Knaus Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 I am planning to travel to La Baule from Le Havre in early June then onto La Rochelle, stopping where my fancy takes me. Has anyone any suggestions for good overnight stops near beaches. There will be 3 vans travelling!!
Terrytraveller Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 Hi Knaus, Have a look at the following page for the Aires Bible, http://www.campingfrance.com/campingenfrance.jsp?idPage=63 also http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm for almost the same information but online. Your first stop must be Honfleur 7euros p/n water and elect. included, if that is full (not likely) try LA RIVIERE ST SAUVEUR just a mile up the road, there is no charge for staying on this aires, but water is by jeton. We have travelled your itinery many times and have found it a really nice journey. With three vans travelling in June might be a bit busy on the aires de services mostly at weekends, so suggest you always have a plan B ready. At La Rochelle has some really nice aires, one at Port Mimmes (a car park) where MH can stay free of charge.You can take the waterbus into the Old City from just outside your MH door on the aires/car park for 1.5euros, water and dump facilities are available about a mile away. Regards Terry
Tony Jones Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer has an Aire which is handy for both beach and town, we used it in Aug '05 and it was about 5 Euros per night. Very good restaurants in easy walking distance, mainly seafood but also a good Italian place. Aire tends to be busy though, I wouldn't recommend it for a long stop. There are at least 3 campsites, but they tend to be busy too, and expensive. If you're looking for a "base" when you get to La Rochelle, we found a village called Lagord, just north of town, with a very reasonably-priced "proper" campsite. The village has the essentials, including boulangerie of course, and an excellent little restaurant. There's a bus into La Rochelle, or maybe you'd take one of your vans into town and leave the others on site? The whole area is great - enjoy yourselves! Tony
Keith T Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 We also have used Aiguillon as an overnight - excellent spot. For la Rochelle itself, there isa municpal site, (Camp Municipal le Soleil) which is just off the marina.....it's really more of a car park, but adequate for a couple of nights with such close proximity to the town itself. Ther'es also another one further out, which I think is 'Camp Municpal de Port Neuf' on the road towards Ile de Re, and is on a bus route to town. If you want to go a bit further for a couple of days or so, Ile de Re is well worth exploring, and we found an excellent site at the main town of St Martinde Re (Camp Municipal les Remparts). Expensive toll over the bridge to get to the Island, so worth staying a couple of nights or more...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 I believe motorhome parking at Les Minimes, La Rochelle has now been revised - see the campingcar-infos website for details.
colin Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 I cannot understand why La Baule is rated as one of the best beaches in europe, went there about 20years ago, big streach of sand packed full of people, I seem to remember the town as interesting but there was a lot of expensive designer shops.
Terrytraveller Posted January 27, 2007 Posted January 27, 2007 Hi Knaus – really must tell you about this site! If you have time you must visit 'Little Venice' at Coulon, 37 miles from La Rochelle less than an hours drive. The village has plenty of free parking on the common right in the village next to the main street and canal. You can actually overnight on the common but there are no facilities, although there are public toilets. We stayed at the ‘Darling Buds of May’ farm site featured in MMM about 2-3years ago. The site ‘La Planche’ tariff is 7-8 euro p/n including electricity, shower etc., it is situated on the D1 Coulon to Benet road 1.2 miles from Coulon GPS coordinates 46.3428N 0.59726W. After leaving Coulon on the D1, it’s the second turning on the left off of the D1 (you will see a finger post scribed La Planche) and a paved farm track around 1st or 2nd right, drive down to the farm buildings and turn left into a meadow by the farmhouse and outbuildings – really beautiful. The Farmer is a real character and settles his visitors in with a glass (or more) of his home made wine, he can also offer pony trap rides around the canals of Coulon and district. The supermarket in Benet 3.4 miles from Coulon village, has a large village car park in front of it, MH’s are welcome to stay overnight free, there are toilets, fresh water and dump facilities all free of charge. Regards Terry
Knaus Posted January 27, 2007 Author Posted January 27, 2007 Thank you all for the information. It looks like it will be a good trip.
Terrytraveller Posted February 23, 2007 Posted February 23, 2007 Derek, I felt a bit disappointed when you mentioned that Port Minimes, La Rochelle was closed, and at the time looked for some info on it - well I just stumbled on this link from the Tourism office today - have a look http://www.larochelle-tourisme.com/espace/fichier/19_plan-lesminimes-larochelle.pdf ,takes a bit of time to download though. Seems it is still available to stay - I hope so because it really is a nice place to stay to see the old city. Free parking is in car park of the Forum des Pertuis, just above the MH icon, wifi is available from this spot, buying time on a credit card. You need to have a plan B as sometimes they have exibits on the car park, if they have had one recently, beware of nails/screws left on the tarmac surface. Regards Terry
Derek Uzzell Posted February 25, 2007 Posted February 25, 2007 Terry, I didn't say the Les Minimes parking area had been closed - just that my understanding was that parking regulations there relating to motorhomes had been revised relatively recently. We stayed on the Les Minimes car-park 8 or 9 years ago, on a Saturday night during a June heatwave and, as I recall, there were no motorhome parking restrictions then. Can't say we enjoyed the experience much as, being so close to the beach, youthful revelry predictably continued nearby well into the night. But it was handy for an outing in the town the following day.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.