French Aires and campsites , taking cards ?

Jake Royd

Jake Royd

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Malvern Link, Malvern, UK
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Chausson Welcome 85
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Planning a first time run to France in May.
I'm busy loading my Revolut card up with Euros.

Would you please advise , just as a general point , what proportion roughly of Aires that take a payment allow you to pay by card.

Same for campsites.

I just want a general guide on how much on card/how much in cash ?

Also we plan to visit a campsite , say about every 3 or 4 days to do laundry , maybe black and grey water etc. How much (very roughly I know) do you budget on per day?

TIA
 
There are lots of Aires that are free(y) so no need for payment
 
We’ve usually managed to pay using our Revolut card or credit card.
 
Jake Royd said:
Also we plan to visit a campsite , say about every 3 or 4 days to do laundry , maybe black and grey water etc. How much (very roughly I know) do you budget on per day?
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We always use a Visa card when travelling and never had any problems. Use cash for coffees :)

To anwer your other question, how long is a piece of string! Really depends on where you're going, time of year, type of campsite, etc. Download the Camperstop app which will have all the info you're looking for.

Mick

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Jake Royd said:
@Speve , yeah I know but of the ones that do..............
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Always used post office credit card they give good exchange rates and don’t charge for normal transactions although they do for withdrawing cash.(y)(y)
 
We always use a Santander MasterCard credit card with no charges for foreign use. Never had a problem at the Aire machines or toll booths.
When we do stay on a site, it would nearly always be ACSI, so about 15€
Very very occasionally there is an aire where someone comes around to collect the money, would normally be less than 10 € so cash handy for that. Cash also handy for the morning round by the Boulangerie should you be lucky enough!

It’s worth keeping a float of say 20 € in coins in your cup holder in van (or similar), for coin operated aires.

Can you not get cash out of an ATM with Revolut?
 
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Have had a few problems with prepaid card(Fairfx) in filling stations, have had problems with my debit card as well but credit card ok. I don’t bother with a prepaid card any more just use cash and visa credit.

Spongy
 
We only use the free aires in France but you can nearly always empty both types of waste.

As for budget, it all depends on how you live. If you're planning to travel a long way, then your fuel budget will be high. If you're planning to eat out then this will cost more than self-catering, obviously. France is more expensive than Spain, in fact we found it very expensive last year. Eating out for a burger and chips for two, was 45 Euros.

The campsites in France can be a bit hit and miss. The aires seem to have taken over in France and many of the campsites are run down. We've found the toilet and shower facilities in French campsites can be grim.

We've always used the Halifax Clarity Card, as this is one of the best to use abroad. The campsites do take cards in our experience.

Mrs QFour

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Riverbankannie said:
We always use a Santander MasterCard credit card with no charges for foreign use. Never had a problem at the Aire machines or toll booths.
When we do stay on a site, it would nearly always be ACSI, so about 15€
Very very occasionally there is an aire where someone comes around to collect the money, would normally be less than 10 € so cash handy for that. Cash also handy for the morning round by the Boulangerie should you be lucky enough!

It’s worth keeping a float of say 20 € in coins in your cup holder in van (or similar), for coin operated aires.
Click to expand...

Handy to keep a 50 euro note for the parking attendant, they often haven’t got change so they don’t bother to charge. Bit cheeky I know.

Spongy
 
We take lots of Euro coins plus the credit card but we mostly try and stay on free aires if able to. Most campsites take most credit cards. Just as a side note, unmanned fuel stations seem not to accept the Revolut card. Enjoy your trip
 
spongy said:
Handy to keep a 50 euro note for the parking attendant, they often haven’t got change so they don’t bother to charge. Bit cheeky I know.

Spongy
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.... and dishonest.
A lot of aires are patrolled by Police and Gendarmes. All attendants will give you a receipt which you display. No ticket = parking fine. They will take the €50 note off you then, plus more....

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never have more than 50 euros in cash on us just in case but get by with everything other than small change with the good old halifax clarity card but useually hunt out free aires or france passions.
think you will find very few who dont take cards , rather that than seeing you leave without getting something out of you.(y):)
 
No need to stay on a site specifically for the washing machine - plenty of em on supermarket carparks.
 
trophychap said:
No need to stay on a site specifically for the washing machine - plenty of em on supermarket carparks.
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I like to hang out my washing in the sunshine :sun:
CA774366-2070-42C4-9CE6-8BF2269488B5.jpeg
 
We take revoult, a credit card and cash.
As mentioned above several petrol stations won't accept pre paid so we use cash or credit card.

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Thank you , very useful.
We also have a Halifax Clarity card as well, so we should be fine.
The Revolut card can still be used in restaurants and supermarkets etc.

I think ill not load it quite so much and spread my money between cash and cards.

Yes, you can get cash out with a Revolut card from an ATM,but there is a limit per day.

As mentioned above , our fuel costs at 28mpg odd will be high.
 
Jake Royd said:
Thank you , very useful.
We also have a Halifax Clarity card as well, so we should be fine.
The Revolut card can still be used in restaurants and supermarkets etc.

I think ill not load it quite so much and spread my money between cash and cards.

Yes, you can get cash out with a Revolut card from an ATM,but there is a limit per day.

As mentioned above , our fuel costs at 28mpg odd will be high.
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Should think thats about the norm for a motorhome,,BUSBY.
 
We mostly use free Aires but paying ones are nearly all card now but prepayment cards like Revolut often don't work also don't work on fuel pumps. We also carry a Halifax clarity & Nationwide credit cards. We don't use much cash in France. Lunchtime menu's good value, eating in the evening is an arm & a leg, best avoided.
 
Whilst in France eat at lunchtime. In our dept. average cost €15 incl wine

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Riverbankannie said:
We always use a Santander MasterCard credit card with no charges for foreign use. Never had a problem at the Aire machines or toll booths.
When we do stay on a site, it would nearly always be ACSI, so about 15€
Very very occasionally there is an aire where someone comes around to collect the money, would normally be less than 10 € so cash handy for that. Cash also handy for the morning round by the Boulangerie should you be lucky enough!

It’s worth keeping a float of say 20 € in coins in your cup holder in van (or similar), for coin operated aires.

Can you not get cash out of an ATM with Revolut?
Click to expand...
Yet again, @Riverbankannie is more or less where we are with our motorhoming. (we dont use tolls)
Never had a problem using a credit card at the machine at an aire.
We have come across the odd campsite that will only take cash, but the ones we use are very out of the way and i think this had more to do with internet access for the machine. we havent used many campsites. Maybe 8 in 10 years and i would say 3 of them wanted or preferred cash.
I would have used aires at a rate of one a day for an average of say 60 nights per year but then a bit of wilding and a bit of France Passion and some other numbers to take away i reckon at least 300 aires we have used. Off the top of my head (excluding that card system they have at that group who own aires) I reckon we might have found 10-20 that use a credit car machine. But i did tend to head for free aires before i realised i could afford 3-5 euros a night !
Use the credit card for everything apart from boulangerie, maybe a beer out once a week, the occasional small impulse purchase.
Wife is away for 77 days this time (i do go with her but i commute back to work for 4 days 3 times) and we will take 500 euros in cash which should last the whole holiday and maybe stick 2-3,000 euros on the card as an educated guess. Always having to keep an eye on the change for aire machines and we use the very small cents to pay for the boulangerie if they have a machine that counts the money (you just throw it in)

Just a point about the launderette. (because i am tight fisted) if the campsite is 15 euros (acsi) a launderette is 4-8 euros? and i appreciate you might get a swimmming pool and other stuff and its nice occasionally.
Sealable bags are available on ebay to prevent smell inside the van so more pleasant to go longer without the need for a launderette.
If you are getting your euros here and taking them with you and you intend to use the credit card for diesel and shopping then dont ask for 50 euro notes. You get glaring looks when you end up offering them for small purchases. 20s only get you a glance. We take 20s. Buying your baguette with a 20 would be poor form. Trying to buy it with a 50 might get you some directions. Constant supervision on the coins.
 
Riverbankannie said:
I like to hang out my washing in the sunshine :sun:
View attachment 287106
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I always wondered how washing dried.
Now i just need to find out how it makes to the washing basket from the floor then to the machine

Side note. Top of Ventoux this year as i failed last year. Within striking distance from start of May to end of June. Told her that we are dong sunset, middle of night and sunrise. Shes not happy. Shes grumbling away to herself carrying this package of something towards the washing machine at the moment.
 
Jake Royd said:
Planning a first time run to France in May.
I'm busy loading my Revolut card up with Euros.

Would you please advise , just as a general point , what proportion roughly of Aires that take a payment allow you to pay by card.

Same for campsites.

I just want a general guide on how much on card/how much in cash ?

Also we plan to visit a campsite , say about every 3 or 4 days to do laundry , maybe black and grey water etc. How much (very roughly I know) do you budget on per day?

TIA
Click to expand...
Whereabouts are you headed ? might have a few tips or aires worthy of a stop as its a first time venture
 
spongy said:
Handy to keep a 50 euro note for the parking attendant, they often haven’t got change so they don’t bother to charge. Bit cheeky I know.

Spongy
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Nice to see someone else as tight fisted as me. I did forget to give that piece of advice but works a lot. If they start going through their change as they have the change then get the 20 out so you can reuse the 50 at the next aire. Our 50 euro note has made it through 4 holidays.
Sir I am impressed !

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