Australian Campervan Trip Advice

auAdvice for Clients from Australia

  • “You don’t need to stay on campsites. On our last trip we spent our first night in Joigny on the bank of the Yonne River and our last night we stayed on the Yonne River in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne (both very close to the pick up and drop off point). We have never had a problem doing this in all our travels. We even parked in the forest in the Vosges Mountains along a little creek (beautiful spot).”
  • “The Auchan hypermarket (a kind of grocery store that sells everything else you can think of too) is about 3 kms from the France Motorhome Hire depot so you can stock up on provisions there once you have picked up your camper.”
  • “Visit the tourist bureau in any town as they are very helpful. They told us a place to camp in Avignon (right along the Rhone River overlooking the Papal palace).”
  • “Don’t whatever you do travel in a campervan without a working phone. We only realised how silly it was to travel without one when we had a flat tyre and had no way of calling for help. Even just being able to call and ask if we could change our return date was impossible as there are no public phone booths.”
  • “If you drive into a large town always look for the river as nine times out of ten you will find parking or have a great spot to camp overnight.”
  • “Autoroute (motorway) tolls are very expensive so either avoid them altogether or use them as little as possible. The further you go the more it costs and actually, the less you see!”
  • “If you are coming for a month of two it is worth investing in a small electric kettle to conserve gas whilst you are plugged into a campsite electricity supply.”
  • “Always have a person at the back of the campervan when reversing.”
  • “Swimming pools and thermal baths in France often insist that men wear “Budgie Smugglers” (skimpy swim wear) and won’t let you swim in regular trunks so be prepared if you plan to swim!”
  • “Bring a map don’t just rely on GPS. You need to sanity check the route the GPS will take you and make sure you are heading for the correct town. For example, if you are heading for Chateauneuf, make sure you know which department it is in as there are five towns called Chateauneuf in France!”
  • “Try not to spontaneously buy a house whilst in France. We saw a three bedroom house for sale next to the canal for €67,000 and were very tempted!”
  • “Travel in lower season months for the best value trip. Everything from the vehicle hire price to campsites and tourist attractions are cheaper if you avoid July and August and really cheap if you travel between October and April.”
  • “Don’t assume your Australian credit card will work everywhere in France even if you let the bank know you are travelling. Having more than one credit card is a good idea so you have other options if one card suddenly does not work.”
  • “If you want to meet other Aussies to swap travel tales over a glass of French wine (and meet the occasional curious French people), put an Australian flag or sticker in your campervan window and they will come and seek you out on campsites and in “Aires” (Aires are the free places you can stay in your campervan).”

If you are a FranceMotorhomeHire customer from Australia and would like to share some tips or advice, send us an email with your recommendations!