Riding through France into the Alps - Help

[rodrigoscs]

Hi Everyone.
I'll be riding solo in a couple of weeks through France and get into the Alps through Geneva, cross to Italy, and then the road will tell...
I'll be camping along the way and I'd like to know if anyone recommends any campsites bike-friendly along that initial route. Also, is it ok to arrive and check-in or reservation is advised? As I'm not going with a strict plan I'd like to keep the options open.
I was considering wild camping but I'm not sure how safe it would be on my own.
Any advice or recommendations are very welcome.
Cheers

[Flipflop]

In 25 years of riding through France on yearly holidays, we’ve never booked a campsite - even in Corsica in August.
There are campsites in every town and village in France. We usually ride till about 5.30 then look out for camping signs - if the first or second one isn’t lovely we don’t compromise, there are plenty. Only twice have we resorted to consulting the Sat Nav - sure enough we were 2 minutes from a lovely campsite on both occasions.
We usually stay away from the coast and the crowds, it’s easy to find a campsite an hour away and ride down for a day on the beach. If you do want a beach campsite they are often full but if you ask - small tent and just a moto - you will find a spot somewhere.

Everything and everybody is motorcycle friendly in France and Italy.

Personally I don’t like Switzerland, you have to buy an expensive vignette or suffer the traffic, it’s expensive but most of all it’s too clinical for us - when we go on a 10 mile hike up into the mountains we don’t want a graded footpath with edging and signs saying stick to the path all the way. Yes a barbecue is nice but one with fuel, rolled up Newspapers, kindling and matches (I kid you not) every couple of miles is not conducive to ‘getting away from it all’. Anyway just my opinion.

If you’re going via Calais - our usual route to the Alps/South of France is:
Motorway for about 3 hours to Champagne them small roads across to Langres - this is a lovely ancient walled town with a campsite inside the city walls. A plethora of cobbled streets, nice bars and restaurants are a stroll away - take good wax earplugs, the road is noisy early in the morning. It’s a civilised first stop

Then we cut across country to the Jura mountains, try to plot a course north to south down the middle - lovely.

This pops us out around Aix-le- Bains and into the Alps proper.

Everyone is different so this isn’t a recommendation just a report of what we do - might give you a few ideas.
🏍

[bikenav]

You may not be safe wild camping, deer, boar, falling trees, all kinds could happen or you could call that interesting even adventurous, France in normal times is probably the easiest country to wing it camping without pre-booking while trying see if you can find a place that is biker-unfriendly. Give it all a try, give yourself a bit of daylight/time to find your solution. You can always do a loop and return if too early or kill a bit of time in a nearby town or whatever. If your real picky it may not be for you, give it a try and find out. Sideline for any France visitors came across this youtube vid fluked a visited it a couple of years ago just happened to pass by, one of them lucky road picks. Highly recommended. GPX location below

zz load only.gpx

(3.53 KiB) Downloaded 114 times

[92kk k100lt 193214]

I used to take the kids to Atlantic coastal camp sites and it was necessary to prebook the ones on the coast if you needed a three week stint. But even in those ones every day a stream of bikes and ramblers got spaces on spec. A mile of 5 inland and all the little sites had pitches available. Inland camp sites there's usually another just up the road so not an issue. I still prebook but the site I use is mostly unbooked and lots of space for walk in. If you decide to wild camp open fires and open bbqs are a no no due to fire risk. In forest areas boars and other creatures can be a dangerous risk.

[Flintlock]

viewtopic.php?f=138&t=47335

This might be of assistance to you

[spangle]

Archies campsite guide app is a must have on such trips


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jak*]

I have travelled through France many times and after the first time have never booked. Most towns have municipal or ex municipal sites which are generally very good and cheap. They are often near the town’s swimming pool which you can sometimes use for free. http://www.municipalcampsites.com/
Look out for ‘Camping a la ferme’ sites which are often smaller and apart from the animals, quieter sites, there are some on here https://rural-camping.com/france/index.htm
There are some specifically biker friendly campsites but it depends which route you take and how far you want to go out of your way. This one is possibly near where you are going https://www.lecampingmoto.net/ I haven’t been there for a few years but it used to be excellent. I am hoping to go this summer as I am going from France to Italy over the alps, although I am starting in Spain.
This may be of use to you as well. https://www.thebikerguide.co.uk/bikerfr ... mping.html
There is so much stuff on the net now that it sometimes gets more confusing. France is definitely the easiest and probably the cheapest country to camp in in Western Europe. Have a great trip.
Cheers

[bikenav]

Very Good tips there above, dont over think it, if your winging it that will get in the way. Camping on the farm also sometimes known as "petite camping" is probably my favourite, if you happen to be in a good spot for wild camping give it a pop, using common sense of course. Your more likely to be accidentally shot by a hunter than become the trophy of Wild Boar. Bon Route.

[Peirre]

Michelin also produce a guide book “camping France” which lists the details of various camp sites both private and municipal by area/town/department

[rodrigoscs]

Many thanks for all the suggestions. Very useful information here.
I shall share some pics from my route!