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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 Michelin
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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All the Aires
published by Vicarious Books - new edition
published June 2008
A guide to motorhome aires in all regions of France giving
details in English of the location and directions including longitude and
latitude for many, the services provided, and a photo of the aire or
locality. Over 500 of the aires have been visited recently by the authors
with contributions from other experienced motorcaravanners (including us!).
Also a useful guide to the types of service points (bornes) has been added
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Obtainable from
Vicarious Books for £14.99 including P &P
see link below |
BordAtlas
published annually by Reisemobil magazine
A guide to stellplatz in two volumes listing 4000 places in Germany and
over 1000 in most other countries in Europe. This is a large format
illustrated guide, unfortunately all in German, with locations listed in
alphabetical order. We used it in 2008 and found it to be generally
accurate and up to date with prices and lots of information about each
stellplatz and surrounding attractions. There are maps included to locate
each town and GPS co-ordinates, postcodes and brief directions are
included
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obtainable from
Vicarious Books for about £25 inc P&P
see link below |
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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.
Lots of other useful information
including touring advice for each country, mountain pass details and other
tips, in two
volumes.
Volume 1: France, Spain, Andorra and Portugal
Volume 2 : Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia,
Greece and Eastern
Europe.
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obtainable from the Caravan Club and selected
bookshops
about £9.50 + 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 £8 |
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 £12
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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 €18
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Links to campsite and
aires websites for
France
Comprehensive list of all French Federation sites: CampingFrance
Selected French campsites (mainly larger ones): Camping-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. 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
They now produce All the Aires guides to Benelux and Scandinavia
and Spain and Portugal
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page updated 2 April 2010
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