RV and Camper Van Aires in France: Prices, Services, Stays, and Apps

“48 heures maximum.” You’ll see it on so many aire signs that you’d think it was carved into the Code de la route, France’s traffic code. It isn’t: the code only sets a ceiling of 7 days in the same spot on a public road, which a local order can shorten [1]. Those 48 hours are the rule of one aire, one town, or the wish of a federation. That’s the whole logic of a French aire (the French term for an area set aside for RVs): 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 camper van trips. It explains what you’ll find at an aire, what one costs based on nine examples recorded on November 8, 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 camper van in France.

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

Let’s start with the vocabulary, because it can trip you up. An aire de servicesA technical area for RVs, the French take on a dump station: a drinking-water faucet, a grate for gray water, and a disposal point for the toilet cassette, a removable black tank. is where you fill up and dump; an aire de stationnementA parking lot reserved for RVs and camper vans, 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 RV 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 fall under both the Code de la route and the Code de l’urbanisme, the French planning code [3].

Behind the same sign, then, you’ll find very different operators. Towns first: in Villeneuve-Minervois, in the Aude, a free municipal aire [5]; in Albi, a 40-space 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 campgrounds open day and night, in France and elsewhere in Europe [7], or the connected aires of AireServices, a French maker of service kiosks [8]. And finally campgrounds, some of which open sites by the night to RVs and camper vans [9].

A camper van isn’t welcome everywhere. The Périgueux aire turns away converted cars and vans that aren’t self-contained and aren’t approved by the DREAL as vehicles for living in [10], and Albi’s order reserves its aire for RVs and approved vehicles for living in [6]. The DREAL is the regional office of the French government that, among other things, approves vans converted into RVs. The pages we read don’t say how a camper van 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 pad 10 to 13 ft (3 to 4 m) across [2]. In the middle, a channel covered by a grate, toward which four sloping surfaces drain the gray water: you park over it and open the valve. Off to one side, technical compartments: the cassette disposal point, under a lift-up lid, with a faucet to rinse it; the drinking-water point, with a faucet threaded to 20/27, the French name for the 3/4-inch BSP (British Standard Pipe) thread [26], where the hose connector screws on; and a trash can.

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The detail I care about is a sanitary one. The federation asks for two faucets, one for drinking water and the other for rinsing the cassette, in separate compartments, and for a plate with a 1.6-inch (40 mm) hole under the clean-water faucet: a cassette’s 2.4-inch (60 mm) spout can then no longer touch it [2]. The plate, the federation explains, is there for the occasional careless user. The steps for dumping are covered in our guide to camper van water and dumping.

That leaves electricity, where opinions differ. The FFACCC’s view is that a service aire doesn’t need an outlet, since RVers recharge while driving or with solar panels [2]. Several of our examples offer one anyway: a charging post at each space in Albi [6], a 10 A hookup per site at the Valras-Plage campground, which advises bringing an adapter and an extension cord of about 50 ft (15 m) [9], and 6 A outlets in Lourdes [11] and Clairvaux-les-Lacs [8]. On paper, 6 A at 230 V, the European standard, comes to about 1,400 W: enough to charge a battery, not enough to run a 2,000 W electric kettle.

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

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

Let’s run the numbers. Of these nine aires, three charge nothing to sleep; the other six charge €8.10 to €30 per 24 hours, and the median of their prices comes to about €18 (our math, on bases that aren’t all the same). That’s a ballpark drawn from nine pages, not a national average; for a yearly budget, see our breakdown of what a camper van costs.

Read the fine print, too. The taxe de séjourThe tourist tax, a local charge due for each night, which the town or a group of towns introduces and whose rate it sets. is often added to the price of the night: the town introduces it, a group of towns can too, and its rates are set by a vote of the body that introduces it [15]. Depending on the aire, it’s included in the price shown (Clairvaux, Valras), added on top (Lourdes), or due for each passenger who owes 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 business, which goes into the kiosk instead of coins. is still around: in Artouste, it costs €5 at the tourist office or the restaurant next door [12]. Depending on the model, AireServices kiosks take coins, tokens, or payment by app [16]; Périgueux takes only payment cards or the network’s app [10]. With Camping-Car Park, you create an account, then pick up an access card at the kiosk, €5 and good for life, or buy a digital pass in the app; the gate opens with a code, and payment is charged automatically when you leave [7]. A payment card, some coins, and the address of the tourist office cover all these cases.

How long can you stay at an aire?

As long as its rules allow, and that varies more than you’d 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 law. 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 spaces turn over [17], and advises towns to cap stays at 1 or 2 days in very touristy areas [2]. The number on the sign is a local rule, and the operator can enforce it: in Albi, a vehicle that stays past the limit is treated as obstructive parking and can be towed to the impound lot [6].

Aire, roadside parking, or camping: which rules apply?

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

Aires carry weight here. A mayor can regulate RV parking, but not with a ban so sweeping that it covers the whole town, the Interior Ministry replied in 2015 [20]. And when a measure targets only RVs, the circular of October 19, 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, you’ve got apps and directories. None of them is an official source, and they’re 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 a nonprofit 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 pin in an app isn’t permission. Park4Night’s own charter says so: before parking, travelers 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 hookups, 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 kiosk that doesn’t freeze is a piece of equipment: at AireServices, the freeze-protection system is an option on the kiosk [16]. The FFACCC asks for a water point available year-round, protected from freezing [2]; some towns make a different call. 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 freezing doesn’t damage it. from November 1 to March 31 [13]. Others close completely, like the sites at the Valras-Plage campground, closed until May 1 [9], while the aire at Artouste, at 4,100 ft (1,250 m), stays open year-round, even though its tokens for water and electricity are sold on only a few days in winter [12].

So plan winter with some slack: fill up with water whenever a kiosk is working, line up two aires instead of one, and check that they’re open with the mairie or the tourist office. Freezing in your own rig’s tank and lines is covered in our guide to the camper van in winter.

Aire etiquette: who writes the rules?

At an aire, good manners sometimes have the force of law. Albi’s order, published on July 15, 2026, bans pitching a tent, lighting a fire or a barbecue, plugging in anywhere but your own space’s post, and tying a clothesline or a hammock to the trees. It sets a speed limit of 6 mph (10 km/h), asks for pets to be kept on a leash and cleaned up after, and for noise to be kept down, especially after 10 p.m. [6]

Elsewhere, codes of conduct with no legal force say much the same. The FFACCC’s code of conduct asks you not to set anything up on public land, no awning, table, chair, or laundry, not to hog the space, to dump waste water only at designated places and never near homes, streams, 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 chip in for paid services and move on when a place is full [22].

• Read the sign at the entrance: vehicles allowed, time limit, price, date of the rate.
• Have a way to pay ready: payment card, coins, token, or app.
• Fill up at the drinking-water faucet, rinse the cassette at the other one.
• Keep table, chairs, and awning stowed unless the rules allow you to set up outside.
• In winter, check that the kiosk hasn’t been shut off for freezing.

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

Julien de Jurquet

Vans, RVs, biking and calculators

Julien de Jurquet writes for Outfarer about camper vans, RVs, biking, and calculators. He reads manuals cover to cover and never lets a number slide without its unit, so your choices rest on math, not promises.

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