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France is called one of the crucial camper-friendly nations in Europe. However what’s tenting in France like? Simply as scrumptious and exquisite because it sounds!
This weblog will share a few of the high stuff you’ll have to know earlier than hopping into your motorhome.
Watch this video for the total scoop ⤵️
Driving
French roads may be slender, particularly in smaller villages, to the purpose the place it’s possible you’ll assume, “Is that this actually a two-way highway?” The reply might be sure. As you noticed within the video, it will probably get annoying quick!
However for probably the most half, driving customs in France are much like these in America. You’ll see pace restrict indicators (in kilometers), you’ll go slower visitors on the precise, and also you’ll keep throughout the strains of your lane whereas driving. You wouldn’t assume I would want so as to add that final one, however in the event you cross into Italy, you’ll instantly discover that the strains on the highway imply nothing to Italians. They drive the place they please!
You’ll see vehicles half parked within the driving lane and half parked on the sidewalk throughout France, however they do a minimum of keep of their lane whereas driving.
Associated: Planning a Tenting Journey in Italy
Toll Roads
Most main roads throughout France are toll roads. Image interstates or highways in America. These are all toll roads in France.
Typically, you’ll seize a toll ticket whenever you enter the toll highway and grasp onto it till you exit or come throughout a toll plaza. You may simply pay with a bank card—typically utilizing faucet to pay—and in case your French is rusty, press the British flag icon to modify the toll machine to English.
Extra not often, you’ll come to a toll sales space with a set price and an individual within the sales space. For instance, the tunnel within the Alps that connects France to Italy is manned and has a flat price of round $60. This can be a border crossing because you truly go the border whereas driving by means of the mountain, which is why this specific toll highway is manned.
That $60 border crossing was our greatest toll ticket, however on days the place we spent a few hours on toll roads, we often paid $20-$35 in charges. We opted for toll roads once we wanted to cowl a number of hundred miles shortly, however once we may, we up to date our settings in Google Maps to “Keep away from Toll Roads” to go by means of small French villages off the freeway.
The toll roads will provide many relaxation stops, often known as aires, the place you’ll be able to refuel, seize meals, have a picnic, and even let youngsters play on the playground. (When you’re searching for a style of dwelling, you’ll typically see McDonald’s and Starbucks at aires.)
Highway Indicators and Alerts
Typically, highway indicators in France are symbols that may be universally understood.
For instance, a Do Not Enter signal within the US will say Do Not Enter with a pink circle and a white line throughout the center. In France, will probably be a pink circle with a white line throughout the center and no phrases.
Not all indicators are the identical as their US counterparts, however they’re pretty self-explanatory. Crucial indicators to search for when RVing can be width, peak, and weight restriction indicators. These white and pink round indicators may have black triangles on the high and backside for peak or on the perimeters for width and say “2,3 m” to tell you of an upcoming restriction. A weight restriction signal will seemingly say 3,5t. (Test your RV weight earlier than renting, however try to be protected with this restriction! 3,5t was the load restrict we noticed most frequently.)
And sure, the place we use durations for decimals within the States, they use commas!
Visitors lights in France are similar to these within the US, with inexperienced, yellow, and pink lights. Lights are vertical, with inexperienced on the underside and pink on the high. Not like different neighboring nations, you gained’t see any flashing inexperienced or yellow lights. (Until you’re in a development zone, then they arrange yellow flashing lights.)
Gentle posts are sometimes posted on the identical facet of the road as you’re, making the sunshine unimaginable to see in the event you pull up too far at an intersection. We needed to again up a number of instances to see the publish. Nevertheless, you gained’t see pink lights fairly often in your travels. Most intersections throughout the nation are roundabouts, making driving that a lot simpler.
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Tenting Choices
France is understood for being one of the crucial camping-friendly nations on the planet, and it lives as much as its repute. We by no means struggled to discover a place to camp in a single day throughout our month of adventures. (Conversely, once we crossed over to Italy for a number of days, it was a lot tougher to seek out an open campsite!)
There are a number of methods to camp in a single day in France, and through our first few days on the highway (seen within the video above), we tried a number of.
France Ardour
Greater than the rest, we used France Ardour to seek out free campsites throughout France. France Ardour is a membership (about $35) that means that you can camp totally free at wineries and farms throughout France. (France Ardour impressed Harvest Hosts, the place you’ll be able to camp totally free at wineries in North America.)
It was extremely straightforward to seek out stunning locations to spend the night time! Actually, after driving throughout the nation, I’m fairly positive 99% of the French countryside is vineyards. Miles and miles of lovely vines. You may see why we selected this expertise again and again in our video evaluation of how France Ardour works.
Learn Subsequent: Why You Ought to (and The right way to!) Camp on Wineries in France
Dwelling Camper
Dwelling Camper is an app the place you’ll be able to keep in your motorhome at individuals’s properties/on their property—similar to HipCamp or Boondockers Welcome. You’ll want a self-contained RV (AKA your personal toilet), and also you’ll most likely wish to know somewhat French because you’ll be conversing with locals.
We used Dwelling Camper on our second night time within the RV to remain within the moderately massive yard of a champagne home in Epernay. This website provided electrical energy, bogs, showers, and playgrounds, however facilities fluctuate by website. Sure, a number of playgrounds! Our youngsters beloved it. The property was massive sufficient to stroll round and discover. We even obtained to get farm-fresh eggs from the hens!
The host had his champagne on the market, so we drank a bottle of their wine whereas tenting on their property. It doesn’t get extra native than that!
Wild Tenting
Boondocking is also known as wild tenting or freedom tenting overseas. In France, we used the Park4Night app to seek out boondocking spots (which additionally will present you websites throughout most of Europe). Within the video, we camped in a forest totally free and began our day mountain climbing one of many many trails that began from our free in a single day spot. Even higher, it was quarter-hour away from a fortress and a brief drive to a close-by village for morning pastries and occasional.
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Campgrounds
The very first thing that involves thoughts when RVing in France could be staying in conventional campgrounds. Just like an RV park or campground within the States, right here you’ll discover electrical energy, water, and sewer hookups, in addition to facilities like a bathhouse, playground, and laundry. RVing with a child and a toddler, we spent much more nights than we thought we might in campgrounds doing laundry whereas the children performed.
We had been stunned at how kid-friendly many campgrounds had been. At one particularly, there was a big outside tent full of toys for teenagers. Blocks, dolls, a kitchen, bikes, a trampoline, swimming pools! It all the time surprises us how family-friendly Europe is.
Campsites in campgrounds diversified. We stayed at one with stage, poured concrete websites (above). At one other, we had an unlevel grassy space with towering bushes on both facet. One other was a grassy space with vines separating websites. Really, quite a lot of campgrounds used grapevines to separate websites! (I’m telling you, 99% of the nation is rising grapes for wine!)
Typically, your campsite could be very easy in comparison with the States, so don’t anticipate an excessive amount of. However what the websites lack in improvement, the campground makes up for with contemporary baked items.
Oh sure! You may odor the croissants and pan au chocolat baking out of your campsite. All that butter and sugar wafts by means of the campground like freshly cooked bacon does in America. Heath swears the very best pastries of the month had been at a small campground in Lourdes, France, simply exterior Pyrenees Nationwide Park. We stayed there for 3 nights for “the proximity to the nationwide park,” however Heath isn’t fooling anybody. It was the croissants.
Aires
And lastly, aires. Sure, these relaxation stops that I discussed discovering off the toll roads? Lots of them provide in a single day tenting. This may be free or paid (often solely paid if providers are provided like electrical energy). We used Park4Night to seek out aires and thought of staying in a single day at one, however with little youngsters, car parking zone tenting is rather less engaging.
We didn’t truly keep in a single day at any aires throughout our journey, however we spent many afternoons dumping tanks, letting the children play, and grabbing meals. This brings me to at least one different key a part of RVing in France.
RV Providers
Within the States, tenting totally free creates a number of issues. The place are you going to refill your water? The place are you going to dump your black and gray tanks? Is there a spot to throw out your rubbish?!
For a lot of campers, the reply is to seize a campground for an evening and deal with the RV.
However in France, no want. You could find potable water, RV service stations, and plentiful public trash cans in most cities. Heck, you will discover sorted recycling bins in nearly each city, too! France lives as much as the hype, and discovering the providers we’d like for the RV was shockingly straightforward. We even discovered laundry providers exterior of some hypermarkets and fuel stations.
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That is additionally the place aires actually turn out to be essential. They’re the very best, best place to service your tanks, refuel (on fuel, diesel, and propane), and even take out the trash when you’re driving down the freeway.
RV Tenting in France
Navigating your manner across the nation and discovering locations to remain are the 2 greatest elements to determine earlier than your highway journey throughout France.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to maintain watching our RVing in France collection and be taught extra about the place to camp and what to do whereas tenting in France.
Have you considered tenting in France earlier than? It’s rising in recognition for worldwide vacationers like us, and it has blown us away!