Advice

[jacksonj]

Our main holidays are usually spent travelling through France ,Italy and Spain staying in hotels and self catering.We also enjoy walking at weekends.We have just started looking at motorhomes and are going to rent one to see how we go. What are the rules for stopping over night in France not on sites ? We like our privacy and are wondering if there are many quiet sites in France as I don't fancy being three foot from my neighbour. Any tips for a first motorhome trip.Any advice appreciated

[Brian Kirby]

If you are able to travel outside July/August, you shouldn't find campsites in France overly busy.  The main - rather obvious - exception would be near ski resorts during winter.

If you want to avoid sites, you'll probably have to restrict your stops to around 4 days, depending on the time of year, because the battery charge won't last much longer than that. 

There is an extensive network of non-site motorhome stopping places in Germany, France and Italy, ( and a slowly growing number elsewhere) called respectively Stellplatz, Aires, or Aree di Sosta.  These vary from little more than designated car parks where you can stop for a night, sometimes several, but with no facilities; to virtual mini-campsites, with water, drainage points, toilet emptying stations and electricity.  Some are free, others charge, up to around 10 Euros per night. 

There are various books and publications that list these, do a search under "Aires", for this forum, for the past year.  You should be swamped with information on websites, books etc and the views of various users!

For these camper stopovers, I think there is one golden rule above all others.  Autoroute service and picnic areas in France are also called aires (de service).  Many assume these are also camper stops, because both are called aires.  Be under no illusion: they are not!  You can stop, even for the night, on some, but you may encounter problems with your autoroute toll ticket when you come to leave.  Some of the systems can't understand days so, if you entered the autoroute late one afternoon and go to leave it at an earlier time the following day, chaos ensues. 

Having said that, there are a few specifically designated camper stop type aires on some of the autoroutes, but they are few and relatively far between. 

The main reason for avoiding the autoroute aires for overnight stops, however, is the incidence of robberies.  Out of the main season these seem much less common, but the main holiday routes do seem to be worked by roving gangs of blaggers in the peak months.  The best rule is avoid!

Hope this helps.