# The South of France



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

So we have had a change of plans for what we will be doing next year. We were going to sell our house and move so therefore I couldn't plan a decent trip away until we knew what was happening with that however we have decided not to do that now. Therefore I can plan 2 trips away next year









The first one will be around Easter time for a couple of weeks and we fancy going down to the south of France/Med area. My initial thoughts are around St Tropez but for no real reason really. Whilst we have been to France quite a few times (and love it) we don't really know that area: the south east coastal area so I could do with some pointers on sites please.

Ideally I am looking for a camp site which has or is close to a bar/restaurant; with places for short walks; and links to public transport. I would be grateful regarding some pointers.

We aim to travel down the east of France on the way there: Reims, Vosges, Annecy direction but have an open mind on the way back. The plan is to have a week or so in one place at the destination and take a week/10 days or so doing the travelling...so maybe 5 days max to get there and another 5 or so to get back.

Travel will be via the channel tunnel.

Any help/links to sites would be most gratefully received.

Thanks folks

Graham :smile2:


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## jo662 (Jul 27, 2010)

We go down to the St Tropez area every Easter,and also cross using the Channel Tunnel.:smile2:
We travel down using a mixture of aires and ACSI sites as its the cheap period.
We do not have any favorite sites as we just choose as we travel down, and depending which way
we head.And when we get down to the Med we stay at a friends house for a week before heading
back home.:smile2:


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

Hi GMJ

We have sold our house and fulltime in the van and we too will be in St Tropez at Easter as this is where my good lady wants to spend her birthday and we too want to know of sites in the area.

I have the ACSI book on order and that should be delivered to me around 14 December so that should give me a good idea about sites.

DJM


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

I was down in that region in Sept/Oct. we were on a site just outside Frejus "La Plage D'Argens" (it's in the ACSI book check out the 2017 ACSI book, I did a review of the site which should be in it) a big site but has a pool, bar, restaurant etc. Easy level walk to a beautiful beach (a section is naturist, but well signposted in advance) with lots of level walks through the nature reserve that avoids the site.

It's on the main road from Frejus towards St Tropez so should have decent bus service. The road is fairly busy so ask for a pitch away from the road, the pitches are a good size but some are a bit uneven. Two sets of ablutions, one old and tired, the other modern and very pleasant. On site shop sells wine by the litre (€3.00) into your own bottle. 

Plenty of nice places in the area, Frejus has a lovely seafront and is well worth visiting (look for underground car parks) On the way to St Tropez is Sainte Maxime, be sure to stop and take the "Noddy Train" into the hills to drool over the houses of the rich and famous. St Tropez is about an hours drive, it's a lovely town but parking can be an issue in season. It was nothing like I expected it to be, I was pleasantly surprised by its quaintness! 

Glad to see you are allowing a sensible time to get down and back. We meandered all over the place before getting there. It was a good three days driving to get back to the tunnel. Initially there is only one sensible route north from that area, it's via Peage but the alternative will take twice as long.

Lovely area, we will be going back at the end of April for 5 weeks.

Andy


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Forgot to say, there is a regular ferry service from St Maxime to St Tropez, very enjoyable trip and does away with the need to find parking in St Tropez

Andy


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## jo662 (Jul 27, 2010)

There are some lovely places to visit in the area.:smile2:
Are favs are Frejus,St Maxime,Gassin,Port Grimaud and of course St Tropez.
One of our fav aires is in St.Maxime with a short walk to the beach front restaurants.:smile2:


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

Hi jo662

Do you have co ordinates for that aire please

cheers

DJM


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## TeamRienza (Sep 21, 2010)

Got an email from ACSI today to say my copy of 2017 book etc has been dispatched. It is on a recurring subscription which maybe gets posted first.

Davy


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## jo662 (Jul 27, 2010)

DJMotorhomer said:


> Hi jo662
> 
> Do you have co ordinates for that aire please
> 
> ...


I hope this works!:smile2:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@43.3...4!1s_3ZeSVN6ZKbrQmZb43wXIw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

There is also a Mcd`s opposite so you can use there wifi!


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

TeamRienza said:


> Got an email from ACSI today to say my copy of 2017 book etc has been dispatched. It is on a recurring subscription which maybe gets posted first.
> 
> Davy


Quite possibly . I emailed vicarious yesterday and they said they had not arrived yet 

Will wait and see eh lol

DJM


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

jo662 said:


> I hope this works!:smile2:
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@43.3...4!1s_3ZeSVN6ZKbrQmZb43wXIw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
> 
> There is also a Mcd`s opposite so you can use there wifi!


Worked fine thanks
DJM


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks all

Where is the best (cheapest) place to get this ACSI book from?

ta

Graham :smile2:


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## StephandJohn (Sep 3, 2007)

We get as many of our travel books and maps as we can from Vicarious books http://www.vicariousbooks.co.uk/. They are a small independent company who are motorhomers. I think its good to support small booksellers and their prices aren't any different to anyone else mostly.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks

The ACSI site had about 5 options which rather confused me. I want books and a card which the Vicarious site seems to cover in one option.

Graham :smile2:


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Great! A trip planning thread. About time! 

Have you seen my Cote D'Azur guide Graham? Bottom of the my downloads page. https://sites.google.com/site/hanktestsite2/downloads

I cant remember if you have secondary transport or not (scooter?). If not it still might be useful. There are good train and bus links I think. Dont try and take your van into Monaco or Nice if you can avoid it though. Mental. The area around St Tropez and also much further west around Cassis are my favourites. Not sure what it will be like around Easter. Weather should be picking up a bit but I get the impression the further east you go towards Cannes and Monaco it will always be busy. Its worth reading the guide as there are some stunning little places both on the coast and inland. Do not forget to explore inland in that area as well. We saw it all and the real gems are often tucked away not far away from the big places like Nice and Cannes etc.

If your coming down from Annecy and have not been dont miss the Verdon Gorges and Lac St Croix. Only an hour or two from the coast and just stunning.

If it were me I would do Alsace, Jura, Annecy and maybe some of the higher Alps in that area, St Croix, Verdon Gorges then work my way east to west along the Cote D'Azur before heading inland around Cassis (Just east of Marseilles) up into Inland Provence (Menerbes, Gordes area, "Year in Provence" region). Then maybe up to the Ardeche gorges, Vallon Pont D'arc for Kayaking and there are some fantastic places in the Ardeche. The TI will give you a guide. Then head west into Aveyron and Tarn areas, Maybe the Tarn Gorges, St Rome de Tarn, Lac Pareloup. Over to the Lot, Rocamadour, Cahors, Cirq Lapopie, up into the Dorogne, Sarlat to Bergerac and maybe a bit of the Vezere (Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère is stunning). Then head up through Brantome area and start heading north for home.

I would want about four months for that lot but you could do it quicker.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

GMJ said:


> Thanks
> 
> The ACSI site had about 5 options which rather confused me. I want books and a card which the Vicarious site seems to cover in one option.
> 
> Graham :smile2:


So do folks go to Vicarius books or the ACSI site to buy their ACSI book and card?
ta

Graham:smile2:


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## jo662 (Jul 27, 2010)

GMJ said:


> So do folks go to Vicarius books or the ACSI site to buy their ACSI book and card?
> ta
> 
> Graham:smile2:


You want the one with the app for your smart phone or tablet!:smile2:

http://webshop.acsi.eu/en/campingcard-acsi.html?_ga=1.204576656.1437207603.1481294683

The price is in Euro`s.

http://webshop.acsi.eu/en/campingcard-acsi/campingcard-acsi-combi-subscription-2017.html


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## StephandJohn (Sep 3, 2007)

The ACSI book of campsites has the card in it and you can get that from Vicarious. You can also get an ID card which you use in place of your passport at campsites and is generally accepted in most places. We get ours from ACSI itself as Vicarious don't do them.


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## caulkhead (Jul 25, 2007)

GMJ said:


> So do folks go to Vicarius books or the ACSI site to buy their ACSI book and card?
> ta
> 
> Graham:smile2:


I get mine from ACSI but their website is mightily confusing. I would say it's the probably the worst website that I have come across in terms of user friendliness:frown2:


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## TeamRienza (Sep 21, 2010)

I use a recurring subscription directly with ACSI for book, discount card and ID card, however I buy all the Aires etc from Vicarious as they have a good selection of the best guides for Europe in one site.

Davy


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

I buy all our books from Vicarious

DJM


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## homenaway (Jul 27, 2005)

GMJ said:


> So do folks go to Vicarius books or the ACSI site to buy their ACSI book and card?
> ta
> 
> Graham:smile2:


Hi,

We have bought the 2017 ACSI Camping Card book from the Camping & Caravanning Club as they had it on offer for £11.99 including postage a month ago :smile2:

Hasn't arrived yet.

Steve


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks folks

I bought a book this morning

Now...any more suggestions on the south of France?

Graham :smile2:


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Mrplodd said:


> ... we were on a site just outside Frejus "La Plage D'Argens"...


Andy - can I ask how far it was to Frejus from the site?

Was it walk-able?

ta

Graham :smile2:


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Graham

All depends on how keen you are at walking!!

Seriously I would not consider it walking distance to the (long) sea front 

If you go onto Google Earth and find Frejus follow the D559 south out of town as it turns from running parralel to the coast and starts heading towards the sea (just over a river not the canal) that's where the campsite is. Look for the yellow box with "D559" in it, that's the campsite entrance. It's about 600m from the back of the site to the beach.

Andy


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks Andy - got it.

Way too far to walk (especially for Mrs GMJ) but if there are buses and taxis it might work for us.

Bearing in mind our MH is 8.7m long, how did you find manoeuvring around the site in your outfit?

Graham :smile2:


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

This is a pretty large site with a lot of static "lodges" rather than mobile homes. The acces roads are pretty narrow (which keeps the vehicle speeds down!) My rig is just over 12m total length and I managed it without TOO much trouble.

The touring pitches are of varying sizes (like most sites) and certainly not all of them would be suitable for your sized rig. My caravan is about a metre shorter than you are BUT the pitches tend to run parralel to the access roads not at 90* so you would be able to manouvere in without too much effort with a bit of "Left hand down Mr Phillips" 

Part of the site runs along the side of a river so mozzies type things are about in the evening (well they were in Sept) sensible precautions prevent any upset. 

It's a level 500m to the beach, part is naturist BUT it's well signed in advance if you wish to avoid that it's very easy.

We really enjoyed the site at the end of sept, I am pretty sure it's on a bus route because it's just off the main road that runs all along the coast (having a car with us I didn't bother to look for a bus stop) Plenty to see and do in the area.

I did do a review of the site when there so it should be in the 2017 ACSI app.

We are returning to the area in April and will almost certainly return to that site.

There are two toilet blocks, one is a bit old and tired but the other is superb.

If you would like any more info or a chat PM me for a phone number.

Andy


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks again Andy

I will await my new ACSI book but given few other recommendations, yours is looking good.

Having a bar/restaurant on site breaks things up a little and if we can use a bus/taxi to get around this helps.

Graham :smile2:


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

We obviously used sites, aires and wild spots a bit away from the main towns or coasts as transport wasnt a problem for us but whilst a lot of the beach side campsites and aires or those within walking distance of the beach or main towns did look a bit grim and pricey there were one or two smaller ones tucked away that looked ok. One little place we went to which was stunning was Cabasson (BORMES LES MIMOSAS). Just a little covey beach but a lovely spot. CC Infos said there was overnight parking in the beach car park which there was but it was really expensive. Somthing like €20 I think. We just went for a look and a swim on the bike but just back from the beach was a lovely little campsite. I think its this one. http://www.campingfrance.com/recher...mes-les-mimosas/camping-g-c-u-bormes-cabasson

Google view here https://goo.gl/maps/LC1Tk5RG8852

https://goo.gl/maps/p5hzBayRfAy

I mention it in the guide.

If you were looking for a few days relaxing with easy access to a quiet cove then this might be a good one to include. Looking at the site prices I think it works out cheaper than the car park!


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks Barry

Were there any places to eat and drink around there?

Graham :smile2:


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

GMJ said:


> Thanks Barry
> 
> Were there any places to eat and drink around there?
> 
> Graham :smile2:


The village itself is very small, I think there may have been a small hotel or two. The whole place is very low key and off the beaten track but we liked that. After the hustle and bustle of some of the bigger resorts the little gems you find off the beaten track are very welcome. Nearest places of any kind of night life would be Bormes and Le Lavendou a few miles up the road.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

I take your point mate...

We like the thought of having a bar/restaurant close and if staying for a week would certainly use it once. More often than not though once I have had a couple of lazy afternoon beers I cant be arsed to go out so mostly crank up the barbie...










Graham


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

My ACSI arrived yesterday

DJM


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Mrplodd said:


> I was down in that region in Sept/Oct. we were on a site just outside Frejus "La Plage D'Argens" (it's in the ACSI book check out the 2017 ACSI book, I did a review of the site which should be in it) a big site but has a pool, bar, restaurant etc. Easy level walk to a beautiful beach (a section is naturist, but well signposted in advance) with lots of level walks through the nature reserve that avoids the site.
> 
> It's on the main road from Frejus towards St Tropez so should have decent bus service. The road is fairly busy so ask for a pitch away from the road, the pitches are a good size but some are a bit uneven. Two sets of ablutions, one old and tired, the other modern and very pleasant. On site shop sells wine by the litre (€3.00) into your own bottle.
> 
> ...


Andy

I cant see the campsite you mention in the 2017 ACSI book. Could you advise what page it is on?

ta

Graham

EDIT: Got it....Its not under Frejus but under St Aygulf on page 500


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## HELP ME (Jan 2, 2017)

Sorry for posting this message on here but as it is a reply from a previous posting of mine its the only way I can contact an administrator.
Can an administrator PLEASE contact me by email as I cannot get into a forum. It says I am signed in yet when I go into a forum i.e Motorhome chitchat it states I am not a subscriber when I am. I have tried every which way to renew my password and alter my settings, I have sent numerous emails as requested but no reply from anyone. It has been over 2 weeks since I could post anything and as I am paid up until july.

DJMotorhomer

Dave Johnson

[email protected]

mobile: 07899993075

Sorry I have had to post my email and mobile number but otherwise you will not be able to contact me.
I WANT TO USE THE SITE BUT CANNOT !!!


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

HELP ME said:


> Sorry for posting this message on here but as it is a reply from a previous posting of mine its the only way I can contact an administrator.
> Can an administrator PLEASE contact me by email as I cannot get into a forum. It says I am signed in yet when I go into a forum i.e Motorhome chitchat it states I am not a subscriber when I am. I have tried every which way to renew my password and alter my settings, I have sent numerous emails as requested but no reply from anyone. It has been over 2 weeks since I could post anything and as I am paid up until july.
> 
> DJMotorhomer
> ...


Hi. I have reported your post and also emailed the local MHF admin. If someone else can do the same it might get picked up quicker


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

I've just reported it too :smile2:

Whilst on, has anyone used an aire in or near Avignon?

ta

Graham


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

GMJ said:


> I've just reported it too :smile2:
> 
> Whilst on, has anyone used an aire in or near Avignon?
> 
> ...


We used the one in Avignon over the bridge just out of the main town. It had security guards on it as I think two vans had been broken into the night before. It was ok for seeing the town. Im not sure we stayed overnight in the end, will have to ask Mrs D. Nice town but I remember it being stinking hot when we were there.


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## jo662 (Jul 27, 2010)

barryd said:


> We used the one in Avignon over the bridge just out of the main town. It had security guards on it as I think two vans had been broken into the night before. It was ok for seeing the town. Im not sure we stayed overnight in the end, will have to ask Mrs D. Nice town but I remember it being stinking hot when we were there.


We used the one over the bridge too a couple of years ago.
Was a nice site but the trees made it difficult to get on to
your pitch if I remember rightly.:surprise:
It may of just been the ones we were offered as had a limited
choice being August.:serious:


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

We stayed at the free P&Ride L'ile Piot a few years ago, just over the bridge heading out of the town on the left. 


A bit noisy as its close to the main road. Free Navette into town if req'd but its only a short stroll from there.


Coords in my little book... 43.95181 4.79402


Pete


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

I read some bad reviews about the aire so I think we'll stay on a site now. There are several to choose from in the ACSI book :smile2:

Graham :smile2:


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