Camping Car Parks France

[Sandancers]

Just been sent this info, don't know if it's of use to people;

CampingCarPark have announced the availability of a new promotional pack that allows you to reserve a space on their aires immediately as well as being able to reserve a pitch up to 6 months in advance. The new offer is called “Pack Privileges” & can be purchased on their website for 29€ for a years duration. The company have also formed partnerships with businesses that are close to the various CCP aires where upon production of your CCP card you can receive discounts or even free entry to various facilities such as cinemas or swimming pools.

 

[Spriddler]

Hmm, good idea p'raps, but if the Aire is unsupervised what could you do if you turn up and someone is either in 'your' space or the Aire is full? I can only assume that they have 'wardens' at their Aires.

 

[Ratcatcher]

There is a barrier at each which can only be opened using a CampingCarPark card, which you had to load credit on it, if you reserve a place the barrier simply wont open for someone who just turns up even with the correct card

 

[Larby]

Hmm, good idea p'raps, but if the Aire is unsupervised what could you do if you turn up and someone is either in 'your' space or the Aire is full? I can only assume that they have 'wardens' at their Aires.

I have used the aires, if you have reserved then the system will not sell your place but tell others it is full, however, you just hope that there is somewhere to park. They use a card system (you buy at €4 and top up), it will recognise your card and allow you in.
They have an "ambassador" on some busy sites, he will try to ensure big vehicles use bigger spaces and not straddle 2 smaller places.
You can depart and arrive as often as you like in 24 period but nothing says you get the original pitch back. However, if busy then you can find your space was sold in your absence as happened to my friend. By using the reservation system you can then book it for return.

 

[DBK]

Hmm, good idea p'raps, but if the Aire is unsupervised what could you do if you turn up and someone is either in 'your' space or the Aire is full? I can only assume that they have 'wardens' at their Aires.

I've always assumed if you make a reservation there will be space for you at the aire but not a specific place, that's not how these aires work. The barrier machine will count the reservations made and only allow in enough folk without reservations so the reserved spaces are left available.

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[Spriddler]

I've always assumed if you make a reservation there will be space for you at the aire but not a specific place, that's not how these aires work. The barrier machine will count the reservations made and only allow in enough folk without reservations so the reserved spaces are left available.

Surely that's no different from a 'normal' camp site where you either book ahead or take a chance by turning up on spec? I hope more Aires don't go the same way.
I didn't realise they have 'intelligent' barriers like multi-storey car parks that keep track of how many spaces are still available and/or unreserved.

 

[Neil S]

Hmm, good idea p'raps, but if the Aire is unsupervised what could you do if you turn up and someone is either in 'your' space or the Aire is full? I can only assume that they have 'wardens' at their Aires.

Definitely works we booked a pitch on the aire at Savines le Lac to watch a stage of the TDF which was due to come past the following morning and when we arrived there were three other motorhomes trying to access the aire , their cards were declined
We tried ours and we immediately gained entry drove in much to the annoyance of the French motorhomes outside the entry barrier .
We got the very last space

 

[Madcaravanner]

Not for us when we have the advantage of being able to use municipal aires for free with our blue badge, but I can see the advantage to CCP to allowing you to book and pay up to 6 months early

 

[Reallyretired]

We have used these aires quite a bit. Never found one even remotely full, perhaps the places we like arent popular. We would never book on these aires and only rarely on a site by phoning the same day or day before so we can go elsewhere if they're full. Booking implies far more planning than we like.

 

[romany]

Far more planning than I care to do also I'm a turn up and if full move on

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[TerryL]

We don't book anywhere either as we often have no idea of where we'll be at stopping time! But on the basis that the French abhor paying for anything we'd probably have a better chance of getting on the more popular aires so I've invested €4 in a card (plus €10 deposit) and will keep an eye open for these Camping Car Parks as we traverse France from tomorrow.

 

[klaatu]

One of the useful things about CCP is that you can see at any time how many spaces are free on their web site.

 

[TerryL]

One of the useful things about CCP is that you can see at any time how many spaces are free on their web site.

I've downloaded the app to my smartphone but it only gives the number of spaces - I presume that will change if they get booked up?

 

[Reallyretired]

You cant see how many free spaces on all, but you can for most of them. Just click the icon for the individual webpage of the aire and it will say eg 7/25 indicating 7 spaces out of 25 are occupied.

 

[klaatu]

I've downloaded the app to my smartphone but it only gives the number of spaces - I presume that will change if they get booked up?

As Reallyretired says, if you go to the web page for the aire, it will show you there how many spaces are available.

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[Mark and Mindy]

We used Camping-Car Park 3 times for our Brittany tour in September 2019.

I find the website very difficult to use and the Android app is OKish. It was vital that once found in the Camping-Car Park app to then be able to find the location in Google Maps for navigation. BROKEN LINK

We purchased and topped up our Camping-Car Park card in advance while in the UK (well done Mindy) which was very beneficial as none of the sites had spare cards available for purchase and we saw a few vans arrive and read the instructions to buy a card for €4 which could then be topped up with credit but there were never any cards available so they could not get access though the barrier.

We also ensured that our card was pre-loaded with plenty of credit so that when we arrived we had enough credit to enter and didn't have to load credit first.

The first site was SAUMUR / "SAUMUR-ILE D'OFFARD" AREA which was on a island in the middle of the Loire river. We arrived early in the day but the site was almost full but we easily gained access and got a good space with hookup. The site was a single road with well spaced out diagonal herringbone bays on each side with each space physically separated. Later in the evening the site was almost full with only 1 space left which was not in a good location and arriving vans were not able to access through the barrier presumably because the system considered the site was at capacity with one space spare . <Broken link removed>

The next night we tried to stay at AIRE CAMPING-CAR PARK de LA TURBALLE which was in a rubbish area and away from the beach. This layout was also a single road but with perpendicular parking and no separation between bays and the vans were parked very very close together. Not sure what the hookup situation was. This time we couldn't enter through the barrier so I walked the site and there was only one space available. We didn't try to get in as the site was not attractive to us. <Broken link removed>

We tried a few miles up the coast at CAMPING-CAR PARK AREA OF PIRIAC-SUR-MER, LÉRAT which was a great site near the beach. This site was much better than TURBALLE and had many available spaces. There was one large open gravel area with puddles without marked bays where vans were closely parked next to each other and some smaller tarmac areas amongst trees where we parked. There was no hookup for any bays. The problem with this site was that the larger motorhomes were taking up multiple spaces with larger vans parking crossways across 3 bays and taking up an entire tarmac area. This really annoyed me but it has to be said that due to the layout of the site it would be impossible to manoeuver vans into the bays as laid out.
<Broken link removed>

For our last night we parked at AIRE CAMPING-CAR PARK de LE VIVIER SUR MER again right on the coast. This site layout was 2 large bays with vans parked in 4 rows with bays marked quite well and as most bays had hookup it was easier to make out the layout of the bays. <Broken link removed>

For every one of these sites there was a big board at the entrance explaining the rules including how to park and showing a layout that showed every motorhome bay. The only place where vans parked and did not conform to the map was LÉRAT and as already mentioned the map layout was impossible anyway.

The reason for my post is to explain how the barrier works for Camping-Car Park sites and to demonstrate that even if you do have a reservation you may not find a space at some sites. Arriving early in the day increases your chances for getting parked.

Mark

 

[Neil S]

We used Camping-Car Park 4 times for our Brittany tour in September 2019.

I find the website very difficult to use and the Android app is OKish. It was vital that once found in the Camping-Car Park app to then be able to find the location in Google Maps for navigation. BROKEN LINK

We purchased and topped up our Camping-Car Park card in advance while in the UK (well done Mindy) which was very beneficial as none of the sites had spare cards available for purchase and we saw a few vans arrive and read the instructions to buy a card for €4 which could then be topped up with credit but there were never any cards available so they could not get access though the barrier.

We also ensured that our card was pre-loaded with plenty of credit so that when we arrived we had enough credit to enter and didn't have to load credit first.

The first site was SAUMUR / "SAUMUR-ILE D'OFFARD" AREA which was on a island in the middle of the Loire river. We arrived early in the day but the site was almost full but we easily gained access and got a good space with hookup. The site was a single road with well spaced out diagonal herringbone bays on each side with each space physically separated. Later in the evening the site was almost full with only 1 space left which was not in a good location and arriving vans were not able to access through the barrier presumably because the system considered the site was at capacity with one space spare . <Broken link removed>

The next night we tried to stay at AIRE CAMPING-CAR PARK de LA TURBALLE which was in a rubbish area and away from the beach. This layout was also a single road but with perpendicular parking and no separation between bays and the vans were parked very very close together. Not sure what the hookup situation was. This time we couldn't enter through the barrier so I walked the site and there was only one space available. We didn't try to get in as the site was not attractive to us. <Broken link removed>

We tried a few miles up the coast at CAMPING-CAR PARK AREA OF PIRIAC-SUR-MER, LÉRAT which was a great site near the beach. This site was much better than TURBALLE and had many available spaces. There was one large open gravel area with puddles without marked bays where vans were closely parked next to each other and some smaller tarmac areas amongst trees where we parked. There was no hookup for any bays. The problem with this site was that the larger motorhomes were taking up multiple spaces with larger vans parking crossways across 3 bays and taking up an entire tarmac area. This really annoyed me but it has to be said that due to the layout of the site it would be impossible to manoeuver vans into the bays as laid out.
<Broken link removed>

For our last night we parked at AIRE CAMPING-CAR PARK de LE VIVIER SUR MER again right on the coast. This site layout was 2 large bays with vans parked in 4 rows with bays marked quite well and as most bays had hookup it was easier to make out the layout of the bays. <Broken link removed>

For every one of these sites there was a big board at the entrance explaining the rules including how to park and showing a layout that showed every motorhome bay. The only place where vans parked and did not conform to the map was LÉRAT and as already mentioned the map layout was impossible anyway.

The reason for my post is to explain how the barrier works for Camping-Car Park sites and to demonstrate that even if you do have a reservation you may not find a space at some sites. Arriving early in the day increases your chances or getting parked.

Mark

As I understand if you have a reservation the card machine recognises that and let’s you in as there will be an empty prepaid space
Twice we made reservations last year at Savines le lac and Ales in the Cevannes national park and on both occasions the aires were both full with the exception of one space when we arrived .
Which was kept for us .
Other vans had tried to gain access prior to our arrival but were unsuccessful.

 

[SpeedyDux]

"“Pack Privileges” & can be purchased on their website for 29€ for a years duration"

Seems a lot of money - getting closer to C&MC annual membership fee for a couple.

To put it in perspective 29€ is equivalent to 2 pitch nights including EHU on my favourite Municipal which accepts bookings, but I just turn up. Or 2 ACSI pitch nights, again just turn up.

 

[Camdoon]

We became enrolled by using the Saumur site as we had used the next door campsite for years and liked its proximity to the town. (We got a Eurocamp brochure through last week suggesting they could sell you 3 nights on the campsite for £209 when booking direct was €90 but that's another story). Once over the formalities and that included talking to someone with good English over the phone, the site was like any other aire and just what we wanted.
Having used the system I noticed there was a site at Le Crotoy and having never been to the town and heading towards Calais, booked there. It was about a mile out of town, no footpaths and was more expensive than the municipal aire although had electricity.
I suppose we are all worried about price creep which will happen with any large company but they do fulfill a need. The ability to book in advance while not something you would use all the time is a feature which benefits everyone.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

We also ensured that our card was pre-loaded with plenty of credit so that when we arrived we had enough credit to enter and didn't have to load credit first.

Mark

You don’t actually need credit on your Pass’Etapes card to get in, only when you use it to exit. We generally go in and then put credit on when we’re settled. One of the options to top up on the automat is usually the correct amount for that CCP.

We stopped on one recently at Olargues- the automat was out of order for payment, but if you ring the centre they are quite efficient at taking phone payment to credit your Pass’Etapes.

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