Cycling UK Forum

Vaguely thinking about heading off around Europe 2017 camping and I'd be hoping to depart early in the year and keep going until the weather turned too bad to continue (i.e. autumn). Very early days thinking (so it might not happen but hoping it does).

I naturally focus on France (given I used to live there) but as I'd be doing maybe 30-50 miles per day I'd be needing plenty of camp sites open and from other threads/posts it seems that many French sites don't open until later in the year.

So I was wondering if France represents the general pattern around Europe of if other countries tend to have more camp sites open earlier (and later) in the year ?

(I appreciate it is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string?" question so really just asking for impressions about site availability).

Ian

Motor home enthusiasts tell me that the sites in southern Spain stay open throughout the winter and I guess that some would also have tent sites, so you could start your tour there and move on to France etc later.

Id say western Europe (that includes Greece, Spain and Italy) the pattern is pretty much the same as in France - Toute Annee is the answer - there is a fair number of sites in pretty much all the western European countries that stay open all year - trouble is sifting them out - cant always trust their websites and not always where you want them - got to be prepared to wild camp from time to time

Have camped on a variety of 'out of season' campsites around Europe... even if they are closed no one seems to bother if you do camp, but you may have to be prepared to be fairly self sufficient in terms of facilities......
One campsite in Italy some one turned up while we were there and did some work, at one point walked towards tent then past it.... I had gone inside to find purse to pay.... they did leave a toilet block open, returned next morning and continued to do some work and we were never asked for payment.
Similar happened on camp site in France where the toilets were open but the caretaker informed us the 'patron est mort'!

So you may well find campsites but may have to 'wild' camp on the site.

eileithyia wrote:
So you may well find campsites but may have to 'wild' camp on the site.

I did this a couple of times this autumn - however, ive noticed that over the years more and more campsites have big gates and fences

psmiffy wrote:more campsites have big gates and fences

this is to prevent les itinerants moving in. Campsites often have a "no double axle" rule on caravans, as these large caravans are favoured by that particular community, which is supposed to stick to authorised sites but sometimes doesn't.
The OP will find campsites are there for tourists and when there aren't enough tourists who want to camp, there'll be closed, or zero, campsites. So northern France in the off season will have closed sites from about the end of September. And Spain has hardly any campsites because it's too hot for tents in the summer and no one wants to camp in the winter. The south coast sites referred to upthread will be for motorhomes aiming to pitch up for the whole winter and have much hardstanding. They'll also be near the coast and inland you won't find many sites. I've ridden from Gib to France, and across the northern part of Spain and don't think I saw more two or three sites. They are very rare, especially inland.
So - what to do?
In France take a tent and use F1 hotels in the north, you have to book ahead as their business model is based on being full every night. They tend to be full of white van man, many from eastern Europe. I've found their clientele to be friendly and polite. They tend to leave early in the morning. They tend not to stay up late making noise and boozing. French municipal sites, run by the local council to encourage tourists to stay in the area, are inexpensive. Some big sites with swimming pools, horse riding, restaurants, dancing, etc, tend to be more like Butlins and cost as much as a F1 hotel. But you'll have to spend the night where you are: plan your route.
When you get to Spain you could send your tent etc home in the post. Hotels tend to be about €40 for a room which is OK if you're sharing. You could do a lot worse than ride the route of the pilgrim trails to and from Santiago de Compostela - the auberges cost about €10-€15 per night per bed. You would in a dormitory. They are usually open all year. The pilgrim routes go from Pamplona to Santiago and from Seville to Santiago. Just google the forums and read those, also CGOAB will have lots of blogs. The advantage of a pilgrim route is there will be much infrastructure designed to cater for the walkers, such as restaurants, albergues, hotels, cafes, shops etc. This makes it different from much of inland Spain which can be remote in the extreme - you might ride past one bar in a day in some of the regions. There will also be people going your way.
Eastern Europe will be cheap enough to use hotels at £10 a night per room. You could take a tent and camp all the way along the Danube, but not in winter as the sites will be closed.
Good luck.

Quite a few of my friends migrate to the south of Spain and spend their winter there, where there are plenty of sites open all year. They keep posting pictures of them sitting by the beach in t-shirts, the swine!

In France, many campsite open at Easter and close at the end of October (at the latest). However, I have an ASCII card which comes with a good index of campsites open all year round. I stayed on one in Aude last Autumn that had a lovey warm heated shower block.

There are also good websites with the option to select only those sites open all year round. With planning you should be okay.

My friends have told me that there are few campsites in the centre of Spain anyway, no matter what time of year. They reckon you can go a hundred miles without seeing a single one. You might have more luck if you stick close to the coast, however.

If I'm going to the continent, I aim to get to get to Harwich early/mid April.
I've found the weather should be starting to improve around that time and most sites open.
I aim to get home around 5 months after I start.

Iceland sites start opening early may, but that gives you a month to cycle up the north sea coast to that ferry.