Can we book a French tour at the last minute?

[muttley]

While on the subject of France, we are planning a 2-3 week trip in July. Given the horrendous weather this year, I would prefer to wait until the last minute before booking anything.

I have never travelled to France in the summer holidays - do you think it is a bit risky to leave it that late, or do you think I will get the Chunnel & campsites booked easily enough? We are not planning to go to the really touristy parts, I prefer mountains & rivers to beaches. We would also aim to stay on small, quiet campsites (but not aires - which I think are just carparks - is that right?)

There seems to be a lot of good advice on here about France, so I will ask for more help regarding destinations & tours nearer the time.

Thanks,
Simon

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

The tunnel will be fine for a standard vehicle, its when you are towing that you need to book early as it gets booked up early - We have just book to tow our boat down to Annecy in August, if we eft it a couple of months it would have started to get booked up.

Reference the campsites, that is a different matter as they do tend to get booked up very early, but Im sure you will find something, but couldnt guarantee it

HTH

 

[Martin]

As Oli says, the French campsites get booked up very early, if you leave it until the last minute you will have limited options but because there are so many campsites in France you will find somwhere but maybe not your first choice.

 

[muttley]

Thanks, I suppose that was to be expected, but I am a total newbie as far as camping is concerned.

I am going to risk waiting though, as two weeks in the Cali in the pouring rain would just be a disaster. For me, the whole point of having the campervan is to have the freedom to go where we want, when we want. If we like an area we can stay there, if not we can move on. If we have to book everything ahead we lose all that freedom. I am probably being very naive, but I like to think we can wing it.

Expect a posting in July saying that we spent two weeks staying in truck stops and carparks, and that I should have listened!

Thanks,
Simon

 

[Martin]

Simon, we do the same and leave it to the last minute for various reasons including looking to see where the sun will be shining! searching for a campsite does take a bit longer but we have still ended up in some really nice campsites that would not normally have gone for.

 

[Harrythecat]

We are quite regular campers in France and other European countries, either on motorbikes or more recently with the Cali. We never book and have never failed to find a site.

If you prefer the mountains and are happy with 'standard' facilities (shower and toilets, perhaps somewhere to eat) rather than all singing, all dancing sites with pool and added facilities you should be fine.

Some of the best sites are a little bit off the beaten track in small towns, or even some of the municipal sites in larger towns although these can be variable.

We have on occasions found ourselves on lovely sites in the countryside with no shop or restaurant facilities purely because the clientele, mainly French and Dutch families, tend to bring everything with them. That's less of a problem in the van than it is for hungry bikers looking for food and a cold beer!

 

[NickE]

We camped across Europe last summer for a month, moving on every few days. We never booked and never had a problem. We also booked our Dover-Dunkirk DFDS ferry just a week before sailing in August and it was still only £45 single.
If you're happy with the simple life, there are squillions of basic, cheap (but great!) sites in France.
The only time we found a "Full" sign (in France), we went in to ask about other sites. They said, "Why not stay here?" We said, "What about the sign?'. They said, "Oh, dont worry about that." !

 

[Combi74]

Hello Simon,

I often tour in France and I did it for years before getting my Cali. I never booked any spot in advance
If you travel light (tent or Cali) you can find a place fairly easly almost everywhere. Try to avoid for sure 4-star campsites with all facilities and swimming-pool.

We traveled for 3 weeks in August last year at the worst period of the touristic season and we managed to find a place every time we decided to stay in a campsite. You might have to try in a few of them before finding availability but it should do.

Moreover, the more touristic the region the great number and choice of sites you find. It does also apply to mountains.

In the worse case, you can always spend an extra night autonomous with your Cali to wait for availabity the day after.

With the hope it helps.

 

[muttley]

Thanks for all the very helpful advice.

I have just bought the Wild Swimming France book, and am busy planning a rough route to encompass as many of the beautiful river gorges and lakes as possible.

I am sure there is a way of downloading campsites as POIs onto a TomTom, so I just need to work out how to do that, and I will be set!

Simon

 

[Combi74]

Working on the trip planning like that is already part of the holidays, IMO.