# Trying to travel through France with large motorhome!



## kimsky (Jul 19, 2011)

Please help! 

We arte travelling to France in our Dethleff on 5th of August for the first time. I have booked the ferry, decided on a route, but am having trouble finding sites. I heard they were numerous and so they seem, but our problem is our motor home is 8.3 meters in length and every site I look at is either full or wont accept anything that long. 

Does anyone have any suggested sites down the west coast of France or any advice when it comes to making bookings easier? I have so many books open in front of me and so many web pages open but I seem to be going round in circles!!!!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Lie about the length.
We rarely booked ahead with our 11m. RVs. Any objections from site owners and we pointed out we were less than a caravan and car combination. We usually managed to get in or wild camp.

Ray.


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## Yaxley (Jul 25, 2008)

*Trying to travel through France with a long motorhome*

My Hobby is 7.9 metres plus I carry two bikes on a cycle rack. We spent May and June in France and most of this time on the west coast. The length was never an issue when staying on campsites which we did 50% of the time. Now I know that August is very busy and you need to book but do you need to tell them the length.
I hope that you are able to sort something and enjoy your holiday.
Ian


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## kimsky (Jul 19, 2011)

Thank you for your quick responses! My husband said lie but I couldn't bare the thought of arriving and being thrown off site!! But now we'll try it.

Any reccomendations? We are looking at Brittany, possibly La Rochelle.


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi Kimsky, welcome to MHF.

One or two comments come to mind...........

One problem with having a large 'van is that you need to plan much more carefully, especially if you prefer campsites to aires. For a France trip in August you should really be booking campsites much further in advance, August is the busiest period and many sites are fully booked.

It's all well and good to say "don't tell them your size when booking" but a lot of French sites have small pitches compared to the UK so you may get away with it some of the time but sooner or later you'll have a problem. Telling porkies isn't always the best solution unless you're happy to park up at the roadside if needs be. :? 

What about using aires? Most aires will accommodate large 'vans and if you post your route here someone will be able to tell you which aires to use/avoid. Take a look at the MHF campsite database, many of the sites in there are ensdorsed as being suitable for 'vans over 30' long so that might help.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi Kimsky,

If you need a back up plan I can recommend the aire at Biscarrosse Plage on the west coast, is that too far down for you?. Its a large aire but with well designed glades in a pine forest, takes 50+ vans and no size problems. A sandy beach is just down a track from the site so a good option if you have children.

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=10625

I'm others could recommend similar suitable ones for large vans down the west coast.

Pete


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## Dayo (Aug 17, 2006)

Hi Kimsky

We have a 8.2 metre Dethleffs Esprit I7870L with twin rear wheels and a bike rack, have taken it to France 2/3 time a year for the past 3 1/2 years NEVER booked and never had a problem, so don't worry. (Never been in the school holidays though)


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## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

We have stayed on this one a number of times, just outside La Rochelle.

http://tinyurl.com/marans-camping

We are heading in your direction on Friday and have loads of places to stay which we found on the campsite map on here. We mostly stay on Aires as we have been around that area 2 years ago and know there are plenty to choose from.

Good luck
Mandy


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## siansdad (Sep 13, 2010)

Hi Kimsky, 

I think you might be worrying a tad too much. We have an Autocruise Augusta which is 7.75 metres long and we tow a car. 

We've just returned from 7-weeks touring France staying only on good standard camp sites without any problems regarding pitch size - although we were travelling off-peak. I'm sure that when some sites get busy, access may become more of an issue, i.e. reversing onto the pitch etc.

The smallest site we stayed on was just outside St Jean de Luz (the hedged pitch was about 10m x 8m) but most of the sites had pitches which were more than adequate - the best one being the Castel site (Bien Assise) at Guines (nr Calais).

Unless the campsite webpage actually states that tag axles or RV's are not accepted then just turn up - I'm sure that when you get back you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

kimsky said:


> Thank you for your quick responses! My husband said lie but I couldn't bare the thought of arriving and being thrown off site!! But now we'll try it.
> 
> Any reccomendations? We are looking at Brittany, possibly La Rochelle.


I'm heading here on Saturday
http://www.campingporsperon.com/


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Have fun and a safe trip andy nice venue, wish I was going but working for the next few weeks... Don't get put off with your length, they are far more layed back than here in the uk.... But it is going to be hectic so just don't panic you can always just stop and use aires or any large supermarket car park.... When you see it going on you'll get used to it very quickly, I'm afrade we are so used to rules over here :roll:


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## Zepp (May 14, 2009)

We also have a dethleffs and we never book in advance as we are never sure where we are going lol.


Take a look at our blog ( link below )and you will see we never book and we have always found somewhere to stay.


Paul & Lynne


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Lie*

Never had a problem outside of the peak periods, ours is 8.5m (9.5 with the bikes on).

In the busy periods we just book a motorhome and don't tell them the length. If they as, we say around 7m!.

Not my fault I don't have a tape measure.

TM


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