Your experiences in 2023 - France
Hi we're just starting to think about our trip to France later this year. There's been a bit of discussion here and in other forums about campsites being busier post COVID so I would be grateful of any specific feedback about your experience in 2023 - particularly how busy you found it in May/June and/or in September. If you could also share where you were - which area, and coast or inland?
I'm not interested in Aires, we have a campervan.
It would be really helpful to get some feedback about how busy sites were from people's actual experience in 2023. Thanks.
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Post Covid, sites have seemed fuller.
June 2022 - NE France 80% full, NL south, middle and west very few pitches available
Late August -Sept 2023 - Carnac area sites empty as closing 1st week of Sept. Loire site fluctuated from 70% to 95%. Campers heading north were surprised at how busy the site was as they reported low site occupancy rates in Tarn and Dordogne areas. This could be as some of these sites were also closing early, something our son had picked up on as he was staying in a rental on a tarn Gorge area campsite.
My conclusion for 2023 was the sites that chose to stay open were still busy. If sites had chosen to close early then during the run up time leading up to the closure they were very quiet.
Colin
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September Provence. No problems, plenty of availability with the exception of one small town site where we had to use an Aire instead. We do generally prefer smaller municipal type sites, however even the large one on the island in Avignon had plenty of space if you arrived by lunch time. We stopped 4 nights but could have stayed for longer. Most days they put out the all EHU pitches gone by 5pm or so but non EHU were still available.
I wouldn’t totally discount Aires, the Camping Car Park Mon-village ones often have facilities open into September and are certainly worth considering as a transit stop. Very easy to access, get yourself a card which you charge up, hold it to the pad at the barrier and it lets you in and out debiting your account for 14€ or so. They are generally ex municipals and located in towns and villages so might be worth a couple of nights.
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Thanks again for your thoughts, it's really helpful to get feedback based on recent experience. I thought I'd add that when we were in France in April and May of 2022 most campsites were quiet with a lot of spare pitches but we came across a couple of full ones - Camping de la Baie at Trinite sur Mer (which I think some of you have also used, very nice location) was 95% full over VE weekend, and another one, La gallouette at Sainte Vaaste la Houge near Cherbourg was full (luckily we'd phoned ahead and booked) over Ascension Thursday and that weekend.
Last year we went to Spain in April and May, only two sites were very busy, Camping la Paz, very lovely site on the coast and on the Camino, and Gaviota, another campsite on the beach, a short bike ride from Playa des Cathedrales.
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Hi,
The dates that you are looking to go to France should in my experience give you no trouble at all. I have been driving down through France to the Med and Spainish border for over 20 years.
We stayed in two lovely sites last year one near the Bastide Village of Domme that was right on the River Dordogne, the other in a Village called Montricoux ( near Montauban) both we just turned up at (as we always do) and were in the ASCI book.
The one near Domme was up there with one of my most favourite sites. About 40 mins off the A20 not far from Sarlat. This is a faboulous medieval area with lots to do and see.
Both sites had great swimming pools and lovely flat pitches.
My tip would be avoid France in late July/August as this is when Paris goes on holiday to the Med. The roads at the tolls can be very busy and long delays are not unusual...
You will have a lovely time which ever areas you decide to visit.
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September/October 2022 - no problems at all getting a pitch, other than some sites closing in September, which is the norm for a lot of French sites.
May/June 2023 - sites seemed more full during Whitsun weekend. To be on the safe side we rang a couple of sites first, in the Loire area east of Tours, and a good job we did, as they were fully booked. Ended up at Moulin Fort, Chenonceaux, as they said they had plenty of pitches, which indeed they did. Also went to the Venise Verte, no problem getting a pitch as that was after the Whitsun weekend. A site inland from St Gilles-Croix-de-Vie had loads of pitches beginning/mid June.
So I'd say, watch out for Whitsun weekend, as that's the first time we've had encountered full sites in over 20 years of going to France in May/June.
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April - no problems in the Ardeche finding a pitch, some sites very quiet indeed.
Last week in July and first in August - on the site where our caravan is stored, took the last two pitches to share between us and our sons and their families. The site was full for one of the weeks, but after that there were free pitches each morning.
Late August and into September, the Gard - no problems, site about half full. Early September Vias (a busy area) found a pitch without booking - about 30% of the site was empty. But the area was too busy and too noisy for us.
Gard - again, same as the week before.0 -
InaD, interesting that you note "Moulin Fort, Chenonceaux" in The Loire. This is the site we found to be between 70 and 95% full in Sept of 2023.
When we left we booked our pitch for last two weeks of June 2024. Only 4 riverside pitches were available.
Colin
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Colin, it was the 3rd site we rang. We arrived on the Friday of the Whitsun weekend and there were plenty of pitches. It did fill up during the afternoon and on the Saturday, I'd say it was about 80-90% full then. A lot of people left by the Tuesday.
Yes, riverside pitches are popular, the majority of those were taken when we arrived, and some of the remaining ones were on the small side, so we went for a bigger pitch further away from the river.
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