Thinking about heading down to the Pyrenees for our summer holiday. We’d be going via the Tunnel in our campervan so would hope to break the journey up.
Anyone got a campsite/aire recommendations somewhere say 6-8hrs from the Tunnel?
We could drive all the way in one very long day but we’re on holiday so we’d rather stop on the way and have a leisurely evening and some good food & wine.

thanks

Not sure if this is eactly on the way ..

.. but we stayed here last summer, very pleasant – few towns nearby for restaurants ec. We booked pretty late, but there might be a minimum night stay? There are plenty of sites in the area so maybe worth a look.

I’ve been driving down from Leeds to near Foix/Andorra twice a year for the last 4 years or so. We usually drive down to folkstone after work on a Thursday night (Leeds to the Tunnel is 4 hours via A1), cross via the tunnel then stop in a cheap hotel. Get up and set off for about 7/8 ish in the morning and be at my sisters house for about 5pm, just in time for tea!!

We go via, paris, Limoges, Toulouse which is cheaper on tolls than via Clermont Millau.

I know that’s not giving you ideas about where to stop but might give you an idea about how it can be done so you don’t spend too many days driving.

We drive most of that route and depending on tunnel/ferry times found somewhere in the Southern Loire a pleasant break… (when going from Calais)

It’s not really halfway for you but gets you past Paris and then you have about 5-6 hours the next day to arrive. We usually actually spend a day in Tours or Saumur .. loads of food/wine places… and no-one is going to arrest you for being tipsy on a bike so we usually do a few Chateau wine tastings as well..loads of gravel path along the rivers.. and if you have kids with you loads of stuff…

There is a municipal camp site and loads of hotels and Gites….

Don’t know if you booked yet but another alternative is via Dieppe then we tend to stop a day in Treport which means your really close to Dieppe which has some trails (and more canoe’s and water skiing)

We stayed here last time
5 Le Lieu Dieu, 80770 Beauchamps, France

Second Tours or Saumur…I find it difficult to find a bad place when travelling in France.

We haven’t booked any travel yet. We’d probably go via Tunnel as we have family in Kent and could do a free stopover on way there but Newhaven to Dieppe looks like a good idea

Thanks for the ideas so far, keep ’em coming

The ferry from Portsmouth to Santander/Bilbao is very nice. The cabins are good and it’s all very relaxing. So much easier than the Autoroute and toll charges…

Rachel

This website has some great places (chambre d’hote equiv to B&B)

https://www.sawdays.co.uk/find?country=France#!display=list

@allthegear – thanks but the ferry direct to Spain isn’t an option as its so expensive. I find the Hull-Rotterdam ferry is the limit of my patience (and I don’t like water!)

You don’t say where in the Pyrenees. We often go via Bordeaux / Pau with a 3yo so tend to stop around Le Mans, which might leave you with too much to do in the morning. Plenty of Aires as well, as you’re in a camper.
There’s an app with the cheap or free stopovers, I don’t have it installed atm but I’ll try to remember what it is called as it’s come in handy a few times.

Edit, it’s the catchily named Aires Campingcars Info.. Only in French but you’ll suss it out easy enough. iirc I cached the area where we were likely to be stopping over wifi rather than roaming data.

Bookmarked….
I had a quick look at the ferry ,290£!
12hours voyage-plenty of time to be seasick.

We live in Southern Cataluña so cross the Pyrenees SW of Toulouse, theres a nice campsite just off the autoroute at a village called Donzenac. It’s at the exit for Brive La Galliard. If your camper has toilet facilities it is possible to park up just outside for free. The village is lovely to have a walk around and a meal and there’s a Casino supermarket across the road as well. About 7 1/2 hours from Calais via Rouen and Chartres which avoids Paris congestion and too many tolls.

ElShalimo – Member

Thinking about heading down to the Pyrenees for our summer holiday. We’d be going via the Tunnel in our campervan so would hope to break the journey up.
Anyone got a campsite/aire recommendations somewhere say 6-8hrs from the Tunnel?
We could drive all the way in one very long day but we’re on holiday so we’d rather stop on the way and have a leisurely evening and some good food & wine.

thanks

1) Don’t try and do it in one hit. It’s hard enough in a fairly quick car, let alone a campervan.

2) If you bring bikes, give us a shout and I’ll show you around Zona-Zero MTB (Ainsa).

3) If you don’t bring bikes but you want to pop in for a chat and a beer give us a shout and we’ll tell you about the local attractions worth seeing

🙂

There are tons of places, I reckon you need to decide if you want a place just to sleep or actually stop over and make a day of it.
There are the aires mentioned already where you can park up overnight and lots of cheap motels like the F1 (there’s one at Le Mans) but it basically means a 1 formula motel nothing to do with motor racing and they are all over like travelodges
So long as you’re not in the French holidays we never found it hard to find accom but it’s easier if you speak French when phoning round Gîtes.

We got into a habit of turning a week into 10 days so spending a night, whole day then a night at the breakpoint and similar on the return. It you don’t have time then it’ might be as well to just get a side of the autoroute motel or you end up rushing and lose the point?

I lived in Paris for 7 yrs and drove Paris/Pau and Paris/Montpellier many weekends so I sort of see getting south of Paris as a mental thing so Saumur and Tours work well for me… it’s a bit like getting round Brum on the M6 or round the M25 …. but it’s also a good distance from the ferry/tunnel in that you can arrive early and get food out … then we usually spend a day starting the holiday for real… somehow it makes the next drive more part of the holiday than just getting to the holiday… (if that makes sense)

It’s only £40 on an aeroplane.

Mate of mine has a house in the Pyrenees and has given up driving there

Yeah it’s £40 on a plane if you go on a Tuesday that’s not in the school holidays!!
When it’s going to cost £80 pp each way for a family of 4, and then you want to hire a car over there it’s not such a cheap option.

Yeah it’s £40 on a plane if you go on a Tuesday that’s not in the school holidays!!
When it’s going to cost £80 pp each way for a family of 4, and then you want to hire a car over there it’s not such a cheap option.

This really. Works out roughly the same for us, albeit going the other way as we live in San Sebastian and visit the UK a couple of times a year in school hols. A few nights’ camping on the way and maybe a hotel in Bordeaux or somewhere makes it a worthwhile part of the trip.

I’ve stayed in that formula one in Le Mans a few times!

If it’s just to get some sleep then it’s hard to beat F1 hotels, although lately I’ve found the Ibis hotels (not the budget) to be only be a few pounds more but far far better. For example the one in Rennes.

B&B Hotels are our choice at the moment. Little bit more expensive than the really cheap ones but they have 4 proper beds, which we need nowadays, and the breakfasts are good. They have bacon and eggs as well as the standard croissants, bread and yoghurt.

As the thread evolves it seems people miss that the OP is traveling in a camper van.

If you’re going down the west coast on the A10 I suggest the campsite in saintes. There are lots of truck stops on the N10 but the risk isn’t zero.

Going for Toulouse or Perpignon then the campsite in Millau is fine.

Thanks for the tips.

Our campervan is quite modern and happy to sit at 70 mph on the motorway all day. Likely first destination is Gavarnie so that will determine the route.

I away use the Aires, they great some are free others you may have to pay a charge, use this site or just buy a aires book when you get to france. http://en.airecampingcar.com/

When you add up the tolls, fuel and wear/tear on the camper, is it still cheaper to drive vs the ferry?

Not sure where in the UK you’re starting obviously.

b r – Member
When you add up the tolls, fuel and wear/tear on the camper, is it still cheaper to drive vs the ferry?
Not sure where in the UK you’re starting obviously.

Starting in West Yorkshire.
The Santander ferry is about £900 return in Sept – tunnel is about £100 each way, so lots of money left for diesel and tolls!

It’s only £40 on an aeroplane.
Mate of mine has a house in the Pyrenees and has given up driving there

Although usually at least £100. The cheapest we’ve ever done was in Feb to Lourdes for skiiing and it ended up being £90pp once we’d added a hold bag.
+ transfers at both ends,
+ car rental if you need it.
+ cost of flying with bike
+ possibly damage to bikes (i hate putting my bike in the hold – far too many photos of bike bags being thrown around or having heavy bags stacked on them.

Once you add it all together, for a couple of people from the south of England there’s not that much in it cost wise. Takes a bit longer but you save a few hours at either end building and breaking down bikes.

I looked at the ferry but it’s ruinously expensive in the school holidays. As an alternative to the tunnel, how about Portsmouth to St. Malo overnight? It’s a much shorter journey than going from Calais, with fewer tolls as well.

Starting in West Yorkshire.
The Santander ferry is about £900 return in Sept – tunnel is about £100 each way, so lots of money left for diesel and tolls! [/I]

I usually reckon on fuel and tolls been the same, but not sure with a camper.

Google reckons tolls at Euro150 each way, along with 700 miles at 30mpg?, works out about £550-600. There isn’t much in it IMO, and that’s before adding wear&tear.

The Camper Van is the holiday. Not taking it (eg flying) means its a different holiday once they are in the Pyrenees.

@b r – I appreciate the help but we don’t have to use the toll roads and on the ferry you can’t go for a spontaneous lunch/leg stretch/pootle on the bike along the river etc.
The biggest negative of the ferries is that they are an extremely efficient way of extracting money from you to combat the terminal boredom. Also the Bay of Biscay can be notoriously rough at any time of year. I want to arrive at my leisure, not covered in someone else’s vomit with empty pockets.

It’s over four hours from Santander to Tarbes. Or about a third of the time and cost of getting to Calais.

I looked at the ferry but it’s ruinously expensive in the school holidays. As an alternative to the tunnel, how about Portsmouth to St. Malo overnight? It’s a much shorter journey than going from Calais, with fewer tolls as well.

I looked at that as Portsmouth is only 50 mins away – but it was 5x the cost of tunnel in August. Even after tolls and diesel it was still a fair bit more. I might take it this year though as it does trim a big corner for me.

I looked at that as Portsmouth is only 50 mins away – but it was 5x the cost of tunnel in August. Even after tolls and diesel it was still a fair bit more. I might take it this year though as it does trim a big corner for me.

IME the tunnel always works out cheaper. I guess the question is how much the time saved is worth to you?

@b r – I appreciate the help[/I]

No worries.

I often use to use the Hull-Holland ferries as while dearer you arrived first thing having saved a hotel room.

I’ve never used the Santander one, but have the Cherbourg as it saves the long haul across the northern coast.

We usually budget £5-600 return for fuel, tolls, crossings and hotel on the outward journey.
We often drive home in 1 straight run. Leave my sisters near Andorra at 6:30 in the morning and arrive back home in Leeds at midnight, inc the hour time diff.

Although we did the Zeebrugge – hull ferry home a few weeks ago and it was soooo much nicer than the drive up from Folkestone!!

Dover – Calais or Dunkirk ferry is usually cheaper than the tunnel but it takes a couple of hours longer.

Imagine paying to spend 24 hours on a bloody boat !

Although I suppose it’s like a mini-cruise ?

Imagine paying to spend 24 hours on a bloody boat !

I don’t need to, because I have done. What’s your point?

Not sure what yours is ? 😉

When we went down in 2011 we stayed here: http://www.campinglacdesaintcyr.fr/en/

Perfectly pleasant for a stop over, nice lake etc. Then a steady drive via Bordeaux to Pau and on to Lourdes etc.

We drove back in a single push, mostly as my leg was in several pieces, so Mrs W pulled a massive 20hr+ effort to get back to the UK. Not recomended, and I wish I’d stayed in France and had it fixed properly there. On the way back we went via Toulose. Back then much of the A20 up the middle of France was toll free, don’t know if it still is, but worth a look as saved some cash.

K

Not sure what yours is ?

You seemed to be quite exercised by the idea, that’s all. I’m not sure why.

http://www.airetoday.co.uk/

A mate put this together, hope it helps