West coast of france

[scotty1]

Hi all we are going down to confolens near Lomoges at the end of the month we want to keep off tolls and goalong the coast down but have no idea of where to stay prob 3 diff nights on route will we be able to find plenty of aires with h/up on route or do you have to book,cheers?

 

[WynandJean]

You cannot book aires, just turn up. There will be plenty of them so if you don't like one or it is full just go to another. We are all familiar with the Aires guides from Vicarious books but this:http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/2358390321/?tag=mhf04-21

is one that's produced by the French and seems to have more listed. We bought ours in a French newsagents.


Wyn

 

[scotty1]

Thanks is it in french(what a silly question).

 

[Kool Kroozer]

It comes in different languages so make sure you get the English - unless you can read French

 

[Gaston aires]

Just stay where it looks nice, there are aires everywhere, that the best thing about travelling in France.
Phil

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[JeanLuc]

Many aires do have a hookup facility but this is mainly for light use and battery top-up. On an aire (or many camperstops in other countries) there is usually a service post. In France this is called a borne de service (borne). There are a few different types but they often look a bit like an R2D2. From this you can get fresh water, dispose of toilet waste and in many, but not all cases, get a 230V feed. Some are completely free but most require payment for electricity and sometimes fresh water. Payment is normally made by tokens called Jetons that are available from local shops, the mairie or tourist information. A jeton will usually give you the choice of either fresh water (normally enough time or meter volume for 100 litres) or perhaps 20 minutes of electricity. Some bornes accept a €2 coin.

Below is a picture of a borne (at an aire in Normandy) - as you can see, it is some distance from the parking area so not really practical for long-term hook-up. Some, of course, are closer to the parking area, but most local camping caristes carry plenty of hook-up leads in order to reach. We have never bothered to get electricity from a borne in over eight years of travelling France.

Some aires have more significant services with hook-up points for each parking location but I would say these are the exception and they are not normally free. The one in Aachen comes to mind.

 

[FIDGET]

Hi Scotty 1,
Try motorhomingfrance.co.uk website cost I believe is £12 to join but all in english , all aires plus some campsites visited by the proprietor , it will give you all you need to know about aires etc plus lots of tours masses of info.
here's a sample
Link Removed





Aire: ARQUES (3*)
ADDRESS: MUNICIPAL CAMPING BEAUSEJOUR, RUE MICHELET

TEL: 03 21 88 53 66 CAMPING FAX:

EMAIL: mairie@ville-arques.fr

TYPE OF AIRE: MUNICIPAL
FACILITIES: WATER /GREY DRAIN/BLACK DRAIN/ ELECTRIC

LOCATION: SEMI-RURAL/ LAKESIDE NO. OF SPACES: 25


PRICES/ RATES: JETONS & FEES PAYABLE AT CAMPSITE RECEPTION

PARKING: 2€/ NIGHT SERVICES: 2€ WATER OR ELECTRIC

OPENING TIMES: 01/04 -- 30/10

GPS COORDS: N50.74538 E02.30448

DIRECTIONS: From CALAIS take N43 / N42 EAST to the roundabout EAST of ARQUES & take last exit onto D211 WEST. Turn RIGHT after 2km into RUE J.VERNE / F.MITTERAND (same road). Turn LEFT before Railway Bridge into RUE MICHELET & CAMPSITE

SITE DESCRIPTION: This is a waterside location, next to the large Beausejour lake & close to the 3* Municipal Campsite in a large tarmac parking area. Security is good, the car park being locked at night 2100-0700, and there is shade from trees. The Euro-Relais borne with a small raised drainage grid (hosepipe required) is next to the campsite.

REVIEW

A good secure Aire behind the Mun. Campsite & next to a nice lake. The parking is level & quiet, with nice walks around the lakes & lots of birds + wildlife to see. We noticed a slight noise at night from a distant factory.



Link Removed
ARQUES

 

[jollyrodger]

Or
Try Aires de camping cars France all free to d/l

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/resources/aires-de-services-camping-car-for-autoroute-2010.61/

You register and can get poi for you satnav if you have one

 

[scotty1]

Jollyroger,all free to d/l ?

 

[jollyrodger]

yes

http://www.i-campingcar.fr/accueil.htm

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[JeanLuc]

Jollyroger,all free to d/l ?

"All free to down-load"

POI files are also free to download from Camping Car Infos (my favourite source).
CAMPINGCAR-INFOS

 

[jollyrodger]

I you click on the link

http://www.i-campingcar.fr/accueil.htm

then on the left task-pane select
Telechargement
when next window opens insert your name and forename then email address
when you get the email (time limit) click on it and D/L a zip file which is an Adobe doc pdf
with all the latest info March 2015 on Aires throughout France for offline reading when over there or trip planning.
NEVER EVER have needed to buy a Aires book France .Also I think it was Momo who gave a good link info for the Aires in Spain
Happy trails

 

[Madwife]

Aire: ARQUES (3*)
ADDRESS: MUNICIPAL CAMPING BEAUSEJOUR, RUE MICHELET

TEL: 03 21 88 53 66 CAMPING FAX:

EMAIL: mairie@ville-arques.fr

TYPE OF AIRE: MUNICIPAL
FACILITIES: WATER /GREY DRAIN/BLACK DRAIN/ ELECTRIC

LOCATION: SEMI-RURAL/ LAKESIDE NO. OF SPACES: 25


PRICES/ RATES: JETONS & FEES PAYABLE AT CAMPSITE RECEPTION

PARKING: 2€/ NIGHT SERVICES: 2€ WATER OR ELECTRIC

OPENING TIMES: 01/04 -- 30/10

GPS COORDS: N50.74538 E02.30448

DIRECTIONS: From CALAIS take N43 / N42 EAST to the roundabout EAST of ARQUES & take last exit onto D211 WEST. Turn RIGHT after 2km into RUE J.VERNE / F.MITTERAND (same road). Turn LEFT before Railway Bridge into RUE MICHELET & CAMPSITE

SITE DESCRIPTION: This is a waterside location, next to the large Beausejour lake & close to the 3* Municipal Campsite in a large tarmac parking area. Security is good, the car park being locked at night 2100-0700, and there is shade from trees. The Euro-Relais borne with a small raised drainage grid (hosepipe required) is next to the campsite.

REVIEW

A good secure Aire behind the Mun. Campsite & next to a nice lake. The parking is level & quiet, with nice walks around the lakes & lots of birds + wildlife to see. We noticed a slight noise at night from a distant factory.



Link Removed
ARQUES[/QUOTE]
We stayed at the municipal site last year and would have quite happily stayed on the site but as we had a water leak and could not turn on the water pump stayed at the site instead.

Kath

 

[scotty1]

Jolly rodger, my ipad just keeps telling me it cannot(safari) download this?

 

[scotty1]

If you wasa total novice to french aires and campsites which bookwould you buy,just been down the town to Smiths and waterstones and nothing in stock.so might have to use Amazon to get it here before next friday.Thanks for all your advice.

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[jollyrodger]

Have you filled in detail. and received an email ?
It then says its big file and dependent on your BBC speed can take a minute or two.
It comes down as a zip file the unzipped it is a adobe acrobat PDF file .
I did try and put it up into resources on here but system wouldn't let me.
If you can d/l onto a laptop then transfer to you tablet .works on mine
Cheaply Chinese

In the funsters (Jims) shop you can still buy all the aires France I think

 

[FIDGET]

Hi Scott1,
I don't know if you are taking your ipad with you on friday, but another site which I use is http://www.searchforsites.co.uk/index.php
just download or log in , it knows where you are or where you plan to be by putting town /village name , you can decide what distance around you want it to search for aires , info is accessed by clicking on navy square for aire, green triangle campsite, light blue square for parking no services etc, then click more info it gives gps co-ordinates plus various other descriptions, some have photo's.

another site worth looking at https://www.aire-service-camping-car-panoramique.fr/
again gives info plus 360% photo of aires.

 

[scotty1]

Hi Fidget i already have search for sites,looking forward to try that one out.All the aires france was updated thos year but its got so much detail that it is in two books now( north and south) both books £24.99 ?

 

[scotty1]

Just picked up all the Aires France north and south very impressed.Willtry next wk cant wait?

 

[jaykay]

Were going over at the weekend for the first time also Scotty, so i'm trying to pick up as much info as possible.

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[Welsh girl]

On advice of people I have ordered the camperstop 2015 book from amazon .reduced to £14.95 saving £10 so I hope that will cover everything.
Covers all of Europe I've been told. Not just france, last year we bought the france one and the portugal and Spain aires so at last they are all in one book.

 

[bigtree]

I you click on the link

http://www.i-campingcar.fr/accueil.htm

then on the left task-pane select
Telechargement
when next window opens insert your name and forename then email address
when you get the email (time limit) click on it and D/L a zip file which is an Adobe doc pdf
with all the latest info March 2015 on Aires throughout France for offline reading when over there or trip planning.
NEVER EVER have needed to buy a Aires book France .Also I think it was Momo who gave a good link info for the Aires in Spain
Happy trails

OK I have downloaded this but there is something strange about it,online it gives details for Marboue but offline nothing.You can see it on the map but when scrolling through the locations nothing! For that region,28 it shows 7 aires but only details for 5.

 

[scotty1]

I have just pu aires today on tomtom had a look and there are only 8 aires come up in the 1 st 150 miles is this right or am i missing something ,ta

 

[scotty1]

Adding to last post there is 25 aires in total in acoverage of 562 miles??? Hardly seemed worth it????

 

[magicsurfbus]

I'd second what Jean-Luc says about the CCI website. Probably the best source of free aire POIs and updated daily. There's also a free phone app you can get from them, although it needs a mobile data connection to work properly.

Take a look at Broken Link Removed to show you how many are available.

The download page for TomTom POIs for France and other countries can be found at http://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/recherche.php

The only catch is you need to know where to put them on your TomTom.

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[Hogan7777]

Have a look at my you tube link lots of aires in wester France inc Marbou.