Sites or Aires?

[Gwendolyn]

From reading this, and other, forums, I am learning that some Motorhomers avoid sites and stay, in the main, on Aires. Having previously used a tent / caravan, we have had to stay on sites.

During our first trip in a Motorhome last year [4 weeks in France] we once again used sites – using the ACSI card. The few Aires we looked at simply did not appeal at all. We must have gone to the wrong ones!

This year we are going away for 3 months and I suppose, from a financial angle, staying on Aires some of the time would be sensible.

However, I like camp site life – relaxing on a pitch for a day or two, going to the site bar, and sometimes having dinner in a site restaurant.

Is life on Aires relaxing in the same way? Is staying on a site a tent / caravan habit we should break?

What experiences / advice can anyone share?

 

 

[LordThornber]

Gosh Gwendolyn, you're brave :D

 

You'll get the lot on this subject, use the search facility to read some of the old threads on this never ending subject.

 

We're like you, like to relax on a site, meal/bar etc all on hand. We have used the odd Aire, no thankyou very much, they have nothing that relates to a holiday - for us.

 

Saving some dosh for a longer trip, yes of course you will by using the odd Aire. They're cheaper, sometimes free.

 

Personal experience of Aires is limited so I can't offer a positive view, we've found them busy, (dangerously on occasion) and one was disgusting. Yes we moved on. There are some beauties though.

 

Sadly you'll more than likely also get the extreme views of the Aire users, i.e. the what on earth do you want to use sites for brigade, which of course is both unhelpful and not what you're asking about.

 

I suspect a mixture of sites, some (all) municipals and some Aires to balance your costs out may meet your needs.

 

Martyn

[starvin marvin]

As with all things, one persons meat is anothers poison. You will almost certainly find some people who say they never use aires/free camp, others who never use sites. I personally think that both are missing something.

 

For sure staying on aires will save you some money, but if you don't like the idea on staying on what are essentially carparks, then it may not be for you. I would advise that if this is a problem for you, try finding your parking spot, then go and spend the rest of the day somewhere else nearby that you like and only come back to say the aire at the end of the day. This maybe problematic if you are camping generally in popular/honeytrap locations, try to get off the beaten track a bit, you may be surprised.

 

We have just returned from about 15 weeks away, only 2 weeks were spent on sites, the rest were free camps and aires, some at minimal cost, most free. This split of free camps to aires etc has widened over the years as we have become more familar with the concept of free camping, and its not just the cost saving, we always seem to spend our budget, on one thing or another.

 

We used our ACSI card just the once, we don't really like sites that much, but they can be ok. I know you can do much better than campsite restaurants, especially if you eat at lunchtime.

 

We stayed at approx 50 different locations, an average of just over 2 nights/camp, and we don't treat it as a holiday we are just living in the van. It suits us, it may suit you. Safe travelling.

[TerryL]

Well I'll start the ball rolling - 'cos there are as many opinions on this subject as there are contributors/readers on the forum!

 

We like quiet places but every now and then a site is useful for the necessities, such as showers, empty the tanks etc. That said a lot of aires have very adequate facilities - and a lot are also situated in delightful little places with local bars, cafes and restaurants to be patronised. That's the reason the aires exist, to attract custom. Wish 'twer the same in the UK!

 

If you've got a good aires directory, peruse the descriptions for what appeals, then try it out. It's easy to just use a "proper" site but we feel the point of a M/H is not to have to use them. It's (usually) cheaper too!

 

Terry

[Guest pelmetman]

One of the biggest advantages of aires we find is that they can be much nearer the centre of a town, where as the municipal sites are often on the out skirts of town.

[LordThornber]

pelmetman - 2011-02-05 10:34 PM

 

One of the biggest advantages of aires we find is that they can be much nearer the centre of a town, where as the municipal sites are often on the out skirts of town.

 

Dave, I'll have to disagree with you there. With one exception, (Lisieux), all the Municipals we've used have been close, (or actually in), Centre Ville. Even Lisieux was only 10 mins walk away if my memory serves me right.

 

Perhaps you've been unlucky and/or we've been lucky all the time. That said we do put some research into our Municipal usage. Clever sod :D

 

Martyn

[Guest pelmetman]

Hi Martyn

 

Yes have to agree that most Municipal Sites are located close to towns as are lots of Aires.

 

It also depends very much at what time of year you are in France for example when we were over there December/January there were hardly any camp sites open so it had to be Aires.

 

We are inclined to do our travelling and sight seeing in the day and just want a stop for the night, very rarely stay any one place for long, three days is a long time for us as Dave gets itchy feet and always wants to know whats round the next corner.

 

Its all down to everyones preference , for us out of season it is Aires in season a mixture of both.

 

I would say don't be put off by Aires yes some are grotty but there are a lot of really good ones out there.

 

Whatever you choose enjoy.

 

Sue

 

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

You don't say what your van is, and I think this has some bearing on whether people prefer aires etc.

You have used campsites, so I'd guess you don't have hang-ups over using site toilets, showers, and wash-ups.  You will also be well able to spot the sophistry in the frequent claims by aires fans that sites are crowded and noisy, for what it is.  Some motorhomers prefer to use only their on-board facilities.  This seems to become a major reason why they resent paying, within the site fees, to use the site facilities.  Thus, these folk tend towards the cheaper (sometimes free), and generally facilities free, aires.  Having said that, just to add confusion, there are aires on sites, some of which are restricted to use of water and dump facilities, some of which do not allow access to the site facilities, and others which restrict "aire" use to stipulated arrival and departure times.

Aires are a very mixed bag of facilities, and they take a bit of unravelling and discovering. There are now about 3,000 aires in France, some of which do not allow stopovers, providing only service facilities.  Beyond France, there are extensive networks of similar facilities in Germany, (Wohnmobile stellplatze), and Italy (Aree di sosta), and a handful each in Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.  French motorhome aires (Aires de services Camping-Car) should not be confused with the aires de services (motorway services areas) aires de repos (motorway rest areas) down autoroutes, neither of which are recommended by the French authorities for stopovers, being the sites of a number of robberies.  To further confuse, however, there are aires de services camping-cars incorporated into a very few of the motorway services areas, but these are intended only for water and dump use, and not for overnighting.  One characteristic of all aires, so far as I am aware, share, is that they are hard surfaced, so that the spectre of getting "bogged-in" in wet weather is dismissed.

Some aires have no services facilities, offering only parking - usually, but not not invariably, overnight parking.  Some restrict the duration you can stay, sometimes one night, sometimes more, but more often unlimited.  Service facilities can be from one of the various commercially produced "bornes de services", providing water, sometimes a time limited electricity supply (usually requiring payment via a jeton), plus black water, and almost invariably a grey water, dump which are free.  Other facilities are less sophisticated, having been knocked up by local tradesmen to occasionally quirky designs.  Do not expect everything, on every aire, to invariably work, or be accessible.  The only rule is: there are no rules!  :-)

Some are no more than car parks for motorhomes, some relatively tatty car parks at that, and despite being restricted in use to just motorhomes (excluding trailer caravans, but only in France so far as I know), they are not infrequently also occupied/obstructed by parked cars.  There is a continuing rumble about this abuse among French motorhomers.  On the other hand, some are, in effect, small campsites even having toilets and showers, though you may have to buy tokens to use these.

It is relatively unusual to find people "camping" on aires.  That is to say, parked with awning extended and chairs and tables deployed.  The layout of some will not permit this, as the bays are too small, but it seems, generally, to be regarded by the French as a bit infra dig.  However, the better, but relatively rare, aires have hardstandings with separating grass areas, and seem designed for such use.

So back to the van.  The popular French van is about 7.0 metres long, being a low profile with a rear fixed bed, L shaped kitchen and forward "Eurolounge".  Many do not have awnings fitted.  They pull onto the aire, park their van, and, until they emerge to visit the town or walk Fido, you will frequently see very little of them.  They will almost invariably amuse themselves for a while with a satellite dish, before settling for an evening with the telly.  The van is used as a mobile flat, and the preferred design of van facilitates that pattern of use.  So, they are not camping, merely living as at home but in a different locality.  Many French vans are promoted as being "just like home".

So, you may find you, your pattern of use, and the layout of your van, suits aires, only some aires, or no aires at all!  The problem then becomes sniffing out the ones you do like.  There is a sad reluctance among those who do use them to reveal the locations of their favourites (seemingly for fear of finding them full on arrival! :-)), and the numerous guides do not really give that much help as to general appearance and attractiveness of the aire itself, more often concentrating on the qualities of its surroundings, or the view, or proximity of shops etc.  Why this should be I do not know. 

However, since we usually have fixed targets in mind when travelling, and chose stopovers along logical routes to these destinations, I tend to select campsites from the many reliable guides that give a fair assessment of them, in preference to taking "pot luck" with aires.  We have thus used relatively few, and have yet to find/use one on which I would want to spend more than one very brief night.  I know they exist, and I have seen them reviewed in the French motorhome press, but they haven't yet existed where I want to be, so I profess only very limited direct experience.  Nevertheless, I hope this will be of some help.

[Guest Tracker]

It all depends on your style of holidaying.

 

If like us you are highly nomadic and only use a site for overnight sleeps and water based functions in between exploring all day then any aire is quite good enough for us as long as it is not potentially dangerous or near a motorway and we see no advantage in paying site fees.

 

If, as seems more likely, you prefer to sit and relax for at least some of the days then aires almost certainly in the main are not for you and full facility sites seem more likely you give you what you seem to seek?

 

Aires might still have their uses for you for the odd unbooked overnight en route enabling you to maybe not have to rush directly to and from site to ferry?

[lennyhb]

We are ex caravanner's and found Aires a bit alien at first now they are just a way of life.

With a caravan we would spend a week at one location we have adapted to the Motorhome way of life and now rarely stay more then one or two nights at a location.

 

At first we found it a bit odd staying the night in which often was just a car park, but once it's dark & you are inside the van does it matter where you are. We have discovered Stellplatze in Germany that are better than sites, others were peoples back gardens.

 

Tried ACSI card in Germany a couple of years ago it saved us a whole 1€ so I wouldn't bother with it again.

 

Last year spent two weeks in Ireland spent one night on a site the rest of the time we wild camping and loved it. Also did 3 weeks in France in September, spent 3 nights out of 21 on sites spent most of the time on Aires or wild camping, didn't have much choice as nearly all the sites closed at the end of august.

 

Aires are very convenient for bars and restaurants as they are often nearer to the village than a site.

Don't dismiss Aires if you have only experienced a few, like sites some are excellent some are a bit rough & if you only need somewhere to bed down at night why pay over the odds for the privilege.

 

 

[bazooka]

We use a mixture of both,one of the most important reasons for Aires is if you are out for the day and find somewhere you like you dont have to return to your previous place.Where as if you were on a campsite you probably would, to get your passport or carnet, unless you keep paying for one night at a time

Baz :-D

[Tony Jones]

As others have pointed out Gwen, it's horse for courses.

Aires provide a simple and cheap place to sleep, but mostly won't give you a place to roll out the awning, set up the BBQ, and so on.

However, we've stopped on Aires where we've spent pleasant evenings sharing a bottle of wine and exchanging "travellers' tales" with neighbours of various nationalities.

But if you want somewhere to stay and relax for a few days, check in to a site. In most mainland countries they're significantly cheaper than UK ones, even with the dismal exchange rate.

 

PS sorry, should have asked first - is it ok to call you Gwen, or do you prefer the full version?

[Gwendolyn]

Hi

Gwen will do!

 

I will reply more fully later, as I am so grateful for all the advice.. but for now

Call me Gwen!

 

Cheers,

Gwen

[Mel B]

LordThornber - 2011-02-05 9:55 PM

 

Sadly you'll more than likely also get the extreme views of the Aire users, i.e. the what on earth do you want to use sites for brigade, which of course is both unhelpful and not what you're asking about.

 

Martyn

 

Martyn, can I please ask you to think before commenting on the type of responses which may be posted on a thread in such a negative way? It doesn't help the OP and probably puts some people off from posting. If I changed what you said around to mean the opposite would you have been happy?

 

Sadly you'll more than likely also get the extreme views of the site users, i.e. the what on earth do you want to use aires for brigade, which of course is both unhelpful and not what you're asking about.

 

I do agree with your sentence below though:

 

I suspect a mixture of sites, some (all) municipals and some Aires to balance your costs out may meet your needs.

 

When we first started out, we used sites all the time, over the years we discovered aires and 'wild camping' (or whatever others prefer to call it), since when we have used site less and less. We prefer not to be on restrictive, regimented and it has to be said, 'expensive' campsites. We do however use CLs in the UK which is pretty much a good balance between the two options. Abroad, we much prefer the greater freedom of aires, but when going for a longer time, then using a site occasionally makes sense.

 

:-D

[Madmaggott]

Well for what it's worth I'll throw in my two penn'orth!

In May/June we will be 6 weeks in France.  We have a vague plan of c 2 weeks travelling to the south coast where we intend to stay for a couple of weeks then ditto back to eurotunnel.

The only time that we expect to use site(s) is the middle 2 weeks when we will (probably) be in the same place for an extended period.  Whilst travelling there/back we will use aires.  That is, unless we find somewhere exciting that we want to stay and explore, in which case we will probably book into a site and explore using the bikes/public transport.

In short, if we are out and about for fairly short distances we prefer to use shanks's or public transport in order to experience more of the places we visit.  If we are staying only overnight en-route then we will just find an aire to stay on, have a bit of a wander round during the evening and perhaps a meal, then get off again the next morning.

Yes, a lot of aires are basically just car parks, but if you just want to park isn't it great to be positively encouraged to park overnight?  British councils are really missing a trick IMO.

 

[LordThornber]

Mel B - 2011-02-06 10:28 PM

Martyn, can I please ask you to think before commenting on the type of responses which may be posted on a thread in such a negative way?

 

Of course you can ask Mel. When would you like to ask? I'll be on here this evening...................... :D

 

No, fair comment, I'll try harder to restrain my ill disgused loathing for the Aire only/Site users should be shot dead brigade.

 

Sorry if I ruffled any other plumage amongst the forum users, honest :$

 

Martyn

[Guest Tracker]

LordThornber - 2011-02-07 7:18 PM

No, fair comment, I'll try harder to restrain my ill disgused loathing for the Aire only/Site users should be shot dead brigade.

 

Just who do you consider these ill disguised loathed Aire only users are Martyn?

 

Perhaps you would care to name and shame us all?

 

But before you do just consider whether dedicated Aires users would feel the same ill disguised loathing for site users?

 

I think not - most of them being truly thankful for the spaces available on Aires created mainly by those sat on sites!

 

'Orses fer courses innit!

[LordThornber]

Hi Rich, I'd prefer not name anybody, I guess they'll creep out of the wordwork bit by bit.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've no issues with Aire users and their associated supporters, what I do have an issue with is the aire using folk who preach "Thou shall not use sites" and/or "why do you spend money on sites"

 

Martyn

[BGD]

Let's not completely forget a third option: so-called "wild-camping"........which we do here in Spain and also when we tour in France and Portugal, a lot.

[maggyd]

After a couple of years hit and miss with the aires book we were given last year a Bord Atlas of Stalplatz when we were in Germany, we were very pleased at the ease of using it as it is in Alphbetical order so its easy to look at the route you intend going and find sites Stals sites etc; in the area. We have bought the new France, and Germany books which also covers Holland/Belguim etc; .

The beauty of owning a Motorhome after a caravan is you can move on much more easily, so we more or less know which direction we are going but dont book anything which could leave you stuck in a place that isnt as good as you first thought. We also were dissapointed with the Acsi book and not in our opinion worth buying as we didnt think we saved anything. We have stayed at sites and the Municipals which are quite good we stayed at a beauty in Champagne (something) Im not good with remembering names !! :-S my advice it have a look and if you dont like!! move on, you are carrying your home with you so you will find something that suits just relax and enjoy the experience :-D as long as you have enough water for at least one day and I always have bottled water anyway enjoy.

Dont get fixated on sites or Aires just do what You want when You want.

[ekka]

On our very first trip we pre-booked a site near Abbeville as we were scared stiff, not helped by tales of robbery and the like. Well we paid 15E per night to find no motorhome service point, and pretty dire facilities. After that we exclusively used aires ranging from zero charge, to a max of 8 euros which included hook up,and one aire for the princely sum of 5 Euro with hook up and showers at a wonderful riverside location close to Angers. Our next trip of three weeks later that year was exclusively using aires at a total cost of 52 Euro's, a no brainer as far as we are concerned.

 

Of course some were "the pits" but if you are selective you can find some gems, and how else can you like us stay right in the center of a place like Le-Mans, or Bayeux, and in more rural areas some you will find are exactly like like camp sites without the price tag.

 

The only "culture" shock is getting used to the close proximity of other vans on occasion, try Le Crotoy in high season! But the huge advantage is if you do not like it you just move on. Having said that we have stayed on Aires that would give a 4 star camp site a run for its money.

 

The Aire pictured was just a short walk into the small town with bars and restaurants, and next door to a fully serviced camp site. And just 5 euro with hook up ! !

[ekka]

I should have added apart from another Brit, we were the only user of the aire above whilst we recharged both ourselves and our batteries for three days !

[rupert123]

I have to agree with Martyn and doubt you will find more than about 50 decent aires in the whole of France and rarely where we want to be. However having said that we often use them for overnight stops and if, Like Rich, we spent our whole time away driving guess we would use them more. It does depend on the way you use your van, we rarely stay more than three nights but if we like a place then park up in a secure site and use our scooter to get around. Sites like aires can vary in quality but unlike aires their are an awful lot of good ones these days. Those that think all sites are crowded noisy and regimented obviously have not stayed on any the past few years. We do use the German stellplatz a lot more in places like the Mosel and Rhine areas many are better than UK cl's and we are not adverse to saving a few bob. The only reason to use aires or camp in laybys is to save money the other reasons given are, to me anyway, simply an excuse not to, admit this. Certainly if the standard was consistantly better we would use them more for this reason. In the last few years especially aires in the popular places have become more crowded than ever than ever something we are not prpared to tolerate.

[Guest Tracker]

A balanced view Rupert.

 

However can I point out that we don't spend our entire holiday driving!

 

We tend to visit places, towns, attractions or whatever takes the fancy by day and parking up for the night is a necessity as opposed to us deriving pleasure from simply being on a site!

 

We generally find that the late afternoon / early evening time spent finding and driving to, or back to, a site can, for us, be better enjoyed relaxing by a river or by the coast - where I can try and catch our tea - or maybe tucked away in some scenic location or village where cafes abound.

 

'Orses fer courses!

[ekka]

Well like most things in life I have to disagree with Rupert, of course any monetary savings are useful but we have found the most delightful aires, some in the most convenient places, and as a not too seasoned traveller I cannot imagine we were just lucky. BUT just as with camp sites you have to be selective. We would never stop on a lay-by and to write of people who use aires for no other reason than to save money is so wide of the mark. For us the nature of our hobby is to see new places, the system of aires not only makes this superbly easy and possible without any hassle of booking into regular sites. I have a friend who despite all of my copious video and photographic evidence still insists on staying on sites, let's just let people make up their own minds without making personal judgements about their motives or sanity.

 

 

The original poster poses this question coming from a caravanning background where for the most part you tend to stay in one place for extended lengths of time ( been there done it ), where as with a motor home we like others tend to move on every couple of days or so and spend most of the day exploring new areas so are just looking for a safe place to spend the night.

 

She will either love it, or hate it, but she should at least try it.

The immediacy of motor-homing lends itself so well to aires, but like most things in life it's horses for courses.