Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

DISCOVER FRANCE

Essential tips for your campervan holiday in France

From what to take to where's best to spend the night, The Local's Ben McPartland shares some tips and insights into how to ensure your French campervan holiday goes smoothly.

Published: 29 July 2024 14:39 CEST
Essential tips for your campervan holiday in France
The French Alps are the perfect place to head to in a campervan, but b wary of the windy, vertigo-inducing roads/ Photo: Ben McPartland

With high mountains, rolling hills, winding rivers, stunning coastlines and thousands of excellent camping grounds, France has long been the perfect destination for those with caravans, campervans and mobile homes.

But in recent years interest in what the French refer to as “van life” has exploded in France and around Europe.

It was already on the rise before the Covid pandemic but since the end of lockdowns the thirst for road trips has boomed.

The purchase of campervans and mobile homes (le camping car as they are called in France)  shot up post pandemic but with vans costing tens of thousands of euros the steep prices meant there has also been a huge demand for renting them.

And it’s not just retired couples looking for an adventure.

Young couples, groups of friends and families are all opting for an alternative to the classic options of renting a gîte in rural France, a mountain chalet, or a beachside apartment in a French resort.

And having done it three times, with young kids, I can see why. 

However, a campervan holiday takes a fair amount of organisation and planning before and during a trip, so it’s worth knowing a thing or two in advance. Experiences and preferences obviously vary widely so this is simply my take on how to make the most of a trip in France. I’d love to hear your own advice and experiences, both good and bad, in the comments section below.

If you have your own van then that makes things much simpler (you can skip the next bit) but for those who need to rent one, then there are some important things to keep in mind.

Choose a rental company:

Several Europe-wide van/ mobile home rental companies have been created in recent years to cater for the growing demand. Some of the most well known are Indie Campers, Black Sheep, Yescapa and then there’s Roadsurfer, a rental company founded in Germany that we opted for.

The service with Roadsurfer has been good each time when I rented vans in Geneva, Toulouse and Bordeaux. Friendly, easygoing staff (a slight contrast to car hire companies), easy to follow online tutorials for how to work the van, followed by good explanations on site and vehicles in great condition.

The vans don’t come that cheap. For a summer rental it works out around €129 to €139 a night, so for a week it was between €900 and €1,000 before you add insurance (prices rise if you book last minute and if you want a bigger van). I paid another €29 a night to get the full insurance package because I was scared I’d end up banging the van into a stone wall, a wild boar or driving straight into a river (spoiler – none of these came to pass).

Roadsurfer is one of several campervan rental companies operating in France. Pick the right sized van! Photo: Ben McPartland

Choose a van

You can choose between different sizes of vans and also vans of the same size that come with different equipment. We have small kids so went for the Volkswagen California Ocean, which comes with a stove, a fridge, a little sink – and a table and chairs for outside and… an outdoor shower!

With the bigger vans you get a shower and a toilet but we purposefully didn’t want a toilet. Living in a small van your privacy and personal space obviously goes out the front window but there are certain things you can easily avoid. Having to empty the family faeces each day was one of them. 

One thing to remember with vans is that in France your French licence might not permit you to drive one of the bigger ones. 

And importantly you need to remember the height of it so you avoid having to swerve lanes at a French motorway toll to avoid the ones with 2 metre height barriers.

Other places where the height of your can be a problem in France is at car parks. To avoid people turning up to beachside car parks in vans and mobile homes, many French local authorities put up 2 metre height barriers at entrance. So choose your parking spot carefully.

Where to go?

This is obviously mainly down to you to decide, but the location of the van rental sites does play a part. Roadsurfer has sites in France’s main cities that give access to the best parts of the country. So for a road trip down the Atlantic coast to Spain we picked up the van in Bordeaux, for the Pyrenees we picked it up in Toulouse and for the Alps from Geneva (or a town near Geneva on the French side of the border).

The Unesco recognised Cirque de Garvanie in the background in the French Pyrenees. French campsites are great place to park up for a night or two. Photo: Ben McPartland

To get to Bordeaux and Toulouse we took the train so had to pack light (more on this later) but for Geneva we drove and had to leave the car in a nearby village because there was nowhere to leave it on site (check this when you rent the van). The pick-up sites are out of town so you’ll need to get a taxi or hope there’s a public transport option to get there from the train station.

Train tickets obviously add an extra cost of course but you at least avoid the long motorway drive across France. We didn’t want to rent it just to drive on the A10 or A6 Autoroutes. But for Parisians there are bases in Paris (near to CDG and Orly airports) if you prefer to do this. And there are also pick up sites in the UK, you just need to check the rules of where you can drive it.

But choosing the ultimate French road trip will be down to your personal taste. If you want beaches, the Atlantic coast and Brittany offer fantastic selection of places with campsites or special campervan parking dotted all over the place. 

No need to drive everyday just because you have a van. Photo: Ben McPartland

The Alps and Pyrenees offer stunning mountain scenery, loads of activities for kids from rafting to summer luge, rafting canyoning, lake swimming and walking. The Pyrenees did seem quieter than the Alps which made finding a place to spend the night less problematic. Which brings us to the key question…

Where to spend the night?

When people think of a campervan road trip they think of parking up next to the beach or on a secluded mountain road overlooking valleys and rivers far below.

In fact, if you want to park up anywhere you need to check the rules and France has quite a few.

While, for example, it is possible, and legal, to park your camping car by the side of a road (not a motorway, obviously), you wouldn’t be allowed then to set out a table and chairs and watch the traffic go by. Nor, unsurprisingly, can you empty your chemical toilet at the roadside.

READ ALSO: Where in France can you park your campervan?

Many French towns and large villages have dedicated areas for motorhomes to stay for a short period away from campsites, and some provide electricity or water points.

National parks have their own rules too on where you can park but the best thing to do is follow the signs. They tend to be pretty clear.  

If you are allowed to park and find the perfect spot you’ll likely have to get their early and nab it because there will be plenty of other campervanners looking to do the same.

If you want to do this there is a good app Park4Night and no doubt plenty of other useful websites to help you find the best remote and beautiful spots.

But given we have two young kids we preferred to mainly spend the night in campsites. Having toilets, an electricity supply to make a cup of tea, a pool or even just a trampoline or a pétanque pitch meant it was far more enjoyable.

Also kids just don’t seem to appreciate stunning views and they tend to poo a lot so we went for campsites over remote roadside parking.

Staying in a campsite also adds an extra cost to the trip. Prices can vary between around €20 and €50 a night for two adults, two children, a van plus electricity.  

Make sure to only bring the essentials. Photo: Ben McPartland

What to bring?

Van hire companies should offer you bedding, sheets, pillows etc but that comes at an extra price. We took our own sleeping bags and pillows which obviously was a bit of a pain on the train.

After that most essentials are provided along with the van – cooking equipment, plates, glasses. One thing we were advised to get was a mini electric kettle (which only worked if we had electricity supply) to be able to have a quick cup of tea rather than having to get the gas on and boil a pan of water.

The upsides:

As already stated, France is perfect for a road trip.

It has roads, loads of them in fact, that take you to wondrous sites like the Dune du Pilat and the Cirque de Gavarnie and the Vanoise national park. 

France has an incredible array of campsites from ones that are basically just a field with a loo and a shower (my favourite) to others that are like theme parks with water slides and karaoke nights (my least favourite).

In places like the Pyrenees and the Alps you don’t have to drive for long to discover a stunning new place to spend a night or two. In fact the key is not to think you have to drive long distances just because you have a van. Driving on windy roads in the mountains is tiring so avoid doing too much.

The downsides:

Living in a tiny Paris apartment with two kids is challenging enough but imagine downsizing even further into a van for a week. 

The first two days can go either way. If you have patience, supreme organisation and a thirst for keeping a small space impeccably tidy then things can go well, or… you could end up just arguing constantly, pulling over, refusing to drive any further and then threaten to leave everyone in a lay-by (with a bit of food and water) and take the van back. 

So give yourself time to adjust to van life. 

Peeing in the middle of the night is a pain in a tent but even more so in a van especially if you are sleeping “upstairs”.

The inside lights come on when you open the door (until you work out how to turn them off) and the door makes a lot of noise when you open and close it and basically everyone wakes up when someone needs a pee. 

So we toyed with installing a ban on the intake of liquids after 9pm.

Having to pack most things away when you want to go to the Super U supermarket is also annoying. With a tent you can leave everything inside but with a van, you can leave tables and chairs at the site but then everything else has to stay in the van. Unless (and it means more baggage) you take a little tent with you for storage.

Driving a diesel-fuelled van around France is also not very ecological.

It’s better than flying but driving a diesel van around for a week isn’t doing my bit to avert the climate crisis. Taking bikes is a good option to avoid some driving and like I said above, there’s no need to do long journeys just because you have a van.

But all in all a campervan holiday offers a unique trip perfect for those who like to be on the move.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

CULTURE

How many of France’s ’10 most iconic women’ can you name?

Ten monumental golden statues representing French women from the worlds of art, literature, sport and politics are shortly to go on display in Paris - but how many of these famous names do you recognise?

Published: 18 September 2024 15:34 CEST
How many of France's '10 most iconic women' can you name?

They were one of the early highlights of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, emerging from the River Seine near the Alexandre-III bridge as the flotilla of boats carrying international athletes passed.

Now golden status of the 10 famous women have been made and are on display in Cour d’honneur of the French National Assembly until October 5th, while more permanent homes for them are discussed. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hopes to install them along rue de La Chapelle in the 18th arrondissement.

It will go some way towards closing that statuery gap – there are currently around 260 statues of men in the French capital, and just 40 women.

This temporary free exhibition will enable visitors to admire these polymer resin sculptures, created by 3D printing and designed to withstand the elements, by registering in advance on the Assemblée nationale website.

But, who are the women they celebrate and honour? Some might be familiar to international readers while others are barely known outside France.

Christine de Pizan (1364-1431) 

The oldest of the inspirational women remembered at the Olympic Games’ Opening Ceremony by some distance.

De Pizan was France’s first woman of letters, the first woman to earn a living as a writer. 

She started her career in the court of King Charles VI, following the deaths of her father and husband in rapid succession, leaving the family – she had three children – without a traditional source of income.

Her works were forgotten for several centuries, but resurfaced in the 1980s thanks to the rise of feminist studies – and, today, she is revered as one of history’s earliest feminists. Her most famous work, La cité des dames (The City of Ladies), clinically dismantles patriarchal discrimination and misogyny.

Jeanne Barret (1740-1807)

Explorer and botanist Barret was born into poverty in rural Burgundy – and went on to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, while working as a ‘valet’ to doctor and botanist Philibert Commerson. 

At the time, the French navy banned women from their vessels, so she had to undertake the journey around the world in disguise, and was known as Jean. Her tireless work – she took charge of an expedition in Brazil when Commerson was unfit to work – earned her the respect of the crew and the expedition’s captain Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.

She and Commerson kept her true identity – and their relationship – secret for a year. In fact, such was his respect for her that Bougainville, after whom the botanist had named a plant, later wrote to King Louis XVI and requested that she be honoured with the title femme extraordinaire.

Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793)

Playwright, activist, abolitionist, disheartened revolutionary – feminist icon de Gouges is best known for her  Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen), written in scathing response to the Revolutionary Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen and demanding full legal, political and social assimilation of women.

She also wrote in favour of the abolition of slavery, and was initially in favour of the 1789 Revolution – but grew disenchanted by the lack of progress of women’s rights in its aftermath. 

De Gouges was executed by guillotine in 1793, after writing repeated literary attacks on the regime and leader Maximilien Robespierre.

Louise Michel (1830-1905)

If ever you see anarchists raise a black flag during a protest, remember Louise Michel – the teacher, anarchist and leading light of the Paris Commune, a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris from 18th March to 28th May, 1871.

She was transported to Nouvelle-Caledonie in punishment for her role in the Commune. There, she took up the plight of the indigenous Kanak people, taking their side in a revolt in 1878. 

In 1880, amnesty was granted to those who had participated in the Paris Commune. Michel returned to Paris, her revolutionary passion undiminished. And she proudly waved a black flag at a jobless demonstration in Paris in March 1883 – it is, historians say, the first use of the modern anarchists’ symbol.

Alice Guy (1873-1968)

French cinema remembers the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis. It remembers the visionary Georges Méliès, and early directors Marcel Pagnol and Jean Renoir – the son of the artist. And it honours Godard, Truffaut and Rohmer. The list of male cineastes in France is long.

Alice Guy routinely gets lost in the shuffle. She shouldn’t. She was the first woman to direct a film – La Fée aux choux in 1896; one of the first to make a movie with a distinct narrative; and, for a decade between 1896 to 1906, was probably the only female filmmaker in the world.

Guy was a cinema pioneer in many ways. She experimented with Gaumont’s Chronophone sync-sound system, colour-tinting, interracial casting, and special effects. 

Her Hollywood film A Fool and His Money – made with a wholly African-American cast – is considered to have historical and aesthetic significance and is preserved at the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute.

And her 1906 33-minute film La vie du Christ, which tells the story of Jesus Christ in 25 tableaux based on the gospels, is sometimes cited as the first ‘epic’ movie. As was the case with many Guy  films, it was for a long time wrongly attributed to Victorin Jasset – her assistant in charge of directing exterior scenes and managing the extras.

Alice Milliat (1884-1957)

There’s still a vast distance to travel, but women’s sport might not even be where it is today without Milliat. 

While noted misogynist Pierre de Coubertin – he once famously said that a woman’s role at the Olympic Games should be to crown the winners – gets all the Olympic glory, Milliat was responsible for getting the men-only club to, finally, allow women to compete.

She founded the Fédération Française Sportive Féminine in 1917. She helped organise the 1922 Women’s World Games – which were originally called the Jeux Olympiques Féminins and which ran for four editions until 1934, and which prompted the International Olympic Committee to slowly and belatedly allow female competition.

She also managed a French women’s association football team that toured the United Kingdom in 1920. In 2021, a commemorative statue of Milliat was unveiled at the French Olympic Committee’s headquarters in Paris.

Paulette Nardal (1896-1985)

Journalist, activist, woman of letters and pioneer of ‘black intellectualism’, Nardal, who was born in Martinique, was also the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne.

In October 1931, she founded the journal La Revue du Monde Noir (Review of the Black World) with her sisters; French novelist Louis Jean Finot; Haitian scholar Léo Sajous; and Clara W Shepard, an African-American teacher and translator. 

On her return to Martinique in 1944, Nardal founded Le Rassemblement féminin. Le Rassemblement féminin, one of two feminist organisations at the time whose goals were to increase the number of women who voted in the 1945 elections.

Then, from 1946 to 1948 Nardal was a delegate to the United Nations, working with both the UN Department for Non-Autonomous Territories and the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

De Beauvoir’s 1949 work The Second Sex is considered a “trailblazing work in feminist philosophy”, and is a foundation work of modern feminism. 

But she considered herself a writer rather than a philosopher. She won the 1954 Prix Goncourt, the 1975 Jerusalem Prize, and the 1978 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1961, 1969 and 1973.

More controversially, she lost a teaching job amid accusations of inappropriate behaviour and she and long-time partner Jean-Paul Sartre campaigned for the release of people convicted of child sex offences.

Simone Veil (1927-2017)

Simone Veil survived Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen and went on to become one of France’s most respected politicians, steering through landmark laws to liberalise contraception and abortion.

She is best known for leading the successful campaign to legalise abortion in France – despite vicious abuse and threats – as the country’s first female minister of health in 1975. 

Veil later became the first female president of the European Parliament, where she served for three years, before returning to work for the French government again.

She was given an honorary damehood from the British government, and awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion D’Honneur in France. She died in 2017, and became just the fourth women to be interred in the Parthenon, after scientist Marie Curie, and two resistance fighters Genevieve de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion.

In 2021, Josephine Baker was also honoured at the Parthenon, nearly half a century after her death.

Gisèle Halimi (1927-2020)

“Politics is too serious a matter to be left to men alone.” Tunisian-born lawyer, feminist activist and co-founder of equality movement Choisir la cause des femmes said that in 1978. 

In early 1972, a year after Choisir was founded, Halimi successfully defended a teenager who was on trial for illegally aborting a pregnancy after she had been raped in the Parisian suburb of Bobigny.

The teenager’s mother and three others were also charged with conspiring to commit the illegal abortion.

It was a landmark case that paved the way for Simone Veil to persuade France’s parliament to legalise abortions in France two years later.

In 1981, Halimi was elected as an MP, where she was a vociferous campaigner for the abolition of the death penalty, and tabled bills promoting women’s rights.

Four years later, she was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of France to UNESCO, and, in 1989, she was appointed special advisor to the French delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York.

SHOW COMMENTS