Sites & Paysages Loyalty Scheme
Comments
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Thanks AD.
Seems to me that French campsites are getting quite desperate for business as the number of motorhomers increase - and stay off site on Aires. . So the campsites are offering more and more discounts with this new scheme, along with Best Deal, Camping Key, Camping Cheques, ACSI and all the rest. And now the Gamping scheme has come along - have you come across that one - it's modelled on homestays via AirBnB.
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I have always seen lots of motorhomes on campsites in France so would that really be the problem? If it were then perhaps French campsites need to turn their attention to creating facilities that motorhomes want to use, even at a cost. Just as a thought you rarely find hardstandings although there are some sites that have then like the sites at Chalons and Beaune plus a few others I have come across.
However I wonder if the real issue is that French campsites are getting fewer and fewer seasonal campers who are not being replaced by tourers? They also seem to be spending lots of money on permanent accommodation like tents and statics but often ignoring the touring side so perhaps they are forced to reduce prices?
David
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About 12 years ago I was talking with a site owner down in the Lot valley. She was objecting strongly to having to collect the " tax de sejour" which was then handed over to the local authority so that it could build the aires for motor-homes thus putting the future of the campsite at risk. Another factor now is the weather in France over the last few years has not been good in the early part of the season, which may be deterring people.
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for several decades there have been 'campingcaristes' in France. unlike some countries like Holland (where the caravan is king) French motorhoming as been very popular for ages, and the Aires network hasn't suddenly sprung up, but has gradually been built up over the years to complement that French style of touring.
in addition, the French attitude to visitors is the complete opposite to that in this country...one welcoming them with places to park, a range of supporting facilities and a firm belief that trade will be enhanced by this arrangement.... the other doesn't.
a lot also depends on how those visitors choose to tour or stay...
we tend to use Aires on the 'journey' (which may take a couple of weeks or more) yet 'camp' on a 'proper' site when we get there, wherever 'there' might be...
stays on an Aire 'en route' might be a morning, and afternoon, an overnighter or perhaps a tad longer....with so many places to see as part of any long trip, we don't need a campsite, just a place to park overnight...
as DK ma tions above, some sites are making changes to embrace the 'stopover' style, adding (or converting) an 'Aire' type option to the site, often these two differing styles exist together on the same site.
the site at Neufchâtel en Bray is a good example...
we have also visited other 'Aires on a campsite' (not G string
) where the two 'parking areas' are different but all the facilities, incl restaurant, bar and showers) were available to all, with the size/surface of the 'pitch' being the main differential, along with price....im guessing that with the upsurge in MH purchasing, more will possibly be adopting a 'shorter stay' approach.....if this were the case then perhaps fewer campsite pitches would be required, and a few more 'overnighters' provided in their place?
BTW, I agree with the 'weather' comment...
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Here's where the motorhomes are. Will the nearby campsites be thriving?
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yes, some popular 'touriste' Aires are a bit crammed in, but that's the nature of the thing...in one day, visit the town/city, have some lunch or dinner, do a bit of sightseeing and shopping, out the next day...
who needs a campsite for these types of stopovers...
on the other hand, there are thousands of village/country Aires that are nothing like the above photo, are totally peaceful and worth a million bucks...compared to some campsites.
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You would have to pay me to stay somewhere like that but we have a motorhoming friend who has found some real gems.
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we've been on quite a few city Aires...yes the spacing would be a foreign concept to CC site users, but these aren't sites.....they're not for sitting out and lighting your BBQ, they are there to provide dedicated parking for MHs which, normally, could be difficult to find.
i wouldn't expect anyone to be 'holidaying' on an Aire as folk do on a uk CC site, it's for providing access to what the town/city has to offer and then for visitors to move on to the next place and for another visitor to take their place....
of course some of these places 'look awful' to those who never use them (they're MH parking areas and don't profess to be anything else) but this doent make them any worse at providing the wonderful service that they are there to deliver to those that use them...
we cuss and moan that we don't have good easy MH parking in the UK, but the above photo is no different to the new facility at Canterbury which is regularly hailed as a revalation for MH travellers to this part of the country....or any part of this country...
i love long term campsites (in the sunshine) with pools, bars, restaurants, beach access, great cycling etc, etc....but MHers like us often also look to visit many places on a tour, we don't go out and back constantly like caravanners do and convenient parking at a string of towns they wish to visit makes this type of touring style easy to to achieve...they're a great supplement to other sites, giving a wider choice for different customer requirements....
yes, some are a lot 'nicer' than others, but it's about location and convenience rather than ambiance..
'ambiance' is available to those that want it...we do for a long stay but not for one night...
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As BB says it's often horses for courses. We have not used any Aires in France but have used a couple of Stellplatz in Germany and Austria. The reason being was that they were close to places we wanted to visit with good public transport links. I wouldn't have wanted to stay more than a few nights but they serve their purpose. For longer stays we use campsites. In France there are lots of sites near to towns and villages so for us that would be our first choice. One advantage of Aires is that they are often on hard surfaces which is a choice that is not offered by many campsites.
David
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We used to think the same when we had a caravan, however since getting the MH we thought we would give them a try and we have since changed our minds.
Great for getting into towns to visit and be able to have a lunch or dinner with a glass or 2 if you wish.
Easy to park the MH for the day even if you do not want to stay overnight (we did this in Sarlat last year then went to a camp site for the night) without worrying about finding a suitable parking space.
You can arrive anytime day or night (invaluable arriving in Calais at 10:45 PM).
Generally well signposted and easy to find and most have services.
Not all are like car parks, we found many by lakes, beaches etc. where you can get the awning out, set up camp and be like on a proper camp site at a fraction of the cost.
Some are like car parks but serve a purpose of being able to be in town or tourist area, stay the night then off, they are for touring not a 3 week stay (though we did stay on one or 2 for 4 nights Serignan Plage being one of them).
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Motorhomeowners don't need to justify where they choose to stay. I really don't mind.
My earlier reply was just to try to explain why so many campsites in France are having to offer one discount after another these days to get customers in.
Here's Honfleur from the air by the way !
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Im assuming more caravans are being sold (here and all over Europe) in this recent sustained upturn?
won't they all be using campsites in France and elsewhere?
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Whilst I might agree with you on one level, on another I would say; is it not just like somewhere to park when you are in a car, when you want to visit somewhere? If there is something you want to see/look at, and there is an aire there to park on, why not? I wouldn't want to stay on a car park for a night, for the sake of it, let alone more, but if it serves a purpose, then why not?
We've stayed on a number of aires which have been lovely, lots of space and not like a car park. All I can say is if anyone is wondering about aires, have a look at one or two, some you will like, some you won't. Same with campsites really, and there may be an aire where you want to be, and not a campsite, or vice versa.
It's all about choice, and in France, and Germany, there is a lot of choice for motorhomers, and long may it continue!
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If its just somewhere to park while visiting the town/city fair enough but its not, many folk stay overnight in these ugly cramped car parks. These are the ones I would not like to spend even 1 night on.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds paid for a motorhome to parked on waste ground or in a cramped car park beggars belief. The sad thing is these are the very people that look down their noses at the type of MH we have saying that the only good ones are German made yet they are prepared to live like travelers.
If we are talking about some of the very nice river side Aires that you see all over France then that is a different matter altogether. The photos that MichealT posted are the type of place we like to stay, the photo that ET posted no way not overnight, especially as I know there is a very good site not far away.
Each to their own.
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there are two Aires in Blaye, on the Gironde estuary...as we were coming from the north, we called into the northern one first....
it just happened to be set in the grounds of M. Vauban's private chateau...about a mile from the town centre and river....two nights free, with free electric and water...
had we gone straight to the second one, which is located right on the rivers edge and closer to the town, we would have missed this little gem.
however, the riverside Aire was fine, €3 a night....but much more of a car park style parking area....
i guess it takes time, research and a bit of luck to find the best ones..
as an alternative, there is a Municipal campsite in Blaye, set right in the centre of the 'citadel', one of Vauban's fortifications, also a lovely location....but there seemed little point in not staying at the Chateau, it was so pleasant and quiet....
again, the Honfleur Aire pictured earlier is always busy, it's a very popular spot.....when we visited there a few years ago in our first euro tour, we didn't know what aires were and stayed at a site several miles from town and cycled in.....
that was fine, but now, if popping in for two nights, we would be on the Aire so as to be able to stroll into town and back after a meal.....
having said that, the Aire right in the railway line couldn't be handier for St Jean de Luz but it was too cramped and full so we used a local site, especially as we wanted several days there...
as above, just making the most of the different offerings to manage different timescales/itineries...
as in the UK, some folk don't do CLs, seeing them as 'fields with taps' yet we love these too.....
theres no one way to make use of your MH or caravan....we love every type of stopover from weeks on a full fat pool/beachside all singing site to an overnighter in an Intermarché car park, just depends on where we are and when.....
just enjoy whatever 'style' you choose.....
the second photo is another 'stately' aire we visited....we were the only one there, lovely...
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AD, I'm guessing that for those staying on an Aire or waste land at Argeles, perhaps this isn't their 'destination'?....just passing through? who knows.
as you say, Argeles is a lovely area with loads of sites and we had a happy two weeks on one of the Castells sites at Les Criques...
however, having 'done' Argeles a couple of times, if I was passing through and wanted a day or two to cycle around a bit, I'd probably look for an Aire first.....yes, a week and off to a site to enjoy the pool etc, but only as part of a long enough stop to make it worthwhile....
i guess no one know 'why' anyone is parked on an Aire or similar without asking them.....making a cuppa and then moving on....?
i guess, for us, if we know before arriving we'll need three days or more to check an area out, it'll be a site....for one or two days, we'll check the Aire out first, if it doesn't suit then off to the site....
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Yes, back to loyalty and discount schemes. Here's a privately owned site we like within walking distance of the beach at La Palmyre. Empty.
The owners tried paying big money to ACSI and offering discounts to get people to come after the French school summer holidays ended. But it didn't work - still hardly anyone came, because French pensioners only have motorhomes and French motorhomers don't like to pay for campsites. So now the site owners have dropped the ACSI idea, saved what they were paying out, and just shut the campsite for tourers on 2nd September.
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We have yet to stay at an Aire but have driven in and out of a few. We choose overnight stops nearly as carefully as longer term stays based on the quality of the sanitation (particularly the showers), ambience of the site and proximity to a town. We have stayed at lovely sites that have aires next to them but the aire is often unshaded, poor facilities and cramped. We are not interested in saving a few Euros, just enjoying the best possible experience. Still, we keep looking.
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AD when we were at Serignan Plage Camper Car Park Aire last year (see other thread) one evening a (German I think) caravan arrived, pitched up and left next day, no one bothered as there was plenthy of space so I would say some Aires are OK to use, like everything use your judgement and if you arrive late and its low season and you are paying who is going to worry as you are not denying anyone else a space...
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ET hits on a good point, the upturn in MH sales must drive an upturn, to a degree, in 'linear' touring...
i know that when some are off on a long trip, the journey is just something that has to be 'done' to get to the 'destination' (or perhaps two destinations) whereas we have time, during a 2000km trip to Spain, to visit umpteen places we haven't seen before....
in decent weather, its not unusual for a trip like this to take upto ten days, sometimes moving only 50 km or so along a coast...
this type of hopping along will naturally promote short stays and there just seems little point in choosing a site over an Aire if they are both equally well located for the next stop....
if there's no Aire present, then the site might get the vote if the place is attractive enough.
OTOH, we were driving through Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais on the way back from Ré and the weather was lovely and I fancied a break, so I kept an eye out for parking and 400m up the road was a sign for the Aire....OK, just a separate area of a car park but brand new, all new services, no one there so in we went, did some supplies shopping, a couple of hours footpath strolling, dinner in town and back to the van and stayed overnight.....all free....we put something into the town's economy and the town provided us with free, safe, clean dedicated overnight parking.
so, if more MHers on the Continent are out and about and they move towards adopting a similar 'linear' touring approach, the short stays would make for very expensive 'parking' if that was all one was getting out of the stay...
OTOH, longer stay means sufficient time to make more of the facilities....we once went to a site in 'le Sud' with the intention of 'giving it a week'.....we loved it and spent nine weeks there and didn't really want to leave when we finally had to....
so, mix and match, short and long stays, each has its place on the tours we do....obviously not for everyone but I can see why there is the strengthening demand for one type and perhaps a lessening requirement for the other.
i guess this is in contrast to our home market where Aires aren't an option and even those who would use them will, in the main, turn to campsites.
...and due to this, on the one hand 'over here' we have vanners grumbling that sites are fully booked and they can't get on popular sites, on the other ('over there') demand changing and vanners fearing their main staple of continental municipal sites might shut through lack of use...
its a shame that some tourist towns here don't take the same Aires provision approach, so as to ease the pressure on sites, though I guess it's easier to put up a height barrier and a sign saying 'no overnighting'...rather than creating a few MH spaces and charge a realistic fee.
funny old world
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I am new to CT and have been fascinated by this discussion. We are relatively new to foreign touring, have never used an aire and I was probably in the "over my dead body" camp before I read this thread. Thanks very much for putting the alternative view and particularly to BB for painting a very different view. I may well "dip my toe in" on my next trip. Gerry
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Gerry, how nice of you to reply and suggest my ramblings might be of some use...
IMHO, "Keithandmargaret" are the Aires champions of CT....Keith has a website with loads of YouTube videos of vehicular approaches to many, many Aires which may well reassure some new users as to the route and a brief view of the site on arrival...
dont get me wrong, some Aires are dumps....no escaping that fact...some Aires are also truly lovely, some are busy, some are empty..
the majority are hardstanding parking areas, but some are much, much more...
no one can necessarily 'recommend' one as all of us have differing requirements....some folk will feel vulnerable if on their own, out in the country, while others will feel this is heaven...
city aires will, by their nature be more 'car park' like, and probably busier, especially in season....some, nr coastal regions might be full all year round....
golden rule....check it out, if it doesn't fell right (for whatever reason) then move on, there'll be another in the next village...
camperstop website will give you a good insight into Aires all over Europe, with an app to support this.
'All the Aires' published by Vicarious Books is another popular publication....
...for me, the definitive reference of truly 'all' the Aires is www.campingcar-infos.com which is only in French....but easily picked up, and there is (apparently) an Android app (English?) but no Apple version yet.
good luck and thanks for the response..
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