Hello! It’s not long now until we head off to France for three weeks (first time with the caravan).
We arrive in Calais at around 8.30pm (assuming the train is on time) and will be heading off down to Parc du Val de Loire (via Rouen & Le Mans, not Paris).
As we can’t be on the site until 1pm the following day the original plan was to drive a few hours and then stop at an Aires on the motorway overnight and then finish off the journey in the morning (it’s fine if we get there early as our friends are there so we can dump the car/caravan somewhere and go to see them) but reading reviews on Aires I’m not sure if this is a good idea!
Our other option is to try and find an overnight site about 30mins from Calais but will allow for late arrivals..
Does anyone have any experience of staying at an Aires and if so is it a good idea? If not, can anyone recommend a few sites??
Thanks 😊
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It’s not recommended to stay at the service station aires overnight although some people still do, most towns have a municipal campsite which are relatively cheap to stay, some even let you stay hooked up ready for a quick departure once the gates are open. Look at the campsite search on this forum for recommendations
If you go down the A16 for 10mins towards Boulogne take the exit for Marquise. Turn left & up to roundabout. Look across to left see an Intermarche supermarket with large open car park & fuel pumps accessible with caravan. We have stopped on there overnight a few times no probs.
Shop is open 08.30 incl Sundays if you need some food before you leave. Well off motorway so quite safe imo.
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Paul, There are campsites near Calais which will take you in (pre booked) when you arrive at 8.30 pm - for example Bien Assise or Les Erables. But as it’s 300 miles to your campsite, and will take you 7 or 8 hours with a caravan in summer traffic, you are not going to arrive there by 1 pm. if you stop at either of those, or anywhere else nearby.
I, and many others on here, use the Aire de la Baie de Somme for our 1st night in France. The common wisdom is not to overnight at motorway service stations but that one is certainly an exception. There is a dedicated area for MH`s and caravans with picnic tables. We usually arrive mid-evening, have something to eat, get an early night, and we are right on the autoroute for an early start in the morning.
It is about an hour south of Calais.
Paul, be aware that on Saturday nights HGVs will be parked up on motorways Aires as only those with urgent goods are allowed to travel on Sundays. It makes Sunday driving easier for you, but Saturdaynight parking on an Aire can be difficult unless you go to one with separate caravan/ motorhome spaces as Badger54 mentioned .
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Thanks for the replies everyone, still in a bit of a quandary as to what to do, I could drive overnight and get pretty much to the site and find somewhere to ‘hang out’ and get a few hour sleep whilst we wait to get onto the site (we have emailed them and asked if there is an early arrival option) for the Saturday morning.
Is another option to stop at a service station for a few hours 4/5 in the middle of the night, surely that would be a bit safer than and Aires but not sure if you can do the same as you can in the UK?
An aire is a motorway service station. Some do not have service areas fuel pumps etc & they are probably the ones to avoid. Yes they will be packed with trucks on a Saturday night. Often parked in the car & caravan parking areas as well. The place will smell nasty as truck drivers generally cant be bothered to walk to toilet.
Services are not so much unsafe as unpleasant imo & often so crowded you risk getting your caravan clouted.
As I pointed out the simple way is to pull off motorway into a town. The large supermarkets are signposted & have no restrictions on parking. That is the way to get a free nights kip.
HTH.
Quote: Originally posted by billy on 16/7/2022
An aire is a motorway service station. Some do not have service areas fuel pumps etc & they are probably the ones to avoid. Yes they will be packed with trucks on a Saturday night. Often parked in the car & caravan parking areas as well. The place will smell nasty as truck drivers generally cant be bothered to walk to toilet.
Services are not so much unsafe as unpleasant imo & often so crowded you risk getting your caravan clouted.
As I pointed out the simple way is to pull off motorway into a town. The large supermarkets are signposted & have no restrictions on parking. That is the way to get a free nights kip.
HTH.
Post last edited on 16/07/2022 17:07:09
Thanks, I’m not after a free nights kip, I’m just looking for somewhere to stay for part of the journey. Sleeping in a supermarket carpark with 2 small kids and a dog isn’t the answer I’m really looking for..
There is a difference between an `aire`, which is a rest area on an autoroute, and an `aire de camping-car` which is a specific place for MH`s to overnight, sometimes free and sometimes for a small fee. As I said earlier, the only `aire` I would use is the one at the Baie de Somme. If you are looking for an `aire de camping-car` there are many around, just do a Google search. One that immediately springs to mind is just off jct. 5 of the A28 on the D1015 at Blagny sur Bresle and is outside the gate of Camping Aux Cygnes D`Opale. It is just a few hundred yards from the autoroute and about 1.5 hours from Calais.
Le Bien Assise in Guines can be accessed very late, their leaflet says so, and we've arrived latish, but I'd not want to pay their summer holiday price for a short night. Unless you get a swim in the morning before you leave.
Quote: Originally posted by badger54 on 16/7/2022
There is a difference between an `aire`, which is a rest area on an autoroute, and an `aire de camping-car` which is a specific place for MH`s to overnight, sometimes free and sometimes for a small fee. As I said earlier, the only `aire` I would use is the one at the Baie de Somme. If you are looking for an `aire de camping-car` there are many around, just do a Google search. One that immediately springs to mind is just off jct. 5 of the A28 on the D1015 at Blagny sur Bresle and is outside the gate of Camping Aux Cygnes D`Opale. It is just a few hundred yards from the autoroute and about 1.5 hours from Calais.
I think the OP has a caravan. We use this campsite at Blangy often, once arrived at 9am after a very early morning ferry, and weren’t charged any extra for early arrival, even though we were using ACSI.
You could ask them what time is the latest you could arrive in the evening. They have a cafe restaurant on-site next to the reception, so may be prepared to let you in during the evening, otherwise, the access road towards the campsite by the lake should be a quiet, safe option. The campsite is a dead end so you shouldn’t get any traffic disturbance. Check it out on Google maps, maybe.
We use camping L’escale 20 minutes from the tunnel. I think you can still arrive anytime as long as you pay in reception in the morning. Just email them and they will confirm arrival time, they respond very quickly. They take ACSI it’s €19 per night.
Thanks again everyone.. I get that I’ve probably messed up with timings (and can’t change as the tunnel is really busy) so trying to make the best of what we have.. just for info, we have a caravan so could stop pretty much anyway.
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Topic: Late arrival
via mobile 16/7/2022 at 7:35am
