French Aires this month (1 Viewer)

Philiphall

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Dec 28, 2012
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Ok so I have heard all the scaremongering about how busy the aires are in August, but is anyone actually over there this month and are they packed? This is the first time we have gone over in August so we are heading off this weekend for a few weeks down towards Bordeaux and will most probably stay on a camping municipal when we actually arrive at where we want to be (dont know where that is yet) but Aires are always good when travelling, so is there any room out there?
 
Aug 7, 2013
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Hi we are over here. The aires are really busy. If you get there by 4pm ish you are normally pretty lucky. Any later than that then French come piling in an park anywhere. We stayed on an aire in Uzerch it's meant to hold 20 vans. By time we had a wonder around the town and came back there were 47 vans in the aire and adjoining car park. One had even parked over the waste disposal point. Have a great trip
 

JeanLuc

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It all depends on where you are. Popular holiday places will be busy (coast, Dordogne/Lot etc.) but we have been in the Champagne region in August and the French had left - for the coast presumably.

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Soozywoozy

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At bergues last night, over 50 vans. Arrived at giffaumont chaumperbert this evening, arriving at 4, half full, now 8.30 and about 45 mh here, still arriving. It's a bank holiday in France and a lot of Europe this Friday so weekend likely to be busy
 
Oct 3, 2012
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Just got back from 2 weeks, we had no problems finding spaces in the Aires, the busiest was the coast at La Palmyre we stayed there a few days and the aire was half empty each day until about 4 -5 pm then would slowly fill up, all the inland aires no problem at all, a couple of which we were the only ones. We think the secret is to steer clear of the aires that hold a lot of vans as everyone heads to them assuming there will be space whereas the small 5 capacity ones are quiet.
 
Feb 16, 2013
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Just got back from 2 weeks, we had no problems finding spaces in the Aires, the busiest was the coast at La Palmyre we stayed there a few days and the aire was half empty each day until about 4 -5 pm then would slowly fill up, all the inland aires no problem at all, a couple of which we were the only ones. We think the secret is to steer clear of the aires that hold a lot of vans as everyone heads to them assuming there will be space whereas the small 5 capacity ones are quiet.
As I have just said in another aires thread, we have never found an aire that we couldn't get on but as scottyboy says we stay away from the big ones, we did go to the one in honflur because it was where we wanted to be, and the largest we have been on and the one that was closest to being full, must of been hundreds there

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magicsurfbus

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Logically there's going to be a higher daily turnover of parking places on a bigger aire than on a smaller one. If 10% of users move on each day then there'll be 10 available places on a 100 space aire and only 1 on a 10 space aire. For that reason we usually head for medium to large sized aires during busy times of the year.

Arriving mid-morning has always worked for us, and recognising that some coastal aires will be busier on sunny weekends simply because the locals decide to go to the seaside. If it's a bank holiday we usually try to get a space early on the Friday then stay put for the weekend.

It's worth having an alternative up your sleeve wherever you head for, but we've rarely have to use Plan B.
 
Oct 3, 2012
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Its worth remembering aswell that if you are on an Aire where the money is collected in the morning or the man comes to check tickets early a lot of the French bugger off and come back after he's gone so an ideal time to nip in and grab a space(y)
 
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Philiphall

Philiphall

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Dec 28, 2012
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Over here at the moment most of the aires on the coast are full - last weekend it was traffic jams everywhere even in the small coastal towns below bordeaux. That said we are having a great trip. If one aire was full we just moved on till we found a space. Off to the Pyrenees tomorrow!

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Sep 26, 2013
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On our way down towards the Bordeaux area but at the moment we are on the municipal at Beaumont sur Sarth for a couple of nights until the ACSI card starts.
Paying about 10 Euro a night without electric but more space than the average aire.

Mike
 
May 7, 2011
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On our way down towards the Bordeaux area but at the moment we are on the municipal at Beaumont sur Sarth for a couple of nights until the ACSI card starts.
Paying about 10 Euro a night without electric but more space than the average aire.

Mike
Hi Mike , There's a nice free aire lakeside bit rural, at St Denis du Maine

Aire: ST DENIS DU MAINE (3*)
ADDRESS: BASE DE LOISIRS "LA CHESNAIE", off D152

TEL:02 43 98 40 94 FAX: DITTO

EMAIL: mairie-st-denis-du-maine@wanadoo.fr

TYPE OF AIRE: MUNICIPAL
FACILITIES: WATER /GREY DRAIN/BLACK DRAIN

LOCATION: LAKESIDE/ SEMI-RURAL NO. OF SPACES: 10


PRICES/ RATES:

PARKING: FREE SERVICES: FREE

OPENING TIMES: ALL YEAR

GPS COORDS: N47.96631 W00.53256

DIRECTIONS: From LAVAL take D21 SOUTH & then D152 NORTH to ST DENIS. As you approach village, LAKE is on RIGHT & entrance to AIRE is RIGHT just before village.

SITE DESCRIPTION This pleasant municipal aire is situated on the southern side of the small village of St Denis (Pop.400) in a medium sized parking area on the Base de Loisirs, next to a large lake. There are ample parking spaces on hard standing around the lake with some shade in places, there is a play area & swimming is allowed in the lake in the summer. The aire is about 200m from the village where there are few facilities. Artisanal service point with drainage platform.

REVIEW:

A very nice lakeside aire just outside the small rural village of St Denis with good emplacements overlooking the lake. The aire has a well designed drive-thru service point with 2 taps. There is a small campsite also next to the lake (closed when we visited). A quiet little village with an interesting 11th century church plus a couple of chateaux nearby. Bar/ restaurant & a butcher in village.



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ST DENIS
 

Scout

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Neufchatel en bray had only 3 on.

saumur was nearly empty but we were there for lunch only and was told it fills up at night. Might stop there on way back tomorrow and tgen up to northern coast

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