Comments on: Wild Camping in France

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:14:44 +0000

Hi Mary,

I’m glad you’ve found this site helpful!
I definitely think your best bet is to just jump in the car and drive! If you have a rough route of where you’d like to go and what you’d like to see then that is definitely a good thing.
If you plan on sleeping in the VW (as I’m sure you are) then finding “wild camping” spots should be even easier. Most ‘pique-nique’ areas would be fine. You’d have the advantage of being able to move on instantly if anybody has any problems (unlikely they will though).

Of course, speaking French is always a bonus! You can then ask locals for good places to stay (they’re always helpful) and it may help you get out of any sticky situations!

I hope you have a great time.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:20:25 +0000

So glad to find this site. We are going to visit France next Oct for our 35th wedding anniversary and hire a VW camper bus just like one we had back in the 70′s!! We live in Alaska where “wild camping” is commonplace. But we will be completely new to camping in France. Where is the best place to get advice- or just get in the camper and drive? Any helpful tidbit greatly appreciated

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:28:25 +0000

Good insights there, thanks!

I agree that you should think about looking for places ‘far away from civilisation’. This is what we did and were never pestered. There was one night (one of the first) where we were all a bit scared — a car turned up at about 1am and shone the lights right at the tent. We had no idea what to do! Turns out is was just some more wild campers turning up very late in the night to the picnic spot we were using.

Pay the £10/€20 or so if you’re worried, but if you want the adventure or have done it before and know the ropes, Wild Camping is fine!

By: pkay

pkay — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:06:40 +0000

I have wild camped a few times in France but was unfortunately woken by the French police. I awoke to a man tapping a machine gun against my camper window. They were very polite but the machine gun seemed to upsett me.
If you use the auto routes or just join them for the evening as there is a toll to pay, you can find a rest area with toilets. Or you can find areas in more scenic routes to pull off for the evening. The further they are away from civilisation the less likely you are to be hasselled.
A fairly important point is that if you use a camp site (£10-20 per night ) you are unlikely to get robbed and you can sleep better if that worries you.

By: brett

brett — Sun, 29 May 2011 16:27:30 +0000

thanks patrick thats very helpful.kind regards brett

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:42:06 +0000

Hi James,

We did find a good wild camping spot in Mimizan-Plage, just outside Bordeaux.
Since Bordeaux is quite build-up and busy, I don’t think you’d find anywhere too close to it for camping.

If you haven’t already considered it, the thing I’d recommend the most just outside Bordeaux is the ‘Dune du Pilat’. Stunning!
Although we didn’t camp there, it was also quite a good forested area, so I think it would be quite good for wild camping.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:18:46 +0000

We unfortunately ended our trip near Nice!

I did do some WOOFing on a farm just outside Les Arcs Draguignan though – not too far from Nice. If you’re interested it WOOFing, it may be something to consider.

Otherwise, I’d just follow my suggestions in my previous comment.

By: brett

brett — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:36:28 +0000

thanks patrick that sounds great,we plan on landing in nice then find somewere there for the night then going to antibes then further in land.

By: James D

James D — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:22:43 +0000

Thanks for the post .There seems to be nothing online about free camping in France, at least with any detail. I am driving to Bordeaux in June 2011 with some mates and would really like to do some free camping amongst a few nights in some sweet camp-sites. anybody know any particular good areas around Bordeaux to ‘wild camp’?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:28:52 +0000

Hi there Brett,

When we were camping in the South of France, I think the main places we stayed were on or near vineyards (it could be a little risky, but is good fun!)
We also found some farms where we saw ‘campers welcome’ signs. These were good bets.

My best advice would be to just go out and look for an area. Unless you want to plan ahead, this should normally work out fine.
If you say where exactly you’re going I may know of a few places from our trip!