Motorhome aires in France: prices, services, stays and apps

‘48 heures maximum.’ The phrase turns up on so many aire signs that you might think it was carved into the Code de la route, France’s highway code. It isn’t: the Code only sets a ceiling of 7 days in the same spot on the public road, which a local order can shorten [1]. The 48 hours are the rule of one aire, one town, or the wish of a federation. That is the whole logic of a French aire: a local facility, with its own prices, services and time limits, which you read on site.

This guide picks up the ‘where to sleep’ step of our guide to campervan trips. It explains what you find on an aire, what one costs according to nine examples recorded on 8 November 2026, how long you can stay, how to use one in winter, and what the apps that list them are worth. The rules for parking away from aires are in our guide to sleeping in a campervan in France.

Service aire, overnight aire, stopover: what’s the difference?

Start with the vocabulary, because it can mislead. An aire de servicesA technical area for motorhomes, what British motorhomers would call a service point: a drinking water tap, a grid for grey water, a disposal point for the toilet cassette. is where you fill up and empty; an aire de stationnementA car park reserved for motorhomes and campervans, where you can spend the night, with or without services. is where you sleep. The two are often in the same place, but not always: the FFACCC, the French federation of motorhome clubs, points out that the technical area can be somewhere else, and argues for a service aire within a radius of 9 to 12 miles (15 to 20 km) [2]. It also notes that these aires have no legal definition in French law: they come under both the Code de la route and the Code de l’urbanisme, the French planning code [3].

Behind the same sign, then, you find very different operators. Towns first: at Villeneuve-Minervois, in the Aude, a free municipal aire [5]; in Albi, a 40-pitch aire whose price and time limit are set by an order of the mayor [6]. Then the networks that equip and run aires: Camping-Car Park, which advertises several hundred aires and campsites open day and night, in France and elsewhere in Europe [7], or the connected aires of AireServices, a French maker of service bollards [8]. And finally campsites, some of which open pitches by the night to motorhomes and campervans [9].

A campervan isn’t welcome everywhere. The Périgueux aire turns away converted cars and vans that are not self-sufficient and not approved by the DREAL as vehicles for living in [10], and Albi’s order reserves its aire for motorhomes and approved vehicles for living in [6]. The DREAL is the regional office of the French state that, among other things, approves vans converted into motorhomes. The pages we read don’t say how a campervan registered outside France is treated: the rules posted at the entrance decide.

What do you find at a service aire?

The guide the FFACCC sends to town councils describes the basic equipment, and it all fits on a concrete slab 3 to 4 m across [2]. In the middle, a channel covered by a grid, towards which four sloping surfaces drain the grey water: you park over it and open the valve. To one side, technical compartments: the cassette disposal point, under a lift-up cover, with a tap to rinse it; the drinking water point, with a tap threaded to 20/27, the French name for the 3/4-inch BSP pipe thread [26], onto which the hose connector screws; and a bin for rubbish.

Enlarge diagram

The detail that interests me is a hygienic one. The federation asks for two taps, one for drinking water and the other for rinsing the cassette, in separate compartments, and for a plate with a 40 mm hole under the clean water tap: a cassette’s 60 mm spout can then no longer touch it [2]. The plate, the federation explains, is there for the occasional thoughtless user. The steps for emptying are covered in our guide to campervan water and waste.

That leaves electricity, on which opinions differ. The FFACCC takes the view that a service aire doesn’t need a socket, since motorhomers recharge while driving or with solar panels [2]. Several of our examples offer one all the same: a charging point at each pitch in Albi [6], a 10 A hook-up per pitch at the Valras-Plage campsite, which advises bringing an adaptor and an extension lead of about 15 m [9], and 6 A sockets in Lourdes [11] and Clairvaux-les-Lacs [8]. On paper, 6 A at 230 V comes to about 1,400 W: enough to charge a battery, not enough to run a 2,000 W kettle.

How much does a night cost? Nine aires recorded on 8 November 2026

Free, €5 for a token, €19 for 24 hours: on the pages we read, a night costs anything from nothing to €30. The table brings together nine examples, chosen to cover the different formulas, not to represent the whole of France.

Let’s do the sums. Of these nine aires, three charge nothing to sleep; the other six ask €8.10 to €30 per 24 hours, and the median of their prices comes to about €18 (our calculation, on bases that are not all the same). That is an order of magnitude drawn from nine pages, not a national average; for a yearly budget, see our breakdown of what a campervan costs.

Read the small print too. The taxe de séjourThe tourist tax, a local charge due for each night, which the town or a grouping of towns introduces and whose rate it sets. is often added to the price of the night: the town introduces it, a grouping of towns can do so too, and its rates are set by a vote of the body that introduces it [15]. Depending on the aire, it is included in the price shown (Clairvaux, Valras), added on top (Lourdes) or due for each passenger liable to pay it (Albi). In Hendaye, the night includes neither water nor electricity.

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Then there’s paying, and every aire has its own system. The jetonA token sold at the mairie (town hall), the office de tourisme (tourist office) or a nearby shop, which goes into the bollard instead of coins. lives on: in Artouste, it costs €5 at the tourist office or the restaurant next door [12]. Depending on the model, AireServices bollards take coins, tokens or payment by app [16]; Périgueux takes only bank cards or the network’s app [10]. With Camping-Car Park, you create an account, then collect an access card from the terminal, €5 and valid for life, or buy a digital pass in the app; the barrier opens with a code, and payment is taken automatically when you leave [7]. A bank card, a little change and the address of the tourist office cover all these cases.

How long can you stay on an aire?

As long as its rules allow, and that varies more than you might think. In our examples: 48 hours in Villeneuve-Minervois and Périgueux, packages of 24 to 48 hours in Hendaye, 72 consecutive hours in Albi with at least 5 days before you come back, and parking described as unlimited by the Lac de Fabrèges, in Artouste [5, 10, 14, 6, 12].

So where do the 48 hours come from? Not from any national text. The FFACCC, which otherwise defends the freedom to park, itself asks for a strict limit of 24 or 48 hours where demand is high, so that places turn over [17], and advises towns to limit stays to 1 or 2 days in very touristy areas [2]. The figure on the sign is a local rule, which the operator can enforce: in Albi, a vehicle that stays beyond the limit is treated as obstructive parking and can be towed to the pound [6].

Aire, roadside parking or camping: which rules apply?

Three regimes overlap, and the aire is the easiest of the three to read, because its rules are written down. On the public road, a motorhome is a vehicle: the French minister for transport pointed out in July 2025 that it cannot be denied the right to park as long as its parking is neither dangerous, nor obstructive, nor excessive [18]. Off the road, camping comes under the Code de l’urbanisme, which allows it with the consent of whoever has the use of the land [19].

Aires carry weight in this balance. A mayor can regulate motorhome parking, but not with a ban of excessive generality, such as one covering the whole of the town, the Interior Ministry replied in 2015 [20]. And when a measure targets only motorhomes, the circular of 19 October 2004 asks authorities to take alternatives into account, such as aires nearby, as the 2025 reply recalls [18].

Park4Night, Campercontact, Campingcar-infos: what are the apps worth?

To find an aire, there are apps and directories. None of them is an official source, and they are not alike: it pays to know who writes the listings.

• Park4Night runs on sharing: anyone can add a place, leave a comment or edit a listing, and the site claims more than 400,000 places, from aires to simple ‘nice spots’; it also offers a subscription [23].
• Campercontact says its information has been collected by fellow motorhome owners since 2003, advertises more than 90,000 sites in 58 countries, and opens its platform to companies that want to list their locations [24].
• Campingcar-infos is run by an association: according to its site, its volunteers check the aires, in 44 countries, and subscriptions are available [25].
• The networks that run aires, such as Camping-Car Park, have their own app, which also lets you book and pay [7].

A place in an app is not a permission. Park4Night’s own charter says so: before parking, travellers make sure that local regulations or the owner allow it [22]. And a listing dates from the day someone wrote it: in Saint-Rirand, the tourist listing still shows water connections, while noting that the water has been shut off [13]. Read the most recent comments, then the sign.

Do aires stay open in winter?

Some do, but not always with water. A bollard that doesn’t freeze is a piece of equipment: at AireServices, the frost-protection system is an option on the bollard [16]. The FFACCC asks for a water point available all year round, protected from frost [2]; some towns make a different choice. In Saint-Rirand, in the Loire, the aire goes through a mise hors gelShutting off the water to an installation exposed to the cold, so that frost doesn’t damage it. from 1 November to 31 March [13]. Others close completely, like the pitches at the Valras-Plage campsite, closed until 1 May [9], whereas the aire at Artouste, at 1,250 m, stays open all year, even though its tokens for water and electricity are sold on only a few days in winter [12].

Winter therefore calls for a margin: fill up with water whenever a bollard is working, mark two aires rather than one, and check opening with the mairie or the tourist office. Frost in the vehicle’s own tank and pipes is covered in our guide to the campervan in winter.

Aire etiquette: who writes the rules?

On an aire, good manners sometimes carry the force of a by-law. Albi’s order, published on 15 July 2026, bans pitching a tent, lighting a fire or a barbecue, plugging in anywhere but your own pitch’s bollard, and tying a washing line or a hammock to the trees. It sets a speed limit of 10 km/h, asks for animals to be kept on a lead and their mess picked up, and for noise to be kept down, especially after 10pm [6].

Elsewhere, codes of conduct with no regulatory force say much the same. The FFACCC’s code of conduct asks you not to set anything out on public land, no awning, table, chair or washing, not to take over the space, to empty waste water only at the designated places and never near homes, watercourses or crops, and to drive with the valves closed [21]. France Passion forbids laundry, emptying anything in the vineyards and setting things up outside without permission at its hosts’ [4]. Park4Night’s charter adds that you should contribute to the cost of paid services and move on when a place is full [22].

• Read the sign at the entrance: vehicles admitted, time limit, price, date of the tariff.
• Have a way to pay ready: bank card, coins, token or app.
• Fill up at the drinking water tap, rinse the cassette at the other one.
• Keep table, chairs and awning packed away unless the rules allow you to set out.
• In winter, check that the bollard hasn’t been shut off for frost.

An aire is only as good as today’s sign: read it before you switch off the engine.

Julien de Jurquet

Campervans, motorhomes, cycling and calculators

Julien de Jurquet writes for Outfarer about campervans, motorhomes, cycling and calculators. He reads instruction manuals to the very end and never lets a figure through without its unit, so that your choices rest on sums rather than promises.

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