kids’ club provision for smaller children tends to be a couple of hours of arts and crafts in the morning and a couple of hours of science workshop or learning magic tricks in the early evening. Our children also love the new miniature Land Rovers that they get to drive themselves (parents have an over-ride controller).
We use the BBQ a few times but mostly have dinner at one of the campsites’ restaurants or drive into Platja d’Aro or Sant Antoni de Calonge.
The on-site dining outlets try to cater to all tastes so the menus feature more burgers, pizza, and fish and chips than they do authentic Catalan cuisine. However, sea bream with roasted potatoes in the Italian restaurant at Internacional is excellent, and the setting of the newly revamped Beach Club at Cala Gogo, complete with Balinese-style daybeds, feels more special than other restaurants.
The informality of the restaurants is actually a plus for us: you can’t prebook a table, people rock up straight from the pool or beach with a t-shirt thrown on top, and nobody really blinks an eye if Cora swipes her dinner off the table in a fit of two-year-old rage over something.
Though Saturday is the traditional turnaround day for Eurocamp, different durations are certainly possible, and we took advantage of Jet2.com flying three times a week to Girona to make this a 10-day trip.
This means we’re lucky to be in town for various weekend festivals (see www.visitplatjadaro.com), including Platja d’Aro Town Festival, with traditional dance demonstrations, street parades and a Maravella Orchestra concert in the main town square where we are the only tourists in attendance.
The two-day Medieval Market of Castell d'Aro festival is an absolute highlight of our trip, where actors in period costumes do street performances, a traditional blacksmith demonstrates his skill, I try my hand at archery, and the kids get involved in various craft projects and circus skills - all for free.
A day trip into Girona provides another history hit, and we’re surprised at how happily the kids climb the steep steps of the ancient city walls, and investigate the bright red bridge built by the French company Eiffel et Cie (yes, that one).
With older children, we would certainly take a boat trip out to the Medes Islands to go snorkelling in the national park, and Platja d’Aro also has a couple of treetop high-wire courses and two major waterparks close by - though our kids have so much much fun running through the huge fountains in the town square (open every day 9am-9pm) for free that we go back a second time.
'Never gonna tell a lie…'
Eurocamp’s modern mobile homes are infinitely more comfortable than the 1980s tent I remember, but the product still needs to be sold carefully.
Our 10-day trip was priced at around £4,500 so – in peak season at least – this is not a cheap holiday, and clients who usually stay in a hotel might be surprised to find they have to make up their own bed and thoroughly clean the accommodation before checking out, when they’re spending that kind of money.
Eurocamp’s Cala Gogo manager Lucy tells me that since the new partnership with Jet2holidays, the number of UK guests who’ve asked when the bed linen will be changed (it isn’t), and where the welcome pack of food is (there isn’t one) has risen considerably.
“You can tell who hasn’t camped before! But it’s great that they’re trying it for the first time,” she says.
After 10 days of exploring new places, conquering fears on the water slides and letting loose at the kids disco, our children are noticeably more confident and independent – and certainly created some new core memories. And despite the Nespresso machine and air conditioning, in many ways the Eurocamp experience seems to be just the same as 40 years ago: an ultra-relaxed environment, the flexibility to eat what and whenever you want according to children’s whims, a huge outdoor space for card games and BBQs, and a melting pot of different nationalities waiting to be befriended.
I’m not the only one to think so: the partnership with Jet2holidays has been so popular with customers in 2026 that the operator has expanded its Eurocamp portfolio to 146 sites across Croatia, Spain, Italy and France for summer 2027, including in regions that support some of Jet2.com’s new routes.
I can report that in 2026 the bowl cut was in remarkably short supply at our campsite, but I was pleased to hear someone belting out I’m Never Gonna Give You Up on the karaoke.
Plus ca change!
Good to know
- Check-in at Eurocamp sites is at 4pm, and there is rarely any flex on this. Advise clients to pack pool or beach gear in an easily accessible bag so they can start enjoying the site’s facilities before checking in.
- The cost of hiring baby seats and booster seats locally can really mount up (£105 for one of each, for us) - remember Jet2.com lets families take up to two items per child for free. We wished we’d taken at least a lightweight booster seat for our 5-year-old.
- The bed was comfy, but don’t oversell the pillows. We ended up buying two more from a homeware store because we’re used to more/thicker pillows at home.
- We were very glad of the powerful air conditioning unit but at the height of the heatwave had to sleep with our bedroom doors open to feel the benefit at night - which somewhat defeated the point of three separate rooms…
- Both the Eurocamp and Jet2holidays website said men need tight-fitting ‘jammers’ instead of baggy swimming shorts, much to my partner’s alarm. I can report that nobody at Cala Gogo adheres to this rule…but jammers do help you go faster down the slides, it turns out..
Book it:
For last-minute October bookings, Jet2holidays features 10 Eurocamp sites in Croatia that remain open until the end of this month. A seven-night trip to Cala Gogo on Spain’s Costa Brava staying in a three-star Ruby three-bedroom mobile home (sleeping up to six) departing from London Gatwick on 22 August 2027 costs from £669 per person based on two adults and two children (aged 5 and 3) including car hire and 22kg baggage per person and including around £16 in tourist tax, payable at the property. Stays outside the school holidays are considerably cheaper: seven nights for the same family at Arena Grand Kazela on the Istrian coast in Croatia leads in at £519 per person on 3 May, 2027 flying from Manchester, including car hire and baggage.
tradeportal.jet2holidays.com
