European Site guides
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These
are some campsite guides we have used for Europe recently. We normally
take a selection but have found the French Guide Officiel and All the Aires
books get used most as we never book ahead when in France (even in August)
and have rarely had problems finding a pitch, at least away from the main
coastal resorts.
Note
Quoted prices for publications may not be up-to-date
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NEW
All the Aires France published by Vicarious Books - 4th edition
published in December 2012
A guide to motorhome aires in all regions of France giving
details in English of the location and directions including longitude and
latitude, the services provided, and for most a photo of the aire or
locality. The
format has been revised for the 4th edition with larger pages,
re-organised numbering within regions and a useful fold out map of
France (optional extra). Over 2,700 aires have been inspected mostly by the the authors
with contributions from other experienced motorcaravanners (including us!).
Also a useful guide to the types of service points (bornes) has been added and now over 500 GPL service stations are listed.
Additional guides are available:
All the Aires - Spain and Portugal published in 2010
All the Aires - Benelux and Scandinavia published 2009
All the Aires - Mountains published in 2010
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Obtainable from
Vicarious Books for £21.99 including P&P
see link below |
BordAtlas
published annually by Reisemobil magazine
A guide to stellplatz (and some campsites) in two volumes listing 5,800 places in Germany and
over 1000 in most other countries in Europe. This is a large format
illustrated guide, unfortunately all in German but with an English guide to symbols used, with locations listed in
alphabetical order. We used it in 2011 and found it to be accurate and up to date. Maps are included to locate towns.
Each location has address, postcode and GPS co-ordinates, also prices, brief directions, amenities, and nearby attractions are
included.
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obtainable from
Vicarious Books for about £23.50 inc P&P
see link below |
Caravan Europe
published by the Caravan Club
Entries for 7,500 sites, detailed but brief and based on members' reports so sometimes are
conflicting with lots of cryptic abbr's such as: quiet and poss cr. A few
motorhome stopovers are listed.
Lots of other useful information
including touring advice for each country, mountain pass details and other
tips, in three
volumes.
Volume 1: France (+ Andorra)
Volume 2: Spain, Andorra and Portugal
Volume 3: Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia,
Greece and Central Europe.
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obtainable from the Caravan Club and selected
bookshops
about £8.99 + p&p each (available to non-members for £15.99) |
Guide Officiel Camping Caravanning
published by the Federation Francaise de Camping et de Caravanning.
Lists virtually every campsite in France (about 11,000) by department including private,
municipal sites with star grading for amenities (number not quality),
Aires Naturelle and "Camping a la Ferme" (which are usually larger than UK
CL type sites) Also lists parking places for motorhomes in towns. Includes
good maps which are helpful for finding the nearest
towns.
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Obtainable in French hypermarkets, caravan dealers or from the UK clubs for
about €14
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Guide Officiel des Etapes Camping-cars
published by the Federation Francaise de Camping et de Caravanning.
Lists all Aires de Services for motorhomes
in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
These can vary from free parking places in towns and villages to areas
in or outside campsites costing the same as a pitch.
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Obtainable in French hypermarkets, caravan dealers or from the UK clubs'
European touring brochures about €10 |
Michelin Camping Guide France
About 3000 selected sites in France with a more detailed rating system
than the Federation book and based on quality of amenities. Good general and
local maps. Sites are listed in alphabetic order by town. Includes an
English introduction and glossary.
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available from main UK bookshops, French hypermarkets and the UK clubs for
about £15
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Vacanze in camper in Italia
A guide in Italian published by The Touring Club Italiano and PleinAir
magazine listing most of the Aree di Sosta but mainly a guide to
twenty detailed suggested touring itineraries. (the aires list is almost
identical to those listed for Italy in the French guide officiel) Listed by
region and maps only show aires on the itineraries
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Available from some larger supermarkets in
Italy for about €20
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Links to campsite and
aires websites for
France For Aires in France we like this website mostly in French:
Campingcar-infos
which has useful
comments on aires from camping-caristes, The complete website can be purchased on
a memory stick or as a download for €8 via Paypal
and is updated twice a year. POI's can also be downloaded as .ov2 for Tomtom and .csv for Garmin and other satnavs.
Other websites: Comprehensive list of all French Federation sites: CampingFrance
Selected French campsites (mainly larger ones): Camping-France
We
have recently found this website i-Camping
Car which also has many aires listed and is regularly updated by
camping-caristes.
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A useful place to buy the latest European and UK site guides is Vicarious
Books who offer free P & P to UK customers
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page updated 20 Dec 2012
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