Camping-car park card for France ?

[Vikdikdok]

Has anyone got info on this 'camping-car park'card ?. We're off to France again after 5yrs & I've never heard of it, supposedly having this card (which you top up) allows you access to parking / camping places.. previously we've used Aires & paid at the time - is this a 'new' system for paying ?

 

[2657]

It's a private network of Aires, many of which are ex municipal sites or Aires, it is fairly widespread now but the card can only be used on their Aires.

We have used them a couple of times and found them good for us in that many have electricity and other facilities.

Some object to the initial payment of €4 for the card but it is good for life and can be topped up online or at the machines on site, their is also a system that allows booking which is useful in high season and weekends but is not free, an annual fee is involved.

Not the cheapest Aires around but in my opinion they provide good value especially in season when many sites are expensive.

BROKEN LINK

 

[Lenny HB]

You can get the card from the machine at the Aire. We only ever top up with the amount for one night as I don't think you can get in without any credit on the card & if we stay for more than one night we just top up with the amount needed to get out.

 

[klaatu]

And as someone posted recently, another great thing about the system is that you can look on the web site to see how many spaces are currently available at any site.

 

[DBK]

Has anyone got info on this 'camping-car park'card ?. We're off to France again after 5yrs & I've never heard of it, supposedly having this card (which you top up) allows you access to parking / camping places.. previously we've used Aires & paid at the time - is this a 'new' system for paying ?

We've used several on this trip and are on one now. The cheapest was €6 a night but that had no services but was very pleasant - grass just behind a beach. There are around 170 sites in France but they are not evenly distributed and seem to be in the most popular areas only.

Their website and especially their app are not the slickest but if you persevere you will get the hang of them. Unlike say the Campercontact app which is built around a map, finding the map of the CCP aires is the first challenge.

Not all sites have a card dispensing machines but the majority do it's the basic sites which tend not to. Their machines speak English and accept UK cards.

Cléder, Brittany.

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[Vikdikdok]

Ok, once again your advice is heeded, I'll order one

 

[jumartoo]

And .... if you have a problem and telephone them they have a good support service in English.

As we found out just a few weeks ago!!!

 

[Ronny]

Has anybody gone for the Pack Reservation?

 

[Reallyretired]

Never thought the reservation worth the money. I hate committing myself to being anywhere at a particular time and never found a camping carpark full up.

 

[2657]

I would think that it may be worth it in July and August and popular Aires at weekends but on the few occasions out of season that we have used ours we have not had a problem.

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[Zigisla]

I would think that it may be worth it in July and August

We'll let you know as we are off next week for three weeks and as we've bought the card, seems silly not to try a few out.

 

[Ronny]

We'll let you know as we are off next week for three weeks and as we've bought the card, seems silly not to try a few out.

I think it depends where you’re heading for, I’ve just checked several of the sites near beaches and they’re either full or very busy. If you have to go during school holidays it may be worth the Pack Reservation as they indicate you will get a pitch even if the site is showing full. Keep us posted!?

 

[ToBoldlyGo]

We're going on our first tour in France shortly and I pressed book only to find you have to pay 24 euros for the ability to book ahead. How did you get on zigisla?

 

[chaser]

We're going on our first tour in France shortly and I pressed book only to find you have to pay 24 euros for the ability to book ahead. How did you get on zigisla?

I think you will find, you don't need them, plenty free Aires, download park4night and just have a look

 

[Zigisla]

We're going on our first tour in France shortly and I pressed book only to find you have to pay 24 euros for the ability to book ahead. How did you get on zigisla?

We have just returned from our 3 week trip and to be honest, we didn't use the Camping-Carpark sites once. We did use the "All the Aires" books for location, then confirmed using "Camper Contact" and for the 21 separate stop overs, didn't pay once - or for water either. We did pass by two "New" Camping-Car Park Aires and they had many spaces available. So I would say, outside of July / August periods, you should be fine without booking. As many have said, if they are full, just move onto the next village or town. One of the days, we had to try 5 Aires before we had space or liked the Aire and only added 1 1/2 hours to the day. You can always come back the following day, these places aren't going anywhere.

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[DBK]

We're going on our first tour in France shortly and I pressed book only to find you have to pay 24 euros for the ability to book ahead. How did you get on zigisla?

I've used a couple on this trip, no need to book as you can see how many places are free on their website. I've always got in and only once have I been on one which was full - but it didn't fill up until after we arrived.

 

[42208]

Use them regularly as you can top up water and dump grey and black waste plus they tend to mainly feel more secure (only a feeling little physical protection) and I confirm good English support if you have an issue. I have always got in and so do not book in advance. The only downside I have noticed is that unless the bays are physically marked out then parking becomes a free for all considerably reducing the theoretical numbers the aire can hold, however, as stated above, never failed to get in although have been last van in Brittany.

 

[chaser]

Half the fun of our trips is seeking out lesser known free , or nearly free Aires we use park4night when we get somewhere we want to stay then click on "around me" and loads will come up but you have to read the details and comments to make sure it's not just a layby.

 

[Taran_Las]

I'm currently staying at the CCP aire at Royan which has been full for the last two days. This one is only 10 mins cycle ride to the port. A great stay over place for visiting the Phare du Cardouan. Incidentally there are three british registered vans here one of which is bungy .

 

[ToBoldlyGo]

Thanks everyone. We'd already agreed that for this September tour we're going to play accomodation by ear, but I'd wanted to book a campsite just for our first night or 2 particularly as we won't reach Calais until 8pm. I spent a good 2 hours yesterday not finding a campsite, there are so many that say dirty this, dirty that, from the 70s that I gave up on that and then was about to book a CCP site and saw I had to pay a further 24 euros for just the right to book, so we're just going to play the whole holiday by
ear.

I'll have a look at park4night I have it on tablet but didn't think to look at that today. I also have the all the aires books, france passion and acsi.

Zigisla, thanks for those comments. Being new to continetal touring I don't understand where you say "We did use the "All the Aires" books for location, then confirmed using "Camper Contact" what do you mean by confirmed?

Lada, that's interesting about the free for all. I had naively though that the electronics on the barrier would be clever enough to count how many card holders were in.

What time of day generally do you all start looking for the night's pitch?

Taran_Las. Oh that sounds nice especially the cycle I must see where Royan is.

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[Zigisla]

Zigisla, thanks for those comments. Being new to continetal touring I don't understand where you say "We did use the "All the Aires" books for location, then confirmed using "Camper Contact" what do you mean by confirmed?

We usually look at the All the Aires book to see a general location of where we want to stop and choose a few Aires that we fancy, then we use the Camper Contact App to confirm that the Aire is still there, still looks like the pictures from the book and finally get reviews about the Aire to confirm that it is the one we want, then head for it. The books are great, but not always up to date, so sometimes the Aires are no longer open or have been taken over by car parks or blocked off etc. Conversely, we have also checked with Camper Contact a few times and the Aire wasn't on the app, but was still open and very nice. CC is great for up to date reviews.

 

[42208]

Thanks everyone. We'd already agreed that for this September tour we're going to play accomodation by ear, but I'd wanted to book a campsite just for our first night or 2 particularly as we won't reach Calais until 8pm. I spent a good 2 hours yesterday not finding a campsite, there are so many that say dirty this, dirty that, from the 70s that I gave up on that and then was about to book a CCP site and saw I had to pay a further 24 euros for just the right to book, so we're just going to play the whole holiday by
ear.

I'll have a look at park4night I have it on tablet but didn't think to look at that today. I also have the all the aires books, france passion and acsi.

Zigisla, thanks for those comments. Being new to continetal touring I don't understand where you say "We did use the "All the Aires" books for location, then confirmed using "Camper Contact" what do you mean by confirmed?

Lada, that's interesting about the free for all. I had naively though that the electronics on the barrier would be clever enough to count how many card holders were in.

What time of day generally do you all start looking for the night's pitch?

Taran_Las. Oh that sounds nice especially the cycle I must see where Royan is.

Yes it is clever enough to count vans in, however, if capacity is 60 and 30 vans are counted in, it will say 30 free spaces, if people have parked randomly then you may only get 10 more vans in not the 30 indicated. Not a major issue just something I have occasionally come across, not anything to put you off.

 

[Whitebirdyman]

I was on the CCP at Vannes a few days ago and that filled up every night but people kept moving on and there were generally spaces til at least early afternoon. Spaces are marked out so no chance of random parking causing spaces to be lost.

It is nicely located for a walk or bus into Vannes centre and there is a micro-brewery by the harbour.

 

[ToBoldlyGo]

Thanks lada and whitebirdyman (I must figure out how to find people's real names ), we're looking forward to trying Aires for the first time. The plan is initally Normandy but we may change that depending on the weather.

 

[Lenny HB]

hat time of day generally do you all start looking for the night's pitch?

In popular areas around midday, not so popular 4pm off the beaten track it doesn't matter you can turn up at 7pm or later and still find spaces.

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[keithchesterfield2]

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[Welsh girl]

We stayed at the Aire in San Quentin and the machine read that there were 4 available spaces so assumed that some vans had checked in but were out for a few hours. It turned out that there were 8 available spaces which we noticed the next day as they hadn't been occupied all night. So the machines can read full when in fact they are not.

 

[peterc10]

We stayed at the Aire in San Quentin and the machine read that there were 4 available spaces so assumed that some vans had checked in but were out for a few hours. It turned out that there were 8 available spaces which we noticed the next day as they hadn't been occupied all night. So the machines can read full when in fact they are not.

But the problem with that is that if the machine reads full it won't let you in until somebody leaves. The available places may be people who reserved but did not turn up.

 

[Vikdikdok]

Doing 3 weeks over France having got ‘Camperstop’ ‘All the Aires’ ‘ACSI’ - we didn’t use them once ! I found that using the phone app ‘Searchforsites’ provided excellent reference to sites & parking places, well worth downloading it & giving it a try

 

[klaatu]

But the problem with that is that if the machine reads full it won't let you in until somebody leaves.

Do you know that for certain? You can enter just to use the services, so does it not allow that if all the spaces are taken? I recently wanted to use the CCP aire in Nantes, it allowed me in, but it was actually full. I drove straight out and didn’t get charged, and used the camp site next door.

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