On the Road in France: An Overview of French Aires

On the Road in France: An Overview of French Aires

Hi we’re Richard and Jackie from early retirement wonderlust and we are back in wonderful France and we are heading down to the Alps so we thought we take the time while we’re traveling down to take you through some of the different kinds of airs that you might come across when you travel through France In one of our previous videos we showed you um a stay that we had at an English air in shopshire so we thought while we’re driving down to France we’d take the time just to have a look at some of the kinds of airs that you come across

In France because that’s where the idea came from for the English air one of the Great great things about airs in France is that there are so many of them that you can afford to be really flexible so yesterday we were targeting to get about 350 Mi under our Bell and stay somewhere

Just south of tuah however I was feeling really good which is bizarre it doesn’t normally happen when I’m driving so we pushed on a little bit further and we spent the night here in Bor on Bress just outside this wonderful Royal ab and we were in the company of lots of other

Vans at a beautiful full little air provided by the local [Applause] community So we arrived here at about half 6 last night it was pitch black but the monastery was lit up and it was absolutely beautiful the car park is really well lit up which actually gave us a sense of safety um we are in the Heart of the City there are as you will

Probably notice behind us cars going up and down the road it is essentially a car park but it was really quiet last night and there were lots of other Vans and I like the safety and numbers yeah and it’s a really simple No Frills air there are no facilities here there’s

There’s no flop blur there’s no water there’s no toilets you just get what you see but it is free so we had a really nice night last night we parked up we went for a bit of a Wonder to get our steps in and then called off at a local

Bar for a little beer because you do feel a little bit guilty about stopping the these communities and not putting money back in and like a lot of the French airs you are not allowed to get any of your equipment out so you’ll notice the Vans behind us it’s just a

Basically a car park and you stay there for the night and on this particular one I think it’s got a limit of only being able to stay for 24 hours so people do move on and it doesn’t get clogged up which is great and for us it was an

Ideal opportunity it was the end of a long day of driving we’ve had a a really good night sleep and we are now about 150 mil from the Alps so what we plan to do is to drop into various different airs on our way to show you the difference between where we’ve stayed

Tonight and some of the other opportunities that are widespread across France so we’re sat at a Motorway Services air now at the moment in theory you could stop here um it’s very convenient it’s literally like the British Motorway Services you pull off and you could stay for the night but we

Have heard horror tales about people being robbed when we arrived at the Campsite in Borg amarice in January there was a English gentleman with his son they’d stopped at a service air similar to this and they woke up in the middle of the night with someone trying

To get into the van which really scared me um I wouldn’t stay here it’s really busy it’s really noisy I don’t feel particularly safe um so it’s a no from us for this type of air so this is just a typical Motorway air that you get all

Over France based around the auto route these that don’t actually have a service station but they have toilets they’ve got loads of parking they’ve got loads of picnic spaces they are really handy for stopping off and resting and having a bite to eat but in terms of staying

Here overnight we’ve never used them to stay overnight I know some people choose to um I guess it’s from back in the day there was lots of bad press about um Travelers being robbed and things like that at places like this so we’ve never chosen to to stay at overnight through a

Tiny little rural air now it’s completely free to stay here it is in the middle of nowhere between Anese and elville there are absolutely no facilities whatsoever and it is grass we tried to stay here last time we came down and it was just a bog tonight we’re

Actually staying further down the valley anyway but we just thought we’d show you another kind of air that there is so we have just pulled up in the air just outside Anese and this is a typical City Air you don’t have to pay so it is free

There are 10 parking Bays but you can probably see it’s pretty tightly packed it does does have a bit of a flop blur station so you can dump your gray waste and I think you can get water but it looks a little bit dilapidated the benefit is that even though it’s tightly

Packed it’s really close to the town center so in a minute we’re going to have a a wander down to the lake and then across into the town because we haven’t got facilities in our van it’s not really the sort of place that we would look to stay we don’t like how

Confined it is but I suppose if you’re turning up late and you’re leaving early and you’re spending most of the day wandering the town then you don’t need a lot of Space H W Morning morning so it’s Saturday morning we’re in Bor Samar finally and we’re about to go skiing but before we go we’ve shown you some of the different kinds of airs that we’ve come across on our journey down there are lots of different types there are lots of

Different sizes um and these are just something that we’ve come across yeah France is such a massive place and as a driver don’t underestimate that I am absolutely rubbish I cannot do super long distances so I need to break up the journeys and the airs are just a quick

Cheap and easy way of doing that and you can go with a flow so you know you just have to start searching when you start feeling a little bit tired on the roads and you can always find somewhere to stay in France yeah we tend to look for

Asirs that are maybe in smaller Villages maybe between 5 and 10 minutes off the main toll roads because we do use the toll roads if we’ve got a long journey at Christmas we found the most amazing little air that was just right by the river we did nearly get flooded out

Because it was during the storms but it was just so gorgeous and peaceful and the people in The Villages are really welcoming and we sort of make that conscious decision don’t we to to get off the auto routes because we do know that people stay in the various AAS that

Are surrounding the auto routs but it’s amazing as Jackie says what you can find within about five or 10 minutes off the auto route it’s a bit of a break uh you find these quiet little Villages and they are just stunning so the main way we find the airs is through two apps

First of all park for the night most airs are on there um it’s a free app you can’t there is a paid version so you don’t have all the adverts and it’s a little bit easier to search for things but we haven’t paid for it and the other

Way is through camping asy if you’ve got a camp asky card you can have the app as well and we’ve paid a little bit extra for the motor homes version that includes all the airs as well and between those two apps there are literally thousands of airs across

France so if you’re going to be navigating across France at any time of year summer or winter then we would absolutely Advocate the use of uh airs one of the things we are conscious about is if we have a weird feeling about a place or we’re a little bit uneasy we

Just move on yeah we’ve pulled build up a couple where we’ve just looked around and gone oo it’s a bit dark and there’s lots of cars zooming around and people pulling up every so often and we’ve just thought no not for us and we have just moved on and there is always somewhere

To move on so don’t feel that you’re stuck to something that you’ve initially found and the apps that I mentioned they don’t actually just work in France um we’ve not particularly used the airs in many of the other European countries but there is a huge variety there as well so

That’s it from us we’re going to get going and get skiing and hopefully have a nice quiet day on the slopes because it’s a Saturday and it’s changeover day see you later [Applause] Bye

In this video, we are heading out to the French Alps and look to provide a overview of French Aires, essential for anyone planning a road trip through France at any time of the year.

Join us as we delve into the world of French Aires, uncovering the unique features and benefits of these motorhome stopovers. From their convenient locations to the facilities they offer, we’ll cover everything you need to know to make the most of your travels.

Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a seasoned traveler, our video offers valuable insights and practical tips to help you navigate the French Aires system with ease. Discover the best practices for finding and utilizing Aires, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable journey across the stunning landscapes of France.

We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. We retired from teaching at the age of 51 in the summer of 2022. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.

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Check out our blog http://earlyretirementwanderlust.com

Many thanks,

Richard & Jackie

Timeline
00:00 We are in France and we are looking at Aires
02:38 Bourg en Bresse Aire
04:14 French Motorway Services Aires
04:50 French Motorway Aires
05:25 French Rural Aires
05:47 French Urban Aires
08:43 French Aires- our top tips and advice