Aire de Camping Car.
Hi Guys,
We aim to tour France for 5 weeks in June or September in our motorhome. We have never used Aires de Camping Cars before but did come across a few last year. They varied from nothing more than a car park with water to quite pleasant sites in good locations. What are peoples experiences of using Aires? Is there a guide or book you can recommend. our friends said we should get the books "Aire de Camping Cars" but they cost £25 which we would pay if they're worth buying.
So guys what do you think about Aire de Camping Cars? Are they safe, what are the facilities on them like. We have never used them so any advise would be good.
P.S. I don't mean the motorway Aires we wouldn't overnight in one of those.
Comments
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FB
You could have a look at Keith's YouTube site here https://www.youtube.com/user/KeithChesterfield where you can get a good impression of what motorhome Aires are like. Also shows access.
David
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As you say yourself, they vary from nothing more than a car park to quite pleasant sites in good locations. They all have water and water disposal facilities, and waste disposal. Apart from that some may have toilet and possibly showers. There is a wide variety of them.
Our thumb of rule is that if for any reason we don't feel safe, we don't stay and move elsewhere. Saying that, we don't use a lot of them, but have used some pleasant ones both in France and Germany. On one occasion we looked round a campsite in the NE of France which was rather tired looking to say the least. We left and less than a mile down the road was a most delightful Aire where we stayed the night instead; it was free into the bargain (not all Aires are free and they increasingly use barriers which can be unlocked by creditcard).
We got a guide from Vicarious Books a few years ago, but weren't too impressed with it. You can get good info online at http://en.airecampingcar.com/
They are very much like campsites, they can be really nice or really not nice. Or just ok for an overnight stop if you need somewhere. All you can do is try one or two, and see whether you like them.
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Campercontact.com is a useful website. It gives photographs, gradings, prices, opinions and comments for just about every Motorhome Aire there is - about 6000 of them in France, and as Ina has said, tremendously varied.
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I've been Motorhoming for about fifteen years and for most of that time I have used this French web site: http://www.campingcar-infos.com/ which is easy to use even if your French is not up to much, tried all the books and guides but always return to this site which has a downloaded able POI for all aires with co-ordinates and with comments from users, it is also free which always helps.
It also as the location of aires from other European countries which I've found very useful.
Phil
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Agree with Ina, but actually use the same website as Phil....my view is that this is the definitive source for Aires.....all over Europe. The POI files are great and you can filter out any type not interested in...for us MHers this is likely to be the mway ones....we don't need the noise and activity...
there are certainly some Aires that don't have services and provide just parking....some day only, some overnight too.
some are on farms, some are parking for MH only, some have services that are free, some have a 'bourne' that takes cash or tokens for ehu or water.
Some are totally free, some require payment (between (say) €3 and €12).....payment methods also vary....barrier (as Ina stated) or with a person making a collection...
weve stayed in everything from a dusty car park (but exactly where we wanted to stop) to stately homes (including M. Vauban's chateau at Blaye, free for two nights incl ehu) and don't forget the trusty (and trusted) Intermarche/LeClerc carparks....
golden rule, if it doesn't feel right, move on....
once you've done one or two, and get a 'nose' for them, you'll use more and more.....after all, unless you're stopping over for a good while, who needs a campsite?
dont get me wrong, when we get to 'there'.....we like to stay for a while and make use of pools etc, but for the journey, which is a series of short stops to call in to a town/village and visit we tend to use Aires.
i remember on one of the first ones we used in a town, I called into the Marie next door to check restrictions (novice....) and spoke to a clerk.
He said to wait, a minute later the Mayor came down from his office, welcomed us to his town and suggested we stay 'as long as we liked', free.
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