Winter Camping France/Spain - Advice Please

[BikesAndTravels]

Having spent 4 days in Scotland this winter I am considering taking a much longer trip into France then Spain next winter. I have no problems finding UK campsites open all year round using ukcampsites amazing map thingy with the "All Year" option

UK Campsites

Buuuut...how easy will it be to find campsites open all year round in France and Spain? Is there a fabulous website like UK Campsites'? Anyone live there can tell me if any sites at all remain open? Maybe an app for my tablet?

Just seeking guidance from anyone, especially if you've done it yourself.

[herman]

http://www.eutouring.com/municipal_camp ... sites.html sites like this but pretty much all towns and bigger have a municipal site in France. Out of season you may find the showers are shut and an honour box in place for payment. I would have a list of cheap travellers hotels (card in the wall type places) handy as these will be open all year just head for zone industriale and you will usually find one. At least they are warm and have hot showers.

[Wapping]

I find local French tourist offices very helpful for these sort of enquiries (thumbs)

[Sleepy]

I would definitely do some research before setting off.

I've done the camping in France and Spain 'out of season' and the first time I just went, with a list of campsites and a map, I was caught out a few times, with sights being shut.. and some closed down permanently , including French municipal sites.

Even in Spain some sites close for 'winter'.

Nowadays I check on line to see what the season is for any sites I have in mind.

[gspod]

Campsites in rural areas of France may well be closed, as Herman said the odd Municipal one open will have no showers and an honesty box. Your best bet is to head for a large(ish) city or touristic town.

We travelled round Spain in October a couple of years ago and a lot of campsites were closed or closing within the next week or so. Coastal ones will be ok if they have static caravans.

P.S It can be very very cold in Spain in the winter away from the coast.

PPS contact 'The Spanish Biker' on here.

Enjoy (thumbs)

[Redmurty]

Yep contact Simon, if he doesn't know he will know who does (thumbs)

Have a chat with Phil in france as well

cheers Spud

[paco2cv]

For France have a look at http://www.camping-municipal.org/

When you click on the area links at the top you will get a map with municipal sites, the ones in a yellowy orange colour are open all year round. There aren't that many sadly.

Hope its of some use.

[BikesAndTravels]

Cheers folks!

I can see this isn't going to be as easy as just lobbing the tent on the bike and doing one. paco2cv, the website is great! I wish I'd known about this a few years back when I was in France in May.

I'll try to contact Phil In France and The Spanish Biker. The more info the better otherwise I'll be sleeping under a tarp at the roadside.

I have heard that you can often/sometimes camp round the back of motorway service stations? Is this true? What's the script?

[92kk k100lt 193214]

Not sure I would go for that as there have been some nasty incidents. A motorway makes a very easy escape route.

I have looked at this too and have a number of older maps showing all year round camp sites but the issue is that any printed media is out of date quite a while before its even printed. Some of the municipal sites are in really great locations.

I am meeting some friends in the Perigord region of France at the end of May. Beautiful there but mighty cold at the moment plus a lot of snow in winter as you go east to higher ground. 4 season sleeping bag weather. Down! In real cold a small tent is best but a tarp will freeze you unless you have a bivvy bag as well.

Over here we have these WaterwaysIreland cards that provide access to toilets showers etc at the canals and Shannon/Erne stopping points. Anyone who has a card can use them for a good shower etc. You top up the card same as a mobile card- its debited for a ahower access but not for toilet use. Mixed with wild camping it works very well. France is also big for canals and seems they have some similar system.

It is the makings of a good trip, done plenty of winter wild camping over here and with good gear its fantastic.

[AndyB]

I've camped in motorway services in more than one European service area, some of the type with full facilities and some of the type with just a toilet if you're lucky and as far as I'm concerned you'll be ok if you stop late, leave early and move your bike right out of sight.

Sitting in your tent with a light on so anyone pulling in can see it and a silhouette of just one person could be considered a bit risky but I'd chain the bike up and any noises suggesting someone was trying to either steal the bike or get into my tent would see them being threatened with Mr Leatherman. I know that's not a good idea because they might be armed as well but there's no way I'd step back from my belongings and watch someone load them up and steal them.