France

1. Les Criques de Porteils, Argeles-sur-Mer

There's a real mix of the French and the Spanish at this site, which was once part of Catalonia, which means that there's sangria to go with your snails. Even the street signs are in Catalan. A spread of trees keeps the place hidden and an undulating old stone wall separates the pitches from three private pebble beaches. There are pitches near the water, in the trees or with views to the foothills of the Albères behind the site. If you can't decide between France and Spain, Les Criques will give you a bit of both.

• +33 4 6880 3553; lescriques.com; from €19 to €32 for a tent and two people.

2. Les Romarins, Cote d'Azur

This is as dramatic a campsite as you'll find anywhere in France, and not one for those who don't like heights. A few kilometres up from the village of Eze, you can pitch under olive and rosemary trees in a hillside setting on the French Riviera between Monaco and Nice. With fabulous views across the sea from the steeply raking site, Les Romarins is the perfect place to live the high life without breaking the bank.

• +33 4 9301 8164; campingromarins.com; from €17 to €20 for two people, tent and car plus €5.50 to €7 for each extra person and €3 to €4 for under-fives.

Spain

3. Cala Llevado, Costa Brava

You get four beaches for the price of one at this rambling site on the rocky cliffs of the Costa Brava coastline. There's everything from a cosy little pirate cove to a naturist beach and a sweeping bay. The site is enormous but some of the pitches are so far from it all it's like camping wild. Others are on top of one of the beaches, giving you a bird's eye view.

• +34 9 7234 0314; calallevado.com; from €16.50 to €27 for a person, tent and car plus €5.50 to €9 for each extra person and €3 to €5 per child.

4. Torre de la Mora, Tarragona

Set alongside one of the last areas of virgin vegetation left on the Spanish coast, this site is slap bang above the beach and the nearby promenade, which is home to some nicely unpretentious beach bars. There are lifeguards and beach volleyball players to spice up the views and the boutiques and cafes of Tarragona's old town are at hand if you fancy a touch of Spanish culture.

• +34 9 7765 0277; torredelamora.com; from €14 to €29 for a person, tent and car plus €4 to €9 for each extra person.

Italy

Stella Mare, Elba

Enjoy views of the sparkling sea from your clifftop pitch in this dramatic bay-side site on the island off the Tuscan coast where Napoleon spent a year in exile before being defeated at Waterloo. Dotted with cacti and all manner of strange trees, the crumbly chocolate cliffs make for a perfect hideaway from the tourists on the mainland. The bay is shallow and great for children, and there's a secluded rocky beach at the back of the site if you want to get away from it all.

• +39 0565 964007; stellamare.it; from €18 to €28.50 for a person, tent and car plus €8.50 to €14.50 for each extra person and €5 to €10 per child - aged two to eight.

6. Costiolu, Sardinia

This is a working organic farm - un'azienda biologica- in the island's hilly heart. There aren't beaches right on your doorstep, but the gorgeous waters of the Costa Smeralda are within striking distance. Run by the colourful Giovanni, the farm is a proper retreat from the trappings of modern life. Sardinia's cultural capital, Nuoro, is visible from the azienda but the land around is mainly olive groves, fields of cereal and grazing land full of goats. To top it all, Giovanni does the cooking, too.

• +39 0784 260088; email: roccasagriturismo@tiscali.it; from €15 a night for two people, tent and car. Dinner €25 a head.

7. Riva di Ugento, Puglia

Riva di Ugento is gigantissimo. There's miles of flat sandy beach backed by nearly 80 acres of shady trees in the heel of Italy. There's a yurt-style cafeteria, boat hire and all that sand and sea. The coast's notorious for shipwrecks so there's great scuba diving for the adventurous too. Or you can just laze about in the shade of the twisting Aleppus pines and lick your melting ice cream.

• +39 0833 933600; rivadiugento.it; from €19 to €40 for two people, tent and car.

Croatia

8. Mala Milna, Hvar

Hvar is Croatia's answer to the French Riviera, with exclusive beaches, designer hotels, cafes, bars and boutiques, so if you've brought your glad-rags you can always rub shoulders with the moneyed glamour on this island for an evening or two. Thankfully, you won't be disturbed by Dalmatian WAGs and their designer poodles at Mala Milna, though, as it's the budget option. There are two pebble beaches (the Croatian coast is notoriously rocky) on either side of the site and the coast is dotted with paths and ancient villages alike, so there's everything you need.

• +38 521 643531; hvar.hr/mala-milna; about 140kn (£16) for two people, tent and car

9. Glavotok, Krk

This island may be short on vowels but it's long on attractions. This little Dalmatian haven is right by the water's edge and offers great diving and local seafood specialities, such as the three-hour slow-cooked octopus. When the campsite lights go off at 11pm all that's left is the sound of lapping water and the twinkling lights of the neighbouring island of Cres. Glavotok gets busy in high season with hosts of regular visitors so booking ahead is essential.

• +38 551 862117; kamp-glavotok.hr; from 108kn to 206kn (about £13 to £24) for two people, tent and car.

10. Pod Maslinom, Dubrovnik

This hillside campsite sloping gently down to the seashore has been a labour of love for its owner. He has converted a jungle of olive trees into an enchanting landscaped campsite surrounded by limestone walls. Add to that the comfortable exclusivity, with a restriction on the numbers of guests at any one time, which has created an inclusive, laid-back vibe to the place. Down a steep and rocky path, there's a private pebbly beach, and the Unesco World Heritage City of Dubrovnik is only an hour away.

• +38 520 891 169; orasac.com; from 70kn to 82kn (about £8-£9)for two people and a tent.

Greece

11. Enjoy-Lichnos, Parga

Take a higgledy-piggledy Greek village, a beach of sugar-fine sand with sea so clear you can see your toes and one of the friendliest campsite owners you'll ever find and Enjoy-Lichnos is the result. Chuck in a few 500-year-old olive trees and a friendly alfresco bar and this could be the perfect Greek camping holiday. It's also so close to the port for the Italian ferries that it's the ideal first stop to dip a toe in Greek waters.

• +30 268 403 1171; enjoy-lichnos.net; from €17 to €19 for two people, tent and car.

12. Tartaruga, Zakynthos

Zakynthos, once known as the Venice of the east, is one of the most spectacular islands in the Ionian Sea and has one of the most dramatic campsites. The clifftop pitches of Tartaruga give you clear views across the sea. The owners cook meals with whatever is fresh in the market, though thankfully not the loggerhead turtles that use the turquoise waters of the bay for their mating games.

• +30 269 505 1967; tartaruga-camping.com; from €15.50 to €19.50 for two people, tent and car. Children under four are free

13. Areti, Chalkidiki

Life at Areti is sleepier than a raki-laced bouzouki player. Acres of old eucalyptus and gnarled olive trees provide shade or you can pitch by the sea on the private beach. In the nearby town you can haggle with the locals over calamari and local honey or hire a boat, jet-ski or windsurf to visit one of the three deserted islands just off the coast.

• +30 237 507 1573; camping-areti.gr; up to €30 for two people, tent and car. Children are €4.50.

14. Nicolas, Peleponnese

This southern region is the epitome of ancient Greece, a fancy mix of ruins, myths and classic tales. Nicolas campsite is a 10-minute stroll from the town of Tiryns, which hosts an annual classic Greek theatre festival, staged in its two ancient amphitheatres. So you might be sharing the site with actors rehearsing their lines between mouthfuls of moussaka. The camp is set in a former orange and mulberry grove with pitches in the hollows and under the canopy of the flowering trees and it's all just a ripe orange's throw from the waters of the bay.

• +30 275 304 1218; nicolasgikas.gr; from €16 to €20 for a tent and two people.

15. Antiparos, Cyclades

This diminutive Aegean jewel is Greeker than Greek, complete with crinkly-faced fishermen, cats lounging in the shade and everything dazzlingly whitewashed. It's a four-hour ferry ride from Piraeus (Athens's port) to this little hideaway, so the place is a real escape. The campsite provides a tangled canopy of cedar trees or a bamboo field for its pitches. There are three main beaches (one of which is naturist) and at the end of the day Mrs Kalygros the owner will cook you up her squid with rice and raisins.

• +30 228 406 1221; camping-antiparos.gr; from €20 to €30 for two people and a tent.

Extracted from Cool Camping Europe (£18.95) and Cool Camping France (£14.95).