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We're heading down to the Dordogne in less than two weeks (wehaaay!) and are planning a one night campsite stopover en route - hopefully around the Orleans area, though we're travelling with three kids so may not make it much further than Calais!. We bought the michelin campsite guide in the hope that it would show us available campsites on our route so whenever we decided enough was enough we would be able, with the aid of our trusty TomTom, to navigate our way to the nearest, hopefully municipal, site for the night. However, I don't know if it's just me being thick, but looking at the guide it doesn't even seem to list the addresses for the campsites! It normally lists the town, and the town's postal code - and that's it! Is this standard practice? Are you supposed to drive around the town hoping to find a sign, or getting out the phrase book to ask where it is, or have I just bought the worst campsite guide and should I just throw it away and buy a better one?!

I had hoped that the Michelin guide would maybe give GPS references so I could just programme in a few campsites in advance and tell the TomTom to take us to the nearest one - the front cover of the guide says it includes GPS references - but it lied! Haven't seen one yet!

Our TomTom relies on either a GPS reference for a location, or a postcode (which in France means you still at least need the name of the road too!) or a full address. Fair enough, I'd need that if I was just navigating using the map alone! So am I looking at this guide wrong.. or is it just useless??!!

Suggestions please!!

Thanks both, can't really understand why the Michelin guide doesn't give addresses!!? Yes, of course we don't totally rely on the TomTom, and we are capable of reading a map! I just wasn't sure that there would always be clear signposts to campsites! Seems an obvious thing to me, having the addresses next to the campsite details in the guide - especially when a lot of the campsite details I've looked at don't include directions on how to find the site!!

Grapefruitmoon - what area were you camping in? Are the municipal sites clearly signposted?

Anyone recommend a better guide?!! Preferably one in English - didn't realise the Michelin one was in French - D'oh!

What you need to do is download the POI's from this site http://www.archiescampings.eu/eng1/ They contain pretty well most sites in France and it takes out the guesswork. As far as guides go we always use the Caravan Club European Guide Vol 1 for France, it won't be as comprehensive as the Michelin but you will get better directions. It is available to non member and you may find it on Amazon. Another guide is 'Le Guide Officiel Camping and Caravaning' available from Vicarious Books.

David

Quote: Originally posted by blatchatter on 28/7/2009

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One of the best guides for France is the Caravan Club's Caravan Europe Volume 1.

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Quote: Originally posted by suzitkd on 28/7/2009

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 can't really understand why the Michelin guide doesn't give addresses!!? Yes, of course we don't totally rely on the TomTom, and we are capable of reading a map! I just wasn't sure that there would always be clear signposts to campsites! Seems an obvious thing to me, having the addresses next to the campsite details in the guide - especially when a lot of the campsite details I've looked at don't include directions on how to find the site!!

Anyone recommend a better guide?!! Preferably one in English - didn't realise the Michelin one was in French - D'oh!

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With all due respect I think you are being pretty unfair on the poor old Michelin camping guide.

I'm afraid you are plain wrong to state that there are no directions in the Michelin Camping guide. Every entre includes the phrase 'Pour s'y rendre':.. (to get there:..). This will be followed by reasonably clear instructions (see examples below) as to where a site is located. Key French words to know (basics that I would suggest all visitors to France ought to have in any case) include:

a gauche=left, a droite =right, N (Nord) = north, E (est) = east, O (ouest) = west, S (sud) = south, chemin = lane, route = road, sur = on, par = via, pres = close to, near

phrases often used in Michelin camping France include:

au bourg = in the village

au stade = at the municipal sports field

au bord de (river name - eg La Loire) = on the banks of (river name eg the Loire)

Thus, examples include:

 'NO sur D110 et chemin a gauche' means ' go North West (from the named location in the guide) on the D110 then take the lane on the left.

SE par D946, puis E 3km sur D73 et a droite = south east on D946, then 3km on east on D73 then on the right

There seem to be a few historical background facts about France that you need to understand. One is that road/street names in rural areas of France are a comparitively recent innovation. France is also much more sparsely populated than Britain, so the need for addresses was histroically less. 

Many French campsites are located in places where a street address either didn't originally exist or wasn't appropraite.

BTW you can be aassured that most sites are pretty well signposted. There are so many sites in France that if you miss one, there'll most likley be one along in  the next village!

I'd agree entirely with Bitto - for many years we've managed perfectly with Michelin.  We've found the directions fine - and don't forget the sites were always indicated by a 'tent' symbol on Michelin maps so were really meant to be used in conjunction. 

We still manage without a SatNav and have never not found a site, nor even gone the wrong way and manage to get right though France, finding our own routes, without one!

Bitto, the point I was trying to make about the Michelin guide was that you really cannot just use it in conjunction with a Satnav - because of it's lack of address (which upon further investigation from looking at various websites, IS available for most sites but for some unfathomable reason the Michelin guide chooses not to include!) and GPS references - WHICH I may point out, it clearly states on the front cover is included in the guide, and I haven't found a single one yet! I also did not say that the guide didn't include ANY instructions, what I said was that for some of the sites I was interested in it didn't give any; literally nothing!

From what I understand then, the Michelin guide wants you to first drive to the nearest town, and then use a combination of roadmap and local signage to find the campsite in question - OK, that's doable, but it doesn't take into account that you may be approaching from a different direction! And yes, I do already know a fair smattering of French as does my husband. But when we've been travelling all day with three kids in the car, I'm afraid the choice between a book, which is not in my native tongue, giving me sparse instructions to go first to one place to then find another whilst wrestling with a road map and handing out snacks to fractious kids, versus John Cleese clearly telling us to take the next right, then third left etc. I'm afraid there's no contest! I'm doing my utmost to take as much stress out of our long journey down as I can and that includes finding several campsites on our route, then as we have our lovely satnav, I was hoping to programme in all their details because once we were ready we could just choose to go to the nearest one and it would take us there! If the technology is there, why not use it?! Interestingly, the Alan Rogers website and guide I know provides GPS references for all of its sites - which is what I thought the Michelin guide did too. Unfortunately though the Alan Rogers guide is nowhere near as comprehensive as the Michelin one.

Applaudable as it is to have a good clear knowledge and understanding of the French language before setting off to holiday there, I personally would always choose a guide that was in my native tongue so I am not constantly having to refer to a translation page and/or phrase book! A shame then that I didn't spot the small reference on Amazon telling me it was in French...!!