Is (casual) European touring ruined forever?
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Agreed, I suspect 'casual touring' in Europe will mean something different to a caravanner than to a MHer mainly due to the options available to them or not.
if one always uses sites, and some will only use CAMC 'recommended' sites, then, if things get a bit busier, that narrowed choice might be best served by making advance bookings....which might actually exacerbate the problem across the board.
if your range of options is a little more flexible then it's likely that one won't notice much change and there's always 'another stopover in the next village'.
another difference is whether a tourer is looking for that 'destination site/location' (rather than a day or so to visit something specific) and therefore getting a place is more important. Whilst we would be using Aires on our way south, our usual late summer port of call near St Tropez would be booked as we would spend some time there, often with friends.
a lot depends on viewpoint, flexibility, options available and the type of site being sought.
at the end of the day, things are much more flexible and way cheaper (out of their short season) in France and Spain than the equivalent touring experience here.
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I think much of this discussion has been about France. What about other countries? We have toured France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, with a caravan, in school holidays, for years. Never booked a site. Didn’t use the CAMC associated site. Used to use the big site books the club used to produce, and still do, of member reviewed sites, plus sometimes tourist office booklets. We used to generally seek smaller sites, not on the coast, and arrive about 3 pm. I remember being turned away from one site in the Netherlands, and we decided not to stop at another. Otherwise no problem. Never knew how long we would stay. Haven’t been abroad for a few years and it would be different now with a PVC and not peak summer holiday time. But are people saying that how we used to explore is no longer possible?
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But are people saying that how we used to explore is no longer possible?
That is what ths discussion is about Hja. While there have been many changes over the years, not least the increase in motorhome ownership, I still believe it is possible to tour the Continent without booking. France dominates the discussions simply because it is the closest to the UK and the easiest to get to and as a cosequence is the destination of the majority and most have to pass through it on route elsewhere..
peedee
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We have experienced big differences in campsite occupancy on our way down to southern Spain this last week. The campsite at our first stop on the French/Swiss border was fuller than what we were accustomed to these past few years, but we still had no problems in getting a pitch. When we reached the Med things got really difficult and we had to do a lot of phoning around to find a spot where we could stay. Once we arrived in Spain the situation eased somewhat, but we still weren't able to stay at the site where we normally stop over on our first night there. The further south we got the easier things became and where we are staying at the moment the site is less than half full.
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Very interesting, my last contribution centred around my parents presently living in Germany and their March 'road trip' to Nordkapp, Norway.
Only recently they have commented on the high volumes of mobilehomes and caravans experienced not only on Germany autobahns heading North as well as South but also across much of central Holland and Belgium.
They appear not to be alone in this observation, a number of their fellow travellers have also commented 'over a beer and BBQ of course' on an upward trend year on year in traffic and defiantly since the mad, bad old times of Covid when all travel was stopped in its tracks.
Most interestingly, in Germany, this time of year a drop off in caravan traffic is noticeable as the children return to school and major factories return after their summer 3 or 4 week break, but this year some suggest numbers of caravans are still on the road and appear to be 'well up' on last year numbers.
Regards to motorhomes in Germany, there isn't really an influx in early spring/summer time or a seasonal drop off going into autumn of winter - My parents suggest something to do with no children, their age group and longer summers in the south.
Again from a German perspective, there is never a real lull in motorhome traffic - a quick change from summer to winter wheel/tyre combinations, top up the old anti-freeze, allows motorhoming to just carry on.
A further explanation surrounding full campsites 'might' be in part due to several new 'apps' appearing or new to my parents - providing individuals more of a choice and proving additional, new sites they simply weren't aware of before.
https://park4night.com/en?langage=de
Once there, share your thoughts with the community!
- Leave a comment, modify the place and their whereabouts goes global.https:// campercontact.de
This app was developed in the Netherlands!!
camping.info
Perhaps not quite as many results as another Pincamp.de, but still 2 new apps that provide great ways to find 'free places' at short notice and identify possibly new unknown sites.
Hopefully this may have contributed to this conversation.
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We have noticed the snowbird are arriving already. Kiko Park, one of the popular over wintering, sites is full already, probably with a mix of early winter arrivals and tourers. We are on the Aire for the night, currently two places left of the 15. Last nights stop over campsite was only about 20 percent fulll. Decent enough site but not a lot to occupy ones time nearby.
peedee
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and we are waiting to see what happens this weekend and for the remainder of the tour.
Well the site did not fill up like the previous weekend and the availability of pitches remained high all the time we were there and when we moved on we have had no problems getting pitches at any of the following three sites we stayed at.
peedee
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No problems where we've been, but to be fair we haven't visited any 'hotspots' such as Annecy, and the Cote d'Azur and we don't look at CAMC sites ever. We were in the Ardeche (nearly empty sites), the Gard (at the most a quarter full) and on the Mediterranean at a beachside site in the Herault (half full the first few days of our stay, nearly empty after the weekend).
So, for us, no problem whatsoever, no pre-phone calls, just turn up, wander round to find a pitch, (no inferior ones behind the bins) and set up. As we've done for the last twenty or more years.
So if you want to carry on choose your destinations/areas/sites carefully and you'll have no problems.
We even found the same thing, one year, in later July/early August when our storage site was threatened with flooding and we had to find sites quickly. The rural Cele valley, and the Aveyron came up with two perfect sites, for an extra week at each.1 -
We have just got back from 3 weeks in the Cote d'Azur not having booked any sites. Whilst the sites were busy we experienced no problems with finding pitches. There were plenty available on 2 sites we looked at near Frejus and at various en route sites no problems. We gave up touring in peak season many years ago. I June we went to Alsace and Lake Constance area with a similar experience. Our trick is to arrive at a site early in the afternoon and not on a Friday near large cities/towns as we have noticed an increasing tendency for folk to escape to the country.
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Are things different to say 10/20 years ago? We haven't been abroad since 2016 so can't really comment on the current situation. Thinking back over the years there were sites that you either had to plan an early arrival at in order to get a place. This could be in France, Germany, Austria and Italy. When we first retired, from 2008 until 2016 we used to go for 8 weeks in May/June and 4/6 weeks in September/October. The earlier part of the years was always busier. Later on not so much but we did arrive at one site in the S of F in early September which was full, fortunately there were alternatives nearby. We have also arrived at sites that by early evening have been full, although some of them empty out the next day.
David
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fortunately there were alternatives nearby.
I think that’s the big difference between here and at home, there are so many alternatives, particularly in a MH. We wanted to visit the Roman sites in Vaison. I knew this area was popular so checked the site in the town online. It had one available space, which was gone before I could book it. So we have opted for the Aire, €9.60 a night with water / waste, no electric, so I cleaned the dust layer off the solar panels😂 That is now more or less full, although perhaps another one / two could fit. If we were towing a caravan the site a few Kms out of town has plenty of space and there is ample parking in town.0 -
Currently over here in France, first site was about 30% full, same for the second site. Just now we are on a CCP Mon Village site, there were 6 vans on last night, 3 left this morning. OK today its pouring with rain and tomorrow looks to be the same.
What will Spain and Portugal be like who knows, we will find out next week.
Good to hear from others who are already there. In previous years we've found once we get to mid October it calms down for a month to 6 weeks then gets busier again as it gets closer to Christmas.
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Still plenty of empty pitches down here TG and the weather is fne and sunny, a little too hot yesterday but the forecast is for cooler by the weekend. We are heading home on Sunday via the Somport tunnel on Tuesday and up to Bordeaux Chartes and Rouen. Will our paths cross?
peedee
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