France Aires/campsites and overnight stop in Poole

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phippsl

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Hi
We’re finally off on our long awaited roadtrip to France and Spain.
We’ve only booked the first campsite in France and were planning to use park4night to find sites after that. Do the Aires ever have pools? If not what are our chances of finding the odd campsite with a pool as we travel down through France? I’m guessing it will be busy. Wondering now if we should have booked more…eeek.
Also, any recommendations please for an overnight stop in Poole before our ferry? I tried park4night but most designated places appear to ban overnight stays.
Thanks!
 
Ten days ago we were fine getting in to campsites without a booking. Could be a bit more challenging now the school holidays have started, but I'd imagine there might still be some space, dependent on exactly where you are going.

I think it unlikely you'll find any aires with a swimming pool... unless anybody knows differently. Might be some nearby freshwater swimming perhaps?

Good luck in any case, and have a great holiday. (y)
 
phippsl said:
Hi
We’re finally off on our long awaited roadtrip to France and Spain.
We’ve only booked the first campsite in France and were planning to use park4night to find sites after that. Do the Aires ever have pools? If not what are our chances of finding the odd campsite with a pool as we travel down through France? I’m guessing it will be busy. Wondering now if we should have booked more…eeek.
Also, any recommendations please for an overnight stop in Poole before our ferry? I tried park4night but most designated places appear to ban overnight stays.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Never seen an Aire with a swimming pool. Having said that the French are very good at providing Municipal swimming pools that you can pay to use. Lots more than in the UK. Every large Village or town will have one.
 
What route are you taking, are you driving as far and as long as you can each day or meandering through France? You might get some decent tips if people know your route? Enjoy your trip !!
 
See this thread for overnight at Poole, Have a great trip.

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Poole docks

Can you still park up in the lanes overnight whilst waiting for the early morning ferry to Cherbourg?
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phippsl said:
Hi
We’re finally off on our long awaited roadtrip to France and Spain.
We’ve only booked the first campsite in France and were planning to use park4night to find sites after that. Do the Aires ever have pools? If not what are our chances of finding the odd campsite with a pool as we travel down through France? I’m guessing it will be busy. Wondering now if we should have booked more…eeek.
Also, any recommendations please for an overnight stop in Poole before our ferry? I tried park4night but most designated places appear to ban overnight stays.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
The Baker Arms at Lytchett Minster. If you eat in the pub you can stay overnight in the car park. It's a 15 minute drive from the ferry port. I have personally used it lots of time. Even though it's near a roundabout it's quiet.

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There are some Aires attached to sites, although usually the pools are reserved for the wealthy sybarites paying to stay on the site. Sometimes the site management will let you use them, not often and probably never at peak times.
 
MisterB said:
What route are you taking, are you driving as far and as long as you can each day or meandering through France? You might get some decent tips if people know your route? Enjoy your trip !!
Click to expand...
We don’t know yet. We intended to have a route planned but life happened and we didn’t manage it. Makes it more exciting though right?! :))
 
Thanks all, great to have some options for Poole. As for France I guess we’ll see how busy it is and just have a dunk in a river if need be!

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Park4night pretty good. Lots can be found by beaches where you can swim for free. If it's not too late get a copy of All The Aires France'. Valuable resource for stopovers. Information often contains local pools etc.
 
France is awash (no pun intended) with leisure centres with excellent swimming pools both indoor and outdoor. Why not aim for those ?
 
If you stay away from the coast you should have no problem finding campsites with pools.

A quick call as you drive to the site will confirm availability. Remember a lot of site receptions are closed from 12 to 2.

Municipal site are a good bet and often have access to the local pool at a discount.
 
Such great tips thank you! I imagine I will have a few more questions over the next five weeks. 45 mins into our journey…I’ve forgotten my driving licence and one of the kids has been travel sick. Good fun!
 
phippsl said:
We don’t know yet. We intended to have a route planned but life happened and we didn’t manage it. Makes it more exciting though right?! :))
Click to expand...
It also may mean ending up on totally inappropriate stop overs to keep the kids 'entertained'?
I always have a route planned, but not so much where we will stay. I tend to decide on a potential route prior to travelling, but then often change it as we travel, by reviewing the next days route and potential stop overs the night before and making tweaks and changes to suit. Those tweaks take into consideration the weather, local 'things to do', places of interest or sometimes just somewhere to get our heads down for the night before moving on.
Not having a planned route can be 'exciting' but it can also quickly lead to the irritation of everyone as you realise you've spent 4 hours travelling in the heat, when it should have only taken you two hours with a little bit of preparation. It also means that there seems little point in people recommending stop overs if they're in totally different regions to the route you're taking.
Best wishes and have a great time, I'm sure it will all work out in the end!

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On the Dordogne is Camping Car Park Vezac. We stopped there last year and it is next to a site with a pool that you can use, actually very close to the aire Parking. Also about a 15 min walk to a pretty village called La Roque-Gageac which has some decent restaurants. We also hired some canoes there and went down the Dordogne for a couple of hours.
 
phippsl said:
Hi
We’re finally off on our long awaited roadtrip to France and Spain.
We’ve only booked the first campsite in France and were planning to use park4night to find sites after that. Do the Aires ever have pools? If not what are our chances of finding the odd campsite with a pool as we travel down through France? I’m guessing it will be busy. Wondering now if we should have booked more…eeek.
Also, any recommendations please for an overnight stop in Poole before our ferry? I tried park4night but most designated places appear to ban overnight stays
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Look up bakers arms just outside Poole on the A 35
Free just buy a pint or food
 
MisterB said:
It also may mean ending up on totally inappropriate stop overs to keep the kids 'entertained'?
I always have a route planned, but not so much where we will stay. I tend to decide on a potential route prior to travelling, but then often change it as we travel, by reviewing the next days route and potential stop overs the night before and making tweaks and changes to suit. Those tweaks take into consideration the weather, local 'things to do', places of interest or sometimes just somewhere to get our heads down for the night before moving on.
Not having a planned route can be 'exciting' but it can also quickly lead to the irritation of everyone as you realise you've spent 4 hours travelling in the heat, when it should have only taken you two hours with a little bit of preparation. It also means that there seems little point in people recommending stop overs if they're in totally different regions to the route you're taking.
Best wishes and have a great time, I'm sure it will all work out in the end!
Click to expand...
Yes good points! Very roughly we’d like to try to include some/all of the following:
Arromanches, Mont St Michel, Nantes, Puy du Fou, Hourtin Plage, Bordeaux, Arachon sand dunes, Dordogne, Racamadow, Via duc millau, carcassonne, San Sebastián, Santander. Much of this is based on recommendations from this site (still a few to add) which have been very gratefully received but we plan to spend the first few days in Normandy going through this very rough list to work out feasibility etc.
 
We are planning on staying at Poole ferry port when we cross in 3 weeks.

We do not book anything and use search for sites to find places to stop once we are where we are aiming for and if that is full or not suitable move to the next place.

Many sites even small ones have pools and loads of Aires next to beaches or rivers. Have been on a few aires attached to sites where you can use the pool (but not the facilities).

We are planning on similar trip to you starting in Normandy/brittany then west coast of France maybe doing a couple of illes then down west coast of Spain to Portugal and back up east of Spain but no fixed plans as this will be our first long trip after retirement and first with a dog.
 
Camping car , also a useful app.
If parking in the MH at St Michel it's the furthest one away, but still quicker to walk than wait to board the free bus, if you're fit enough. It will be heaving currently though.

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phippsl said:
I’ve forgotten my driving licence and one of the kids has been travel sick. Good fun!
Click to expand...
I think you may need your driving licence, certainly if you get stopped abroad for any reason!
As for swimming pools on Aires……no, Aires are similar to car parks in fact a lot of them are an area in a car park!
‘Aire de Camping Car’ is an area for a camping car-Motorhome/camper!
 

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We use the ferry terminal in Poole, and often stayed overnight there pre-covid prior to going onboard.

Just drive to where the traffic lanes are and park at the end, by the wall. If the cafe opens before you leave in the morning, she will ask you to pay something for the stay. Simples!
 
Try camping car parks they are usually either very close to municipal events pools or right next to rivers or some water
 
phippsl if you are planning to go to Rocamadore the site below is excellent, or was 3 years ago when we stayed for a week! It has a pool but I would phone book for availability, the owners are lovely people.

www.visit-dordogne-valley.co.uk

Camping Padimadour - Rocamadour

Come and relax in this family camp site located between Rocamadour and Padirac chasm, set in peaceful, unspoiled, verdant countryside. In 2.5 hectares of grounds, with 8 mobile homes and 50 pitches, it has the atmosphere of a small camp site whilst providing very large pitches plus wide grassy...
www.visit-dordogne-valley.co.uk www.visit-dordogne-valley.co.uk
 
phippsl said:
Hi
We’re finally off on our long awaited roadtrip to France and Spain.
We’ve only booked the first campsite in France and were planning to use park4night to find sites after that. Do the Aires ever have pools? If not what are our chances of finding the odd campsite with a pool as we travel down through France? I’m guessing it will be busy. Wondering now if we should have booked more…eeek.
Also, any recommendations please for an overnight stop in Poole before our ferry? I tried park4night but most designated places appear to ban overnight stays.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
If you’re heading south towards Bordeaux, you might like to stop at the free aire in Chef Boutonne. It has a large outdoor pool and you just pay for the swim.
 

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