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France is called some of the camper-friendly international locations in Europe. However what’s it like RVing in France?
This weblog will share a few of the prime stuff you’ll must know earlier than you hop in your motorhome.
Watch this video for the complete scoop ⤵️
Driving
French roads could be slender, particularly in smaller villages, to the purpose the place you could end up pondering, “Is that this actually a two-way street?” The reply might be sure and as you noticed within the video, it may get traumatic quick!
However for probably the most half, driving customs in France are just like anyplace in America. You’ll see pace restrict indicators (in kilometers), you’ll go slower site visitors on the correct, and also you’ll keep inside the strains of your lane whereas driving. You wouldn’t assume I would want so as to add that final one, however if you happen to cross into Italy, you’ll instantly discover that the strains on the street imply nothing to Italians. They drive the place they please! You’ll discover automobiles half parked within the lane, half parked on the sidewalk throughout France, however they do at the least keep of their lane whereas driving.
Associated: Planning an RV Journey in Italy
Toll Roads
Most main roads throughout France are toll roads (consider interstates or highways in America—they’re all toll roads in France).
Usually, you’ll seize a toll ticket whenever you enter the street and can hold onto it till you exit or till you come throughout a toll plaza. You’ll be able to simply pay with bank card—typically utilizing faucet to pay—and in case your French is rusty, press the British flag icon to modify the toll machine to English. Extra hardly ever, you’ll come to a toll sales space with a set price and an individual within the sales space. For instance, the tunnel within the Alps that connects France to Italy is manned and has a flat price of round $60.
Sure, French tolls are extraordinarily costly!
That was our largest toll ticket, however on days the place we spent a few hours on toll roads, we normally paid $20-$35 in charges. We opted for toll roads once we wanted to cowl a number of hundred miles or when the non-toll-road choice supplied by Google Maps appeared a bit of too lengthy.
The toll roads will supply many relaxation stops, generally known as aires, the place you possibly can refuel, seize meals, have a picnic, and even let youngsters play on the playground. (When you’re on the lookout for a style of house, you’ll typically see McDonald’s and Starbucks at aires.)
Street Indicators and Alerts
On the whole, street indicators in France are symbols that may be universally understood, versus worded indicators.
For instance, a Do Not Enter Signal within the US will say Do Not Enter with a purple circle with a white line throughout the center. In France, it can simply be a purple circle with a white line throughout the center.
Not all indicators are the identical as their US counterparts, however they’re pretty self-explanatory. An important indicators to search for when RVing will probably be width, peak, and weight restriction indicators. These white and purple round indicators may have black triangles on the prime and backside for peak or on the perimeters for width and say “2,3 m” to let you already know of an upcoming restriction. A weight restriction signal will doubtless say 3,5t. (Verify your RV weight earlier than you lease, however try to be protected with this restriction! 3,5t was the load restrict we noticed most frequently.)
And sure, the place we use intervals for decimals within the States, they use commas!
Visitors lights in France are similar to the US with inexperienced, yellow, and purple lights. Lights are vertical, with inexperienced on the underside and purple on the prime. In contrast to different neighboring international locations, you gained’t see any flashing inexperienced or yellow lights. (Except you’re in a development zone—they do arrange yellow flashing lights.)
Mild posts are sometimes posted on the identical aspect of the road as you’re, which may make seeing the sunshine not possible if you happen to pull up too far at an intersection. We needed to again up a number of occasions to see the publish. Nonetheless, you gained’t see purple lights fairly often in your travels. Most intersections throughout the nation are roundabouts, making driving throughout the nation that a lot simpler.
Associated: 16 Variations Between RVing in America and RVing Overseas
Tenting Choices
France is thought for being some of the camping-friendly international locations on the planet and it lives as much as its repute. Throughout our month of adventures, we by no means struggled to discover a place to camp in a single day. (Conversely, once we crossed over to Italy for a number of days, it was a lot tougher to search out an open campsite!)
There are a number of methods to camp in a single day in France and through our first few days on the street (seen within the video above) we tried a number of.
France Ardour
Greater than anything, we used France Ardour to search out free campsites throughout France. France Ardour is a membership (about $35) that means that you can camp totally free at wineries and farms throughout France. (France Ardour was the inspiration behind Harvest Hosts, the place you possibly can camp totally free on wineries in North America.) And it was extremely straightforward to search out stunning locations to spend the night time! In reality, after driving throughout the nation, I’m fairly certain 99% of the French countryside is vineyards. Miles and miles of lovely vines.
(We now have an upcoming video exhibiting off extra of what tenting at France Ardour websites is like, however it’s also possible to see our very first one on this video!)
Associated: Why You Ought to (and Learn how to!) Camp on Wineries and Farms
Dwelling Camper
Dwelling Camper is the place you possibly can keep in your motorhome at folks’s properties/on their property—similar to a HipCamp or Boondockers Welcome. You’ll want a self-contained RV (AKA your individual rest room) and also you’ll most likely wish to know a bit of French, because you’ll be conversing with locals.
We used Dwelling Camper on our second night time within the RV to remain within the yard of a champagne home in Epernay. (Pictured above) This web site supplied electrical energy, bogs, showers, and playgrounds, however facilities differ by web site.
Wild Tenting
Boondocking is sometimes called wild tenting or freedom tenting overseas. In France, we used the Park4Night app to search out boondocking spots throughout the nation. Within the video, we camped in a forest totally free and began our day mountain climbing one of many many trails that began from our free in a single day spot. Even higher, it was quarter-hour away from a fort and a brief drive to a close-by village for morning pastries and occasional.
Associated: 31 RVing Phrases You Ought to Know
Campgrounds
The very first thing that involves thoughts when RVing in France may be staying in conventional campgrounds. Just like an RV park or campground within the States, right here you’ll discover electrical energy, water, and sewer hookups in addition to facilities like a bathhouse, playground, and laundry. RVing with a child and a toddler, we spent much more nights than we thought we might in campgrounds doing laundry whereas the children performed.
We have been shocked at how kid-friendly many campgrounds have been. At one particularly, there was a big out of doors tent stuffed with toys for teenagers. Blocks, dolls, a kitchen, bikes, a trampoline—Europe actually is extremely kid-friendly!
Campsites in campgrounds diversified. We stayed at one with stage, poured concrete websites (above). At one other, we had an unlevel grassy space with towering bushes on both aspect. One other, a grassy space with vines separating websites. Really, quite a lot of campgrounds used grapevines to separate websites! I advised you, 99% of the nation is rising grapes for wine.
Typically, your campsite may be very easy in comparison with States, so don’t anticipate an excessive amount of. However what the websites lack in niceness, the campground makes up for with contemporary baked items. Oh sure, you possibly can odor the croissants and pan au chocolat out of your campsite. Heath swears the very best pastries of the month have been at a small campground in Lourdes, France simply exterior Pyrenees Nationwide Park. We stayed there for 3 nights for “the proximity to the nationwide park” however Heath isn’t fooling anybody. It was the croissants.
Aires
And lastly, aires. Sure, these relaxation stops that I discussed discovering off the toll roads? A lot of them supply in a single day tenting. We didn’t truly keep in a single day at any aires throughout our journey, however we spent many afternoons dumping tanks, letting the children play, and grabbing meals. Which brings me to at least one different key a part of RVing in France…
RV Companies
Within the States, tenting totally free creates a number of issues. The place are you going to refill your water? The place are you going to dump your black and gray tanks? The place are you going to throw out your rubbish?!
For a lot of campers, the reply is to seize a campground for an evening and handle the RV.
However in France, no want. You’ll find potable water, RV service stations, and plentiful public trash cans in most cities. Heck, you could find sorted recycling bins in virtually each city too! France lives as much as the hype and it was shockingly straightforward to search out the providers we want for the RV.
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That is additionally the place aires actually turn out to be essential. They’re the very best, best place to service your tanks, refuel (on gasoline, diesel, and propane), and even take out the trash whilst you’re driving down the freeway.
RV Tenting in France
Have you ever heard about tenting in France earlier than? It’s rising in recognition for worldwide vacationers like us and it blew us away!
Subscribe to our Youtube channel to maintain watching our RVing in France collection 🙂
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