Cycling in the South of France

[jorgemartin]

Change of plans. Initially I was going to cycle from Paris to Hamburg along the North Sea Route. Instead, I now have the possibility of cycling in the south of France from the 12th to the 19th of October. Any ideas? Also I was wondering if anyone knows about the camping situation there at this time of the year. Will all the camping sites be closed? Cheers

 

[Crankarm]

Change of plans. Initially I was going to cycle from Paris to Hamburg along the North Sea Route. Instead, I now have the possibility of cycling in the south of France from the 12th to the 19th of October. Any ideas? Also I was wondering if anyone knows about the camping situation there at this time of the year. Will all the camping sites be closed? Cheers

Very possibly. Still there is Formule 1.

 

[Alf]

I have found a lot (probably most) campsites in bits of Provence I have cycled in are open from April (sometimes May) until mid or end of September so you may have problems. A useful reference is the Michelin book on campsites in France. Their 200,000 maps also have the same sites shown on them. Not all sites are listed but it seems to be a good proportion of them. The Michelin guide does give the opening season for nearly all the sites.

Alf

 

[rualexander]

We are away for the last three weeks of October and initially wanted to go to southern France, maybe Cevennes and Massif Central, but research showed that not enough campsites were likely to be open. So we are going across the border to Catalonia instead where there seems to be lots of campsites still open. Flying to Girona and doing a tour from there.

 

[Alf]

How did you find out about the campsites in Catalonia, may I ask?

Thanks
Alf

 

[jorgemartin]

I'm going to Stanfords (the travel bookstore in London) to check out the Michelin guide and see what's open in October. How much are the Formule 1s? I'm also considering 'informal' camping but I don't know if it's okay to do that in France.

 

[rualexander]

How did you find out about the campsites in Catalonia, may I ask?

Thanks
Alf

Basically by trawling through the web.
There are a lot listed here : http://www.campingo.com/catalonia-camping.htm
Most of the coastal sites seem to close end sept. but plenty inland sites are open until november or even all year.
Otherwise I just searched on google using a town or village name and 'camping'.
I have the Michelin road atlas for Spain which shows camping and that helped narrow down the search. I have found at least 30 sites that are still open until the end of October at least.

 

[andym]

Otherwise I just searched on google using a town or village name and 'camping'.
I have the Michelin road atlas for Spain which shows camping and that helped narrow down the search. I have found at least 30 sites that are still open until the end of October at least.

Google Maps is (are?) also pretty useful. Or you could look at http://www.alanrogers.com/. The Camping Qualité website is also pretty useful for France.

A lot of sites are branching out into 'mobil homes'. A bit of a mixed blessing for cycle tourists, but they do mean campsites stay open a bit longer than they might otherwise do.

Everything you need to know about Formule 1:

http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/index.html

but my impression is that they are on the outskirts of larger towns - so not necessarily that convenient for cycling.

The other option to consider, of course, are gites d'étape and youth hostels.

 

[psmiffy]

ive got the same sort of problem of campsites closing in western poland and eastern germany - im just sitting here checking them out one by one on the internet - tedious and does not always work - last two nights the campings have been closed at least a week before their listing (and the turisti board) says - big fences and padlocks and ive had to wild camp

french campsites tend to either open long or less than 6 months - concessions on electricity charges and tax if less than a certain period