Are sites full in France?
Once upon a time we arranged to meet French friends on the campsite at Albertville. We had no booking but went to find them- but when we arrived the barrier was down, there were several vans ahead of us in a queue and the sign said Full.
So we walked inside to find friends and said it’s a shame we can’t stay. Our French lady said “Don’t be stupid”, stomped off to find warden and demanded to know why his sign said Full. He got as far as “Because we are full.. “. when she rounded on him. “Look I have had this trouble with you before. Shall I phone the mayor again? “ He opened the barrier and we alone were beckoned in.
How are things this year? We do miss it.
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It looks like sites may be getting busy for campers. Could this be a spin-off of sites putting more chalets etc on pitches as in the press recently.
I was not going to book our Carnac site for the last three nights in August. We have a credit note from 2022, having had to cancel a booking and loosing 20 Euros in the process. I was hoping not to have to book in advance as that would be a second booking fee I'd have paid.
When I checked on-line site availability I found they were fully booked. I e-mailed in with my credit note details and a next grade up pitch was found for the ACSI rate.
Colin
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Having just spent the last 8 weeks in France on campsites I can say they are busier than the last 2 years but we did not have a problem getting on any site.
We travelled right across France then back again along the Med, up to the Dordogne then West Coast, the islands, Brittany and Normandy.
The last site did have a sign out saying full for Saturday night but he still let on several outfits (mainly MHs) as long as they didn't want electrics. The site still had areas of open space and didn't feel crowded.
Since Covid we have noticed that more folk are booking in advance 😞 the problem with this is that some sites let you book by pitch number. This then has a knock on effect that some pitchs will sit empty for days unless those who turn up on spec are willing to just stay a few days or move pitch.
There are thousands of MHs now across France way more than pre Covid, while some are happy to use Aires it's surprising how many still use sites. On the majority of sites the MHs were at least equal to caravans on many they out numbered them.
On 2 of our go to sites, they are now all cabins and no longer take tourers.
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TG
Interesting what you say about sites allowing the booking of specific pitches. A site we used to go to in the South of France did the same thing. However they had a little board on each pitch to show when it was booked, and by whom, and if your holiday slotted neatly between bookings you were able to use the pitch. It seemed a good system but the problem was the longer you wanted to stay the more difficult it was to find a slot long enough for your own holiday.
David
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"…the problem with this is that some sites let you book by pitch number. This then has a knock on effect that some pitchs will sit empty for days unless those who turn up on spec are willing to just stay a few days or move pitch."
This is exactly the point some of us have made when it’s been suggested CAMC allow booking of specific pitches. It’s good to hear of your real life experience, TG.
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I think the main problem is that because you have a few different ways folk tour over there, folk like us that tend not to book in advance, turn up at a site not really knowing how long we want to stay. You start off thinking 2 or 3 days will be enough, then you discover it's a really nice area so you want to stay longer.
Sometimes that's not a problem if pitches haven't been book by their number. If they have, you might have to move pitches.
Happened to us last year in Spain, thought 5 nights would be fine, then we fancied another couple of days. No can do said reception, that pitch is booked you only asked for 5 days. Which is fair enough our fault. However we decided if we are going to have to pack up and move pitch we may as well move sites. So that site lost another couple of nights revenue, not their fault but they still missed out.
I'm not in favour of booking by pitch number for that very reason + I like to see who my neighbours are going to be. Make advance bookings by pitch type by all means but not by pitch numbers.
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Exactly the issue. CAMC have adopted the pitch type but pitch number could result in problems and unused pitches which, in turn, could force site fees up. That would make them popular😂
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I cannot really see a one size fits all solution to this, because as has been said we all caravan in different ways. When I taught we had to holiday in peak times and plan/book ahead. Our favourite Loire site has a row of riverside pitches that were in high demand and some booked up 5 years in advance. Upon arrival each year we checked what was available for the next year and booked our pitch number on the spot. The owner was prepared to do this on long bookings as he knew these pitches would not be sitting empty for odd days.
I do not think this is unreasonable or depriving others of a pitch. I think it is unrealistic to turn up high season or at a knowingly busy site and expect to be found a pitch on spec for a week. I would however hope I could be accomodated for a few days.
Colin
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We are currently on a tour of France and Germany and agree that just turning up and finding a pitch is becoming more difficult. For the first tour ever we are now checking ahead to see if there are any free pitches. This is not just our perception; we were talking to some folk from the Netherlands you said exactly the same.
PS If any one is planning a trip to Germany (Bavaria) it is very hot here at the moment!
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Phoning ahead is exactly what we have been doing, where we think it might be busy. Our last site we did actually book in advance as know from past experience how busy it gets there.
If we are in the MH, it's not as important as we can always find an aire or somewhere safe to overnight.
We do have a CCP card and some of their Aires, the Mon Village sites within the CCP group have full facilities, some of the sites were open to caravans when we were away, sadly not in the area we were.
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We've found it very variable; we came to France the week before Whitsun, no problem getting on any site (including the one you mentioned for 2 nights TG) but did phone a site on the Loire to check if there was availability over that weekend and beyond. Purely because it was a site with not many touring pitches and with excellent reviews. The reply was that they were full, so we rang another site, who said they had plenty of pitches available. We went there, had a choice of lots of pitches, and the site was never anywhere near full all over that BH weekend, despite also being popular as an overnighter.
Other sites we've stayed at in the Green Venice and Vendee have not been anywhere near full either; one we stayed on for 8 nights, had a lovely pool, huge pitches, excellent toiletblock, and cost the princely sum of 17 Euros a night, yet was never anywhere near full, even on weekends.
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No problems getting on unbooked sites in France & Spain but a few aires were over-subscribed.
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We've noticed a big difference in how busy campsites are in France and Spain. Compared with pre COVID there are a lot more motorhomes in particular, especially French German and Dutch, combined in France with a reduction in the number of touring pitches available as a result of an increase in chalets etc. We tend to visit in April and May, so on the whole sites are quiet. But around the three May bank holidays in France the opportunity to faire le pont/make a long weekend of it, meant campsites were very busy, mostly with MHs with local number plates. I read somewhere that in Germany the number of motorhomes increased by 40% from 2020 to 2021, and it certainly felt like we saw most of them in Spain last time we were there. So, while there are still quiet sites and quiet times of year, more people are enjoying this way of travelling and it's worth bearing that in mind, depending on where you're going and when.
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We've just returned from 3 weeks at the municipal at Malestroit - lovely small town and excellent site. The site got busier at the weekends with groups of families in motorhomes but never seemed crowded. It was interesting to see motorhomes using a site rather than aires (but in my view very sensible). The large majority of people on the site were French with the odd UK and Netherlands registrations.
£15 per night was very reasonable especially compared to the £30 a night we paid in May for a vastly inferior crowded and cramped site near Robin Hood's Bay........
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