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ScotJimland

This may have been posted before but I could find no reference, others who use Mappy will probably already know but I thought it worth mentioning.
We always try and stop on a French municipal site in preference to an Aire but unlike Aires there is, as far as I know, no list of French Municipal sites but if you enter a French town on Mappy and tick the camp site box it shows the details of the nearest municipal site(s).
You can also look for many other points of interest including nearest ATM, LPG filling stations etc..

Rapide561

Hi Jim

That's another added to my MHF folder that is already full to bursting!

Rapide561

Rapide561

Hello again

What is the difference between and aire and a municipal site?

Rapide561

Grizzly

Many thanks Jim...that looks just the job.

G

Moondog

Rapide

An aire is usually a hard standing area set aside by a community or individual to allow motorhomes to park and empty their wastes and take on water perhaps even recharge their battery.
Out of season it can be a pleasant overnight stop, sometimes crowded,perhaps free but often costing a few euros to buy a bourne token at the Ti/Presse which is always shut when you visit.

A Municipal is much like a camp site run by the municipality in order to offer a quiet holiday spot for tourists and a source of revenue.You might expect clean hot showers,your own pitch to come back to ,an area of grass to which Oscar can lay claim and often a reasonably scenic environment (View my pictures) For this expect to pay, at our one man and a dog status about 7 to 8 euros.

Nick

ScotJimland

desertsong

Hello all,

Well spotted, Jim. even the most tiny towns usually have a campsite of some kind. Moondog explained it very well though, I think.

If I was travelling on the motorway though, I'd be inclined to stop at one of the ones with a petrol station and cafe or at the péage next to the gendarmerie, that's usually quite safe and if you get a problem they tend to be helpful. Well. that's my experience.

Mappy is quite good and so is Maporama.
regards

Willie

Rapide561

Hi Willie

Can you actually park up near the peage? Do you mean just after you have paid - there is always a lay by area?

We slept at services in January - ones with petrol station etc.

Might be a bit noisy near the peage - that said it cannot be any worse that the services at Pratteln in Switzerland - and we slept like logs!

Rapide561

desertsong

Hi Rapide,

We've used the route from Roscoff to Bordeaux via Rennes/ Nantes/ Niort several times a year since 1988. Also anywhere like Calais to Bordeaux via just about any permutation you can think of, also down as far as Pamplona therefore going Bordeaux Bairritz/ San Sebastion route and Bordeaux - Toulouse - Marseilles - Cannes. Western France I know reasonably well, now to answer your question, usually after the péage as you know, there's a stop for toilets and parking. Usually quiet, and for some reason most people don't stop for long.

I assume it's because as soon as they get their ticket they want to get as much distance under their belt as possible. Also, they don't like the idea that authorities might be watching them, either from the péage or from the gendarmerie, which at night always looks closed, but I suspect isn't. Also, in France, customs don't just operate at borders, they can and will stop you anywhere. In summer, they often hang around the péage looking for suspicious people.

If there was to be any problems, you can bet as there is money in the péage itself, i.e., revenue, then security will not be far away. French police are very discreet. You can drive from one end of France to the other and you won't see one, but if there's anything adrift, they know and they will be there. So in a strange kind of way stopping just inside the péage is some kind of security. Some of these areas are quite small though, others can be a reasonable size.

regards
Willie