MH Camp Sites open Winter in France for stop overs (on the way to Spain) (1 Viewer)

[N&K]

Hi

I have been reading quite a few threads on the forum about winter destinations. On your way to Spain, do you plan your exact stays on a site in france or do you always find a site open in Winter through France?

Which way do you go to Spain, a dash through cold france on the Peage?

We are looking to head down the East Coast of Spain.

A friend of mine who lives in Spain tells me to stick to the coast for a lot milder weather.

We have a young baby and dont want to wild camp

Cheers

N&K

 

[Pikey Pete]

Get yourself the ACSI book and card, from Vicarious Books.

Pete

 

[superk]

or Caravan Europe 1 from the Caravan Club - will tell you which of the sites are open at that time of year. No need to book just turn up. Agree that it's best to stick to the East as it's possible to encounter inclement weather crossing The Pyrenees and in Northern Spain.


Keith

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[staging lady]

Hi N& K,
We are taking the old girl (Van!) to France for the first time at the start of November. This is our first time to go to France in a motorhome rather than a caravan and the first time in November so I'm trying to plan a route because we have found a dearth of sites open.
We have the Alan Rogers guide to Europe. This has a list at the back of sites open all year round. Problem is there are only about 10 listed for the whole of France.
We have also the Camping card ACSI book and we've looked at their site on the web but most seem to close in October. Even one we found in the Alpes was closed for 3 weeks in November.
We have sent away for the Guide Bel Air camping Caravaning
Guide Camping France et Europe - location Mobilhome et Camping Caravaning - GUIDE BEL-AIR SITE OFFICIEL
which has proved to be the most useful as it lists campsites open all year round in red in the entry. So you just have to scan the page till you see Permanent in red. This really cuts the time down. You can also see the sites open all year with a red circle round them on their web and book map. It also has a list of campsites near 40 theme parks - parcs d' attractions all over France from mini chateaux to Sleeping Beauty's castle to Futuroscope to Vulcania. This guide is in French but it is easy enough to look at the symbols for what you want.
Other than that we have All the Aires and France Passion books from the MHF site so hope between them we can find somewhere to stay.
It's not too bad in the South of France and on the North coast but inland is different. We are going to the East for the Champagne then onto Vichy and across on the a89 to Brive, Montauban, Toulouse.
I think somewhere there wass a thread about uploading French winter sited=s Did it get uploaded as I couldn't find it in the downloads.
Sorry this is so long. Hope it helps. Many others are more knowledgeable than us and will help, I'm sure.
Lucille

 

[N&K]

Hi

Thanks for the replies so far...

Sorry I should have mentioned I have already bought the ACSI DVD from vicarious books ( Link Removed) and its excellent as you can filter the sites that are open in the winter...but comparing the sites in the UK with the UK sites on the DVD there are a lot missing, so I just wondered if people have favoursite winter sites for their journey south that dont exist on the DVD.

staging lady - thanks for the tip on the book, i'll check it out. I have been told to contact the campsites to confirm they actually are open when you plan to visit as even though its advertised as open - it might be closed.

Thanks for the tips, I'll get an ACSI camping card and also contact the Caravan Club.

:thumb: N&K

 

[Ralph-Dot]

The UK part of ACSI is useless (there are next to no campsites participating) whereas the rest of Europe (epically France), is very good.

Ralph

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Pikey Pete]

Why beat yourself up, planning every detail of your journey. You are not stepping off the Ferry into the third world. The journey down should be part of the fun not a chore.
Work out what time of day you want to stop driving and about an hour before that, get the book/books out and find an open site or an Aire and stop for the night, how easy is that:thumb:
Lots of times I've used French ACSI and other listed sites that are open all year and I've been the only one on the site. Don't expect all the facilities to be open at most of them out of season, some only open the toilet and shower blocks in the morning and some don't open them at all.
Just stay cool and enjoy the trip.
Your friend is right about better weather in the East of Spain.

Pete

 

[billym]

Heres some open sites on a sensible route.

Camping les Pommiers Ouisterham (Straight off the Caen ferry )

Camping Belle Riviere Nantes

Camping La Sauzelle St Aubin sur Blaye

Camping La Rouletta. St Jean de Luz


Like has been said they will be very limited and uninspiring that time of year although the Nantes
one is a busyish site in winter with a tiny little bar open.

Get the Caravan Club book.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

We did that trip in November last year - here's where we stayed:-

Ferry Dover to Calais 7th November

1st night - Aire at Honfleur - €7 - short walk into town.:thumb:
2nd night - Aire at Laigne -en - Belin - south of Le Mans - in Camperstop Europe book. Nice little village - parked in car park in centre of village by church. No charge.:thumb:
3rd, 4th and 5th nights - Parc Verger, Champagnac La Riviere, Limousin.:thumb::thumb:
6th night - Violettes de Toulouse - France Passion site east of Toulouse.Pressurised into buying all sorts of violet products - most unusual fro a France Passion site - they're usually very laid back!:Blush:

7th night - Camping Salata, Roses, Costa Brava, Spain - stayed for a week.Nice during day but down to minus 5 at nights Brrrrrr!!!

Next - Camping Bonterra Park, Benicassim - Ok but overcrowded.

then - a night with friends near Murcia:thumb:
next a night at La Manga ( or La Manky as we call it - some people love it - but not us!!):Blush:
following that a week at Cabopino Park near Marbella. Again a bit overcrowded especially with Brits!!
From there we headed into Portugal and Monte Gordo.:thumb:

Weather wasn't good until we hit Cabopino then it was glorious.

Have a good trip!

Marie

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[yodeli]

Hi N&K!

Let me know if you need to park near Toulouse. You'll be secure with your baby at my place!

Frankie

 

[Pat4Neil]

Hi N & K

Sorry to hi jack thread, sort of anyhow. We will be coming up from Morocco back up through Spain and France to get Eurotunnel Train. We have allowed 5-6 days, which route would you take and where would you stay? Where would cross from Spain to France, would there be snow at this crossing.

Sorry to ask but not been away in the winter with motorhome before.

Pat

 

[N&K]

Hi Patsy4

Sorry for the delay in responding, this will be our first winter trip to Spain, but we have done many Euro New year trips into Switz, Germany and Austria. On this trip (if we go via Clermont Ferrand on the Peage ) I would expect to see snow in the north/mid part of France and none in Spain (as we are sticking to the coast roads/motorways). The peage gains altitude in the southern region, you can see from the terrain map in google...

>>click here for terrain map<<

You can see from the terrain map, the route via Perpifnan avoids the high ground of the Pyrénées as the motorways stays close to the coast (warmer)

The french are pretty good at keeping their roads in very good condition as they dont use Salt they use some sort of liquid sprayed on via a lorry (similar to how they cover salt on the road) except the liquid is excellent. I believe we dont use the liquid in the UK as is too expensive ( i could be wrong)
Hope this helps.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Pat4Neil]

Thanks for the reply, and pm

so you wouldnt cross near papaloma, excuse my spelling and come up that way( I think I was thinking of IRUN via the E70, has anyone used that route)

Pat

 

[keith]

Thanks for the reply, and pm

so you wouldnt cross near papaloma, excuse my spelling and come up that way( I think I was thinking of IRUN via the E70, has anyone used that route)

Pat

We went down that way January 2 years ago. The problem is this road is very high up & can suffer with bad weather. When we climbed away from the coast there was deep snow at the side of the roads.
The roads were very quiet by Pamplona, Zaragoza, Teruel & down to Valencia.
Spent one of the coldest nights we have ever had in the van (we don't ski), wouldn't go that way in the winter again. :Blush:

 

[Parcverger]

In general snow in France is on the higher ground, so there's plenty of options in terms of routes that do not involve you in concerns over poor driving surfaces.

The A20 from just outside Paris to Toulouse is a good route, much of which is free. You can follow Penelope Pitstop and stop with us at Parc Verger (Welcome to Parcverger Limousin), not far from Limoges, then carry on south towards Yodeli when you are ready. Or do the reverse if you are heading North, of course. We're open all winter, with hard standings, and only had a couple of days snow last year, most of which was gone when they gritted the roads on the same day - its not like the UK where a bit of snow paralyses the whole country!!!

So relax and enjoy your journey - even in winter, France is a beautiful country.:thumb::thumb:

Bob and Di

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[N&K]

oops just spotted my typo in Link Removed post, Perpifnan = Perpignan oh:

N&K:thumb: