Gwendolyn Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Big Momma - 2011-03-27 8:14 PM Gwendolyn - 2011-02-20 5:56 PM Thanks. All new to us! Gwendolyn, I never really fancied the 'Aires' experience and much preferred having a site to stay on. However, having read some interesting articles in the M'Home magazines I am certainly warming to the idea of them, especially as some of these are not just Car Parks on the outskirts of a town. You may find it useful to follow a couple of bloggers sites, probably the one I would recommend only because it is very current is www.paulandlynne2011.blogspot.com who are spending 6 months touring France, N. Spain, Portugal, S. Spain, France. They are using a combination of Aires, Freecamping locations and Sites. They include photographs and I think it will add to your perspective of Aires. A welcome surprise to see more replies here after some time. Thanks. We set off next week for 3 months and I have been busy marking recommended Aires in the book! I'll just have time to check out that blog you recommend. We have armed ourselves with an ACSI card, some Touring Cheques & Camping Cheques [all of which we have used with caravan / tent in the past], lists of Municipal sites and now have added Aires to the list. Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 An interesting thread. I know its a few weeks old now but I thought I would add my views mainly to perhaps point out what I think the advantages of Aires are over campsites. Turn up and leave pretty much when you like There never seems to be hords of kids and of course no tents so less noise. Easy to find, they are everywhere and there are loads of ways to find them. No Tuggers (lol) I agree some are better than others but if you do your homework then there are some gems. I use www.campingcar-infos.com which is the most comprehensive guide available. Way more than the Aires book or any other site. You can download the POI for your sat nav as well. There are often user comments and photos and they also list hundreds of wild camping spots as well (always our first choice). I also use Google Earth and Street View if possible to have a good look as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Gwendolyn - 2011-03-27 11:28 PM Big Momma - 2011-03-27 8:14 PM Gwendolyn - 2011-02-20 5:56 PM Thanks. All new to us! Gwendolyn, I never really fancied the 'Aires' experience and much preferred having a site to stay on. However, having read some interesting articles in the M'Home magazines I am certainly warming to the idea of them, especially as some of these are not just Car Parks on the outskirts of a town. You may find it useful to follow a couple of bloggers sites, probably the one I would recommend only because it is very current is www.paulandlynne2011.blogspot.com who are spending 6 months touring France, N. Spain, Portugal, S. Spain, France. They are using a combination of Aires, Freecamping locations and Sites. They include photographs and I think it will add to your perspective of Aires. A welcome surprise to see more replies here after some time. Thanks. We set off next week for 3 months and I have been busy marking recommended Aires in the book! I'll just have time to check out that blog you recommend. We have armed ourselves with an ACSI card, some Touring Cheques & Camping Cheques [all of which we have used with caravan / tent in the past], lists of Municipal sites and now have added Aires to the list. Thanks all. A nice little site that we stayed at a few years ago, when we visited Chesky Krumlov, was Camping Chvalsiny ( just outside the village of Chvalsiny). I believe it now accepts ACSI card. It was Dutch owned - don't know if it still is. Probably got a website. Have a good trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 malc d - 2011-03-28 5:29 PM A nice little site that we stayed at a few years ago, when we visited Chesky Krumlov, was Camping Chvalsiny ( just outside the village of Chvalsiny). It was Dutch owned - don't know if it still is. Probably got a website. Probably has http://www.campingchvalsiny.nl/#/campsite Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Barryd999 - 2011-03-28 1:26 AM Turn up and leave pretty much when you like No Tuggers (lol) The advice from most that have and are using Aires is to ensure you get to one by no later than 2pm. And some do have restrictions on the length of time you can stay. The majority may not allow Tuggers but to be completely accurate, quite a lot do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwendolyn Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 What's wrong with Tuggers?????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Gwendolyn - 2011-03-28 8:41 PM What's wrong with Tuggers?????? Nothing, just a joke :-D I have never seen one on an Aire though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandyAndy Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 The Aire at Aachen in Germany allows them and had one pull up about a foot from our van at 1am in La Bresse but went before 8am when someone would have spotted him. Problem is Aires are meant for Motorhomes only in most places and the French and Dutch would soon remind you of this if you take up 2 places instead of one :-D Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Hi All, I have just been reading through this thread, and found it shows a very diverse set of views.. personally I am on the side of Aires, but you have to be selective. if you dont like the look of one, move on. I have also used Campsites for a relaxing stop for about 3 week in the middle of a 6 week away time and hope to do the same again later this year. There is however one other option which I have used successfully, that of the France Passion network. There is no cost involved other than buying the annual guide book, and you have to be self sufficient with regards to water and dump facilities, as the locations are not Campsites, Neither are they Aires. They are friendly farmers, wine growers,or restaurenteurs, Chateau owners etc who invite Motorhomes to their property and offer simply somewhere to park up overnight in safety without charge. In return they hope you might be inclined to purchase some of their produce , but there is no obligation to do so (except perhaps a moral one) At each location, stopover is restricted to 24 hours, so ideal for overnight in transit. I have yet to find any sign of overcrowding ( worst case 2 vans on one location, ) and it has been interesting to be able to practise my schoolboy French (not obligatory but is much appreciated by the hosts. I know this is a bit "off topic" so apologise for that. How many others use this option? tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I do - and you can get the FP locations as POIs too. It's a brilliant way of meeting some interesting people, as well as a free stopover (if you can resist the temptation of the produce! :-D ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 and you can get the FP locations as POIs too. ..... where from??? FP dont publish themselves to prevent "abuse" so they say. You have to have an up to date sticker and guide book to find them... personally I have resorted to plotting on garmin map source on computer,then converting the resultant file and loading into the satnav devices..but this is time consuming. My files are now in CSV format readable by MS spreadsheet/MS Wordprocessor and Garmin GPX format and KML format for Mio Satnav/Google Earth. tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 My comment of taking and dumping water referred to sites, not aires. Talking to various campsite owners they were frequently displeased witrh motorhomes who would book in for 1 night, fill up the main tank with a load of water, dump the waste and leave piles of rubbish for the site to get rid off. All technically legal, but not very sporting to someone trying to run a business. In our travels we have seen many very attractive aires but also a good few where 'carpark' would be a better description. Fr example Sarlat in the Dordogne is very popular, but it s just a car park with everyone parked within a foot of each other. Soory, not for me. There were also some where we could see waste water having been just dumped on the ground. I accept most motorhome owners do not do that, but the few as usual screw it up for the many. As a 'tugger' nowadays I use sites and if you wish have a slightly better degree of confidence in leaving the outfit while I visit the local scenery, as it is usually behind a barrier of sorts. Remember any people can walk freely through aires and there will always be someone who fancies the chance to knick your goodies. Believing that someone is watching your outfit for you is possibly being hopeful. For overnight stops I see the advantage, but for long stays unless you have company, I am not so sure. Price wise they are usually cheaper but some in good spots have seen a price increase to getting close to a site charge. For 4 euros a night more, is it really worth it packing away everything when you wish to walk into town?? On a site in Europe you usually have a defined pitch for you to do as you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Sorry Tony, my SatNav is a TomTom, and if I remember rightly I got the POIs form MotorhomeFacts. Not sure if they're available for Garmin or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solwaybuggier Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-03-29 9:44 PM Sorry Tony, my SatNav is a TomTom, and if I remember rightly I got the POIs form MotorhomeFacts. Not sure if they're available for Garmin or not. Tony, are you talking about the POI set someone on MHF produced and made available via email about 3 years back? If so, I think only some of them are accurate - where either the guy who produced them or a user has submitted the actual coordinates. For other FP hosts I think it's just the postal code that's used - ie the nearest village often. And of course, if the listing is several years old, it will be increasingly inaccurate as hosts leave and arrive in the scheme. Or is there another POI set for FP you've found? Be brilliant if there is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I honestly can't remember - it's an ov2 file and it's certainly a few years old, but so far always been accurate (although I realise it'll be increasingly out of date). It's on my computer, so if you PM me an e-mail address I'll send it to you, but I don't know if Garmin uses ov2s? It shows this logo on screen, if that helps you identify which "set" it is:France_Passion.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hi, Yes, a couple of years ago Phil Whiles offered POI's for FP and he kinldy forwarded them to me, but I found that his format had to be changed and reduced in size to enable it to be of any use for my Satnag devices. The files I now have are derived from severely edited versions of his original, and the current book has a significant number of changes to the list, so now bear little resemblance to his excellent efforts. As I understand it, Phil has given up motorhome so no longer has current interest. tonyg3nwl send me a pm for further info tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Sometimes a site is better. (cant believe I said that). Last May we turfed up in the Golfe De Morbhian on the south coast of Brittany on the way back from the Pyrenees at the lovely resort of Arzon. The Aire there as I think 9 Euros with no EHU and as it was a holiday weekend it was packed and pretty much a car park. We found a municiple that had a fair bit of space, right near the sea (but a little out of town, no bother as we had the bike) and I think it worked out about 11 Euros including EHU. Everyone cleared off on the Sunday and we had the place to ourselves. It was a much nicer setting than the Aire and almost the same price but I think thats unusual. As regards sites being safer than Aires. I dont know if I agree. Certainly the few sites we have been on didnt seem to have any security and anyone could have wondered on. Nobody would know who anyone was. On an Aire as the vans are all usually in view of each other and there is nearly always somebody milling around outside I think your less likely to have stuff nicked or your van broken into. That said I dont worry about security, especially in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Gwendolyn The list of Aires that we use is the 100% free one from WoMo at: http://home.arcor.de/telbus/womo-sp/ReadMe-1st_engl.html This gives a huge list of places to stop all over Europe. The Aires vary from the very informal to the almost 'site like', but each entry has a key, listing the available facilities. Remember the list is free, so no guarantees! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solwaybuggier Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Thanks to both Tonys - yes, it was Phil Whiles I got the POI set from too - I couldn't find or remember his name until that posting, and the set is very useful. I just wondered if any other sets had been developed - bit of a long shot, because it looked like an enormous task, even using just postal codes for coordinates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 spospe - 2011-03-30 10:01 AM Gwendolyn The list of Aires that we use is the 100% free one from WoMo at: http://home.arcor.de/telbus/womo-sp/ReadMe-1st_engl.html This gives a huge list of places to stop all over Europe. The Aires vary from the very informal to the almost 'site like', but each entry has a key, listing the available facilities. Remember the list is free, so no guarantees! Sorry, just realised I did not say that the WoMo list(s) mentioned above are for use with Sat Nav only. They give the co-ords in decimal notation, and we have found them to be invaluable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesFrance Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I have had an interesting read through this topic, having used French aires for the past 25 years. The comments about only those trying to save money using aires made me laugh and I guess that the people with this attitude are the ones who buy expensive clothes with some fancy type name printed prominently on their exterior. Personally I see no point at all in wasting cash paying for something I neither need nor want. The very idea of choosing to stay in a field surrounded by large white caravans seems pointless to me, but each to his own I guess. There is a very good gps download site for aires here: http://www.gps-telechargement.com/fr/eurocampingcar/ Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 We can't be having this! A friendly discussion about aires/sites!!! We will be having pleasant discussions about the caravan club next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 JamesFrance - 2011-03-30 8:14 PM I have had an interesting read through this topic, having used French aires for the past 25 years. The comments about only those trying to save money using aires made me laugh and I guess that the people with this attitude are the ones who buy expensive clothes with some fancy type name printed prominently on their exterior. Personally I see no point at all in wasting cash paying for something I neither need nor want. The very idea of choosing to stay in a field surrounded by large white caravans seems pointless to me, but each to his own I guess. There is a very good gps download site for aires here: http://www.gps-telechargement.com/fr/eurocampingcar/ Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier. It may make you laugh James but it happens to be true. You say yourself you see no point in wasting money so it would seem you use them to save. Your view of camp sites however is laughable and one that aires users frequently give as an excuse rather than giving the only reason to use aires, to save money. If you would rather stay in a layby or a carpark then fine, as you say, each to his own. Oh' welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesFrance Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 rupert123 - 2011-03-31 11:18 AM JamesFrance - 2011-03-30 8:14 PM I have had an interesting read through this topic, having used French aires for the past 25 years. The comments about only those trying to save money using aires made me laugh and I guess that the people with this attitude are the ones who buy expensive clothes with some fancy type name printed prominently on their exterior. Personally I see no point at all in wasting cash paying for something I neither need nor want. The very idea of choosing to stay in a field surrounded by large white caravans seems pointless to me, but each to his own I guess. There is a very good gps download site for aires here: http://www.gps-telechargement.com/fr/eurocampingcar/ Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier. It may make you laugh James but it happens to be true. You say yourself you see no point in wasting money so it would seem you use them to save. Your view of camp sites however is laughable and one that aires users frequently give as an excuse rather than giving the only reason to use aires, to save money. If you would rather stay in a layby or a carpark then fine, as you say, each to his own. Oh' welcome to the forum. Thanks for the welcome Rupert, I see you live in the rainiest place in Britain, just a few miles from where we lived for 20 years before moving to the sunshine and blue sky. In a way you are right, as I certainly don't spend my retirement income on things that I have no use for. Too old to take part in the compulsions of today, to engage in things such as 'retail therapy' which must give a type of pleasure I cannot understand. Mind you we have spent an average of about 4 months a year on Campings for the last 15 years, but that was only because we chose to winter in Spain and Portugal for the warmer weather, where there is not a pleasant alternative now. France has to be the most motorhome friendly place on earth, quite the opposite of the UK. It is not surprising that campingcaristes here rarely stay on campsites, even though they often only charge about 8€ per night, apart from the frantic commercial ones on the med coast. I do think you need a better understanding of why others make different choices to you. Saving rather than spending would have kept a lot of people and countries out of debt over the last 10 years or so. That makes for a happier life in the long run I feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Poppy - 2011-03-31 9:04 AM We can't be having this! A friendly discussion about aires/sites!!! We will be having pleasant discussions about the caravan club next! Come on Poppy - lay off the poppies! There are limits you know. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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