Camping-Car Park discounts and deals in France

[The Lobster]

Lots of discounts and deals being offered for the New Year by Camping-Car Park for France BROKEN LINK

They seem to be building a very interesting model of commercial Aires, with lots of local participation to make them attractive.

What's the practical experience?

 

[The Lobster]

Some of the deals are detailed here... http://r.mailing.campingcarpark.com...s_partenariats_prs_des_aires&utm_medium=email

 

[Jenben]

We have used a few of them, they do seem to be increasing the number of aires that they run. They are a mixed bunch of different types of aires, some ex municipal campsites , others newly built or just a car park style aire with a barrier.

In some communities it makes it easier to run an aire by handing it over to a 3rd party operator and take some sort of fee, we see less aires where people come around to pick up a fee these days.

Over our time motorhoming we have noticed less communities now have shops where you can spend money locally, we like to put some money back into a community especially if it’s a free aire.

I recognise that this is a way of trying to get some money back into the local community even if it’s shared with a commercial venture.

 

[DBK]

Bit of a Marmite subject on here. You will get a few replies saying they are the invention of the devil and if you hate spending anything to stay somewhere in France then they should be avoided. I've used them a lot in the last few years but they are no cheap. Around a minimum of 6 euros a night at places without services to 10 or 12 a night for ones with EHU etc.

Some of their aires are good, we particularly like the one at Cleder near Roscoff but some of the others are less good to decidedly unattractive. A few are very popular and even out of season you can struggle to get in. Others might be empty or have only one or two other MHs.

If you want to keep your options open, buying their card is a useful ploy. In a few places the CCP aire is probably the best place to stay, for example Puy en Velay in France. The card costs 4 euros from memory but you have to put money into it to before you can use it. Almost all of their aires have machines which dispense the card. It isn't the easiest process and a few have reported major difficulties but their telephone help line has always sorted out any problems for me. The thing which isn't clear is after the machine spits out the card you have to activate it by holding it against a hotspot on the machine.

I've seen the emails with the "offers" but I'm not attracted to any of them. But if you plan staying on one of their aires longer than 3 days then you have to join the part of the club which allows booking in advance. This is about 24 euros a year I think. So far stays of 3 days or less have been fine for us so I haven't joined this bit.