Finding great places to stay in your motorhome

February 27, 2019

France probably boasts the best facilities in the world for motorhomes. As well as over 11,000 campsites, there are thousands of municipal places for motorhome travellers to spend the night and wild camping is possible in most rural areas too. The sharing economy is adapting for motorhome travel too here and it is also now possible to stay on private land from chateau vineyards to town centre driveways.

With this many options there are few restraints on where you can travel to and you never have to stick to a rigid itinerary or book campsites ahead. We have rounded up some of the best websites for finding places to stay in France and given you a brief description of what is on offer at the various categories of overnight halt.

Campsites

These truly come in all shapes and sizes and facilities ranging from a grass parking spot with an open-air loo block to resort-style campsites (with a pool complex, heated sanitation blocks, restaurants, perimeter security fencing, entertainment etc). Campsite prices typically range from about €12 and €25 per night including an electrical hook up but resort-style campsites in touristy areas could be as much as €90 per night in high season. Here are some of our favourite websites for finding campsites in France:

www.pitchup.com

www.eurocampings.co.uk/france/

www.campingfrance.com/uk/

Aire de Service/Aire de Camping Car

These motorhome servicing points are provided by the towns and villages all over France and offer facilities to empty waste tanks, fill up with water and often stay overnight. Other than servicing points, they don’t typically have other facilities but some do offer electricity hook ups. They range in price from completely free of charge to about €12 per night (the price is usually dictated by the popularity of the location and inclusive facilities on offer). Some just charge a euro or two to use the facilities and some require you to have a token which usually entails a trip to a local bar or bakery to buy the token (how French is that!). The site below lists a great many of the Aires but even more are available from tourist information offices so if you are hunting for one in a town, just call in and ask the “Office de Tourisme”.

en.airecampingcar.com/aire_camping_car_recherche

France Passion and Home Camper

We have been big fans of France Passion for years, it’s a great scheme where you buy annual membership for under €30 which entitles you to stay at thousands of great places on private land from vineyards to restaurants. It is well explained in our recent blog here:

www.eurocampingcars.com/blog/france-passion-a-must-have-for-your-french-campervan-adventure/

Home Camper is a great, new concept, you stay on private land and book your spot online before you arrive. You can choose your location based on all sorts of different filters such as area type (e.g. seaside, countryside, lake or mountain), amenities (e.g. pool, shower, electricity) and geographic location. Once you narrow down the options, you can then look at detailed information about the overnight halt and read about your hosts. Prices vary greatly depending on location and facilities but even the highest prices look very reasonable to us, especially if you are parked up overlooking a chateau and can take a dip in a private pool! Here is the site

www.homecamper.com/en

Wild Camping

Your final option is to simply wild camp and park where you like. This is easily done in France as you rarely get moved on, even when parked in a village square for the night. When selecting a spot to spend the night just take care not to inconvenience others (e.g. don’t block a gateway, pull up outside a busy shop or park in the market square on market day!), look out for overhead height restrictions/signs prohibiting motorhomes and avoid very touristy spots or places that feel like they are on the wrong side of the tracks. This user sharing website shows places where others have stayed and comes in handy for finding secret spots in the middle of nowhere to simply stop for a night.

www.Park4night.com

Needless to say, we know more about the options in France than the rest of Europe but some of the websites above include other EU countries and there are similar options popping up across the continent so you can expect a good choice of places to stay in any of our neighbouring countries.

With this much choice and an increasing number of options, you are simply never far from somewhere to stay and the days of having to book campsites ahead are long gone! Explore at will, enjoy the full freedom of motorhome travel in France and don’t forget to tell us if you find another useful website to add to our list.