Finding campsites whilst enroute through France

pink100e

Hi,

I am cycling through France (St Malo to Monaco) in May. This is my first tour and I will be travelling alone. No time restrictions or set in stone route. At this time I expect to go something like St Malo - Nantes - Bordeaux - Toulouse - Sete - Marseilles - Nice - Monaco.

I wonder how easy it is to find a campsite from day to day whilst touring. I will have paper maps but no internet or phone equipment. I do not know for sure how many miles I'll cover each day or I may just stop to take in the view as I go along. So pro actively booking sites isn't an option. I can't imagine I am the first to think about this and if anyone could offer advice that would be most helpful. If there is a sat nav set up that also shows campsites that would be a great option and something I'd invest in.

I have tried to find printed maps that show campsites without success.

Thank you for reading

BillyMansell

I know the Snooper Ventura Pro range of sat navs provide details of campsites across Europe but they might be a bit bulky for using on a bike as they're designed for use with motorhomes, campers and caravans.

mercia_man

I've been cycle camping in France for 25 years, including three coast to coast rides, and have never pre-booked.

I work out a route and then use the Michelin recommended campsite guide, writing down in a little notebook the details of sites along or near my route. The guide only scrapes the surface as there are many sites which are not in the guide - you come across them as you are riding along. But it does provide a good indication of sites within a day's ride of each other, or closer. Most towns of any size and many villages will have excellent municipal sites which are generally well signposted. They will often be near a sports field, stadium or leisure complex. Local tourist offices are a good source of information for sites, and you will often see tourism notice boards and maps in car parks, village squares etc listing site locations.

There is also a camping municipal website - google it - which lists council-run sites. Quite a few have now been privatised but there's still lots of them about.

I have only occasionally had problems - normally when going through an isolated non-touristy area - and I end up riding increasingly in panic until coming across a site just before it gets dark. But if the worst comes to the worst, you can always wild camp or find a hotel (which are cheap compared with UK). Be aware that some sites, particularly in non-touristy areas, will not be open in May.

marcusjb

^as above

Never pre booked, never had trouble. The size of tent that most of us carry on a bike can be squeezed into a space I the campsite is full.

The only trouble we have ever had is out of season where we have had to freestyle it a little.

Municipal sites are well worth using, many of them are very good indeed and very cheap indeed.

Bonne route!

andrew_s

Michelin dropped campsite symbols from their maps 10 years or so ago, and they were only ever a subset that were in their guides anyway. IGN have never shown them, at least on the smaller scale maps that you'd use on a bike tour.

Probably the best bet is to use a GPS, which is also handy for more detailed town mapping than is feasible to carry.
I've got the data from archies campings on my Garmin eTrex - I used the CSV file, and converted it with the free POILoader from the Garmin website. Mostly you just get a spot on the GPS map, and a name/phone number.

Not all sites will be open in May. Most commercial sites will be OK, but smaller municipal sites sometimes use school playing fields or whatever and are only open during the main summer break (2nd half of July & August).
The chance of needing to book in May or June is very low - not booking will only be a problem if you clash with some festival, conference or whatever, and even then they will almost always squeeze a solo cyclist in somewhere.

e17blade

I have done this a few times and have never booked a night anywhere - it's never a problem.

Worst case scenario is usually having to stay at a basic - but perfectly fine and VERY cheap - municipal campsite.


Dave

whoof

If you tripped over in France you would probably land in a camp site. French people all go on holiday in July and August (high season) the rest of the year is pretty much classed as either mid or low season. In May each campsite will have their alloted quota of Dutch camper vans and that's it. If you know your route do a search on the internet for each town you might stop in for sites. This is also useful to see where they are as they are often on the outskirts or just out of town. You can also ask in the Tourist office regarding sites in the next planned stop (these will be closed in the middle of the day and a least one day a week).
As many other have said 10 years of cycle touring in France, never booked and only once had a problem and then we were looking for a hotel near Toulouse during a big rugby tournanment, ended up pitching the tent in a wood.
Enjoy your trip it sounds great!

dave in swansea

I have holidayed in France many times over the years. ( not cycling) All towns and most villages will have a campsite. I think it used to be a statutory requirement. Never been turned away In France, although will try and stop earlyish in the day.
If you have a good idea of your route then research on line or guidebooks to find them and then Mark on your map the location. Or print a summary list of sites to take with you.
Last summer the week on Lake Garda became a two week holiday with the drive both ways added on. Just turned up and followed signs to sites. ( cheaper to drive and stay in France than fly and hire car)

Mikey23

Talking to some of the more experienced campers in France, all you need to do is turn up up at the local information office and tell them where you want to go. They will check whether there is a campsite there and phone through for you to make a reservation. Most towns have an information office and they will have at least one English speaker. I've seen this in action and was most impressed..