Overnight stays in France

>Search for sites< will give you lots of options both campsites, aires and parking for lunch stops.

peedee

Hi A & M

The south of France stretches for nearly 500 miles from Bayonne in the west to Menton in the east.  If you could be more specific about where you're heading and how long you are going for, plus which crossing you are using, you will get more specific advice.

For my part I would endorse the three websites suggested by Deleted User - you are very rarely more than 20 miles from an Aire de Camping Car in France.

As far as autoroute services are concerned, they are okay as a last resort and I have used a few in my time, mainly in the winter when daylight is short, sites are closed and icy local roads may be untreated.  If I do use them, my golden rules are  1. Don't stay on aires with services - they are noisy  2.  Don't stay on an aire near a large town or city - too many people coming and going  3. Do stay on an Aire de Pique-nique or Aire de Repos - they tend to be quieter. 

One final word, if you do not feel comfortable once you have stopped, move on - there's bound to be another stopping place not far down the road.

Hope you have a great time when you (eventually) get there.

Jim

 

I criss crossed France with caravans for 40 years - always looking for a comfortable campsite by 3pm.with 250 miles under my belt. I don’t think I would change that habit if I bought a motorhome, and by the look of this photo there are still some motorhomers who also prefer that sort of campsite rather staying overnight cheek by jowl on a tarmac aire. Horses for courses as they say.

" I don’t think I would change that habit if I bought a motorhome, and by the look of this photo there are still some motorhomers who also prefer that sort of campsite rather staying overnight cheek by jowl on a tarmac aire "

That photo could equally be of an aire these days - so many sites in France, especially municipals, have been converted to motorhome aires.  There are lots of spacious MH aires to choose from too.

The user and all related content has been deleted

We only switched to a MH from caravan in 2019 and due to covid have only taken it to France once. We particularly liked the Camping-Car Park Aires mentioned above. You don’t say if you are using autoroutes, however if going from Calais via Reims and Troyes as mentioned, there is one just off the A26 after about 230 miles, 20 miles or so north of Troyes. If heading down the Rhone to the Med there is another near Valence just off the A7, a further 305 miles, about 150 miles from the Med. Despite there name they are far removed from car parks, most having EHU at 6amps and many Wifi. We’ve not stopped at the ones I mentioned above but the pictures are a couple that we did use.

I've got a Camping Car Park card and have managed to hold up the world whilst getting the barrier machine to accept it.   They have quite an extensive network.

On my way south in times gone by we have stayed at Troyes Municipal campsite.This has just been discussed at length on this forum,whether it is opening or being updated,so homework will need doing on this site.

 

The other overnight (that did not turn out to be an overnight) is the municipal site at Beaune. We ended up staying for 3 night here,walking distance to town,and the Unesco Beaune hospital "museum",but you must arrive before say 15:00hrs as it gets many 1 nighters looking for a pitch.

 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Hi

Can i just add to WTG post earlier suggesting the three websites which basically is all you need to tour the whole of Europe and that is the excellent POI on the Camping car info site which are free to download and cover every country in the EU and is updated every six months, if this is your first time in France i would recommend WTG other suggestion of Camping Car Parks they have some of the best aires in France and all come with electricity and wifi.

Enjoy Phil