To Book or Not to Book
I am pondering about my holiday options for August 2017 in South of France. I want to just book a ferry and go and find sites to stay on when I arrive and not be tied to staying at any one site. This will be my fist year travelling in a motorhome and unsure if this is the best option as I know its prime holiday season.
Any advice?
Comments
-
Dont book any sites just go for it.
0 -
Are you saying that from experience.
0 -
Go for it! France has many campsites and also aires for motorhomes. If one site or aire is full, then there will be another not far away, or another aire. Unless you want to be on one of the "honeypot" sites right on the beach, which will be full in peak
time, you'll be able to find a site. A bit inland from the coast should give you more options.0 -
Monkfish. Ina is right. It depends exactly where you are going. There is south of France and there is south of France. It all depends.
0 -
I do want to go to the coastal areas, but I just want to travel around rather than be stuck in one place.
0 -
School holidays restrict me sadly.
0 -
despite bing there in August, you have a couple of advantages...
you are happy to move about a bit and you have a MH so can take advantage of the aires network as Ina suggests.
now, dont get me wrong, some of the popular seaside aires will be busy, but because many have time restrictions of, say, 48 hrs, you might easily get a spot if arriving earlyish around midday....
you can do a couple of days, then move on a bit up the coast, or inland a bit, as you feel....
no booking, but the nearer the coast, the busier the aires will be....move along the coast away from, say, St Tropez and things will thin a little...
good luck to you.
0 -
If its towards the back end of August it usually isn't a problem, if its the begining of August then the most popular sites will be busy but you can always get something in France, you don't always have to stay on the coast to enjoy the coast.
0 -
The answer is that if you don't want to book, fully understand why, you need to have a plan B and perhaps a plan C!!! Although I lot of the coastal sites might be fully booked its possible they might be able to fit you in for a couple of days but perhaps wouldn't be able to fit you in for a week.Municipal campsites tend to have a greater turnover of customers so they are always a good bet but there are not many right near the beach.
David
0 -
We do travel in August and certainly have been turned away several times - the coastal situation is very difficult and vainly trying to find unbooked space in the Perpignan / Le Boulou area is permanently etched in my memory, though in other parts of southern
France I would have no hesitation. For example in the Avignon /Arles / Apt area there are lots of smaller sites and a phone call a day or two in advance is wise and always bears fruit.0 -
We've never booked in five years of holidays travelling around France in June, July and August and on only two occasions have we had to go to plan B.
If you have 'All the Aires' by Vicarious Books (new edition out early next year I believe) and use
www.campercontact.com on Smartphone or Tablet you'll find a stopping place every night without any problems.Just be aware that Motorhomes are actually liked on the Continent and designated stopping places are in almost every town and village at a minimal cost.
Hope you manage to get down to the South of France – it took us ten days to get to Brittany from Calais this year – there's so many places of interest that it's difficult to know which to miss.
0 -
Even when my children were at school and I was restricted to school hols, I never booked and never had a problem. Just book the ferry and buy some maps and a good site guide.
One of the great joys of motorcaravanning is the ability to come and go as you please. Don't restrict yourself by too many plans.
0 -
Thanks for all the advice. Has helped a lot, I'm new to motorhomes but not new to travelling in Europe.
I just can't wait to get out in it again.
0
