recommendation for aires west side france to spain (1 Viewer)

solitaire woman

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I am heading to Spain via the western side of France next week and although I have done this route once before, staying on aires, the only one that I could honestly say was lovely was at La suze sur sarthe. I do not know France well at all, so am hoping that the seasoned travellers on this site would be able to help!
Last time the first aire we stayed on was at Cleres and then La suze. I am planning on driving about 200 miles per day so would be very grateful for any places you have stayed and thought how nice they were.
The route I did last time was roughly, calais, cleres, la suze sur sarthe, poitiers, toulouse, narbonne and then on to Alicante. I did get lost a bit last time, so it wasn't actually as direct as that!
I had difficulty in finding aires when I got nearer to the Spanish boarder, in my book it said they were there, but I couldn't find them!, so in particular I would appreciate info around this area
Many thanks.
 

staging lady

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Hi, We stayed at a nice one in St Martory one year, not far from Toulouse.

http:///airecampingcar.com/aire_camping_car_gps.php/549-Saint-martory
It was outside a walled town on the banks of the Garonne. Free so we went for a meal to say thank you to the commune

Saint-martory : Aire de service pour camping car

Coordonnées GPS : Longitude : 0.93040000 Latitude : 43.14140000
Adresse :
En bordure de la Garonne, sur l'axe Tarbes - Toulouse, 15 km à l'Est de Saint-Gaudens
31000 Saint-martory
Type de l'aire : Aire municipale GRATUITE
Hope this is helpful.
Lucille
 

barryd

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Heres one for the first part of the trip and right on the river Siene. La Mailleraye Sur Seine.

Latitude (North) Decimal 49.48444 ° or 49 ° 29 '3984''
Longitude (East) Decimal 000.77333 ° or 000 ° 46 '23,988''


You get all sorts of ships and things coming up the river and its very quiet and away from any roads. Costs 5 Euros though.

If your going south Towards Toulouse then will you go through the Dordogne and Lot? If so there are loads of great places to stay there. I assume you have the Aires book but there is also a fantastic site here. http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm Pretty much every Aire is on there with user comments and pictures. You can set Google to auto translate the French as well. Might take a bit of time but click on the regions you think you will be stopping near and just troll through each Aires description, saving the ones you think sound good.

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lebesset

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May 31, 2009
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why use the same route ?
surely the greatest joy of motorhoming is new places, new faces
the camping-cars website has more aires listed than you could ever use whichever route you choose !maybe buy the usb copy to plug into your laptop if you are taking that with you !

bonne route
 

vwalan

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hi .i go from poitiers to angouleme then go to perigueux its nice by the river. saw otters there one year. then then drop slightly east through grand roc and on to saralat la canada then down to gourdon .as you get to gourdon there are carparks on the right by a lake or abit further just before the town on the left is another carpark by a small lake. it as a fitness walk with excersize gadgets .all very nice.i stay there in the carpark no probs. .then drop down to montauban on the minor roads .then on to toulouse. drop down to foix using the e09 to andorra . hope that helps .can i come i love it down there . cheers alan.
 

vwalan

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there is that many nice places to stay you might never get where you thought you were going. it will start to get busy soon though on the coast. enjoy the drive .
 

barryd

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I generally find the coastal aires are not a patch on the inland ones. They are often packed and vans get hemmed in really tightly, they are often noisy as well. There are some cracking Aires in the Dordogne and Lot and one or two nice and cheap municiples. I would break the trip up and stop around that area for a bit. How long have you got?
 
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solitaire woman

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Apr 27, 2008
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Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
When I did this route before I didn't have time to just meander down as we had to be in Spain for a certain date, so that it why I would like to do the same route but spend more time stopping and wandering when I see something interesting. It all looked lovely as I was whizzing bye without time to stop!
I don't have laptop at the moment but if I can find a reasonably priced one I will get one before I go. I'm sure it would be much easier to be able to google for a nearby campsite.

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kenspain

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Were are you heading for in Spain there is talk of two new campsites opening near Alicante soon 1 is inland a bit the other not far from the beach just waiting to get the address of them.
 

barryd

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A laptop can be a great asset assuming you can get online in France. Its worth doing the homework before though just in case and printing off a few possibilities. putting all the Aires on your satnav can be useful as well but your never quite sure what your driving to!
 

vwalan

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just get a la monde camping car book for aires when you get to france you will never need a campsite. and dont forget in a villager look for the church ,big carpark and often clean toilets and water.
cheers alan.

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Heyupluv

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If you are not in a GREAT rush to go through France make this your first Aire ....Forges-les-Eaux ...it is 112 miles from Calais 49'36.357 E001'32.564' this is a very clean and pleasant Aire it cost is 5.75 euros per night and that includes electric, water, and drop points .....then make La suze sur Sarthe your second stop 170 miles from Forges les Eaux..a beautiful Aire 3 euros with electric water and drop off points, then your third stop either Mortagne-sur-Gironde 7 euros per night this includes electric..N45'28.962' W000'47.681'...or if you are not in a RV call at this little lovely site called ST Seurin-D'uzet this is 6.50 euros per night and this includes includes electric..N45'30.061' W000'50.097' 6 km north of Mortagne-sur-Gironde......and they are about 257 and 263 miles from La-suze-sur-Sarthe....then your final stop in France before Spain on the Atlantic coast.... Ondres plage 7.00 euros with electric (12,EHUP). N43,34.582' W001'29.223 ... 175 miles from Mortagne-Sur-Gironde......all these aires we have stopped on several times before, and would happily stay again and recommend to others.......the Aire at Ondres plage, water was turned off the last time we was there as it was winter time...but you could always call at Capbreton just a few km north of Ondres.

Mel :thumb:....
 
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Heyupluv

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I am heading to Spain via the western side of France next week and although I have done this route once before, staying on aires, the only one that I could honestly say was lovely was at La suze sur sarthe. I do not know France well at all, so am hoping that the seasoned travellers on this site would be able to help!
Last time the first aire we stayed on was at Cleres and then La suze. I am planning on driving about 200 miles per day so would be very grateful for any places you have stayed and thought how nice they were.
The route I did last time was roughly, calais, cleres, la suze sur sarthe, poitiers, toulouse, narbonne and then on to Alicante. I did get lost a bit last time, so it wasn't actually as direct as that!
I had difficulty in finding aires when I got nearer to the Spanish boarder, in my book it said they were there, but I couldn't find them!, so in particular I would appreciate info around this area
Many thanks.

Solitaire......do you have a sat-nav......if not it may be money well spent,(with European maps) I and lots of other motorhomers would not be with out then ...also use sat coordination's and not roads /streets and towns/post codes unless it is a last resort.

Mel:thumb:

Solitaire....there many more lovely Aires on route but if you are wanting to do about 200 miles at a time you will only require 3 stops then into spain
 

Heyupluv

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I generally find the coastal aires are not a patch on the inland ones. They are often packed and vans get hemmed in really tightly, they are often noisy as well. There are some cracking Aires in the Dordogne and Lot and one or two nice and cheap municiples. I would break the trip up and stop around that area for a bit. How long have you got?

totally agree with you Barryd

Mel:thumb:

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solitaire woman

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Apr 27, 2008
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Am heading down as far as Alicante, don't want to stay in Benidorm though. The campsites are way too busy! Thanks for all the co-ordinates Heyupluv, will have a look at them all online before I go. One of the problems I had last time was that although I did have a sat nav it couldn't be trusted completely and I had to rely on my son and daughter to make snap decisions about the direction to take whilst I was driving. They used to insist that the road we were on was not on the map!
I may well drive less miles per day and spend more time looking around the villages this time. Would love to find a little house with some land that was just begging for me to buy it!
At a bargain price of course!
 

kenspain

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May 22, 2009
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Am heading down as far as Alicante, don't want to stay in Benidorm though. The campsites are way too busy! Thanks for all the co-ordinates Heyupluv, will have a look at them all online before I go. One of the problems I had last time was that although I did have a sat nav it couldn't be trusted completely and I had to rely on my son and daughter to make snap decisions about the direction to take whilst I was driving. They used to insist that the road we were on was not on the map!
I may well drive less miles per day and spend more time looking around the villages this time. Would love to find a little house with some land that was just begging for me to buy it!
At a bargain price of course!

Well your coming at the right time there are plenty of houses up for sale here with land at the bargain price but beware of estate agents.
 

Heyupluv

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Oct 7, 2008
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Am heading down as far as Alicante, don't want to stay in Benidorm though. The campsites are way too busy! Thanks for all the co-ordinates Heyupluv, will have a look at them all online before I go. One of the problems I had last time was that although I did have a sat nav it couldn't be trusted completely and I had to rely on my son and daughter to make snap decisions about the direction to take whilst I was driving. They used to insist that the road we were on was not on the map!
I may well drive less miles per day and spend more time looking around the villages this time. Would love to find a little house with some land that was just begging for me to buy it!
At a bargain price of course!

Your son and daughter are correct, I have two sat navs one 5 years old one new, and two good map books one Michelin, and sometimes they all say different numbers for the same road??!! don't ask me why :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:...that is France:Doh:...that's why I say a sat nav:thumb:

Mel :thumb:

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vwalan

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i have 3 europe map books a cepsa map book of spain n portugal but prefer my 1974 map of spain .it shows more little roads so better for me i dont like new roads.
 
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solitaire woman

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Thank you Yodeli, if I am going to be around that area when it it time to stop for the night I will pm you. Thanks again! You must get to meet lots of the Funsters?

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lebesset

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normally you have to queue or book to get a campsite in benidorm

now things have changed ......plenty of empty space due to the recession , no problem to drive right in !
 

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