Over-nighting on French Aires?

[Guest Chris]

There are various mentions elsewhere in this forum of overnighting in aires. We had read in the motorhome/CV press that this was not advisable because of fellons etc. Any advice?

[Guest Mike C]

Some people will not advise you to cross the road but many of us do every day with no ill effects. This mainly comes from the caravan club committee who have a vested interest in that (a) They want to make money from everyone (b) they have caravans which are not suited to stopping for just a night without facilities.I would advise anyone not to stop overnight at a motorway Aire as you are an easy target but if you stop on many of the small town / village Aires you should be quite safe as long as you remeber to take the sort of precautions that you would take at home ie lock your doors before you retire for the evening and don't leave valuables on show

[Guest Clive]

and park where there are people and light so any mischief is clear to see.

[Guest Mike]

Its obvious stuff, just come back from Portugal where elderly ladies still leave there handbags hanging on shopping trollies!! But I had a problem with a stroppy frenchman in a garage, even the staff were frightened by him, I think he was on something. Have read reports of people being broken into in England, so as I say, think about your security and for example dont drink too much , you could easily forget to lock up properly and that might be all they need. On a practical note, we found aires and bornes in France that have had the water shut off as frost protection , that caused us a bit of a problem, we just used bottled. I think the trick is again to be aware and think through ie dont travel completely dry, make sure you have plenty of gas etc

[Guest martin]

We go round and round. A request to our Webmeister Generale - can we have a FAQ section that has a considered and sensible replies to regular topics like this please!!? Any designated communal parking place is safe - so are many undesignated ones, for that matter! A few simple precautions if you must – lock up, set the alarm and don't put stuff outside! Other campers are a damn good sign for a start. We use internal screens rather than the exterior silver screens wild camping - we put the satellite dish (a Multimo) on the front seat and point through the window (yes it works perfectly!) and if really neurotic put a ratchet strap round the front doors! What is it with the Brits – all the other nations of Europe trundle about having a wonderful time and we spend hours worrying about gas attacks (oh god not that again!) hoards of marauding 'gitanes’ stealing the wheels while we sleep and unknown banditos charging down from the hills to rape and pillage by the light of the moon. Bet you’d park up happily enough in the lay-by just north of the York Park and Ride on the A19!

[Guest Brian Kirby]

FAQ excellent idea. Gets my vote! Add to the list tyres, motorhome weights, cleaning water tanks and waste tank smells! Re overnighting, I think this fear is really a result of two things. 1 People will park in silly places, where they know aren't really safe or suitable, mainly while in transit, just to try to save a few pounds/euros. If you're going to Spain (and many of those concerned seem to have that destination somewhere on the agenda), what is so wrong with spending some of your holiday funds on a French campsite? After all the balance will go on Spanish campsites - and it's all part of the break, isn't it? 2 Language. You do things in UK that you feel less secure about doing abroad. In UK, if you've taken a chance, you can offer your apologies, argue, protest, phone the fuzz, or whatever. Abroad, you probably won't speak the language well enough for all this, and won't understand what anyone who approaches you is saying. However, you'll still take the same chance (that money thing again!) and park up feeling a bit unsecure. Then, you've got all that dosh in your 'van, plus the telly, satellite, mobiles etc etc, so you get paranoid and start to imagine the whole of Europe is out to get you. It happens everywhere. Foreigners are likely to be on holiday. Holidaymakers are likely to have the above goodies - motorhomers the more so. Thieves aren't entirely stupid and, knowing all the above, target holiday makers. Foreign holidaymakers are even better since they can't even shout stop thief! Answer, be discreet! Don't advertise your presence with a dirty great, white, UK registered motorhome, parked in an unsecured location, on its own, in full view of the passing hoy polloi. The word aire has two uses. One is for a service area on a autoroute, with or without fuel pumps etc. These are not, generally, suitable for overnight stops. The other use is for serviced parking bays for motorhomes. They have (usually) water, electricity, and waste disposal failities. These latter "aires" are spread all over France and are also the stellplatz in Germany and aree de sosta in Italy. You need to assess them on arrival - we rejected one in Pau last year double quick - but they should be fairly "safe" to use. Some of this type of aire are to be found on the Autoroutes, but I'd still stay clear. The Autoroute and its associated service roads provide too many good escape routes for the "drive by" thief. So, if security worries prey on your rest, use a designated aire, or failing that, a campsite. After all, you're supposed to be enjoying yourself, not majoring on prozac! Brian

[Guest KeithR]

Aires are good! we always use them when in France or Germany, and any we can find in Spain. have used them in tourist areas, main through routes and tiny villages in the middle of no where! Never been alone on one, and never seen any trouble. They come as good, bad and indifferent, but always cheap/free and excellent for overnights on the move south, or for short stays to visit an area. They are what motorhomes are about, not camp sites.I thoroughly recommend them, and as someone wrote earlier, the europeans dont think twice about using them.I'm quite new to this hobby, but have met people who have motorhomed for 10 years and never been on a site!! So they cant be that bad!!! suck it and see.

[Guest tom]

Aires are the best way that we have found to be able to stay on the continent for 2/3/4 months or however long you want only one aire that we did not stop at.We have two dogs and only once did they act as if there was someone near our van at night sounds like the hounds of the baskervilles when that happend but no we were not at all put off from using Aires! we will be of again after the peterborough show for a few months.