A campsite attached to a town or village owned and managed by the local authority ............ having said that they are starting to outsource. I was using the site at Chalons en Champagne last weekend and noticed it is now under new management being owned and operated by a private company.
Check out my blog & you'll even see some pictures of a few. That's all I stayed on!
You won't find bars, restaurants, pools, kids clubs, water slides, supermarkets etc etc on them though, these are proper campsites. They are very cheap, the "sanitaires" are usually cleaned at least once daily, & generally have good toilets, showers, laundry sinks, washing up sinks & vanity sinks.
The idea is; you get cheap camping, but you go into the local town/village & spend some money.
A lot of them are un-manned, usually the Mairie or one of his counterparts comes along, once a day, to collect the money.
They don't take bookings, you just turn up, pick a pitch & set up camp. Which takes some getting used to, as it's not very British.
Long may it live on!
Oh yes, & all the ones I stayed on had hook-up, usually with both French & the blue plug types available. Although I didn't bother with that myself.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We stayed on a couple of crackers in August and September - the muncipal L'Ile de Rond, in St Pourcain sur Sioule, and the municipal Les Rouelle de Loups at Vatan, between Vierzon and Chateauroux - though both these had a manager in charge and both managers spoke some English. Both sites cost around 10 euros per night, for a nice big, flat pitch, including hook-up!
The shower cubicles in St Pourcain were eccentric, and looked like part of an old French film set, but the shower itself was one of the best ever. It wasn't on a push button, which a lot are, and you could adjust the temperature to suit yourself.
We stayed on a fantastic one last year on the banks of the Serre-Poncon lake in the southeast of France near-ish to Gap and within a couple of hours of Italy/Turin. We were 6 as we had taken my mother with us and we paid about £25.00 for all of us including hook-up per night. The town is Savines le lac. The name of the campsite is Les Eygoires and I've done a review, but sorry, can't do links.
municipal sites exist outside France,
Netherlands Belgium & Scotland f'r'instance
They are run by local authority - often next to sports complex - usually v convenient for town - so that yu can spend some money in local businesses
unfortunately - as stated above - some are now being run privately
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We loved the little one near Rouen - Val de Vesle, though the 'amenities' left a lot to be desired when we last stayed there!
Still in a caravan or camper this doesn't matter...
Municiples are falling into private hands and when they do the standards seem to go down: Because they are now privately owned, they seem to become quite aggressive in stopping wild-camping (Camping Sauvage). In the past, no one cared and the two tyoes of "camping" used to rub along quite happily.
Quote: Originally posted by Trooper on 19/9/2010
A campsite attached to a town or village owned and managed by the local authority ............ having said that they are starting to outsource. I was using the site at Chalons en Champagne last weekend and noticed it is now under new management being owned and operated by a private company.
What effect has this had upon Chalons? Is it more expensive? It's one we've always used in the past but haven't been for a few years. It is on our proposed list for next year.
------------- David
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Quote: Originally posted by Trooper on 19/9/2010A campsite attached to a town or village owned and managed by the local authority ............ having said that they are starting to outsource. I was using the site at Chalons en Champagne last weekend and noticed it is now under new management being owned and operated by a private company.
What effect has this had upon Chalons? Is it more expensive? It's one we've always used in the past but haven't been for a few years. It is on our proposed list for next year.
We'd never stayed before so had nothing to compare but it still seemed like a municipal to me. It was a standard municipal price as well.
On the nights we weren't using an Aire or a France Passion site, we stayed on a few municipal sites and always found them to be basic but good value on the whole. Having said that we are in a motorhome with all facilities! Most of the ones we used were only half full and on one, we were the only ones!! By the way, this was July and August in Burgundy and on route to and from Calais.
------------- Life's not a rehearsal..don't put it off DO IT NOW!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets