driving thro france (1 Viewer)

[graham caswell]

hi all
In april this year the wife and myself will be venturing abroad for the first time, we plan to go thro france to Benidorm where I am meeting up with my son on his stag do. we are giving ourselves 4 weeks to get there and want to try the aires and see what we can on the way down, can any one suggest the best route and stops as ive heard so much about thefts and all that its left me unsure as to which way to go and the safest places to stop, from Benidorm we plan on touring Europe for 6 months all ideas ,help, advice will be very much appreciated.

thanks graham & joanne

 

[Four of us]

First of all don't be worrying about security. I was nervous when we went on our first trip over three years ago, but once on the road never got worried. Just use common sense and don't leave valuables in view or the van unlocked!

With four weeks I would choose a couple of places or things you particularly want to see and plan your route around them. Driving in France is easy and there are loads of really good aires. By using them you will often find a really pretty small town you would otherwise have missed...

We have used the Acsi book for campsites as well as "all the aires". I also use the campercontact app but still prefer a book and map in front of me.

Hope this helps and good luck. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Karen

 

[Jeff and terri]

Hi do you mean you are worried about which port to land at?? Or do you mean where to stop whilst travelling?? Anyway we was worried about the refugees camps at the time at Calais . So we landed at Dunkirk absolutely no problem with that. Whilst we was traveling around we stayed at the Aires alongside other motorhomes with no problems a lot was free/ gratis and we always used the ones that was just for motorhomes we never had any problems ..

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[graham caswell]

thanks jeff/terri
we are thinking doing the Eurotunnel and down and not sure which route to take both scenic and safe stopping heard the aires are really good any suggestions on aires stops and route would be helpful. ive ordered the French aires books and the acsi book/card so just waiting on those
thanks

 

[PhilandMena]

Here you go. Doable in 5 days steady driving.
http://about-france.com/tourism/no-tolls-routes.htm
http://about-spain.net/travel/map.htm

 

[Jaws]

As long as you stick to basic security you would have to be really unlucky to suffer a theft..
Make sure windows are locked as well as doors.
If you have a bike on the back use a decent lock and chain on it and make sure the lock is visible as it is a deterrent

We have been travelling Europe for 8 years and have stopped in all sorts of places.. from a layby to lorry stops to aires ..

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[Jaws]

Forgot to mention.. Unless you have specific places to visit and see you might find the four weeks a bit OTT.. We usually do Beni in 2.5 days ! LOL !!

 

[graham caswell]

thanks Karen
just looking to be on the safe side, drive abroad many times but never france so just a bit apprehensive on the route and safe stopping
thanks again

 

[Jeff and terri]

I used the park 4 night website to find the Aires

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[PhilandMena]

Stop overs will depend on how far you want to drive and your route. Suggest you look at the minimal tolls route in the about France.com link and save a bundle, especially on the A63 Toll road south of Bordeaux. You can do the whole of Spain toll free on excellent roads by using the N121-A at Irun to Zaragoza (stop over at Marlofa) and then Beni. the next day via the A7.
Camper contact is the app you need for stopovers. Get the paid version for a few quid so you can use off line.
Safe travels.

 

[graham caswell]

I thought myself 4 weeks may be a bit ott so now you said that may look to get to spain quicker thanks

 

[graham caswell]

thanks phil /mena
will download the app a few funsters have mentioned it

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[grumps147]

Never done it, but if I was going to I would start with http://about-france.com/tourism/routes-to-spain.htm

I would look at Keith Chesterfields videos on You Tube for some ideas as to Aires.

The do a search on here for routes to Spain, loads of info in the search returns.

As to places to visit, it's largely up to your interests. For me the Somme area around Albert, Giverney for the gardens, and somewhere on the Loire would be a fairly high priority. It then depends on your route south from there.

Everyone is different, good luck in your planning.

 

[hilldweller]

ive heard so much about thefts

Read @Jim's book on security. Mostly it's just not being stupid and being prepared for the very very rare attack, like being flagged down by an unmarked car. Do not stop.

As Jaws said, 4 weeks is seriously leisurely for under 2000 easy miles. A holiday in it's own right. 6 months is good going in a tin box too.

You don't say when you are going, it might influence advice.

 

[Lenny HB]

Far less chance of theft in France than in the UK, France is a much safer place.
Just amble down though France you will soon relax and stop worrying when you see what a great country France is for Motorhomes - Motorhome heaven.

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[laneside]

Just download Camper Contact and do not plan more than one day ahead. There is a huge choice of aires in France regardless of which route you take and has as been said France is exceptionally safe even compared with England.

 

[Easyliving]

We did our first European motorhome trip in 2012, 17 weeks mostly in France and Germany. No one is more worried about security than my wife but, with a bit of common sense, we didn't have a moments worry. Best advice is always have an alternative aire / site in mind in case one doesn't suit and if you don't feel safe for any reason - move on.

I think you will have to make your own mind up re routes, depends on your interests and whether you want to use the excellent toll motorways. As you have plenty of time I would get yourself a decent France guide book, choose places you like the look of and plan your route accordingly using 'All the Aires France' - an excellent book by the way.

Have a great trip.

Paul

 

[two]

You will have no need to rush, so I wouldn’t bother with toll roads. The beauty of Aires is that you cannot book a place and, generally, there are plenty of them. Great for ‘free spirit’ travelling. Just aim in the right direction and meander that way, going at whatever pace suits the moment. Places may fill up faster around Easter (I don’t know because I’ve not travelled at that time) but the answer to that is to stop earlier (before 2:00pm). You’ll soon get the hang of it. Freedom at its best.

If you’ve not driven on the wrong side before, using the motorway can help you to adjust before hitting the minor roads. With time to spare, avoiding motorways will be much more interesting and their country roads are not as busy as ours.

Have a darn good trip!

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[moulin 87]

With the time you have visit the areas of France and Spain which are totally different to the majority of the UK....Drive over the highest mountain passes, find the deepest river gorges, find the forgotten villages where a UK motorhome would cause the interest, include the beaches which go on for as far as the eye can see, use France Passion to stop a night or two in a Vineyard, Chateau or Farm...Don't use Aires for the sake of it, buy an ACSI card for when a campsite would be more useful..

Look at the website Link Removed to find some hidden gems (or not as the case maybe)

 

[Soozywoozy]

However you do it - enjoy! Just remember though, that unlike UK virtually everything is shut on a Sunday in France (especially out of season!) This includes fuel stations, although you can do self service (which is hit an miss and subject to numerous threads on here)

 

[sedge]

Mmm, and lots of shops (whole towns) are closed on Mondays, plus of course they do observe religious holidays a lot more 'properly' (all commerce is closed) and more frequently than us, so check the French bank holiday dates before you go!

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[graham caswell]

thanks everyone overwhelmed by your kind replys and much useful info only been a member a short while but I can see this being a regular call from now on thanks again everyone and all the very best for your travels in 2017
graham and joanne

 

[Rapido924f]

Hi
We spend 3 months a year travelling through France & Spain staying on Aires mainly. As others have said security is no worse than UK and normal safety measures are sufficient. We have a Sigma alarm which we can set a night but have never had a problem. Only on 2 occasions in 8 years have we felt uncomfortable on an aire so we just moved on - there are so many! We use All th Aires as reference and ACSI campsites. We will be drifting through France in May before staying for a while in Valencia- a city not to be missed. If you chose non toll roads there many beautiful villages to see and many have Aires. We rarely plan too far ahead nowadays and go where the weather takes us.

 

[suavecarve]

Security in France, as pointed out by many others, is not the same fear as the Uk. Just steer clear of motorway aires. There is a hige difference between those and "normal" aires. We have done France for a month on 32p for water (admittedly the exchange rate was better then!).
A month is a huge amount of time and April is good for less tourists in the aires. Dont expect to meet many anglaisies en route in aires. We have always been lucky and meet very few down south. My personal hit list would include Eguishem, near colmar near strasbourg, You can easily get here in a day and spend a couple of days going round this gorgeous village (with 34 wineries) then Cascades du Herrison, which is a good walk spoilt by having to take immense amounts of photos then stay at wildcamp at lac d'ilay. Lac vouglans is excellent. Annecy if you can get in. Lac de st croix and the gorges du verdon. Anywhere in the alps but personal choice of Alpe d'huez, then you have Provence and mt Ventoux then all the "clues" just north of Nice in the hills. then you have the ardeche which would be ideal in april and pont du garde and then the beauty of the wilderness of the cevennes region before you get to Herault or Languedoc and the pyrenees but make sure you dont miss Mirapoix or Lagrasse. But if you go that way round then youre going to miss acquitaine and the dordogne and loire valley as well as the atlantic coast, oh bugger i forgo about brittany normandy and that big place called paris with versailles nearby but whilst youre there you might as well pop through the champagne region. Dam this place called France must charge shed loads to get all this including all the lakes !
Seriously though i would check out where all the beautiful villages of france are and mark them on maps.me (offline map) i would buy the wild swimmig in france book for beautiful spots. I would buy the france passion. The aires book. campercontact and get a chinese satnav and have searchforsites available as well. I m sort of salivating already as we are off in April but (at this stage) heading to to Florence for a change. bon Voyage

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[bigalw35]

We drove down to Oberbronn last September, we stopped halfway at Charlville-Mezieres, campsite Mun(incipal) du Mont Olympe, a very nice campsite, a five minute walk to the town square. They speak English, loads of pitches, cafe on site and a bread van drives around the site about 8:30 every day. Watch out for the toll roads !!, can increase your travelling costs 10 fold, but enjoy

https://www.sixt.com/toll-roads/

 

[Clarky]

We drive up and down across France several times a year and I have a very rough rule of thumb regarding the time to allow.
I call it 'A river a day'.
Day 1, Channel to the River Seine
Day 2, Seine to the Loire.
Day 3. Loire to the Dordogne
Day 4. Dordogne to the Med or Spanish border.

We don't do tolls or long exhausting drives and aim to land up somewhere by early afternoon. That means you can get onto popular aires before they get full and gives time for a good walk and explore.
When you land somewhere you like just stop for a day or two or move on if it looks a bit scruffy or dodgy.
We've never felt unsafe anywhere we have stopped in France, even in Calais and Cite Europe.

Lots of our favourite aires described in my blog, with GPS co-ordinates and videos are on my YouTube channel. Links to both in my signature line below.

Most importantly of all though...........enjoy your trip.

Richard.

 

[Milk Tray Man]

I thought myself 4 weeks may be a bit ott so now you said that may look to get to spain quicker thanks

Hi, unless you need the time elsewhere then don't rush through France especially if you will be travelling outside of winter time. You will be amazed how the time just fly's by meandering through this gorgeous country especially using the local roads rather then the motorways. A personal favourite is tunnel, head right along the coast taking in HonFluer, down through Normandy (great cider and perry) and keep working south making sure to stop and enjoy Ile d'Oleron, Bordeaux, Arcachon,
Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne and that region. Cross the border at San Sebastian head to Zaragoza (great food and wine), Valencia (lovely city which personally think ranks with Barcelona) and then Benidorm.

Also suggest you look at joining France Passion, they are similar to Brit Stops but in France and with far wider range of location types (not pubs which make up most of Brit Stop). We stayed at some fantastic small local producers farms, vineyards etc at no cost and expectation of buying produce...did get some wonderful Calvados though! Good alternative to Aires but many don't have facilities so its best to sandwich them between aires to replenish/dump etc.

Either way have a great trip.

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[yodeli]

@suavecarve Nice one just one little thing : MIREPOIX otherwise people might not find it on the map. Took a few funsters there and they loved it . Midi Pyrénées being my region.

@graham caswell

I've put the first link quite a few times already but of course you were not a funster at that time. I find it so beautiful... just make sure the sound is on ....




This one is a new one as our regions have been re thought and are now bigger most of the time 2 regions became one. So now Midi Pyrénées comes with Languedoc Roussillon. Different film but you can see how numerous are the plces you can visit.

http://france3-regions.francetvinfo...ile-mon-nouvel-horizon-ecrans-pub-997347.html

One more thing: you can have my mobile phone number if it can make you feel more secure. Any problem , just send a text and I'll do my best to help you out!

 

[Mikey RV]

Happy travels. If you have a month to get to Benidorm that's great France is a beautiful place and too good to rush through, lots of great Aires and campsites, you will wish you had longer than a month. Enjoy.

 

[suavecarve]

@yodeli I think this one was actually a spelling mistake by me rather than my inability on a typewritten thingy ! Ta for putting ppl in the right direction

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