Overnight aires in France

[MrsC]

Quite unexpectedly we have just been informed we could be taking delivery of our new Beach in 3 weeks, after originally being told October!
Anyway, this potentially means we could collect it a day or two before we are due to set off for a 2 week holiday to the French Alps. Our current plan is driving our Nissan Navara with husband, and 3 kids. It’s a squash in the back (big reason why we ordered the Cali) and so we would be driving overnight, 8 hours straight from Calais to limit amount of time our young children are in the car and awake. We’ve found this to be better than driving long distances in the day.

But now, we have the possibility of getting a few hours sleep in an aire to break up the driving.
What are people’s experiences of doing this? Good idea or not?

Any must have first purchases for the Cali? We already had Jackyards seat covers on order so hopefully they’ll arrive in time!

 

[Jay20cali]

Stayed on many aires over many years in France but the Mrs refuses to sleep on the motorway ones,,the ones that don’t have services just a loo and many trucks ,she has been put off by reading stories I think but to be honest I’d probably stay on them no problem.
But if it’s possible it’s always better to stay on them in a town,that way you’ll get a bit of peice of mind and probably a bar/restaurant near by...my first purchase would be a cadac safari chef then a cool box for BEER.

 

[mrcheesbrough]

Taking a break would certainly make the journey part of your holiday too. There are plenty of very good aires in quiet towns and villages that aren't too far off the beaten track. Not all have facilities though so one of your first purchases may need to be a Porta-Potti. This is a very good website to check where you might be able to stop en route.

 

[Hotel California]

Take note that some aires are just parkingplaces next to each other , sleeping with 5 in a Beach fully loaded without unloading stuff....?

 

[Amarillo]

We did this on a drive to the Costa Brava over half term. Left home after school at 3.30, on the shuttle by 5. Drive until 1am, pulled into an aire and literally ten minutes later were all in bed.

Our two feral boys (aged 4 and 5) slept on the extended parcel shelf:


We'd packed in such a way that not too much would need unpacking.

If you have three children, two could go on the parcel shelf and one on the bench seat, then you won't have to shift too much luggage around to make the big Beach bed.

But note: you'll need to manufacture something to extend the parcel shelf. We rest a plywood plank on top of some custom size storage crates.

 

[MrsC]

We did this on a drive to the Costa Brava over half term. Left home after school at 3.30, on the shuttle by 5. Drive until 1am, pulled into an aire and literally ten minutes later were all in bed.

Our two feral boys (aged 4 and 5) slept on the extended parcel shelf:
View attachment 47318

We'd packed in such a way that not too much would need unpacking.

If you have three children, two could go on the parcel shelf and one on the bench seat, then you won't have to shift too much luggage around to make the big Beach bed.

But note: you'll need to manufacture something to extend the parcel shelf. We rest a plywood plank on top of some custom size storage crates.

My two youngest (4&5) are also somewhat feral! They don’t know we’re getting the Cali so it is just going to to be the most exciting thing! Do you use blankets or sleeping bags for the kids? We will definitely want quick and easy at 2am.

 

[MrsC]

Take note that some aires are just parkingplaces next to each other , sleeping with 5 in a Beach fully loaded without unloading stuff....?

The good thing is that this holiday was pre booked so not camping and therefore just usual holiday packing. We ordered the bike rack as an extra at time of purchase so could always buy one of the bike rack storage bags too.

 

[MrsC]

Stayed on many aires over many years in France but the Mrs refuses to sleep on the motorway ones,,the ones that don’t have services just a loo and many trucks ,she has been put off by reading stories I think but to be honest I’d probably stay on them no problem.
But if it’s possible it’s always better to stay on them in a town,that way you’ll get a bit of peice of mind and probably a bar/restaurant near by...my first purchase would be a cadac safari chef then a cool box for BEER.

I think my husband would agree! I had also heard some pretty grim stories of overnight aires, hence the question but I’d like to think that’s very unlikely, especially if at a big services aire.

 

[2haw]

We are a family of 5 with a Beach and last year we all slept in the van fully loaded on the way back in France.
My partner was upstairs with our 12 year old and 5 year old, me and our 7 year old downstairs. We flipped the rear bench back forward and slept on the seat back and multiflex with mattress.

Had 3 kids bikes and all luggage inside. Had a good nights sleep aswell!

 

[Jason wallace]

My wife is the same and would not feel safe in some of the aires on the motorway/toll roads.

Last summer on the way back from Austria we just chose one of the nicer full service aires and parked up outside the main building.....popped the top and the girls (wife and twins) went up for a kip. I reclined the bench and grabbed a few hours. Slightly noisier.....but she felt a lot safer.

 

[Hotel California]

For the record , to me an aires is a legitiment camperparking where you can stay overnight (for free) in a village or near a parking at a lake , sportcenter , cityhall , ....
Sleeping on motorway parking is not an aires.

 

[Amarillo]

I think my husband would agree! I had also heard some pretty grim stories of overnight aires, hence the question but I’d like to think that’s very unlikely, especially if at a big services aire.

Both the aires we stayed in were perfectly adequate. You can look at them on Google Maps satellite view and get a picture in your mind of how they will be.

I think that in general peage aires are better maintained than free motorway aires.

The aire we stayed at on our return journey had parking bays at the picnic area some distance from the motorway and toilet block.

 

[andyinluton]

When travelling in August in France we have found that half the population seem to sleep at the Peage service stations. Tend to be noisy but feel safe as there are so many people around. One we stopped at last year had kids in popup tents sleeping in front of the cars on the footpaths.

When the Mrs/ Kids moan at what a bad night they've had (I can sleep like a log anywhere) you just have to point to all the cars invariably fully loaded with people trying to sleep sitting up & crammed full of luggage....

Some of the "parking only" motorway services tend to be a bit too quiet to be 100% comfortable but usually ok in the holiday season.
There are some I've stopped at happily in August that I've decided against on an Easter break.

I appreciate the sentiment of finding nice village centre Aires, but if its 1 in the morning & pitch black, the last thing I want to be doing is a scenic tour of the countryside.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

When travelling in August in France we have found that half the population seem to sleep at the Peage service stations. Tend to be noisy but feel safe as there are so many people around. One we stopped at last year had kids in popup tents sleeping in front of the cars on the footpaths.

When the Mrs/ Kids moan at what a bad night they've had (I can sleep like a log anywhere) you just have to point to all the cars invariably fully loaded with people trying to sleep sitting up & crammed full of luggage....

Some of the "parking only" motorway services tend to be a bit too quiet to be 100% comfortable but usually ok in the holiday season.
There are some I've stopped at happily in August that I've decided against on an Easter break.

I appreciate the sentiment of finding nice village centre Aires, but if its 1 in the morning & pitch black, the last thing I want to be doing is a scenic tour of the countryside.

We are the same and now always stop overnight in the Peage services on the way to SW France, and try to park fairly close to the shop so we are in a well lit busy area. All have CCTV so likely to be avoided by thieves. There are always other vans doing the same, so safety in numbers.

Agree, that some of the Aires seem too quiet so we now avoid them as our van always loaded with kit (bikes, boards, roofbox etc. ), so would rather put up with a bit of noise than lose our toys!

 

[Ch1pbutty]

For the record , to me an aires is a legitiment camperparking where you can stay overnight (for free) in a village or near a parking at a lake , sportcenter , cityhall , ....
Sleeping on motorway parking is not an aires.

There are different types:

Motorhome stopovers, known as Aires, are mostly public parking areas and some private land where motorhome and campervan users may stop overnight for free or for a small fee. Aires symbolise the freedom of motorhoming. You are welcomed into local communities, where you can stay overnight at unique locations available only to motorhome travellers.

Far more frequent than full-scale service areas are much smaller "aires de repos" which are in essence just off-road parking areas where drivers can pause for a break, a picknick or other essentials.

 

[flying banana]

Camping Strasbourg let you overnight in their car park. For a fee of about 20e and then you can use all campsite facilities. Also walking distance to town. I reckon that's about half way to the Alps

 

[bigmac77]

We don’t tend to use aires much but we do use municipal camping sites. There are loads of them, they are cheap, often in excellent locations, usually have space without booking even in the school holidays and one night stays are fine.

CAMPINGS MUNICIPAUX FRANCE I Retrouvez les Campings Municipaux en France sur cartes

www.camping-municipal.org

 

[Melanie Day]

We tended to limit the amount of driving during the night, as although it wont effect my child as he will be asleep in the car seat - when its the next day and your tired its not great trying to look after an energetic small child.

We found really nice ASCII sites that were 20EUR so maybe make a couple of nights extra on your holiday??

 

[tanne]

Quite unexpectedly we have just been informed we could be taking delivery of our new Beach in 3 weeks, after originally being told October!
Anyway, this potentially means we could collect it a day or two before we are due to set off for a 2 week holiday to the French Alps. Our current plan is driving our Nissan Navara with husband, and 3 kids. It’s a squash in the back (big reason why we ordered the Cali) and so we would be driving overnight, 8 hours straight from Calais to limit amount of time our young children are in the car and awake. We’ve found this to be better than driving long distances in the day.

But now, we have the possibility of getting a few hours sleep in an aire to break up the driving.
What are people’s experiences of doing this? Good idea or not?

Any must have first purchases for the Cali? We already had Jackyards seat covers on order so hopefully they’ll arrive in time!

along the motorways there are roadsigns mentioning 'village d'etappe'
those villages are near the motorway and have a free camper parking .
often they are next to police station, library or sportshall

( there is a list on the website too )

 

[rod_vw]

We are currently in France and always use Aires BUT NEVER ON MOTORWAYS! Many have warned us off using such places for over night stops and some years ago our son had his camper broken into whilst he was asleep parked on one.

There are thousands of good rural Aires in France and almost as many websites listing and describing them. My personal choice of these is Search for Sites at the moment but there are plenty more.

Just a few instances of how good these can be...

Maxey-sur-Meuse - (48.44826,5.69555) - space for four campers by the village green, EHU, water, WC street light and FREE!
Baye - (47.164444,3.61925) - space for fourteen campers by a reservoir and canal, bar close by facilities will be complete within a month and look to all be FREE (WC, water, waste, EHU, lighting and drive over drain) - That was last night even though the facilities are not quite finished.

Just get over here, chill and enjoy, your 'nose' will tell you if a place is good to stop overnight.

Rod

 

[briwy]

Tonights aire.

 

[ejmoore]

Download the Camperstop app, & it's easy to find an 'aire du camping car' wherever you are. That's what you're looking for, not the motorway pull-off / service station.

 

[tanne]

[indeed, motorway parkings are not safe !

 

[Rob friedrich]

Quite unexpectedly we have just been informed we could be taking delivery of our new Beach in 3 weeks, after originally being told October!
Anyway, this potentially means we could collect it a day or two before we are due to set off for a 2 week holiday to the French Alps. Our current plan is driving our Nissan Navara with husband, and 3 kids. It’s a squash in the back (big reason why we ordered the Cali) and so we would be driving overnight, 8 hours straight from Calais to limit amount of time our young children are in the car and awake. We’ve found this to be better than driving long distances in the day.

But now, we have the possibility of getting a few hours sleep in an aire to break up the driving.
What are people’s experiences of doing this? Good idea or not?

Any must have first purchases for the Cali? We already had Jackyards seat covers on order so hopefully they’ll arrive in time!

Hello we have a house in Burgundy and travel a lot , we often sleep in the aires , however for safety always choose one with the petrol station and park close to it , lots of people do it , probably being doing for about 15 years

 

[Island Annie]

For the record , to me an aires is a legitiment camperparking where you can stay overnight (for free) in a village or near a parking at a lake , sportcenter , cityhall , ....
Sleeping on motorway parking is not an aires.

This is what the Aires for over night sleeping are, they have the same name but are not on the autoroutes .You can get books with all of them listed.