French Travel - A Guide To Camping Holidays In France

You people often love taking break, away from civilization, spending a few days camping alfresco, enjoying nature. If that's true, what do you think of having camping holidays in France? It's a wonderful idea, isn't it? Camping certainly is the activity full of fun & adventure. It really lets you enjoy local cuisine, architecture, dialects, customs, and festivals. It's a popular summer activity, mainly associated with the months of July and August, but the idea of the already active low season camping shouldn't be neglected.

France is a fantastically perfect camping vacation destination offering a wide range of climates and landscapes, such as the hotter sunny regions of Mediterranean, cooler regions of Normandy and Brittany, the wooded valleys of the Dordogne, the volcanic uplands of the Massif Central, the lavender covered hills of Provence, and the snow-capped peaks of the Alps. However, you are not allowed to camp anywhere such as in the woods, but only in authorized locations.

Still, France has plenty of camping sites for campers. You can find over 2000 camping sites in various regions of France including Alsace (41), Aquitaine (276), Auvergne (95), Basse-Normandie (70), Bourgogne (85), Brittany (151), Centre (86), Champagne-Ardenne (46), Corsica (53), Franche-Comté (50), Haute-Normandie (31), Île-de-France (32), Languedoc-Roussillon (242), Limousin (51), Lorraine (54), Midi-Pyrénées (215), Nord-Pas-de-Calais (22), Pays de la Loire (155), Picardie (33), Poitou-Charentes (94), Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (191), and Rhône-Alpes (251). If you're planning your camping holidays in France, here are some popular camping sites for you.

On the eastern border of France, on the west bank of the Upper Rhine, adjacent to Germany and Switzerland, ALSACE is the area quite popular for camping. It is the area extremely rich in natural beauty. Cité de l'automobile - National Motor Museum - Collection Schlumpf and Cité du Train are two of the major attractions of the region. You can find about 41camping sites at Bas-Rhin (13) and Haut-Rhin (28) in Alsace. You can also find camping sites at Doubs (10), Haute-Saône (9), Jura (30), and Territoire-de-Belfort (1) in FRANCHE-COMTÉ, in the eastern France. LORRAINE is another eastern French camping destination that offers you some 54 camping sites at Meurthe-et-Moselle (5), Meuse (4), Moselle (11), and Vosges (34).

In the northeast of France, bordering Belgium, CHAMPAGNE-ARDENNE is your camping destination, if you want to enjoy camping in the region widely known for Champagne and vineyards. The fantastic region offers you some 46 camping sites at Ardennes (16), Aube (7), Haute-Marne (12), and Marne (11). Situated on the English Channel at the point closest to the English coast, NORD-PAS DE CALAIS is you camping destination in the northern France, located north of the French capital Paris. Bordering Belgium in the north, NORD-PAS-DE-CALAIS has 22 camping sites including 10 at Nord and 12 at Strait of Dover. You can also find a number of fine camping sites at Aisne (12), Oise (3), and Somme (18) in PICARDIE, located immediately north of the French capital Paris and the Ile de France in the northern France.

HAUTE-NORMANDIE is another fantastic camping destination in the northern France. Rouen, Dieppe, and Le Havre are the important cities of the region. Located between the capital city Paris and the English Channel, Haute-Normandie offers you can some 31 lovely camping sites including 8 at Eure and 23 at Seine-Maritime. BASSE-NORMANDIE, the region lying west of the Seine and part of the Perche, in the northern France, gives you about 70 wonderful camping sites including 28 camping sites at Calvados, 34 at Manche, and 8 at Orne. Bayeux, Caen, Deauville, Falaise, Honfleur, and Lisieux are important cities of the region.

ÎLE-DE-FRANCE is the region of the French capital, Paris. The region is also known for its natural beauties, in the form of parks, forests and river lands. It offers camping sites at Essonne (7), Paris (2), Seine-et-Marne (18), Val-d'Oise (1), and Yvelines (4). You can find two camping sites in Paris - Camp site Paris-Est le Tremblay, and Camp site Du Bois de Boulogne.

CENTRE-VAL DE LOIRE, simply referred to as Centre, is the region embracing the famous valley of the river Loire. The region is known for its fine historical towns, for its vineyards and agricultural produce and for its many beautiful castles (chateaux). Centre offers you some 85 nice camping sites at Cher (6), Eure-et-Loir (14), Indre (12), Indre-et-Loire (24), Loir-et-Cher (19), and Loiret (11).

In northwestern France, BRITTANY, one of the six Celtic Nations, offers you over 150 camping sites at Côtes-d'Armor (40), Finistère (61), Ille-et-Vilaine (18), and Morbihan (32). Important cities of Brittany are Brest, Lorient, Quimper, Rennes, Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Malo, Vannes, and Vitré. PAYS DE LA LOIRE, an extensive region of north-western France, located broadly to the west and south-west of the French capital Paris, offers you some 155 at Loire-Atlantique (20), Maine-et-Loire (20), Mayenne (6), Sarthe (23), and Vendée (86).

POITOU-CHARENTES, in the western France, is the region known for The Island of Oleron, Oradour-sur-Glans, and Futuroscope, a science and technology theme park. It is your camping destination offering some 94 lovely camping sites at Charente (6), Charente-Maritime (64), Deux-Sèvres (6), and Vienne (18).

AQUITAINE is an extensive region of south-west France with a long coastline along the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) and a mountainous border with Spain along the Pyrenees Mountains. The region is known for its beaches, sand dunes and pine forests. You can find over 276 camping sites at Dordogne (90), Gironde (75), Landes (59), Lot-et-Garonne (15), and Pyrénées-Atlantiques (37). Bordering Aquitaine, LIMOUSIN has some 51 camping sites at Corrèze (24), Creuse (9), and Haute-Vienne (18).

AUVERGNE, in the central France, is home to two Regional Natural Parks - the Livradois-Forez Park and the Auvergne Volcanoes Park, more than 500 Romanesque churches, over 50 châteaux to visit along the 'Route des Châteaux d'Auvergne' and 10 spa towns. It offers you some 95 camping sites at Allier (17), Cantal (20), Haute-Loire (18), and Puy-de-Dôme (40). Just next to the region in central eastern France, BOURGOGNE region offers some 85 camping sites at Côte-d'Or (20), Nièvre (20), Saône-et-Loire (31), and Yonne (14).

You can find over 240 camping sites at Aude (24), Gard (45), Hérault (88), Lozère (25), and Pyrénées-Orientales (60) in LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON, a large region of southern France with a long Mediterranean coastline. MIDI-PYRÉNÉES, in the Southern France, offers some 215 at Ariège (28), Aveyron (47), Gers (18), Haute-Garonne (12), Hautes-Pyrénées (45), Lot (31), Tarn (19), and Tarn-et-Garonne (15). In south-eastern France, PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE D'AZUR has some 191 camping sites at Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (31), Alpes-Maritimes (19), Bouches-du-Rhône (23), Hautes-Alpes (42), Var (48), and Vaucluse (28). On the eastern border of the country, towards the south, RHÔNE-ALPES region has 251 camping sites at Ain (21), Ardèche (46), Drôme (42), Haute-Savoie (55), Isère (39), Loire (14), Rhône (9), and Savoie (25).

CORSICA, an island and region of France in the Mediterranean Sea, southeast of France and west of Italy, north of the island of Sardinia, offers you some 53 fantastic camping sites.