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we are starting to plan for holiday in France in June. We usually go Hull-Zeebrugge with car but this year with van we are either going to get the ferry or tunnel so will enter france at Calais. Looking at the map we will want to stop fairly soon after getting to Calais for out first night stopover - ideally a 2 hour drive at the most - can anyone recommend a site which will be on the route? also the next day we plan to drive a further  6 hours and stop again overnight - again can anyone recommend where to stay?

so in summary we want to know best route from calais to nice area and 2 stopovers - the first one being not too much driving as we will have travelled from north-east england that day.

anyone that has done this drive with any advice and places to stop over would love to hear from you - we have done the drive before but just with car and have whizzed down! and always drove from zeebrugge, have heard mixed reports on here about the Aires - my oh doesnt mind but i would feel more comfortable going to proper sites.

Many thanks sorry for long post!

thanks very much Jim ,thats really helpful

Sarah

Sarah

Would agree with Jim that the central route down through France would be the best for Nice. This campsite is about 2 hours from Calais Camping le Vivier aux Carpes which is at a place called Seraucourt le Grand and is about 10/15 mintes off the motorway.

David

Right thanks for that - feel that we are a bit more confident now in which route to take and where to stop

thanks again all

We do the same route from St.Quentin onwards down the motorways south to Cavalaire sur Mer, or previously to Agay nr.St.Raphael, although we do start at Zeebrugge not Calais. Last year our last stopover was at Vivier aux Carpes, it's a lovely site but watch young children as the ponds are not fenced. Our first stop is at the Municipal site at Challons en Champagne, good hardstandings, childrens play stuff and a duckpond, not forgetting the patisserie near the entrance that sells the best pain au raisin. Next stop is at Les Ripettes at Pont de Vaux nr. Macon. Owners are Brits and helpful and there is a little swim pool. The Red Pig Bistro in the village is atmospheric with great food. Our last stop (and our first on the way back) is at L,Albanou south of Valence at StJulien et StAlban. This pretty site has hedged large pitches with views of the mountainside, and a great swim pool. All these sites are no more than 20 mins from the motorway have EHU, showers etc.and are reasonably priced.

I personally would NOT stop on a motorway aire of any description overnight as last year our friends who travel together stopped at a big services aire had both their caravans broken into whilst they and the kids were sleeping and had money, handbags etc. stolen as they slept. The burglars did 6 caravans that night.

Just to add a bit of balance, there are two different types of 'Aire' - those for just picnic stops, with perhaps just a toilet block and picnic tables, and those with a full service station, well lit car park, and full faciltiies open all night,  including showers for the morning, and sometimes hook-ups on meters and water on tap (eg Aire des Deux Caps).  I wouldn't stay on the first type at all - but we've stayed many, many times on the second sort with no problems (apart from perhaps some lorry noise).  None would be my first choice for a place to sleep, but if circumstances make it necessary, then I would do - making sure I'd taken sensible precautions such as making sure all valuables are tucked well out of the way, somewhere only my nearest and dearest would be able to find them, and that both car and caravan are locked.  We've been sleeping over in the full service station type aires with never any problems, and we've met many people who do the same. 

We've been doing it nearly every year since we started travelling in France 28 years ago - and we've never had problems of any sort.  We also meet many others who do the same thing without any problems.

Whilst I agree that it would be terrible for it to happen to anyone (first-timers or not) I just urge everyone to hide anything of any value where anyone who did actually manage to break in without waking anyone wouldn't be able to find anything anyway.  There are so many hiding places (certainly in our van) where you'd need to take the van apart to find valuables - and no-one is going to be able to do that without waking you up!