Aires v Municipal Camping v other options (1 Viewer)

zen navigator

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I am travelling to France in July, and had some valuable info from users re: travelling and MH'ing in France.

Its hard to find any one who does not sing the praise of Aires. Also heard of Municipal Camping as a good option.

For my first trip to France, I am torn between having a fixed spot and just visit an area and maybe move a couple of times in the 2 1/2 week visit or bob all over the place and make it a real 'mystery tour'

My co-pilot likes her creature comforts...so leccy is a must, although if we opt for the mystery tour she is happy to do without it for a day :Angry:. So if Aires do not offer leccy or its fairly limited than that could put a show-stopper :Doh:

My questions are:

Are there varying grades of Aires based on there offerings i.e leccy, showers etc or they pretty much standard.

What is the attraction of Aires and are there any downsides?

Do Muncipal Camping offer a better experience? Any downsides?

What other options are there? France equivalent of Camping & Caravan sites etc?

Is it wise to pre-book Aires and Muncipal Camping sites. Thinking they must get quite busy in July?

Dave and Sylvia
 
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Lenny HB

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Aires are usually close too or in the town some have electric a coin in the slot for a few hours and in July you will be often be parked up with only a couple of feet to the next van. Very few have showers (what's wrong with the one in your van?). Often a time limit of how long you can stay 24/48 hours, please note Germans can't read these signs..

Municipals again close to the town usually much cheaper than commercial sites facilities vary from basic to very good, all generally have electric.

You can not book Aires & a lot of municipals will not take bookings. I never book sites & certainly wouldn't worry in France if ones full there's nearly always room on the next one down the road.

Sounds like you are going to need to stay on sites I personally think having to hook up to electric defeats the point of wandering about in a Motorhome but everyone to there own.

Pick up a copy of FFCC campsite guide it covers every campsite in France (over 11000) you can buy it from the clubs or pick up a copy at the first French Hypermarket you pass.
 

scotjimland

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My questions are:

Are there varying grades of Aires based on there offerings i.e leccy, showers etc or they pretty much standard.


Aires are not graded, some have ehu , many don't but will usually have a charging point you pay for by the hour.
Never seen hot showers in an aire, some have an outdoor beach shower.


What is the attraction of Aires and are there any downsides?


Attraction is that many are free or only a few Euro, most are close to villages or a beach, river..
Downsides.. can't pitch a tent/awning or leave stuff out overnight, they can be crowded and vans can be very close.. but off season that's not usually an issue.
Security not as good as a site , so you need to lock stuff away at night, especially bikes.

Do Muncipal Camping offer a better experience? Any downsides?

Municipals are usually very good, reasonably priced and usually have showers and toilets + ehu around 12 - 15€ per night..

Can't think of any downsides.. unless your looking for an all singing dancing, bar, pool type site .. then expect to pay upwards of €30

My advice is to arrive no later than mid afternoon to secure a pitch.. later than that you may be disappointed ..



What other options are there? France equivalent of Camping & Caravan sites etc?

To my knowledge there is no equivalent to the CC or CCC ..

Other options are France Passion, vineyards, farms etc that offer free overnight stops, Camping La Ferme , same idea as France Passion, however, in return it is courteous to purchase some of their products.


Is it wise to pre-book Aires and Muncipal Camping sites. Thinking they must get quite busy in July?

You can't book aires or municipals and some will be very busy, especially near the coast or other attractions, but get off the beaten track and you will find plenty that are quiet ..

Dave and Sylvia

best advice is just to go and have a great time..you will soon pick up the ropes.. nowhere beats France for facilities and motorhome friendliness

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hilldweller

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For my first trip to France, I am torn between having a fixed spot and just visit an area and maybe move a couple of times in the 2 1/2 week visit or bob all over the place and make it a real 'mystery tour
Dave and Sylvia

Pointless having a MH if you park it for 2 weeks. IMHO.

2 or 3 days yes, then move on.

Our limited experience of muncipal campsites has been great. Cheap. Good quality. Usually a family lives on site and runs it so it's like a privately owned campsite that they take great pride in.

Having said that, this time we are booked into one site for ten days ( of a month's holiday ) to stop me doing too many miles and rushing round like a headless chicken. You have to find the right compromise.
 
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zen navigator

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You get us wrong....I not looking for the cushy option, but just looking at the options :Cool:

I have solar panels, good leisure battery and a genny(although it is a cheap and cheerful adli type!). So very self sufficient. I am not going to chase sites with leccy at the expense of missing out on a must see?do town, view, experience.

But if the site has leccy, showers etc then all well and good. If not, she'll survived, but I dont want to push my luck :Eeek:

But I am sure there will a time on the trip, where the missus will want to 'put her feet' up for a day or so and take it easy.



Thanks for the advice.

Dave

Aires are usually close too or in the town some have electric a coin in the slot for a few hours and in July you will be often be parked up with only a couple of feet to the next van. Very few have showers (what's wrong with the one in your van?). Often a time limit of how long you can stay 24/48 hours, please note Germans can't read these signs..

Municipals again close to the town usually much cheaper than commercial sites facilities vary from basic to very good, all generally have electric.

You can not book Aires & a lot of municipals will not take bookings. I never book sites & certainly wouldn't worry in France if ones full there's nearly always room on the next one down the road.

Sounds like you are going to need to stay on sites I personally think having to hook up to electric defeats the point of wandering about in a Motorhome but everyone to there own.

Pick up a copy of FFCC campsite guide it covers every campsite in France (over 11000) you can buy it from the clubs or pick up a copy at the first French Hypermarket you pass.
 

eirebus

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book nothing and just go for it france is a big place so theres lots of room if you have young children ignore this advice and still enjoy whatever type of site you land on:thumb::thumb:

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chatter

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these are similar to our cl/cs sites
For those of you that holiday in or travel through france, here is a link for sites that are on farms, they offer from 5 to 25 pitches with and without electric and usually have toilet, shower facilities, and their charges are very resonable.


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zen navigator

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Personnally, I am ready to go after 3 or 4 days. The plan(if I had one) would be to stay 2 - 3 days and move on. Clearly from what people are saying you cant really do this on Aires. So more mileage or visit Muncipals as Grath suggested.

Just us two, so we can go with the flow.

Thanks for all the tips and will certainly look at the suggest books.

Question:

Wheres the best place to find all the Garmin POIs for the Aires and Municipal Camping?


Pointless having a MH if you park it for 2 weeks. IMHO.

2 or 3 days yes, then move on.

Our limited experience of muncipal campsites has been great. Cheap. Good quality. Usually a family lives on site and runs it so it's like a privately owned campsite that they take great pride in.

Having said that, this time we are booked into one site for ten days ( of a month's holiday ) to stop me doing too many miles and rushing round like a headless chicken. You have to find the right compromise.
 
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zen navigator

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Thanks again Jim for your top tips.

Now to pull a cunning plan together.

1. Build raft and drift across the channel.
2. Study tides.
3. Buy Beer

:Cool:

best advice is just to go and have a great time..you will soon pick up the ropes.. nowhere beats France for facilities and motorhome friendliness

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evans88

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You should not use a genny on an Aire if the vans are closely parked as this would be anti social and not appreciated by others parked close by. In the unlikely event an Aire is empty then a genny is fine.
 
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zen navigator

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I have had the genny 2 years and not used it at all. Couple of occasions where I could have done with it. But it was either too late i.e late evening or too close to other campers.

Genny is a nice to have\ emergency(beer getting warm etc) :RollEyes:.

You should not use a genny on an Aire if the vans are closely parked as this would be anti social and not appreciated by others parked close by. In the unlikely event an Aire is empty then a genny is fine.
 

scotjimland

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You should not use a genny on an Aire if the vans are closely parked as this would be anti social and not appreciated by others parked close by. In the unlikely event an Aire is empty then a genny is fine.


Agreed, but you can get around this if you have a long lead ( I have two 25 mt ) and hide the genny behind a hedge or wall where it's out of sight, out of mind , outside hearing distance.

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Parcverger

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Dare I say do not ignore sites - there are a lot of reasonably priced sites, OK not as cheap as aires or municipals, but you pay for what you get. You will see from our website (www.parcverger.com) that we provide 16A electricity if you want it, with hot showers etc, a pool for those hot summer evenings, and you will have a decent pitch, not be squashed in a couple of feet from the next vehicle. And all MHFunsters enjoy a discount on our prices, as is the case with the two who are on site now.

So enjoy your visit to France, which is a beautiful country, and try all of the options, then the two of you can make up your minds on how you want to spend your non-travelling time on your future visits.

Bob and Di
 

lesleyjean

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Dare I say do not ignore sites - there are a lot of reasonably priced sites, OK not as cheap as aires or municipals, but you pay for what you get. You will see from our website (www.parcverger.com) that we provide 16A electricity if you want it, with hot showers etc, a pool for those hot summer evenings, and you will have a decent pitch, not be squashed in a couple of feet from the next vehicle. And all MHFunsters enjoy a discount on our prices, as is the case with the two who are on site now.

So enjoy your visit to France, which is a beautiful country, and try all of the options, then the two of you can make up your minds on how you want to spend your non-travelling time on your future visits.

Bob and Di

Hi Bob and Di

We agree, this is a great site, with free internet connection. Very welcoming.

We will be back, we highly recommend this site to any Funsters travelling through France.

Cheers

Lesley
 

Big Momma

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Try this site Link Removed (click on the UK version), it will plan an itinerary for you on a route that you select, places of interests etc(you can select what interests you) and it will give you a list of campsites in the area. Very god and useful site.

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smudge

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Try this site Link Removed (click on the UK version), it will plan an itinerary for you on a route that you select, places of interests etc(you can select what interests you) and it will give you a list of campsites in the area. Very god and useful site.

The link doesn't work for me ..... :-(
 

lorger

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Hi Dave

Do you have kids if so have to consider what they might like our daughter is 12 and like to stop at sites with pools and slides for her for a few nights. Sophie actually likes the france passion and aires better now we have stopped at aires next to a lake where she could play and swim. We have used municpal sites some of them ok others great we stopped at one in Bourges one of the cleanest sites we have stayed on it was about 15euro in July and even got discounted entry to local outdoor swimming pools feww hundred yards away.

One of the aires we have used was Autun which is on a lake and next to an outdoor swimming pool with loads of slides so cheap camping as it was free and everything for the kids had a Macdonalds across the road and a bowling alley.

Our first trip in the MH to France was 3 years ago (had been with caravan few times) we didnt book a single site and every one we stopped it had spaces that was last 3 weeks of July.

Gerry

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Judge Mental

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we use both. Aires are fine but basically just car parks so no camping allowed tables chairs etc....don't seem to stop some though. We tend to use aires while travelling but if a municipal on route we use that, normally much more comfortable, spacious and green! Plus cost difference is normally minimal.

There are decent aires and campsites, and rubbish versions of both as well.
 

The Wallace

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We prefer to use municipals - aires can be too close packed for comfort, safety and a good nights sleep. ( some people hog the hook up, some park on the dump point, some reserve places for their mates) Aires are great if you can't afford a bit of space or are caught short, as it were. There are of course great aires and crap municipals - we have just been lucky with municipals (eg 160 pitches and just us and one other on site).

Having spent so much on our home on wheels the last thing we want is to find some beer swilling, pitt bull owning, genny running campers 2 feet away on an aire. (ok so we were unlucky with a couple of aires).

Enjoy France - no Tories there.
 
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zen navigator

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Thanks for this, looks very useful.

The new link works fine.

Dave

Try this site Link Removed (click on the UK version), it will plan an itinerary for you on a route that you select, places of interests etc(you can select what interests you) and it will give you a list of campsites in the area. Very god and useful site.

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zen navigator

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Kids grown up and doing their own things. Hence the purchase of the Motorhome a couple of years back...so its a kids free zone :winky: Although the eldest and her b\f have joined us a couple of times.

So we are pretty free and easy. As prev. mentioned the missus likes her creature comforts so leccy would be desirable. But not a majority factor. We going for the views\walks and generally chillin'


Hi Dave

Do you have kids if so have to consider what they might like our daughter is 12 and like to stop at sites with pools and slides for her for a few nights. Sophie actually likes the france passion and aires better now we have stopped at aires next to a lake where she could play and swim. We have used municpal sites some of them ok others great we stopped at one in Bourges one of the cleanest sites we have stayed on it was about 15euro in July and even got discounted entry to local outdoor swimming pools feww hundred yards away.

One of the aires we have used was Autun which is on a lake and next to an outdoor swimming pool with loads of slides so cheap camping as it was free and everything for the kids had a Macdonalds across the road and a bowling alley.

Our first trip in the MH to France was 3 years ago (had been with caravan few times) we didnt book a single site and every one we stopped it had spaces that was last 3 weeks of July.

Gerry
 

Wintonian

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We moved to France just over 2 years ago and, after a year without a MH we bought another last September. Like the French, we use it at weekends and during the week just to go to pleasant spots to walk, relax and make a meal.

The French are so accommodating of MHs (Camping Cars, in French) that finding a place to spend the night is simply never a problem. Some major cities should be avoided, of course, as is the case anywhere in the world, but other towns and small villages welcome MHs. Many provide overnighting facilities, such as waste tank emptying facilities, free of charge.
They are to be found by looking for the ubiquitous road sign that looks like this: Link Removed

The sign may be found in public car parks. We were surprised, when we first arrived in France, to find that we were able to spend a couple of nights in a car park displaying such a sign, right by the side of the River Blavet in Pontivy town centre. Very easy walk to the shops etc. We have been pleased to use such parking all over Brittany and in other departments.

It is not necessary to use a formal caravan park if you are touring, especially if you are driving the MH off-site for the day. And in France, it is so easy to find parking at most of the attractive locations that you will visit by day (usually free of charge) that one doesn't spend enough time at the camp site to really justify being there overnight. We use the Aires and villlage parking facilities as well as the many informal sites that do not display any notices forbidding Camping Cars. You will be surprised how easy it is to find somewhere nice to spend the night.:Smile:

Just get on the ferry (spoil yourselves and take the Portsmouth/Caen or Portsmouth/St Malo - we use that route two or three times a year) and travel around Brittany to see how beautiful France is, and to find roads that are not full. And no toll roads!
:thumb:
 
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