Hi we are looking to travel to south of france (me, him and 2 kids) in
our motorhome, will be going from dover to calais then onto south
france with a few overnight stops. anyone know of any good cheapish
sites (with pool) in south of france and along the way. all the ones
ive looked up on net are quoting near £800 a week.

we have never been to france b4. Would you recomend booking or just
get in and go? see where we end up lol. Ive heard there are camp sites
everywhere but do we take the chance? Over here we just pull up and
sleep at a road side but dont know the rules over there.

Any help would be great

Thanks

wrote in message 
news:5a337fdb-0464-451a-aa66-f09b84d0b93a@m73g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
Hi we are looking to travel to south of france (me, him and 2 kids) in
our motorhome, will be going from dover to calais then onto south
france with a few overnight stops. anyone know of any good cheapish
sites (with pool) in south of france and along the way. all the ones
ive looked up on net are quoting near £800 a week.

we have never been to france b4. Would you recomend booking or just
get in and go? see where we end up lol. Ive heard there are camp sites
everywhere but do we take the chance? Over here we just pull up and
sleep at a road side but dont know the rules over there.

Any help would be great

Done this a few times so here goes some ideas from experience

1. Buy the Camperstop 2008 book, it's full of free and very cheap places to 
stay.
2. Use motorway aires with caution, stay in the well lit areas and avoid 
those close to big cities, especially Lyon, Orleans & Paris.
3. In the first 2 weeks of August the south of France is packed, and the 
French really know how to pack a campsite.
4. Consider going via Belgium, Luxembourg and the motoways in the other 
countries just to the east of France, it'll save you a fortune in tolls and, 
if you go into Switzerland, give you a chance to see some scenery you 
wouldn't otherwise see.
5. Consider the Ardeche rather than the south coast, the weather is the same 
if a little hotter and the lakes and rivers are geared up for swimming and 
watersports.  A big commercial site we stayed at which was good was Yelloh 
(about £40 per night) and at the complete other end of the scale we spent 4 
nights on a free aire in a fantastic spot on the edge of a village 
overlooking the river then another couple of free nights at Anduze at the 
steam railway station.
6. Consider the kids, they're a pain in the morning if there's absolutely 
nothing to do because you've stopped at a motorway service station.

Going from caravanning to camper-vanning took a bit of time for us to get 
the best out of it.  Don't try and use a camper van like a caravan, ie 
driving hard and fast to just one or two destinations then staying there for 
a fortnight.  Stay at several different places, sometimes driving late 
evening to the next stop so the kids are asleep while you're on the road and 
don't do big, long drives.

Good luck.

Andy R

On Jul 21, 3:33 pm, "Andy R"  wrote:
>  wrote in message
>
> news:5a337fdb-0464-451a-aa66-f09b84d0b93a@m73g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> Hi we are looking to travel to south of france (me, him and 2 kids) in
> our motorhome, will be going from dover to calais then onto south
> france with a few overnight stops. anyone know of any good cheapish
> sites (with pool) in south of france and along the way. all the ones
> ive looked up on net are quoting near £800 a week.
>
> we have never been to france b4. Would you recomend booking or just
> get in and go? see where we end up lol. Ive heard there are camp sites
> everywhere but do we take the chance? Over here we just pull up and
> sleep at a road side but dont know the rules over there.
>
> Any help would be great
>
> Done this a few times so here goes some ideas from experience
>
> 1. Buy the Camperstop 2008 book, it's full of free and very cheap places to
> stay.
> 2. Use motorway aires with caution, stay in the well lit areas and avoid
> those close to big cities, especially Lyon, Orleans & Paris.
> 3. In the first 2 weeks of August the south of France is packed, and the
> French really know how to pack a campsite.
> 4. Consider going via Belgium, Luxembourg and the motoways in the other
> countries just to the east of France, it'll save you a fortune in tolls and,
> if you go into Switzerland, give you a chance to see some scenery you
> wouldn't otherwise see.
> 5. Consider the Ardeche rather than the south coast, the weather is the same
> if a little hotter and the lakes and rivers are geared up for swimming and
> watersports.  A big commercial site we stayed at which was good was Yelloh
> (about £40 per night) and at the complete other end of the scale we spent 4
> nights on a free aire in a fantastic spot on the edge of a village
> overlooking the river then another couple of free nights at Anduze at the
> steam railway station.
> 6. Consider the kids, they're a pain in the morning if there's absolutely
> nothing to do because you've stopped at a motorway service station.
>
> Going from caravanning to camper-vanning took a bit of time for us to get
> the best out of it.  Don't try and use a camper van like a caravan, ie
> driving hard and fast to just one or two destinations then staying there for
> a fortnight.  Stay at several different places, sometimes driving late
> evening to the next stop so the kids are asleep while you're on the road and
> don't do big, long drives.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Andy R

Hi Andy
Thanks for the advice and your time, we thought south france cos we
thought thats where the weather is but if you think Ardeche (where
ever that may be) is the same if not hotter we could end up there. :o)
We plan on doing a few short stops. we thought if we left calais and
had a final site to put in our sat nav we would then just see what
else we came across on the way. we are planning on leaving uk on the
16th Aug. so thankfully not the 1st 2weeks which u say is busy.
I will search the web for sites in ardeche and hope for the best. If
you have any more info would be greatful. Many Thanks

Tarandy@sky.com wrote:
> On Jul 21, 3:33 pm, "Andy R"  wrote:

> We plan on doing a few short stops. we thought if we left calais and
> had a final site to put in our sat nav we would then just see what
> else we came across on the way. 

if you can download POI lists to your sat nav you might take a look at:

www.womo-sp.org

more than 2500 spots for overnight stay in F are listed there.

France offers a quality of aires between a simple parking
spot and a fully featured campground, often without charge.
A quality rarely to be found in UK. Sometimes You'd need to buy some
"jetons" for the "born" (water/dumping unit) sometimes (at 1 or 2 Euro).
Most time you can buy this coins at the "mairie" which is
different from the "hotel de ville" (city hall)


Additionaly there are hundreds of "camping municipal"
at reasonable rates. Watch out for the signs.

> we are planning on leaving uk on the
> 16th Aug. 

this might be about the end of the hi season in France
(a bit different every year).

>  If you have any more info would be greatful. 

some motorways are free of charge, e.g. south of
Clermon-Ferrant, only toll for the (Europe's highest)
motorway bridge in Millau. Or use the N10 (Route National)
Paris-Bordeaux-Aquitaine
which is at motorway quality but tollfree.

enjoy your trip

Dario