France (1 Viewer)

[Twitters]

Afternoon all,
We will be soon travelling through France to Spain and then back through France and then home and would like to know if it is best to book a campsite or go into Aire's for our 2 overnight stops on the way down , the other half wants to travel down as far as possible when we get off the ferry so it is not to far to travel the next couple of days, i am thinking of mid France for the first stop, any suggestions where to stay for the first night would be nice, (not sure if anything like this has been posted before), also it is best to fill the water tank up about half full of water for travelling down into France so we have water available if needed in the Motorhome, any suggestions will be really helpful this will be our first time travelling in our Motorhome in Europe.

 

[suavecarve]

Sufficient enough water to flush to the loo is what we take.
Generally speaking you can get water at aires though it might be limited the further south you go and you may have to pay a couple of euros to get some.
Others will take enough for a shower others will travel full. No right or wrong.

Loads of aires and it would depend on which way you are going and how many miles in a day you would hope to achieve and whether you are using tolls and which port you are leaving from and your final destination before a realistic recommendation could be made.

 

[Andy MacD]

My advice is to work out your route, toll or non toll, and how many hours you want to drive. Use Search4sites or similar and shortlist Aires close to the route, there will be loads of them. Come up with a shortlist according to driving route options eg 3 hours, 4 hours etc. remember also fuel stops, hypermarkets cheapest and loads of them so unlikely you‘ll need to deviate from route. Have fun!

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[Littlewheels]

Booking Campsites A) Costs and B) more importantly it restricts the freedom of movement on your journey,you do not want deadlines to meet.
Use an App S4S and when you get into the journey and are thinking of stopping for the night look on the App and there will most certainly be a number of Aires France/Camperstops Spain make your choice put the Dims in the SatNav and you are sorted.
Have a great trip and do not worry.

 

[Jo662]

I have never booked anywhere. As others have said, use S4S or Park4nites,to find an aire de Campingcar,definetly NOT a motorway aire,when you have had enough of driving for the day.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

Be realistic about how far you are likely to travel on first day - depending of course on your arrival time in France (and don’t forget you lose an hour as the clock goes forward.)

And if you decide on campsites and would be arriving late, bear in mind that particularly off season, the reception may close relatively early evening (lots don’t.). No such issue on Aires, although you can’t normally book in advance. (You can though on CampingCar Parks, if you pay extra for their Pack Privileges. We’ve never bothered with it, tbh, but we do tend to take our time and arrive relatively early in the day.). Most people tend to avoid overnighting on French motorway Aires.

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[The Wino]

I'd definitely go for the aires option. We usually travel until a couple of hours before we want to stop then search the apps for suitable Aires. As others have said avoid the motorway ones. We usually travel with about a third of a tank of water enough for a shower each and the loo/cooking.

 

[bobandjanie]

It depends if your desperate to stop at a particular location, booking anywhere can restrict your travelling options, we travel with full water so we can stop anywhere and don't need to worry about finding a aire before we are empty and full.
In the last month it's been free Aires or just parking place in a forest like this. Bob.

 

[Bobby dazzler]

As others have said so long as you have sufficient water you can't really go wrong I tend to dump my waste water when ever possible no point in lugging it around I also empty the toilet cassette regularly so if I do find somewhere nice I can last a few days before bumbling on

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[daventess]

We've just finished 3 weeks in France, our first European trip in our first van (if you exclude a week in a rented van last year).

Apart from our first night, we didn't book anywhere. We used pitch up, acsi and park4night apps to find places that looked nice and we just turned up. Not once were we turned away. We chose camp sites this time and have yet to try aires. It was out of season so nowhere was full (though there were two public holiday weekends and we timed everything so we were leaving the hotspots like Ile-de-re just as the French were arriving!)

We were concerned as we are inexperienced, but we very quickly learned not to worry as there are so many places to stay in France. It's not a bit like England.

We bumped into two other funsters there (daveclare) who are more experienced than we are, and they often didn't use campsites and got some cracking spots for free.

 

[KD]

I think that it partly depends on how far you have had to travel this side before your ferry / tunnel. Last year we only did about 80 miles on the other side before the first stop, but had had 180 miles this side before the tunnel. One of the few times have travelled with fresh water full.

 

[The Wino]

The op said Spain in two days that suggests getting on with it distances like when we knock off the 450miles from Calais to my sil in a day. But if looking for specific aire locations a general idea of location would help.

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[Shrimp]

I wouldn’t bother with booking campsites, use the Aires de Camping Cars, there are plenty of them and you just turn, up park up and leave when you want.
Water is your priority, but you will find some Aires with free water.

 

[Lenny HB]

We have been travelling to and through France for over 40 years never booked anything even when we used to go in the school holidays.

Camper Contact is our chosen app we find more reliable than the others. Search for Sites is ok but limiting in number of stops also the reviews are all by Brits often downing Aires because they expecting them to be like sites.

 

[15edward]

Spain in 2 days- one of our routes/ stops has been Aire de Baie de Somme ( thats a regular after later, cheaper tunnel
Crossings ) then N10 route stop at Saint Denis Lanneray - spacious field/hard standing by river, an old campsite- onto either Sanguinet south of Bordeaux or further to Cap Breton

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[Twitters]

Thank you funsters for the information you have given i am now a member of Camping Car Parks and will use them on the way down, we have looked on the map and plan to go from Calais down to La Rochelle all non motorway routes hopefully, then the next day travel further south and find another Aire before venturing into Spain.