We Went camping with The Sun Holidays: was it worth it?

We had a fun weekend away as a family of four at a Eurocamp village in Italy while saving 65% on accommodation costs! Here is how we saved money on three nights in the med. We had some springtime sun, beaches and authentic Italian food. We were able to do it for just £ 118 by using the ‘Sun holiday deal’. It was my first time to try the offer and honestly, it saved me money on a long weekend with my family and I got more than what I was expecting.

Vouchers and discount codes can give us the opportunity to squeeze a little extra from our budget. Can we trust them to always work? Not always. After hidden costs and fake codewords they can be more hassle than they are worth. But, last year I decided to try a well-known discount offer run by The Sun ‘newspaper’ and it was worth the hype. They offer a 3 or 5 night holiday for £9.50 per person. Sounds way too good to be true, right? Did we stay in a broom cupboard in the back end of nowhere? Apart from the regret of giving some small change to Murdoch, let me tell you how our experience went and why I will be trying it again in the future. 

3 day, 2 Nights

Baia di Domizia, Italy

Relaxing campsite, big pool area and woodfired pizza ovens

To participate, it is simple. You must collect 5 codewords from the Sun Newspaper and sign up with your email address to enter the offer. Once we had collected 5 codewords we could browse the holiday offers. In the end we chose a camping site, South of Rome in the Baia di Domizia, for a weekend in May. Our choice was based on the location, accessibility and due to the park’s great amenities. It had a large children’s pool, a large park, a beach and restaurants – The pictures presented a modern and clean campsite with reasonable reviews. The total cost worked out at around £10 per person, per night. A great deal! But what would we really get for our money?

The day came to set off,  It would only take a couple of hours to drive from our flat in Rome using the Pontina road. The Pontina is one hell of an Italian driving experience and not for the faint hearted. The locals drive this road with speed heads, but it is easy to navigate as it travels nearly all the way down to the destination. The sea on your right and watermelon fields to the left. In May, the spring sun is warm so we scheduled a lunch stop in the seaside town of Sperlonga. A well loved beach and town that is worth a visit. We ate lunch at the beachfront restaurant, Capricci di Mare. The soft waves lapped along the beach a few meters from our table as we relaxed with fresh fish and a glass of cold white wine in the warm salty air. Post lunch, I left the guys to explore the beach and  I went for a walk around the town. The old center sits on top of a high cliff. The narrow streets are whitewashed and enchanting. Hand painted murals hide in the streets and tell tales of fishing boats and lives lived at sea.

Around 3 in the afternoon we set off, back on the road. We passed Sabaudia and Gaeta before arriving, relaxed, to our Eurocamp park. A quick check-in at the reception was needed to gain access to the site and once inside we connected with the representatives and they showed us to our caravan. The campsite is run by one entity but the accommodation is sublet and managed by different companies. Our particular lodge was run by Eurocamp. The representatives were quick to welcome us and show us around.

The large camping site was thick with Eucalyptus trees that throw shade and a calming whisper as the wind passes through the leaves.

Our caravan was very basic but it had all the essentials with an outdoor balcony. Despite the caravans being close together, there was space to leave the car and the neighbours were obscured by pink blooming Liandri bushes that gave a bit of privacy.

The pool area was huge, a children’s pool with a gentle gradient was perfect for splashing in the shallows and paddling in the deeper area. It had a bubble area and an umbrella sprinkler that my children love running through. A sperate deep pool with a jacuzzi for relaxing and even another pool for lane swimming.

The pool area had a bar that served coffee, ice lollies and light lunches. After a few hours in the pool, working up an appetite, we really appreciated the hot lunch menu!

Not only was their a pool but also, attached to the campsite was a private sandy beach. We made the most of it being so accessible and dipped our toes in the water before breakfast. One evening a storm sky swirled its dark grey clouds around the mountains in the bay. We had an amazing view of the dramatic weather.

The restaurant was on site. It was busy and the staff were so friendly and attentive running food out of the huge kitchen. The food was excellent and drew people to dine there as prices were very fair and a woodfired oven served a delicious Napolitan margherita pizza.

I wasn’t surprised at all when I fell short on my packing. May in Italy for Italians is chilly and for people coming from the UK, it feels like summer. I am more accustomed to Italian climate and I had over looked anything warm while packing! The evenings and mornings in a caravan can be cool and I wished that I had packed some extra socks and a jumper.

Our trip to Camping Village Baia Domizia was fun and perfect for a family holiday because there is a lot to do. I love glamping holidays in Italy because the quality is so high. If you want to relax, you could spend your entire time onsite. If you want to explore the local area, Napoli, Pompei and Sperlonga are not far away.  From the site, there was a train station a 15 minute drive away. Sessa Aurunca-Roccamonfina station connects with Napoli Piazza Garibaldi station and the journey takes one hour. From here you can easily take the train connections to Pompei.

During our holiday, we stayed in a roulette (caravan). This was automatically selected when we booked the holiday and I didn’t see a way to upgrade. Our experience was basic and not a luxury break. Our accommodation was managed by Eurocamp and the caravan was an old model and it had a bit of a funky smell. But overall it was fine to stay in and the beds were comfortable. It was reasonable considering that we paid such a low price, and we spent most of the time outside anyway!

Looking at the cost of the holiday, the deal allowed us to save money and it gave us access to a fun little Italian campsite located between Rome and Napoli.

For three nights away, with accommodation, access to the pool, gym, park and private beach – we paid a total of  £ 118 ( £ 29.50 per person) in May 2023.

If I try to book the exact campsite for a family of four, over a weekend in May; I find the price comes in at £ 195. This means I saved a sizable 60% on the accommodation by going through the Sun offer.

The Sun holiday deal offers a short break at a selection of resorts in the UK, France, Spain, Croatia and more. The offer promises a holiday for as little as  £9.50 each – but what do you actually get for that, and how much do you actually pay? I saved up 5 token words and explored the offers to see what might be suitable for us.

Collecting 5 tokens meant giving money to a rag I would never ordinarily read but the five token words were collected and I could log into the site to find the holidays!

Collect your tokens and gain access to the booking website. The offer usually runs a couple of times a year. To book you must select a destination and then the choice of dates.

To make the experience as sustainable as possible look at how you can travel using local transport and train connections. Look at choosing the train rather than the plane to get there. You can do this by allowing yourself enough travel time, for more tips you can  my articles about night trains and trains in Italy.

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