With high mountains, rolling hills, winding rivers, stunning coastlines and thousands of excellent camping grounds, France has long been the perfect destination for those with caravans, campervans and mobile homes.
But in recent years interest in what the French refer to as "van life" has exploded in France and around Europe.
It was already on the rise before the Covid pandemic but since the end of lockdowns the thirst for road trips has boomed.
The purchase of campervans and mobile homes (le camping car as they are called in France) shot up post pandemic but with vans costing tens of thousands of euros the steep prices meant there has also been a huge demand for renting them.
And it's not just retired couples looking for an adventure.
Young couples, groups of friends and families are all opting for an alternative to the classic options of renting a gîte in rural France, a mountain chalet, or a beachside apartment in a French resort.
And having done it three times, with young kids, I can see why.
However, a campervan holiday takes a fair amount of organisation and planning before and during a trip, so it's worth knowing a thing or two in advance. Experiences and preferences obviously vary widely so this is simply my take on how to make the most of a trip in France. I'd love to hear your own advice and experiences, both good and bad, in the comments section below.
If you have your own van then that makes things much simpler (you can skip the next bit) but for those who need to rent one, then there are some important things to keep in mind.
Choose a rental company:
Several Europe-wide van/ mobile home rental companies have been created in recent years to cater for the growing demand. Some of the most well known are Indie Campers, Black Sheep, Yescapa and then there's Roadsurfer, a rental company founded in Germany that we opted for.
The service with Roadsurfer has been good each time when I rented vans in Geneva, Toulouse and Bordeaux. Friendly, easygoing staff (a slight contrast to car hire companies), easy to follow online tutorials for how to work the van, followed by good explanations on site and vehicles in great condition.
The vans don't come that cheap. For a summer rental it works out around €129 to €139 a night, so for a week it was between €900 and €1,000 before you add insurance (prices rise if you book last minute and if you want a bigger van). I paid another €29 a night to get the full insurance package because I was scared I'd end up banging the van into a stone wall, a wild boar or driving straight into a river (spoiler - none of these came to pass).
Choose a van
You can choose between different sizes of vans and also vans of the same size that come with different equipment. We have small kids so went for the Volkswagen California Ocean, which comes with a stove, a fridge, a little sink - and a table and chairs for outside and... an outdoor shower!
With the bigger vans you get a shower and a toilet but we purposefully didn't want a toilet. Living in a small van your privacy and personal space obviously goes out the front window but there are certain things you can easily avoid. Having to empty the family faeces each day was one of them.
One thing to remember with vans is that in France your French licence might not permit you to drive one of the bigger ones.
And importantly you need to remember the height of it so you avoid having to swerve lanes at a French motorway toll to avoid the ones with 2 metre height barriers.
Other places where the height of your can be a problem in France is at car parks. To avoid people turning up to beachside car parks in vans and mobile homes, many French local authorities put up 2 metre height barriers at entrance. So choose your parking spot carefully.
Where to go?
This is obviously mainly down to you to decide, but the location of the van rental sites does play a part. Roadsurfer has sites in France's main cities that give access to the best parts of the country. So for a road trip down the Atlantic coast to Spain we picked up the van in Bordeaux, for the Pyrenees we picked it up in Toulouse and for the Alps from Geneva (or a town near Geneva on the French side of the border).
To get to Bordeaux and Toulouse we took the train so had to pack light (more on this later) but for Geneva we drove and had to leave the car in a nearby village because there was nowhere to leave it on site (check this when you rent the van). The pick-up sites are out of town so you'll need to get a taxi or hope there's a public transport option to get there from the train station.
Train tickets obviously add an extra cost of course but you at least avoid the long motorway drive across France. We didn't want to rent it just to drive on the A10 or A6 Autoroutes. But for Parisians there are bases in Paris (near to CDG and Orly airports) if you prefer to do this. And there are also pick up sites in the UK, you just need to check the rules of where you can drive it.
But choosing the ultimate French road trip will be down to your personal taste. If you want beaches, the Atlantic coast and Brittany offer fantastic selection of places with campsites or special campervan parking dotted all over the place.
The Alps and Pyrenees offer stunning mountain scenery, loads of activities for kids from rafting to summer luge, rafting canyoning, lake swimming and walking. The Pyrenees did seem quieter than the Alps which made finding a place to spend the night less problematic. Which brings us to the key question...
Where to spend the night?
When people think of a campervan road trip they think of parking up next to the beach or on a secluded mountain road overlooking valleys and rivers far below.
In fact, if you want to park up anywhere you need to check the rules and France has quite a few.
While, for example, it is possible, and legal, to park your camping car by the side of a road (not a motorway, obviously), you wouldn’t be allowed then to set out a table and chairs and watch the traffic go by. Nor, unsurprisingly, can you empty your chemical toilet at the roadside.
READ ALSO: Where in France can you park your campervan?
Many French towns and large villages have dedicated areas for motorhomes to stay for a short period away from campsites, and some provide electricity or water points.
National parks have their own rules too on where you can park but the best thing to do is follow the signs. They tend to be pretty clear.
If you are allowed to park and find the perfect spot you'll likely have to get their early and nab it because there will be plenty of other campervanners looking to do the same.
If you want to do this there is a good app Park4Night and no doubt plenty of other useful websites to help you find the best remote and beautiful spots.
But given we have two young kids we preferred to mainly spend the night in campsites. Having toilets, an electricity supply to make a cup of tea, a pool or even just a trampoline or a pétanque pitch meant it was far more enjoyable.
Also kids just don't seem to appreciate stunning views and they tend to poo a lot so we went for campsites over remote roadside parking.
Staying in a campsite also adds an extra cost to the trip. Prices can vary between around €20 and €50 a night for two adults, two children, a van plus electricity.
What to bring?
Van hire companies should offer you bedding, sheets, pillows etc but that comes at an extra price. We took our own sleeping bags and pillows which obviously was a bit of a pain on the train.
After that most essentials are provided along with the van - cooking equipment, plates, glasses. One thing we were advised to get was a mini electric kettle (which only worked if we had electricity supply) to be able to have a quick cup of tea rather than having to get the gas on and boil a pan of water.
The upsides:
As already stated, France is perfect for a road trip.
It has roads, loads of them in fact, that take you to wondrous sites like the Dune du Pilat and the Cirque de Gavarnie and the Vanoise national park.
France has an incredible array of campsites from ones that are basically just a field with a loo and a shower (my favourite) to others that are like theme parks with water slides and karaoke nights (my least favourite).
In places like the Pyrenees and the Alps you don't have to drive for long to discover a stunning new place to spend a night or two. In fact the key is not to think you have to drive long distances just because you have a van. Driving on windy roads in the mountains is tiring so avoid doing too much.
The downsides:
Living in a tiny Paris apartment with two kids is challenging enough but imagine downsizing even further into a van for a week.
The first two days can go either way. If you have patience, supreme organisation and a thirst for keeping a small space impeccably tidy then things can go well, or... you could end up just arguing constantly, pulling over, refusing to drive any further and then threaten to leave everyone in a lay-by (with a bit of food and water) and take the van back.
So give yourself time to adjust to van life.
Peeing in the middle of the night is a pain in a tent but even more so in a van especially if you are sleeping "upstairs".
The inside lights come on when you open the door (until you work out how to turn them off) and the door makes a lot of noise when you open and close it and basically everyone wakes up when someone needs a pee.
So we toyed with installing a ban on the intake of liquids after 9pm.
Having to pack most things away when you want to go to the Super U supermarket is also annoying. With a tent you can leave everything inside but with a van, you can leave tables and chairs at the site but then everything else has to stay in the van. Unless (and it means more baggage) you take a little tent with you for storage.
Driving a diesel-fuelled van around France is also not very ecological.
It's better than flying but driving a diesel van around for a week isn't doing my bit to avert the climate crisis. Taking bikes is a good option to avoid some driving and like I said above, there's no need to do long journeys just because you have a van.
But all in all a campervan holiday offers a unique trip perfect for those who like to be on the move.
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