With high mountains, rolling hills, winding rivers, stunning coastlines and thousands of excellent camping grounds, France has long been the perfect destination for those with caravans, campervans and mobile homes.

But in recent years interest in what the French refer to as “van life” has exploded in France and around Europe.

It was already on the rise before the Covid pandemic but since the end of lockdowns the thirst for road trips has boomed.

The purchase of campervans and mobile homes (le camping car as they are called in France)  shot up post pandemic but with vans costing tens of thousands of euros the steep prices meant there has also been a huge demand for renting them.

And it’s not just retired couples looking for an adventure.

Young couples, groups of friends and families are all opting for an alternative to the classic options of renting a gîte in rural France, a mountain chalet, or a beachside apartment in a French resort.

And having done it three times, with young kids, I can see why. 

However, a campervan holiday takes a fair amount of organisation and planning before and during a trip, so it’s worth knowing a thing or two in advance. Experiences and preferences obviously vary widely so this is simply my take on how to make the most of a trip in France. I’d love to hear your own advice and experiences, both good and bad, in the comments section below.

If you have your own van then that makes things much simpler (you can skip the next bit) but for those who need to rent one, then there are some important things to keep in mind.

Choose a rental company:

Several Europe-wide van/ mobile home rental companies have been created in recent years to cater for the growing demand. Some of the most well known are Indie Campers, Black Sheep, Yescapa and then there’s Roadsurfer, a rental company founded in Germany that we opted for.

The service with Roadsurfer has been good each time when I rented vans in Geneva, Toulouse and Bordeaux. Friendly, easygoing staff (a slight contrast to car hire companies), easy to follow online tutorials for how to work the van, followed by good explanations on site and vehicles in great condition.

The vans don’t come that cheap. For a summer rental it works out around €129 to €139 a night, so for a week it was between €900 and €1,000 before you add insurance (prices rise if you book last minute and if you want a bigger van). I paid another €29 a night to get the full insurance package because I was scared I’d end up banging the van into a stone wall, a wild boar or driving straight into a river (spoiler – none of these came to pass).

Choose a van

You can choose between different sizes of vans and also vans of the same size that come with different equipment. We have small kids so went for the Volkswagen California Ocean, which comes with a stove, a fridge, a little sink – and a table and chairs for outside and… an outdoor shower!

With the bigger vans you get a shower and a toilet but we purposefully didn’t want a toilet. Living in a small van your privacy and personal space obviously goes out the front window but there are certain things you can easily avoid. Having to empty the family faeces each day was one of them. 

One thing to remember with vans is that in France your French licence might not permit you to drive one of the bigger ones. 

And importantly you need to remember the height of it so you avoid having to swerve lanes at a French motorway toll to avoid the ones with 2 metre height barriers.

Other places where the height of your can be a problem in France is at car parks. To avoid people turning up to beachside car parks in vans and mobile homes, many French local authorities put up 2 metre height barriers at entrance. So choose your parking spot carefully.

Where to go?

This is obviously mainly down to you to decide, but the location of the van rental sites does play a part. Roadsurfer has sites in France’s main cities that give access to the best parts of the country. So for a road trip down the Atlantic coast to Spain we picked up the van in Bordeaux, for the Pyrenees we picked it up in Toulouse and for the Alps from Geneva (or a town near Geneva on the French side of the border).

To get to Bordeaux and Toulouse we took the train so had to pack light (more on this later) but for Geneva we drove and had to leave the car in a nearby village because there was nowhere to leave it on site (check this when you rent the van). The pick-up sites are out of town so you’ll need to get a taxi or hope there’s a public transport option to get there from the train station.

Train tickets obviously add an extra cost of course but you at least avoid the long motorway drive across France. We didn’t want to rent it just to drive on the A10 or A6 Autoroutes. But for Parisians there are bases in Paris (near to CDG and Orly airports) if you prefer to do this. And there are also pick up sites in the UK, you just need to check the rules of where you can drive it.

But choosing the ultimate French road trip will be down to your personal taste. If you want beaches, the Atlantic coast and Brittany offer fantastic selection of places with campsites or special campervan parking dotted all over the place. 

The Alps and Pyrenees offer stunning mountain scenery, loads of activities for kids from rafting to summer luge, rafting canyoning, lake swimming and walking. The Pyrenees did seem quieter than the Alps which made finding a place to spend the night less problematic. Which brings us to the key question…

Where to spend the night?

When people think of a campervan road trip they think of parking up next to the beach or on a secluded mountain road overlooking valleys and rivers far below.

In fact, if you want to park up anywhere you need to check the rules and France has quite a few.

While, for example, it is possible, and legal, to park your camping car by the side of a road (not a motorway, obviously), you wouldn’t be allowed then to set out a table and chairs and watch the traffic go by. Nor, unsurprisingly, can you empty your chemical toilet at the roadside.

READ ALSO: Where in France can you park your campervan?

Many French towns and large villages have dedicated areas for motorhomes to stay for a short period away from campsites, and some provide electricity or water points.