Overview of French Aires Network and Prices (1 Viewer)

[Kups]

This information is from Alan who runs Motorhoming France Newsletter. interesting survey by Le Monde magazine as well.
Average price for aires is 11.20 euros per night or £9.58 per night.

Interesting to compare that price with UK CLs and the UK's emerging Aire network which seems to be settling around £10 per night.


RECORD YEAR FOR CAMPINGCARPARK

The French aires company, CampingCarPark has reported that in 2023, the network recorded 3,327,015 overnight individual stays in France, or 35% more than in 2022, meaning that 1.32 million vehicles have used them. In 2023, the network took over the management of 76 new aires in France, to reach a total of 427. Taking into consideration the overall number of nights, this means that each aire has accumulated 7,791 stays on average over the calendar year or 21.35 stays per day.

2023 AIRES SURVEY

The French motorhome magazine ‘Le Monde du Camping-Car’ has just completed its annual survey of aires in France & has come up with the following results:

The number of completely free aires in France is now 1,120, 23 down from last year.

The average price for an aire including services is €11.20/ night, €1 more than last year

The average price for water is €2.36 for a fill up

The average price for water & electric is €3.95, €0.17 more than last year.

The most expensive aire in France is Les Belleville in Savoy at €28/ night including services.

The departments with most aires are Morbihan (114), Charente-Maritime (103) & Finistere (99)

 

[nicholsong]

But that average is only for paid aires for that company.

If one took the average including free aires and municipal ones that charge as little as €3(plus maybe something for water and EHU, if you want it.) the average would be much less.

 

[Emmit]

Can I ask anyone on here if they can help with attempting to obtain a Pass etapes card.

I'm Registered with Camping Car Park but have never had a Card.

I can get to the page where it says 'Buy your card' and, towards the bottom it has
Blue Band across the screen that says,"Pass Steps 5euros plus shipping" but there is no link.
In the middle of the screen (same blue band) it offers an opp. to 'Top up with a suggested 80 Emus
but when I click that (my thinking was that the card would come with the Top up already on it,)
but when I click on the link to add to the Cart, I get an 'Error' box.

PS. If I click the 'How it works' it gives me options to click (via 'the finger' but nothing happens?

 

[chaser]

Just go to your first stop and it will give you one out of the machine.

 

[nicholsong]

Just go to your first stop and it will give you one out of the machine.

We failed to get one that way, even with the help of a kind Frenchman and talking to the help desk.

We gave up but later thought maybe the French do not like Polish Debit Cards.

We have never been back to CCP.

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[The Wino]

But that average is only for paid aires for that company.

If one took the average including free aires and municipal ones that charge as little as €3(plus maybe something for water and EHU, if you want it.) the average would be much less.

I'm not so sure why would they list the number of free aires if they're not in the calculation?

 

[dunnah01]

Interesting to compare that price with UK CLs and the UK's emerging Aire network which seems to be settling around £10 per night.

Never got anywhere near to £10/n in the UK even without electricity, most are £20+. In 2022 we stayed for a month on French aires for a total of 2 euros before spends. We paid more on the last trip because we needed electric every other night but still averaged well under a tenner per night.

 

[Kups]

But that average is only for paid aires for that company.

If one took the average including free aires and municipal ones that charge as little as €3(plus maybe something for water and EHU, if you want it.) the average would be much less.

No, the second piece of information was not about the CCP network it was by a magazine so pretty authoritative: The French motorhome magazine ‘Le Monde du Camping-Car’ has just completed its annual survey of aires in France

 

[Kybod]

Can I ask anyone on here if they can help with attempting to obtain a Pass etapes card.

I'm Registered with Camping Car Park but have never had a Card.

I can get to the page where it says 'Buy your card' and, towards the bottom it has
Blue Band across the screen that says,"Pass Steps 5euros plus shipping" but there is no link.
In the middle of the screen (same blue band) it offers an opp. to 'Top up with a suggested 80 Emus
but when I click that (my thinking was that the card would come with the Top up already on it,)
but when I click on the link to add to the Cart, I get an 'Error' box.

PS. If I click the 'How it works' it gives me options to click (via 'the finger' but nothing happens?

There seems to be a problem with the English language webpage. When I click on the ' add to cart' link nothing happens. However, when I change the website to the french language the site moves forward to the next step.
I bought my card through the English website last year without an issue and it arrived at my address within the week.

 

[WESTY66]

Average price for French Aires €11.20!!
Don’t tell uncle Lenny HB

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[Emmit]

There seems to be a problem with the English language webpage. When I click on the ' add to cart' link nothing happens. However, when I change the website to the french language the site moves forward to the next step.
I bought my card through the English website last year without an issue and it arrived at my address within the week.

Thank you very much for this Information.

Scraping the rust off my schoolboy french, I was able to apply for the carte, (see!!!) in the original
language and look forward to receiving it in the near future.

Regards

Derek

 

[suavecarve]

I m fairly certain searchforsites had over 4,000 free Aires on their system in France only a couple of months ago.
They also don't have anywhere near the 600 or so Aires in Brittany which are readily available from their tourist office.

 

[suavecarve]

Camper contact has 3326 free Aires in France

 

[Lenny HB]

Average price for French Aires €11.20!!
Don’t tell uncle Lenny HB

Not the ones we stay at, that's campsite prices.

 

[Dart]

I m fairly certain searchforsites had over 4,000 free Aires on their system in France only a couple of months ago.
They also don't have anywhere near the 600 or so Aires in Brittany which are readily available from their tourist office.

I too think the number of free aires quoted in the Le Monde du Camping Car survey sounds way too low so I imagine they are only counting aires with services whereas searchforsites etc include the more basic aires without services.

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[Jo662]

Just go to your first stop and it will give you one out of the machine.

That’s how we got ours

 

[Kups]

I m fairly certain searchforsites had over 4,000 free Aires on their system in France only a couple of months ago.
They also don't have anywhere near the 600 or so Aires in Brittany which are readily available from their tourist office.

Le Mondeo magazine has just published it's 2024 guide to French Aires so it's done a lot of work in listing these sites. It is major publishing company so it's information should be reliable.
Perhaps it has difference listing criteria to the App companies.

Toutes les étapes 100 % camping-car : le Guide national des aires de services 2024 est en vente ! - Le Monde du Camping-Car

Il est en vente. Le Guide national des aires de services est une référence pour tous les camping-caristes. Il réunit toutes les étapes délivrant au minimum les services de vidanges et plein d’eau (et souvent le stationnement). Un guide en papier pratique et indispensable pour réussir vos voyages...

www.lemondeducampingcar.fr

Google translate gives you the English version.

 

[dawsey]

Lies, damn lies and…

We have just gone through another winter in France staying on public aires and paying €0.00 per night (on average) inc water and draining. Go figure. Everytime in UK, and that’s where I come from, I find it virtually impossible to find somewhere to get water or properly drain for free, let alone officially and safely camp/park for free. The numbers, as so often when ‘stats’ are wheeled out……complete and utter tosh.

 

[Kups]

Lies, damn lies and…

We have just gone through another winter in France staying on public aires and paying €0.00 per night (on average) inc water and draining. Go figure.

Le Mondeo reports 1,120 free Aires how many did you stay on?

 

[dawsey]

Le Mondeo reports 1,120 free Aires how many did you stay on?

Dunno. We don’t count. But we have been living ‘for free’ in france for over a year. Comparing france and UK for how motorhomers are regarded and treated is like comparing how it is to live in any country if you are a native or a foreigner.

In UK, in a camper you are one of the folks arriving on the dingys. You are utter scum and treated as such. In France you are a citizen with rights. Sorry but this is just fact.

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[Kups]

Dunno. We don’t count. But we have been living ‘for free’ in france for over a year. Comparing france and UK for how motorhomers are regarded and treated os like comparing how it is to live in any country if you are a native or a foreigner.

Good for you. Enjoy the country, hope you're counting your 90 days correctly. Totally different attitude to UK. Still don't understand why they prefer to huddle together on Aires when there's loads of space to spread out. Must be a cultural thing

 

[VXman]

Never got anywhere near to £10/n in the UK even without electricity, most are £20+. In 2022 we stayed for a month on French aires for a total of 2 euros before spends. We paid more on the last trip because we needed electric every other night but still averaged well under a tenner per night.

Don't know where you are looking. I stayed in one for £8 a few nights ago. Near Market Drayton. Also stayed in one in Gretna Green for £10. I would expect a proper campsite for £20!

 

[chaser]

Dunno. We don’t count. But we have been living ‘for free’ in france for over a year. Comparing france and UK for how motorhomers are regarded and treated is like comparing how it is to live in any country if you are a native or a foreigner.

In UK, in a camper you are one of the folks arriving on the dingys. You are utter scum and treated as such. In France you are a citizen with rights. Sorry but this is just fact.

I agree with you about Aires but you really do talk at cross purposes with yourself, on the one hand you say you have lived on Aires for a year for nothing which I don't dispute, but on the other hand you are trying to buy a campsite where you are expecting people to pay top dollar.
Something doesn't add up I'm afraid.

 

[dawsey]

I agree with you about Aires but you really do talk at cross purposes with yourself, on the one hand you say you have lived on Aires for a year for nothing which I don't dispute, but on the other hand you are trying to buy a campsite where you are expecting people to pay top dollar.
Something doesn't add up I'm afraid.

We gave up on the idea of a full-on campsite months ago. There were dozens of posts on how that happened. We found that a full-service campsite just isn’t for us.

Sorry to get a bit irritated by this, but you have made this point multiple times about us staying on free aires but (previously) looking for a campsite, and I explained it multiple times.

This forum is for people who use motorhomes, often extensively. Of course it’s not all, but generally those who can afford them and have the time to use them extensively tend to be older folk, couples not carting around young kids. Yes it’s true this self-sufficient cohort tend not to need or want to use an expensive full service campsite. When you have your own kitchen, own bathroom, no kids who need entertaining and (relatively) lots of space then why pay for all that stuff when you don’t have to. Hence many of the folks in here will prefer, when travelling to much more use the much cheaper or free aires, wildcamping, park for night, CCP type secure parking with water service etc.

But people in motorhomes/campers are by no means the only ones looking to ‘camp’ during the warmer months. In fact you are less than 10%. The other 90% are walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists, car drivers, all with tents, and many trailer tenters, caravanners, kids clubs, school groups, young couples, young families, and other types of campers and glampers - all who generally need or want to stay on a campsite. That’s why campsites exist.

We set out to buy an aire de camping car and set up a glamping operation. We couldn’t find anything like that. So we started to look for bigger campsites with land and as you know nearly bought one. But after staying long term on it, and then the sale falling through we started to changed our minds about a full campsite, so started casting the net wider. Gite complexes, group gites, even small hotel/restaurants. We found something interesting (a group gite) but again that purchase has fallen apart for serious reasons, huge liability on the new buyer due to the tax avoiding way the vendor and their friendly accountant had structured their business. In essence - they hadn’t paid tax for 15 years, and the new buyer would have to pay all of that tax if they sold the property within 10years.

We are now back to looking to buy or set up an aire de camping car, or more accurately ‘aire naturel’ with land to set up a glamping business, but also watching out for another of those big group gites as they are a decent way to make money.

Back on the subject of UK vs France or indeed Germany or Spain for being out and about in a camper, there is just no comparison. The UK is fir all sorts of reasons, particularly unwelcoming for motorhomers, and there’s virtually no infrastructure outside of proper campsites. There’s practically no network of aires like there is, very extensively on the continent, where, for example in France there is an aire mostly still free, in practically every village.

 

[chaser]

We gave up on the idea of a full-on campsite months ago. There were dozens of posts on how that happened. We found that a full-service campsite just isn’t for us.

Sorry to get a bit irritated by this, but you have made this point multiple times about us staying on free aires but (previously) looking for a campsite, and I explained it multiple times.

This forum is for people who use motorhomes, often extensively. Of course it’s not all, but generally those who can afford them and have the time to use them extensively tend to be older folk, couples not carting around young kids. Yes it’s true this self-sufficient cohort tend not to need or want to use an expensive full service campsite. When you have your own kitchen, own bathroom, no kids who need entertaining and (relatively) lots of space then why pay for all that stuff when you don’t have to. Hence many of the folks in here will prefer, when travelling to much more use the much cheaper or free aires, wildcamping, park for night, CCP type secure parking with water service etc.

But people in motorhomes/campers are by no means the only ones looking to ‘camp’ during the warmer months. In fact you are less than 10%. The other 90% are walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists, car drivers, all with tents, and many trailer tenters, caravanners, kids clubs, school groups, young couples, young families, and other types of campers and glampers - all who generally need or want to stay on a campsite. That’s why campsites exist.

We set out to buy an aire de camping car and set up a glamping operation. We couldn’t find anything like that. So we started to look for bigger campsites with land and as you know nearly bought one. But after staying long term on it, and then the sale falling through we started to changed our minds about a full campsite, so started casting the net wider. Gite complexes, group gites, even small hotel/restaurants. We found something interesting (a group gite) but again that purchase has fallen apart for serious reasons, huge liability on the new buyer due to the tax avoiding way the vendor and their friendly accountant had structured their business. In essence - they hadn’t paid tax for 15 years, and the new buyer would have to pay all of that tax if they sold the property within 10years.

We are now back to looking to buy or set up an aire de camping car, or more accurately ‘aire naturel’ with land to set up a glamping business, but also watching out for another of those big group gites as they are a decent way to make money.

Back on the subject of UK vs France or indeed Germany or Spain for being out and about in a camper, there is just no comparison. The UK is fir all sorts of reasons, particularly unwelcoming for motorhomers, and there’s virtually no infrastructure outside of proper campsites. There’s practically no network of aires like there is, very extensively on the continent, where, for example in France there is an aire mostly still free, in practically every village.

Quite agree with you I was only saying you are not the best advert for what you are trying to set up.

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[dawsey]

Quite agree with you I was only saying you are not the best advert for what you are trying to set up.

I’ve never been much of an advert for anything…

We have moved on from the idea of a normal campsite. We don’t fancy entertaining other folks’ kids all summer and endlessly cleaning toilets - which from what we’ve seen, seems to be the reality.

 

[97243]

I’ve never been much of an advert for anything…

We have moved on from the idea of a normal campsite. We don’t fancy entertaining other folks’ kids all summer and endlessly cleaning toilets - which from what we’ve seen, seems to be the reality.

I would caution any Brit to think twice about trying to set up a business here in France. The bureaucracy and costs on every level are horrendous and in 20-odd years, I have never yet known anyone do much more than scrape a living.

Bon courage !

 

[chaser]

I’ve never been much of an advert for anything…

We have moved on from the idea of a normal campsite. We don’t fancy entertaining other folks’ kids all summer and endlessly cleaning toilets - which from what we’ve seen, seems to be the reality.

I'm afraid that is going to be the case with anything to do with supplying other people's holidays.

 

[dawsey]

I would caution any Brit to think twice about trying to set up a business here in France. The bureaucracy and costs on every level are horrendous and in 20-odd years, I have never yet known anyone do much more than scrape a living.

Bon courage !

Thanks. Yeah, we are well aware of the bureaucracy, the difficulties and the costs and are learning more every day about all the hidden pitfalls. It’s why we have now pulled out of two potential purchases after doing due diligence.

 

[nicholsong]

No, the second piece of information was not about the CCP network it was by a magazine so pretty authoritative: The French motorhome magazine ‘Le Monde du Camping-Car’ has just completed its annual survey of aires in France

You are correct. I read it too quickly and mixed up the two - sorry.

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