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EUROPEAN CAMPSITES and AIRES Places we have stayed in European countries in recent years |
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Note: We usually tour in low
season (May and June) so sites and aires will be busier in mid summer.
Also many campsites in France close or have reduced facilities from mid
September
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FRANCE
has over ten thousand
campsites both municipal and privately owned and ranging from basic to
luxury. There are also over 2000 aires: Aires de Parking where you can
park overnight, some free, or for a (mostly) small overnight fee, and
Aires de Service again free or with a small charge for use of the water
and waste supply points (bornes) and sometimes electric hookups. Some
of these are free, others have an entry barrier or a local official
collects the overnight fee. Others are within or just outside campsites
where a reduced or normal camping fee may apply. We have
occasionally found it cheaper to stay on the campsite especially if the
charge for electricity is included and you usually have more space
around you than in some aires.
In
some places you can stay for one night free in a town car park or
village square but beware you may find you are surrounded by market
stalls the next morning! . ITALY
has many campsites and aires (Aree di Sosta). The campsites are mostly
large and developed usually with full amenities and many pitches
occupied by static caravans often with very permanent extensions. They
tend to be rather expensive especially in high season (but see ACSI below) The
aree di sosta vary from excellent with free water, waste and even free
electric hookups, to awful where we wouldn't park for an hour let alone
overnight! GERMANY
has a few thousand campsites and stellplatz
(aires) for motorhomes especially in the Rhine/Mosel area and
Bavaria. We spent three weeks touring Germany in 2008
staying only at stellplatz in many areas including the Weser Valley,
Harz Mountains, Thuringia, Bavaria and Black Forest which were mostly
well signposted and had good facilities. SWITZERLAND
is expensive for touring with high site fees and fuel costs. We found
the campsites in the main tourist areas to be mostly large and crowded
with very small pitches. AUSTRIA
has a mix of small and large campsites depending on the popularity of
the area as a tourist destination. Pitch sizes are usually similar to
in Switzerland but some sites have larger marked pitches. Many sites
have excellent facilities with luxury toilet blocks and services points
for each pitch. There are now more stellplatz
in Austria. SPAIN
has very few official aires but wild camping is
tolerated unless there are too many crowded together in
hotspots. There are many campsites mostly fairly expensive
with full facilities but we only have personal experience of the North
and Pyrenees. The popular costas of the South can be packed with
motorhomes and caravan sites are often full during the winter months
although a few miles inland wild camping is apparently easier. We found
that the official aires often have a sign forbidding camping i.e. no
outside tables, chairs, awnings or even winding down of steadies are
allowed. PORTUGAL
visited in Spring 2011. We found a mix of large and small campsites, a
few municipal campsites and official aires, and many wildcamping places
mainly on the coast. It was generally cheaper than Spain. The Orbitur
chain of campsites are well equipped and reasonably cheap in low season
especially with the free Seniors Discount card obtainable in advance
from their website. The
Czech Republic has many campsites mostly in the more popular
tourist areas and wild camping is not allowed. Site fees are reasonable
and site standards vary from fairly basic to a few luxury sites with
swimming pools or by lakes. There are several sites near Prague the one
we stayed at felt secure and was near a metro station for easy access
to the city centre
ACSI Also Annual membership schemes such as France Passion can provide free motorhome stopovers at vineyards and farms. page updated 03/11/2011 |
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