What is you favourite Aire and why (1 Viewer)

[OwnedbyCollies]

Tardinghen - La Ferme de l'Horloge

We stayed on this aire for the first and last nights of our recent trip. Only 20 minutes from Calais and Tunnel.

All the Aires book page 295. The book does not do this aire justice as it reports on the service point at the farm but fails to mention the 3 'parkings'. See the link below for details or check it out on Camping car info http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm Dept 62
5 euros a night including services.

http://www.sitedes2caps.fr/

Fabulous views over the channel to England on the Fleur des Champs 'parking' and the dogs were really pleased with all of the grass to run around!

 

[barryd]

Thanks for that. We almost went in there a few weeks ago on the way home. I hadnt been online for a day or two and we just had the Aires book as a guide. We had a quick look down the driveway of the farm and moved one as it suggested a similar site to the book pic. Just looked on Campinginfos and clearly as you say its much nicer than it looks. There is I think another new Aire opened up with a brill sea view just up the road from Wissant only a few miles from there. We found it by accident after leaving the one you mention. There are no facilities just a big field but with great views. 3 Euros collected by some mad farmer with an equally mad horse. There are actually quite a few nice places to stay in this area but to me its always a damb squib as you know your going home.:Angry:

 

[camper69]

We stayed on this aire for the first and last nights of our recent trip. Only 20 minutes from Calais and Tunnel.

All the Aires book page 295. The book does not do this aire justice as it reports on the service point at the farm but fails to mention the 3 'parkings'. See the link below for details or check it out on Camping car info http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm Dept 62
5 euros a night including services.

http://www.sitedes2caps.fr/

Fabulous views over the channel to England on the Fleur des Champs 'parking' and the dogs were really pleased with all of the grass to run around!

We have stayed on one of the 3 parkings and a great view we have of the boats at sea. Pity it was on the way home:Sad:

Derek

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[nahnotme]

is there a file of all these aires for tomtom anywhere ?

 

[barryd]

is there a file of all these aires for tomtom anywhere ?

Yes. here Link Removed

There are also other POI (Points of Interest) which can be useful such as wifi hotspots, supermarkets in France etc. I think the TomTom website has quite a few as well including all the Aires. I set mine to ping at me when I am within 500 yards of an Aire so if we need to dump or fill we can do so an also just to see what its like. Sometimes it can be useful if your in the middle of knowhere and just need to find the nearest aire. Only problem is it might well be a service point in a supermarket car park or a lovely aire with a sea view.

 

[meanders]

Another aire we found that the aires book doesn't do justice to is Barlieu pg 104,
This is a leisure park small but lovely with a fishing lake, swimming lake ideal for children, small play area and a takeaway,that is privately owned and very friendly, and the bonus is the boulanger calls!!

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[barryd]

I contacted Vicarous Books who produce the All The Aires books with a view to doing a bit of work for them as we visit so many. I got the impression that they expect people to do their work for nothing though and I wasnt impressed with their attitude really. I wonder what Jim is going to produce with his request for Aire Pictures. The French Campinginfos site is great but it would be good to have an English version.

 

[scotjimland]

I contacted Vicarous Books who produce the All The Aires books with a view to doing a bit of work for them as we visit so many. I got the impression that they expect people to do their work for nothing though and I wasnt impressed with their attitude really. I wonder what Jim is going to produce with his request for Aire Pictures. The French Campinginfos site is great but it would be good to have an English version.

All The Aires ? should be renamed Some Of The Aires, ..

I agree, campingcarinfos is the best by far, you soon learn the few French words/phrases to read it easily and the DVD is well worth buying .. great when you have no internet access.. :thumb:

why help someone reinvent the wheel .. for free oh:

almost forgot .. the OP question ..

it's impossible to choose just ONE aire as a favourite, there are literally hundreds / thousands of great ones ..

the one I look forward to visiting is the next one on the map that we haven't been to before ..

 

[barryd]

Your right Jim. I choose Gavarnie simply because it was so stunning but its probably also because we had such a wonderful time there but there are many many others that are just as nice. I also agree with you that its great finding new ones. I think I could bumble around France for ever living on Aires. I wonder if there is anyway of translating the the campingcarinfos DVD. I know you can translate the website but as you mention if you cant get online the DVD is a good idea. My French is still pretty bad but then again its perhaps another way of learning.

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[nahnotme]

Yes. here Link Removed

There are also other POI (Points of Interest) which can be useful such as wifi hotspots, supermarkets in France etc. I think the TomTom website has quite a few as well including all the Aires. I set mine to ping at me when I am within 500 yards of an Aire so if we need to dump or fill we can do so an also just to see what its like. Sometimes it can be useful if your in the middle of knowhere and just need to find the nearest aire. Only problem is it might well be a service point in a supermarket car park or a lovely aire with a sea view.

I have all the files from here already in my satnav and im about to set off from malaga to calais and there are very few en-route and every one says oohhh stay away from them if there on a motorway or near a city, its probably just paranioa but im bricking it thinking of the stop overs on the journy back. what we need are POIs that ping up and say this is a good un with no robbers hiding in the bushes ?

 

[barryd]

I have all the files from here already in my satnav and im about to set off from malaga to calais and there are very few en-route and every one says oohhh stay away from them if there on a motorway or near a city, its probably just paranioa but im bricking it thinking of the stop overs on the journy back. what we need are POIs that ping up and say this is a good un with no robbers hiding in the bushes ?

Firstly let me reasure you that you are far more likely to get mugged or robbed in England than on an Aire in France. Yes avoid Motorway service station Aires perhaps if only for the noise. I would get the All the Aires Book and do some research before you go on here http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm Set google to auto translate the French and go through each region you think you might make a stopover in. You will get a whole page of info and comments and photos for many of the Aires on the site. What I do is print them all off as a PDF document or copy and paste them into Word so I have an off line resource of many aires in all regions in English. Pretty much any Aire in rural France in a small village is going to be safe. There are nearly always other vans around and they all watch out for each other. You never have to travel far of the motorway to find one.

 

[vindiboy]

Enjoyed this one as very quiet and a few K off the A71 S of Orleans

Hi Keith, I would like to use the aire you have shown but can' t find it in any of the books and Google maps don't recognise LE FETRE BUANAIS so where is it Please.

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[vindiboy]

I tried another search on google maps for orleans le fetre and that got me a result so I am now a bit closer.

 

[Madmaggott]

Honfleur is getting that way too - we've watched it get more and more crowded even out of holiday times. They're charging €9 now too and you can't always get hook-up.

St Valery sur Somme is nice - we were there last August and although busy they were quite large pitches, I think it was about €7

Bergerac is nice too but vans are a bit close and anything over 7 metres just won't get a place!

Montreuil- Bellay is gorgeous! Free and spacious and next to a river and a chateau!

We stayed for 2 nights at St Valery Sur Somme at the beginning of June this year. We arrived at about 11 am and took the last but one space! The spaces are now very close together and we had to reverse in so that the back could overhang the verge or we would not have fitted (about 22'6"). It cost about €5 I think, to overnight, but no charge during the day.
I loved it there despite the closeness of our neighbours and feel it is good value but if you want to get on you will need to be very early!:Sad:

 

[keith]

I tried another search on google maps for orleans le fetre and that got me a result so I am now a bit closer.

Keith's maps

Try the above link to my list of maps the aire is located some way down the list. Think I may have had the spelling wrong. :Blush: La Ferte Beauharnais

Keith

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[OwnedbyCollies]

Villiers-Charlemagne

All the Aires page 300. Another lovely aire where the picture does it no justice. Large grassy area next to a small campsite and a fishing lake. Borne was free (including electric!) in June when we were there.

 

[georgio]

Afternoon all,


North side of lac leon ST. girons french west coast low season.

Ok for overnight stop on way to spain as well.


georgio

 

[OwnedbyCollies]

Arromanches les Bains

It is possible to stay on the car park at the 360 degree cinema on the cliff top above the town. No services - nearest at the official aire in town (pg 279 All the Aires). It cost 4 euros for 24 hours. Fabulous view over the Mulberry harbour and a 5 minute walk down into town with a free 'train' ride back up if the hill looks too daunting!

We stayed for 2 nights over the D Day Anniversary weekend. The first night we were on the back row which inevitably suffered with some road noise. The second night, after returning from a trip out and fearful that we wouldn't even get back on the aire, we managed to get on the front row! Highly recommended!

Apologies for no photos - I am struggling to resize images on the mac.

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[barryd]

It is possible to stay on the car park at the 360 degree cinema on the cliff top above the town. No services - nearest at the official aire in town (pg 279 All the Aires). It cost 4 euros for 24 hours. Fabulous view over the Mulberry harbour and a 5 minute walk down into town with a free 'train' ride back up if the hill looks too daunting!

We stayed for 2 nights over the D Day Anniversary weekend. The first night we were on the back row which inevitably suffered with some road noise. The second night, after returning from a trip out and fearful that we wouldn't even get back on the aire, we managed to get on the front row! Highly recommended!

Apologies for no photos - I am struggling to resize images on the mac.

Thanks for that, its useful to know as the Aire in Arromanches does get crowded. The two times we have been however we stayed at Longues Sur Mer gun battery. Its about 2-3 miles up the coast (north) of Arromanches right on the cliff top. The gun batteries are one of the few in the Atlantic wall that are intact complete with guns. Really interesting. If you continue past the battery car park and head for the edge of the cliff there is a cracking cliff top wild spot, usually a couple of vans but never packed (probably will be now) and you can see the Mulberry Harbour in the distance. Put these co-ordinates into Google Earth and you will see the spot and a few vans dotted around. Very quiet (but not in 1944).

49.345871 -0.689523

 

[jean and robert]

Our favourite aire is:
St-Poucain-Sur-Sioule (Dept 03)
Lovely parkland setting, marked pitches many with river views, well kept flower beds etc. A former camp site with warden living on "site" so no security worries but it gets better as charge for this is no Euros per night with no limit on no. of nights. This is an aire where you can put out chairs etc. Gets very busy so arrive early. Only charges are 2 Euros to fill with water and empty toilet and 2 Euros for 4 hours electric hook-up. Who says France is expensive?

 

[barryd]

Our favourite aire is:
St-Poucain-Sur-Sioule (Dept 03)
Lovely parkland setting, marked pitches many with river views, well kept flower beds etc. A former camp site with warden living on "site" so no security worries but it gets better as charge for this is no Euros per night with no limit on no. of nights. This is an aire where you can put out chairs etc. Gets very busy so arrive early. Only charges are 2 Euros to fill with water and empty toilet and 2 Euros for 4 hours electric hook-up. Who says France is expensive?

And this is why we love it. Our last trip was 2 months and every night in France with a quick hop into Spain. I love the French markets, food, drink. The thought of their fresh bread and butter on toast on a morning! For us its not expensive as we dont have to pay for a campsite (odd municiple if its cheap and convenient). As a consequence these little French villages get customers who spend money. I thought early April to early June would be quiet in France for MH but no it isnt everywhere. Clearly they are there all the time spending their cash. Well done France I say. Its not rocket science really. Build it and they will come! I think however its the diversity I love as well. so many differnet places to see, almost like several countries in one. Im going to book mark this post as there are a lot of Aires that have come up which sound great that I havent been on. thanks again everyone.

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[jenkothewanderer]

Aire at ARADOUR-SUR-GLANE

On our way to Spain we stayed at a lovely Aire in the village of Aradour-sur-Glane which is approx 9 miles north west of Limoge.
This is the martyr village which was destroyed by the nazis in June 1944 in a reprisal attack where over 400 people lost their lives and the village burnt down. The village is now a monument and has been left as it was as a reminder of the atrocious act and is well worth seeing. (see Google for more info)
The aire is in the new village and is about a 10 minute walk to the martyr village although there is plenty of parking at the site. The martyr village is free entrance but there is a reception area with books, literature and video if you require more info.
The aire is free with the usual 2 euros flot bleu but most were taking water from the sinks used for washing the pots, there were also free toilets.
We stayed 4 days and took the scooter off to explore the area, suggest you get there early afternoon.
Enjoy
Link Removed

 

[Mr Colpot]

I have just spent a pleasant couple of hours using this thread to plan our next trip in 3 weeks time.
Thanks to everyone who posted
Better get on and do some work now!:Sad:

 

[FIDGET]

Hi , personally I use motorhoming france for my info as site is in english very good descriptions and directions also map refs. I research area I'm going to and print off each sheet and now have most of them off of this site but as you say even this site doesn't give all of them but gives a good spread . Terry

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[FIDGET]

Hi again sorry forgot to put my favourites . Chateau Gontier beautiful and La Balme De Sillingy v nice by a bar and lake surrounded by nice park. Terry

 

[FIDGET]

Hi. spelling of La Ferte Beauharnais hope this helps. Terry:thumb:

 

[keith]

Stayed at a few more aires in SW France, on our way home. The most northerly one is a farm perfect for a night before the ferry/tunnel, quiet with great views.

See them on my map of our travels HERE

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[lolo]

Just spent a great couple of hours planning our trip for august, have never used aires but will be this time, thanks.

 

[vwalan]

best ones are the free ones . loads to pick from .

 

[magicsurfbus]

Although I run a website plugging the bigger Aires so newcomers can get into it all, I deliberately keep the details of smaller more isolated ones off the internet to prevent overcrowding.

Of the bigger ones I quite like Anglet (convenient for everything), with La Barre (just down the road, open July-Aug) as a good back up. Biscarrosse-Plage has interesting surroundings but the nearby resort's nothing special.

As for the smaller ones - I'm not saying online as half the fun's discovering them

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