Camping in France (September-ish this year)
 

Hi guys,


I'm looking to travel around France this September with a few friends and we're hoping to do the majority of our sleeping either out camping or in very cheap hostals/ motels.

I just wanted to know if anyone has any experience with camping in France?

Is it worth booking in advance or is France such a place where finding hostals and campsites is really easy to find?

Any ideas on the prices?

Below is a brief outline on where we plan to travel (clockwise).

Suggestions?

Thanks guys

A lot of camp sites in France close after the french summer holidays which usually end around the beginning of September. It might be worth to pick up a camping guide like the Michelin for France to check beforehand. And it's nice to have it at hand if you did not end up where you thought you might and look for a campsite. Especially if you're languagewise challenged.

Some of the closed campsite are still accessable, but offer no comforts as showers etc. A lot of french town and villages have a campsite owned by the administration. They often are attached to sport fields so that the sanitary blocks can be used for both. Look for the sign "Camping municipal".

With the exception of your excursions to Puy de Dome and the Brest area that's more or less exactly what we did as a family holiday a few years ago.

We had no problems at all finding campsites in early Sept although you did get the feeling that you'd missed the main part of the season and everything was starting to run down. We didn't prebook anything and only once (at Carcassonne) did we have problems finding space.

I'd suggest you google the Castels group of campsites and see if any of those are on your route. They're at the top end of the price range and similar to the cheaper hotels - F1, Etap etc but the locations - grounds of chateaux etc make it worth it.
If I was doing it again I'd camp on the dry days and head for the cheap hotels if it looked like rain.

I did a fair bit of camping in France last summer. The most usefull source of information i had was my Alan Rogers guide book. He has done a dedicated one on France. Alan Rogers Campsite Guides - Camping in France, Spain, Italy and more...

Here you can see what the French guide looks like: Amazon.co.uk: Books: Alan Rogers France 2009: Quality Camping and Caravanning Sites (Alan Rogers Guides)

You can search by site name, town its in or by looking on one of their regional maps. You will spend time flicking between different refrence sections in the book, but it does list a very good comprehensive amount of sites, showing which ones are open all year round too.

If there is only a few of you going i wouldn't bother booking sites ahead of time, especially being near the end of the camping season, just check opening/closing dates.

Prices vary quite alot, i remember paying a small fortune at a site on the south coast, was heavily geared up for kids though with loads of facilities. Generally coastal sites are more, but you won't be paying peak prices in September. As a rough guide prices for an average site would be somewhere from 4 Euros to 10 per person per night. Some sites charge per person and some per pitch so obviously if a few of you are sharing a tent it will be cheaper if you are charged per pitch.

The cheapest way to camp is to use the municipal sites, pretty much every other town has one, although getting info on them is a little harder and not sure about their opening dates.

Also some sites charge you a little more for having a bike, generally not much though.

Looking at your route it looks like you are going to a few major cities, most campsites for cities are on the outskirts and cost a little more than rural ones.

With regards to hostels i only stayed in a few, but i used the internet to find them.
Hostels & Youth Hostels Worldwide - Online Bookings
Hostels, Youth Hostels & Cheap Accommodation With No Booking Fee!

Hope all this helps.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Looks like September time isn't the best time for a trip but it can't be helped. Looks like I'll be buying that Alan Rogers book, although a review on Amazon stated it doesn't cover September time... I'll have to pop into Waterstones and have a peek to see if it'll help. It's also assuring to know from Backofbeyond that it shouldn't be too difficult.

Thanks for all the links also guys. The hostal sites especially will come in handy.

I'll bare that in mind. Like said, we may go a bit off-route and take the back door of some cities and avoid all the touristy locations if we find outselves drawn to do so.

€4-10 per night is around what we were calculating (£10) so I'll be happy to report that back to the rest of our team.

Thanks again people.

If you are discrete, you can pitcha tent for the night atthe back of most 'aires' ( rest areas on major roads). I have done this on th etoulouse/bordeaux motorway, figuring the 9 euros for teh peage to be worth pitch a tent for teh night. just check where you pitch as they do also 'exercise' dogs on the grass ay aires :(

O/B is spot on here IMO; however this form of camping is not to everyone's taste. But it's the way I camp on the road. Or I do wild camping. If pushed, I use "Camping Municipale".

But I dont like paying similar money to mobile homes for rock hard ground, with noise, in a pukka camping ground. Can't pay, won't pay.:innocent:

We plan to camp only for sleeping and maybe eating just before, rarely any luxuries unless it's chucking it down with rain/ is cold, so I'll consider those alternatives also, so long as they aren't considered illegal( according to a book I read today 'wild camping' is apparently a criminal offence in certain areas)?

Nothing wrong with Camping Municipale, cheap and usually good facilities. good one at the top of Rocamadour, if you're down that way. There's also a very good commercial site at Port Grimaud on the Med. coast, it seems expensive but the facilities, restaurants and entertainment make up for it, also motorcycle friendly. There's also the Camping Moto sites that are motorcycle only, look them up. We found that Municipale sites are cost effective and you can usually walk to the local village or town for food, we also found that eating cheap in France is easy, you just have to have the Plate du Jour (usually three course with wine), we found it chaper than just having a main meal. If you're cooking the local supermarkets are excellent for everything you need. Go to Arradour sur Glane, very moving, go to Condom, get the photo !

Le Chant D'Oiseau

This little campsite is run by a really friendly English family and is located in the middle of nowhere with some forest walks on the doorstep. We stayed there last year and many of the people who were there go every year.
Bracken the dog is mad but friendly. He likes eating stones!
Thery have a large fridge freezer which campers can use which is a big bonus. Nothing worse than warm beer!

If you're looking at the "Camping Municipal" in France, then the best bet is to follow the signs for the "Mairie" or "Hotel de Ville" (town halls) and ask in there. If they're not open (some rural ones are only open once a week then asking in bars, bar-tabacs, or boulangeries should turn up someone who knows. They do really vary though, I stayed in a fantastic one just outside Brest, right in the dunes, lovely and quiet with decent hot showers, washing facilities and even a laundrette on site. At the other end there's the one in my village with a bit of very sloping grass, one loo, one cold and I don't think functioning shower, and right by the main road. One good thing though is that towns and villages aren't too far apart so if you're unlucky, you can always just ride on.

Wild camping? I've never been able to find out whether you can or not, and I've asked all over, but it's always worthwile knocking on a door and asking if you can camp in someone's field "Bonjour monsieur/madame, avez-vous un peu d'espace dans vos champs pour un/deux/trois tentes pour un nuit?" quiet often it works if you're looking friendly but slightly knackered, and I've had great nights spent in farm kitchens struggling to understand what's being said to me through a gitane and alcohol haze, followed by a very sound sleep and breakfast thrown in.

Oh and you're got a PM too.

I was in France late September/early October last year and had no real issues finding camp sites that were available. Yes, some were closed, but other alternatives were easily located. Camping Municipal also gets my vote; cheap with reasonable facilities.

Avoid the temptation to pre-book (it really is not necessary) as this puts an additional, needless constraint, on your trip.

I found camping in France to be great last year, with an average price for 1 pers+tent+bike to be around 7Euros/night. Facilities were consistently excellent (compared to, say, Greece), but were often as not situated a small bike ride away from the town so necessitating a Beer on-site. Italy cost twice as much, generally, so i'd certainly do it again. Motorway Aire camping has tended to leave me feeling insecure but ok at a push. Check out the Motocamps dotted around which are bike-specific :thumbup1:.

Big, big thanks to everyone that's commented. As advised, I don't think I will be pre-booking after all. I looked in a few books listing campsites and a majority do close during September time, but I'm going to trust your judgement as many of you have done it before. I've ordered the Alan Rogers book anyway.

Thanks for the Camping Municipal idea also (especially that link MarkShelley, looks like a lovely place, so will be checking it out). No doubt we'll be taking up some of these. I'm not fussy about staying in comfortable places, but a shower every now and then is essential.

I probs won't be doing moto-camp though as I'll likely have friends following me in a Land Rover, but supposing they back out and I end up doing the trip alone, I'll bare it in mind. As for the insecurity, as I plan for France to be just the bigging of bigger things to come, I guess that'd be something I'll have to accept anyway.

A budget of about £10 a night with a little more for the odd luxurious night seems reasonable also.

For all those who've done trips of the same distance i.e. backofbeyond, would I be right in saying this trip would be on average around 2500 miles? I'm just trying to calculate fuel at the moment.

Finally, I'm thinking of going clockwise on this trip. Brest looks like the kind of area to relax at the end of the trip, plus the French Alps are one of the main attractions for me.

Many thanks again to everyone so far. Really can't wait for France now. Finally get to see what this DRZ400 is capable of.

Instead of going from Graisse to Arles direct, I would suggest you follow the river up from Nice and then the Gorge du Verdon. It is really a very scenic route, with many little places to stop and buy meals/fuel.

Have you used VIAMICHELIN at all? Its great advantage for route planning is that it uses the same Michelin mapping as the err maps (the paper ones that is). You've got a range of different styles of journey you can pick too, which actually aren't too bad, sadly you can only put two stop overs in per trip, so you'll have to break your route down a bit. You can get it to give you hotels, restaurants or things to see too.

There's actually a vaguely accurate fuel/cost calculator on it too, and if you want to tweak it you can adjust the fuel price to match your consumption. Viamichelin's average bike gets 13.66 miles per litre.

So if your bike does 20 miles a litre, then the calculations would be:

13.66 / 20 = 0.683
0.683 * price at the pumps = fuel price you put in viamichelin.

And if your bike does 10 miles a litre, then the calculations would be:

13.66 / 10 = 1.366
1.366 * price at the pumps = fuel price you put in viamichelin.

It's obviously no substitute for the more sophisticated route planners, but to get a rough idea it's not too bad.

Oh, thanks Alex. Didn't notice your above post. I'll look into that. The fuel calculator especially would come in handy.

I've just come across a few dilemmas. Seems like I'll probs be doing this trip after all as all the others are pulling out (friends eh...) so thanks to the guy who mentioned the Moto-camp link. Might be using one of them after all.

Also, I was planning to buy some new wheels for my DRZ as it's an SM model and most tyres don't fit the current size 17s I have. I've just lost a bit of money elsewhere so I won't be able to afford the £300-600 for these wheels.

Question is, for all those who've driven around France on a bike, do you think I could make it around the 10-14 days with just the original road tyres?

Another option I've been given is to put a Pirelli MT60R Corsa tyre on the front - Amazon.com: Pirelli MT 60-R Dual Sport Rear Tire - 160/60VR-17/--: Automotive and a Continental TK80 or Bridgestone TW302 on the back?

The dealer for the tyres was insinuating that whilst having road tyres may make the riding a little harder, it wouldn't make it impossible. But with a 27ltr tank on the bike + full panniers & duffel bag on the back I'm not sure it's such a good idea.

I wouldn't have thought the 2500 (ish) miles that your route will cover would wear out a set of tyres on a DRZ although it will depend on how soft the rubber is. My heavier 600 CCM gets through a rear MT21 knobbly in about 4000 miles but a harder rubber Mich Desert lasts about double that and just about all the 30 - 40 bhp road bikes I've had would do about 10,000 on a mid range rear. Tyre wear wasn't a problem for me when I did your route as the Land Rover does about 50,000 on the fronts and 65,000 on the rears!

If you've got a 27L tank that'll sort out the other problem with touring - garages never seem to be open when you need them. There's loads of posts on here about UK credit cards not working in French automated pumps so just bear it in mind. It's not a big problem especially with a big tank but sooner or later you'll end up somewhere rural on a Sunday with an empty tank and only a UK card. We've all done it!

I've just been musing about my next two trips to France, trying to work out whether I can get my old 60's Lotus Elan down to our place in the Alps (and back, hopefully) when it hasn't moved more than the length of my drive (about 15 feet) in over 10 yrs. Failing that whether I could get my 1970 H1 500 Kawasaki to Reims for a meeting at the old Gueux circuit at the end of Sept. This one depends on whether I can carry enough spark plugs!

Thanks. But what I mean is, would it be safe to use road tyres? Or should I really buy duel purpose tyres? If I'm not likely to have any problems with these tyres I won't waste the money - put it towards buying the wheels for the next, major trip.

This may be the Motocamp site mentioned by a previous poster :

French motorcyle campsites

Phil

Thanks mate. I sure will be looking into some of these campsites. Might see more likeminded people to hob-nob with and feel safer.

I spent some time last year at the bottom part of Lake Geneva, Amphion le Bain near Evian, wonderful area take the bike round some great mountain roads up into Morzine:thumbup1: and you can get Evian water FREE out of the fountain if you can get the restauranteurs out of the way!

Alan Rogers ROCKS!! you will not go wrong with this guide, well laid out and full of info.

Enjoy your trip

Heard of this book? Cool Camping - Cool Camping France book meant to be great.

Carcassonne does get busy but there's some great biking to the south with an equally good campsite (in my link below - my neighbours) that a few HUBBers have stayed at & free 'Alet' water which is sold all over the region & further afield.

Kira

I think I read that book before at a store and it seemed to be nothing that special. Not thorough enough information. I've bought one of their books before and, to be frank, half of it was a waste of paper.

I cant help with suggestions as i was reading it to find out the best for me as well. Me and Mrs.X will be heading that way in July :D:D:D

So thanks every one
!!

I have that book, and it's been quite useful in the past. One point to note; if it says "Camping Naturelle" it means that everyone's starkers, not that it's a very scenic site. Live n learn ...

:eek3:
Mup.

What type of riding do you do normally? Are you a duel on-road off-road rider or are you on just on the tarmac the whole time? If your on the tarmac the whole time I wouldnt worry about the road tyres. If your doing a bit of offroading, these tyres wont give you alot of confidence and the likely hood of punctures would be greater. Not sure if you can get tourances for your bike? These would be a good comprimise between on and off road. Probably 80% road and 20% offroad.

Sambo :thumbup1:

Edit: Also try this crowd The Visor Shop - in the north of Ireland. They have better prices for tyres and also shipping is free on anything over £100. You can then go to your local dealer and get him to fit the tyres for you. You should be able to save a few bob this way :thumbup1:

I have camped for many years in France, using the Green Michelin guide. I can honestly say that I have never been anywhere bad by using that book. The only really duff site I have ever been to in France (we didn't stay on it, we scarpered quick) was the one time we thought to ignore the Michelin and find our own. Some excellent, some merely OK, but never bad.

I rate the Camping Municipal very highly. They are usually run by the local authority, so they are a bit - well - municipal, but they are always clean and with good basic facilities, even if the locations are sometimes a bit naff.

If you don't want to plan ahead (and I never do), just start looking for somewhere about 4 pm. Using this method, I have never been without somewhere to lay my head. Travelling out of season, you might want to check which sites are open first, but otherwise just go with the flow and enjoy.

The French 'do' camping really well - there's no country like it.

I'm off across France in early September so am grateful the advice on this thread. Have picked up a copy of the Michelin guide. Fear of communication problems has lead me to rush through France in the past on the autoroute, this time I intend to stick to the normal roads and enjoy myself.

Cool! How early? I'm going on the 12th... alone now. All 4 people on my trip pulled out... friends :thumbdown:

Can't wait, although I'll find it a bit daunting as my first time travelling alone.

One quick question, what is 'unleaded' in French? Is it 'Sans-plomb' or have I got the complete wrong end of the internet french phrasebook? I just wanna make sure I don't completely mess things up by putting the wrong fuel in.

In fact, are there any other typical mistakes that people make that could have seriously consequences that people can think off (words or pictures that people missunderstand)?

Yes, 'sans plomb' is unleaded, one thing is DO NOT commit any traffic offence as the on the spot fine will be greater than the autoroute charges!

Cool, thanks for clearing that up.
Funnily enough my Used Bike Magazine has a section this month one what not to do in France as far as the law is concerned.

In fact, are there any other typical mistakes that people make that could have seriously consequences that people can think off (words or pictures that people missunderstand)?[/QUOTE]

Don't worry too much about the french language, take your phrase book and try - it's the most important thing, you will find most locals will try to help out and as for traveling alone it didn't do Ted Simon any harm!!!:cool4:

Enjoy your trip and keep the forum updated on anything interesting on your trip
cheers
SteveH

Sounds obvious but be very careful pulling out of petrol stations etc to remember what side of the road you should be on, and be aware of the priorite a droite rule on some roads (vehicles have priority joining from side road).

You mean people coming out of side roads onto the main have priority?

Also, thanks SteveH for your comments also.

"You mean people coming out of side roads onto the main have priority?"

Yes. If they're to your right (so not on the opposite side of the road). Scary eh?

But - and it's a big but - *only* where there are no markings to the contrary, which is rare. Generally it functions like UK, where the principal road has priority; side roads have a STOP sign or a solid white line indicating "give way". The priority to the right functions like a default setting - in the absence of all other indications, this is the case.

Places to be extra careful are:

1. Suburbs, where no one's gotten around to painting the lines on the road
2. Parking areas, ditto.
3. *Some* roundabouts - Paris for ex. Other roundabouts - exiting freeways etc - will be like the UK where priority is given to those on the roundabout. Look for signs.

The priority regime is pretty difficult. There are other indications, like junction signs and yellow diamonds that alter the heirarchy of priority further. But most French drivers don't understand them. Those who've recently passed their test ignore them.

So it's an even playing field. It works beause driving here has a very different spirit - the rules mean a whole lot less, (partly because they are so hard to operate). There is little expectation that others will adhere strictly to them.

In my town, Nantes, there are loads of roundabouts, and I don't think I have ever seen anyone use them "properly". Hell, they're even designed with major errors. People muddle through. Easy does it. It's less productive than UK (people don't "make progress" as efficiently) but I wouldn't call it dangerous. Don't assume; don't be brash; DO have a good look.

What this means in practice is that no one will pull out on you from the right as you're zipping along at 90 kilometres/h because they have priority. They'll have a whole other set of reasons :)

Simon

OK that clears a few things up *gulps*

Did'nt mean to put the wind up you there 'Terramax' , i have always found the french to be very courtious drivers with respect to the motorcyclist, much better than the uk in my opinion. One other thing, i believe the speed limits entering towns/villages etc begin from the sign with the town name on it in most cases.

This is correct and can catch you out. The town signs are a 30mph ( 50kmph) limit, unless there is a different number after the sign. When you leave a town, you will see the name crossed out on a sign. This is the end of the speed limit UNLESS there is a speed limit sign to the contrary.

Jut read through this thread all very helpful info guys, thanks! I'm a bit worried about going in October now, sounds like it may be a bit harder to find places to stay!

It's worth having a browse through here:

France (other than Alps, Pyrenees) - ::. UKGSer.com .::

Some pretty good info. Including a solution to the great Petrol Pumps Don't Take UK Credit Cards On A Sunday So I Am Stuck In The Middle Of Nowhere problem. Hurrah. :D

(I have sent you a PM)

Simon

the others are right regarding the priority to the right rule, it is the default setting in the absence of ALL other markings. If you're not in a built up area a priority to the right junction will be signalled in advance by a warning triangle roadsign, white triangle, red border with a big black "X" in the middle. That means that the next road / trail / goat track, joining from your right, has priority! :eek3:

hi all, mario here on my first post to this respected forum...

a question for Terramax, if you're still around: did you go on this trip afterall, on your own? i am heading out there end of september and this particular post is remarkably relevant. wondering if you have anything to share after all this time?

would be great to hear from you, or anyone else that have toured and camped or budgeted their way through france and on to spain and back to london...

cheers, mario.