We are new to camping and my husband in the summer wants to go on the euro tunnel and travel around france stopping in camp sites without booking in advance any advice because i am a bit sceptical
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School hols time?
Happy to stay at the sites others don't rate?
Last week of school hols not a problem most places - It would be a rare site that has no room that week when all the french have gone home.
been most times in France, make sure you have a good site guide like the Michelin green site in France book,stick to inland sites and look for the Municipal sites in most towns and villages good value all year round just go for it good luck S/C
It should be perfectly posible providing you don't expect to stop at the popular all sing all dancing sites where you really do have to book. If you follow Stormcrow's advice I think you will be OK.
David
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We camp in France every year and have tried it both ways - booking in advance and finding something when we get there.
If you are travelling during the peak holiday season in France, which is really the last 2 weeks in July and most of August, you may find it difficult to get into a good site if you haven't booked. Last year we had no sites booked and travelled around a bit. We stayed in 5 sites over a 2 week period and to be honest, only one of them was good. Two of the others were OK and two were really bad, we only stayed there one night!
If you want to be sure of getting good sites then I would book in advance, however, if you are only planning on staying for 1 or 2 nights in each site, and you don't mind if they are not great, then get a good campsite guide book and go for it.
No we have no children all grown up thanks for all your advice. We are not looking for sites with a lot of facilities as long as it clean and we can drink our wine we will be happy
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We have been touring in France and other Continental countries for about 10 years. We have to go in the peak season as we are teachers. We don't tend to book and just phone ahead after lunch on travelling days. We have never been turned down as far as I can remember and we have never really had a bad site. We use the Caravan Club - Caravan Europe and Alan Roger's Guide to help us find decent sites.
My thoughts are that if it is just the two of you it is much more feasible than if you had kids in tow. Without kids saying are we there yet you are flexible enough to turn up at a site and if you dont like it or it is full- you could move on .A fall back would be a formule 1 or etap B&B if it got too late. Invest in a good campisite guide.
Most of the French tend to pack up and go home after the big 15th of August bank holiday. So if you go after that you should not have too much problem.
Angela
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Even during peak season I never had trouble finding a campsite. But it does depend on the type of campsite one chooses. The simpler the more chance. All singing and dancing near the beach may be difficult.
Arrival time on site also is an important factor, preferably not later than 17.00, otherwise give them a call en route.
Some sites are no problem even when arriving at 21.00 hrs at night.
If you want to stay on one site for a longer period, say one or two whole weeks also may be a factor. There may be enough free pitches, but due to reservation there may be none that will be free for two whole weeks. I experienced several that honoured pitch preferences in their reservation system. No problem for me, as I wanted to stay four four or five days, but for a longer stay there preferences would not match and would imply one shift on site after a number of days.
Just do some proper planning. Pick three sites on yopur route within half an hour driving and you will be OK. This also aloows for refusing the first and second site if you do not like them. And in between those sites you will find that there are more good sites not found in your book, but that simply are there.
Have fun.
By the way, whereabout would you go? If you are talking simple but clean, think about the municipal campsites. Most of them will be in the Michelin campsite guide.
Or the Camping a la ferme may be good.
Good simple sites: In Auvergne: the municipal in Champs sur Tarentaine, near Bort le Orgues, Auvergne.
Or the municipal of St. Nectaire, 'le Viginet'. Sevral other good campsites in that area too.
Both sites are more or less on opposite sites of the Massif du Sancy.
In the Dordogne, in Montignac there is a good Camping a la Ferme, called 'Le Sorbier'. Very charming, extremely simple but clean and a good hot shower.
In the Pyrennees the municipal of Ax les Thermes (actually the village of Luzenac) is good. More facilities, good pool, very reasonable priced, good location in mountain areas, very near several caves with prehistoric drawing, magnificant walking area. You can go direction of the valley of Pont dÉspagne, or just toward the end of the valley Andorra, or upward towards the plain of Montaillou. Cathar area. Near the Tourmalet if you are a cyclist.
A farm-like site in the valley of Gavarnie, near Luz St Sauveur (under lourdes), camping St Bazerque. basically a field next to an old farm, but clean sanitary facilities and very good location for walking.
None of these needed any reservation. The latter I showed up on the very day of the Tour de France! Can one make a worse mistake! But no reservation problem, only traffic jams by all the people coming down the route. In Ax le Thermes too i experienced the Tour de France, but showed up two days in advance.
Also no reservation problems and great to see whole show around the tour once.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: camping in france
