First time to France - advice on stop-off (not overnight) approx 2 hrs from Caen please
Hi, we will be touring France with our twin wheeler caravan in June. We will be returning to the uk on the 2330 ferry from Caen to Portsmouth. As latest departures at sites tend to be around lunchtime, does anyone know of an area approx 2 hrs away from Caen where we can park up to kill time for a few hours before heading to the ferry terminal. We don’t really want to be hanging around in close proximity to the port area for hours on end prior to boarding. Am I right in thinking caravans are not allowed in Aires? Any advice would be appreciated. Tia.
Answers
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When we had a caravan and were doing something similar, we asked if we could leave later offering to pay. The payment was refused but we were allowed to stop on. Sites are generally not that busy in June therefore worth asking. Or you could just book an extra night and leave early. Probably easier than trying to find somewhere to park up a large rig.
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Good advice from Steve, but even so I find the timings of the overnight ferries to and from Caen not a bit customer friendly. The 0615 arrival back into Portsmouth means they are playing wake up music at 0515 and then by 0545 saying Please vacate your cabins. I am too old for that.
If it were me I would switch to a final overnight near Cherbourg, and then a midday sailing from there to Portsmouth to arrive about 1630 - but I am afraid those sailings are Thursdays and Fridays only.0 -
Caravans can use the Aires and they have large parking areas suitable for large caravan combos. Just pull in to one you like the look of and relax.
Colin
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Just to prevent any confusion: there are 2 different kinds of Aires in France.
Aire de Service is like our Service areas, except they're usually a lot bigger than in the UK. Anyone can use those.
Aire de Campingcars is just for motorhomes and you're right @Lindyloo that's where caravans aren't allowed to stay.
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That’s really helpful, Falaise could work perfectly for us!0
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Hi lindyloo,
Without any idea of your route to Ouistreham the only suggestion is a place we have used to kill a few hours just over a mile from the port.
Its a Carrefour supermarket & Mc Donalds on the D514 just off the D84.
It has the advantage, at least when we used it, of being able to drive through if there are no pacs but after trading that shouldn't be a problem.
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Hi allanandjean, thanks for your suggestion. We haven’t actually worked out all our stays yet, but will probably be coming from the Tours/Le Mans area. The reason we are thinking of somewhere a couple of hours away from Ouistreham, is that we can then drive straight to the port to board the ferry in the evening, rather than spending time close to the port and risk picking up any surprise ‘extra passengers’. Like I said, it’s all new to us. Excited about it though.
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Lindyloo, your mention of “driving straight to the port to board the ferry in the evening” will I fear come face to face with reality.. That ferry will arrive at Ouistreham from Portsmouth at 2200. They will unload, do some cleaning and feed the crew. By 2300 they might possibly start re loading cars, but the reality is that you will probably not get on board with a caravan until ten minutes before the 2330 departure. You will inevitably be waiting quite a time at the port after you have checked in. There is no leisurely early boarding.
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Yes, I understand that, my husband worked on ro-ro terminals for over thirty years before he retired, so understand quick turn rounds etc. What I meant was, if we parked up for a few hours further away from the terminal, we hopefully would be less likely to acquire extra passengers before boarding. TBH don’t even know if that is an issue at Ouistreham.
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we stopped off at an aire on the way back from tours and heading towards Caen, we were a group of two caravans, and it was perfect, spot to park, toilet and bins etc.
picnic benches to sit and have some lunch before carrying on.
my phone has mapped the photo to here
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we stopped at several across our journeys, some even had play parks for the kids! All
Spacious and green!
Would use these over the service station ones (which we also really very good for caravans) just sometimes busy, and expensive.0
