One of the best things about touring France in a motorhome or caravan is the ready availability of cheap - or free - serviced stopover points.

Known as Aire de Service, these rest areas usually have basic facilities (water, sewage and perhaps electric hookups) and allow tourers to park for no more than a nominal fee for each night. Many are free, although finding these can be difficult (the Aires you see signposted from the Autoroutes are sometimes just standard motorway rest areas!).

Now it seems that the success of Aires in Europe has caused Ireland to start experimenting with them. The first Aire de Service in Ireland has just opened in Askeaton, County Limerick. The local authorities believe it will encourage visitors to patronise local restaurants and shops and should attract visitors to the region. Askeaton’s Aire is a proper motorhome service point, offering all the water and waste facilities you need for an overnight stop.

Incidentally, the easiest way to find all the best Aires in France is to by the definitive book on the subject: All the Aires - France. It details more than 1100 stopping points suitable for motorhomes, campervans and caravans all over France, including 600 inspected locations which guarantee a certain level of facilities/quality.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.