Camping in France tips and recommendations please

[aubergineterrine]

Husband and I are camping in France for the first time and haven't gone camping for years. Plan to do a road trip across to the West coast, down to Pyrenees, across the South coast then up through the alps over roughly 3 weeks in May/ June. I would love to have some tips and recommendations on;

where to stay
what to see/ do
camp sites/ do's and don'ts
route/ driving

anything really that you think will be helpful, thank you in advance.

Last time we camped in France, I was shocked that the very modern campsite loos had toilets with no seats & that the male urinals were barely screened off from the washing up area. It came as a bit of a surprise 😂

If you are using electric hook up you might need an adaptor.

There are municipal sites everywhere which you can just turn up at. They can be fairly basic but are often located next to the town swimming pool which you can use. If you want a bigger site with more facilities you will probably be ok without booking outside of the school holidays but you might want to phone to check.

If you want to do West Coast, South coast and Alps that is a lot of driving. Plan out your route before you go and check if it's manageable. DH and I did 3 weeks in a campervan several years ago. We went from Calais, down through the Alps to Provence then back up through Burgundy. We stayed 1-3 nights in each place and still found it was a lot of driving. I would say either so West Coast and South West Coast or Alps and South East Coast. Driving in France is easy but it is a big place.

Get a toll tag if you're planning on using a lot of motorways.

Look up 'Priorite a Droite' before you go.

Don't plan on doing a supermarket shop or get fuel on a Sunday afternoon because the supermarkets will be shut (some filling stations are pay at pump though).

Change your sat nav from miles into km before you get off the ferry.

Not all campsites provide toilet roll so take some as a back up.

Thank you for the tips. When you say municipal sites are basic do they have showers or are you saying you can shower at swimming pool? We just want somewhere fairly quiet and picturesque with loos/ showers and maybe an on site shop with croissants in the morning :)

Yes it's difficult to know how much driving is too much as we've never done it before so thanks for the advice, sounds like we need to focus in on the areas we are most keen to explore.

Thanks for this will definitely get a toll tag for the motorways and Sunday opening would never have thought of that so could have been caught out.

Municipal sites will have showers and toilets. They just are unlikely to have eg their own restaurant or swimming pool. They are usually very good value.

Also probably won't have their own shop but most of them are located within walking distance of the local bakery.

@aubergineterrine
We got caught out the first time we went to France. We decided to move campsites on a Sunday not realising that everywhere shut. So we were unable to do a supermarket shop on the way as planned and there was nobody manning the reception at campsite until the following morning so we just had to drive round to find a vacant pitch and hope we didn't get into trouble!

As a previous poster has said, not all campsites have shops but you can normally order bread and pastries each evening for collection the following morning. They often get delivered to the campsite from a local bakery.

That's a hell of a long way to go in three weeks. France is big!

We got caught out on our first trip in 1999 with underestimating distance and time required. Looked at the map and thought we were planning on about 200 miles from site (a) to (b).

I'd not realized that the Michelin in the red cover was 1:1,000,000 whereas a UK, or at least England only, one was probably half million or less. This was pre satnav and it was only the evening before when I was working out a route and lifting/adding point to point distances that I twigged it was nearer 400 miles - with long sections on N roads as there were fewer autoroutes back then.

Left a sparrow fart and attained our destination at 9pm pitching in half light.

You live and learn...

Get an ASCI card fir discount, off peak includes June. We've just come back from Normandy and would have saved € if we had one. We recently did 1400 miles on a scotland trip and it was too much. In France we intended to do less and stay 2 to 3 nights at each place. We had a problem with campervan so in the end spent 10 days in Normandy and it was so relaxing.
We used the searchforsites app (£5.99?) and just found our next site the day before. They had lots of spaces. Some have indoor pools and by beach too for about €23 a night with ehu.

Also a Revolut card or similar to avoid exchange rates.
Depending where you're going you need a critair certificate for your car window too.

Forgot to add that most pools don't allow swimming shorts!

Electric adapter is a good shout. French sites seem to be gradually adopting the 3 pin connectors we use on CAMC etc sites in the UK but not yet universal. Lot still use a French domestic type connector.

Check how many amps the supply is. Can be very low in some places, one last year was 5 amps, only enough for basic stuff like lights and fridge.

Thats a lot of driving in 3 weeks. We have just come back from a trip to the Vendee and Isle de Rey which took 2 weeks. France is a big country and you will need really consider the driving days to stop over days.

You will get very little enjoyment or opportunity to see/do much from 3 weeks of driving 4 plus hours a day and single night stop overs. If its your first time I would pick one area ie West coast/Vendee, do some research route plan around your must see/do things.

Are you tenting/caravan/campervanning? This will impact your choices of sites etc.

May/June you can use acsi camping card where sites offer it so you can get sites around €20 a night or municipal sites which charge about the same but these tend to be basic so don't offer the extras of pool, bar restaurant etc.

If you have a campervan or motorhome you can use aires which are like secure carparks which usually have access to fresh water and toilet emptying for around €15 a night. Tents and caravans cannot use these though.

If you are needing electric hook up you may need an old fashioned French adapter and a reverse polarity tester plus a reverse polarity correcting cable.

Supermarkets shut on Sundays, some are open Sunday mornings but you need to check.

A lot of French motorways are toll roads. You can pay by card or get a an electronic tag device linked to a credit card account. Its quite easy to apply and set up in advance.

If you have a campervan or motorhome you probably need a crit air certificate otherwise you cant drive in/around some of the cities/ring roads due to air pollution controls.

Oh yes - a lot of open air mixed set toilets, no loo seats and take your own paper in the cheaper sites and municipals.