Give me an aire! (1 Viewer)

[ericonabike]

Mrs E and I are in Brittany after touring France for almost two weeks. It's our first proper holiday here in our new home and we've been a little disappointed on the aires front! The two that we have stayed on have been car parks, essentially, where we were charged 8 and 10 Euros respectively. We are currently on an ACSI site in a wonderful location at 14 Euros a night! We got the location of the aires from the French 'camping-car-info' website.

We're heading back towards Calais tomorrow and have this challenge to aires-lovers - do you know of an aire in the vicinity of Caen/Le Havre that would persuade us to use them more often?

 

[Geo]

Im no expert but i dont think you need persuading, you need to change your perception
An aires-de -service is a car park:thumb:
For motor homesoh:
They are not meant to be alternatives to camping sites

 

[Sundowners]

We found most of aires along the coast charge - go inland, we found some beautiful ones along with some in car parks that don't charge at all and some only charge if you want water or to dump. 'All the Aires book of France' are aires, but a lot of the places to stay on the website 'WWW.campingcars-infos' are just that, places to stay and these can just be a place, not necessary of beauty, but you can stay overnight without getting moved on. At no time are they a replacement for campsites.

Nigel and Pamala
BTW---do not confuse 'aires-de-service' with m/home stopping places, usually in towns/villages and built/designed as m/home stop-over points.

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[keith]

You are in one of the most popular areas and this will be reflected in what you are charged.
Small villages all over France have aires that are in good locations and may be free, but you have to search for them.
I don't have any recommendations in the areas you plan to visit, but in my experience the N W corner of France will be busy in the high season, so they charge accordingly.

As Geo said they are not camp sites so don't expect to get all facilities, although we have stayed on them with all services and free so don't give up on finding your own bit of France.

Have a look at a few we have stayed at HERE some are not in France though.

 

[weekenders]

Try Catillon Sur Sambre, only takes about 5 vans with EHU, water, right at side of canal, nice spot

 

[joner8888]

Try " Camping Les Bruyeres" --92 chemin des ronces.
rustic campsite ,10eu per night inc HU , little bar /cafe there, mostly full timers with caravans in the trees.
Local brewed beer (strong)
Broken Link Removed

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[ojibway]

Hi ericonabike
Honfleur, opposite Le Havre is a beautiful little town and has a huge aire. Yes, it is a car park, designated for motorhomes. There is electricity though not enough to go round! It is a short walk into the town which is charming.

Further up the coast the aire at Le Treport is a bit more organised, also a short walk from the town. It has a barrier and individual electric points.

Veule-les Roses has a private aire next to a campsite with electricity. The town is well worth exploring. It has the shortest river in France.

We prefer aires to campsites as there is always so much going on especially if you like people watching! - Germans, Dutch, Belgiums, French and Brits all have there individual quirks!:Cool::Angry::thumb:oh:
Campsites are great if you want to mark out your territory and put out tables and chairs. But they are usually further out of town.
Hope you find something to like about aires!
Mike and Annie

 

[ericonabike]

Thanks for the replies - will check out the suggestions! Just to clarify - I wasn't expecting much other than a car park if it's free/nominal charge. But after reading some of the eulogies on aires here, I was expecting a nicely landscaped place if I was paying 10 Euros or so for it! We'll see how it pans out.

 

[hilldweller]

An aire an aire, my kingdom for an aire.

Where've I heard that before ?

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[stcyr]

We live in Normandy and have just come home after a 6-day 918km tour all round Brittany. The only cost was diesel. Every night we stayed on aires in the most beautiful surroundings, right by the sea, in the countryside, on the moors, some with all facilities, some with none. Some with no time restrictions at all, some 3 days max. ... In the beautiful preserved village of Locronan, we paid 3 euros. This one-off payment entitles us to as many return visits as we like for 12 months...

 

[ericonabike]

Sounds excellent StCyr. Did you find them by happenstance or by forward planning?

 

[stcyr]

Sounds excellent StCyr. Did you find them by happenstance or by forward planning?

We just drive wherever it takes our fancy and look for the aire-de-campingcar when we get there. There's always one nearby and usually a choice. This trip we stopped in Josselin,Guidel (choice of 3 aires), Plouhinec nr Audierne - aire here, very nice but we know a small carpark on the beach where we are invariably alone), Locronan (3 euros to park, one-off payment after which you can return anytime free for the year - 2euro extra if you stop the night) right in this historic village; St.Pol-de-Léon, aire right by the sea, 3euro, but can park free on the causeway,100yds.away,with toilets etc. ... Pointe du Palus outside Ploha, superbe aire,free, 3 nights allowed,all facilities, right on a beautiful beach, rocks covered in mussels and oysters; then Hillion, free, secluded,on hillside overlooking deserted beach. No forward planning needed :thumb:

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[stcyr]

Have a squint at the pics in my album - aires in Brittany .... :thumb:

 

[magicsurfbus]

In Bayeux town centre there's a free 24 hour parking area for MHs. Yes, it's another car park, but it's free, with a service point.

The aire at Honfleur is our standard pre-Calais stopover because we don't have to divert too far off the Autoroute to get to it. Interesting town, although I've lost count of how many times we've stopped there.

For future reference re Brittany, there are free car parky aires at Concarneau, Carnac, and St Guenole. There's a nicely-placed aire at Tregastel-Plage, which is tarmac but very close to the lovely Pink Granite Coast - you pay for that one. There's also a free one close to the sandy beach of Port Blanc on the NW corner of the Quiberon peninsula. NE of Rennes there are two free aires at Fougeres which has a most impressive medieval chateau. The one by the chateau is less car parky.

All these places are worth a visit for their own reasons.

 

[ericonabike]

Thanks again. Will try some of the suggestions out next time out maybe. Realise now that the GPS file I downloaded for free from camping-car-info just contained service points, not necessarily stopovers. May have to give in and buy 'All the Aires'!

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[magicsurfbus]

Realise now that the GPS file I downloaded for free from camping-car-info just contained service points, not necessarily stopovers.

The current POI file at that site distinguishes between service points and two types of overnight stopover (proper aire and MH tolerant vehicle parking) by using different symbols.

 

[ojibway]

Thanks again. Will try some of the suggestions out next time out maybe. Realise now that the GPS file I downloaded for free from camping-car-info just contained service points, not necessarily stopovers. May have to give in and buy 'All the Aires'!

I buy the USB memory stick from campincar-infos every year and load the aires onto my TomTom. I can also use the memory stick on my laptop and search for aires without having to be online:thumb:

 

[Viennese]

I downloaded the aires free

in TomTom format from Link Removed, put up, along with lots of other useful downloads, by activecampers (fun members), so hope it will be good for our upcoming trip.

Catherine

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[FIDGET]

Hi try villers bocage nice village and aire just south of caen. Terry