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Hi,

We are intending to go to the South of France this year around August, can anyone let me know if it is ok to sleep in the French Servicesboth legally and safely as we have 2 small children?

I'd agree with Liz. Better to stop over at a site, you'll get worthwile rest and the kids can stretch their legs. Those reasons alone are sufficient. You needn't plan these stopovers if you so wish, but personally I like to.

The safety of sleeping at Aires (motorway / trunk road services) has been debated on here at length, and there are strong opinions both ways on that. It's certainly legal, in most cases.

TT

We have been sleeping overnight in French Aires for years with our kids and have never had any problems. We have also tried stopping off at dedicated camp sites, but for us that has meant an unacceptable delay to our journey. If you do a search of this site you will find various threads discussing the pros and cons.

The main cons seem to be; risk of theft to property, fear of being gassed whilst you sleep,  noise from hgv`s and finding space at your first choice if you leave it too late at night. The main pros are that is quick,convenient and cheap.

If you stay at an aire choose where you stay with common sense/safety in mind and with regard to what facilities you want.(some aires have dedicated kids play areas, reatuarants, shops showers etc}. You can buy a booklet from the french service stations listing the autoroutes and the aires with all their facilities.

Have a nice holiday whatever you decide!

Having just returned from a 7 week stint in France, I can definately say that it is not recommended, particularly with children. We heard of several cases of  bad experiences where people had stayed on aires. We were warned by a Frenchman of the dangers of staying on them, and whilst many do, for peace of mind and safety the municipal sites are great and easily accessible en route plus they're a great way of meeting people.

If you want any recommendations let us know.

Thanks everyone for your advice, we have a slight problem in that we land in Calais at 20 30 Sat night and need to be in Narbonne for 1400 Sun afternoon, plan was to drive from 20.30 until daylight say 0400 and then grap a few hours sleep in the aires?

If we drove for a few hours we would probably be too late to book in anywhere and haveing only been caravaning for 10 months I would be a little concerned about searching for a campsite off the Autoroute in the dark! I also believe it would be some 14 hours to Narbonne with the van and don't fancy attempting that in one go!

Do you think it would be ok to sleep in the aires in daylight or would you suggest I try and change the ferry crossings? 

Thanks again for helping a very keen but inexperienced caravaner 

Thanks twooks,

Am probably going to try to change ferry crossing time and aim to get a couple of hours south of Paris for late afternoon, would anyone know where I could aim for and if so a Camping Municipal not to far from the Autoroute?

 We have decided to stop over around Aras/ Bethune about an hour out of Calais could anyone recomend a  camping municipal or other site we could stay overnight in.

Have found a couple on the net but reccomendations are always usefull with small children.

Thanks

Will give them a try