Guide
Aires in France: how motorhome aires work, what they cost and where they are
An aire is a place where a commune or operator lets motorhomes park, often overnight, usually next to an "aire de services" where you empty waste water and fill up with drinking water. French law has no regulatory definition of an aire, so each operator sets its own price, stay limit and rules. Below are our counts of aires by region, and what share are free.[1][2]
Last reviewed 13 October 2026 by Campervan Atlas against the sources listed at the end.
Aires in France in our data
We have 3,644 motorhome aires in France mapped from OpenStreetMap: 1,948 (53%) are tagged free, 1,507 (41%) paid, and the rest don't say. Of the 1,315 with a plain price in euros, the median is €13.54 a night (middle half: €10 to €15).
| Region | Aires | Tagged free | Tagged paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aires in New Aquitaine | 638 | 52% | 42% |
| Aires in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 534 | 59% | 33% |
| Aires in Occitanie | 519 | 44% | 51% |
| Aires in Brittany | 325 | 56% | 40% |
| Aires in Grand Est | 318 | 57% | 36% |
| Aires in Pays de la Loire | 263 | 48% | 49% |
| Aires in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 253 | 67% | 30% |
| Aires in Centre-Val de Loire | 235 | 66% | 31% |
| Aires in Normandy | 223 | 49% | 46% |
| Aires in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 190 | 51% | 45% |
| Aires in Hauts-de-France | 128 | 37% | 57% |
| Aires in Île-de-France | 10 | 40% | 60% |
| Corsica | 8 | 13% | 75% |
Prices are what OpenStreetMap contributors tagged (price, charge), parsed when they're a single euro amount; they can be out of date. Percentages are of each region's aires.
What an aire is
Official answers from the French ministries say these spaces have no regulatory definition. They distinguish the aire de stationnement, a parking area open to motorhomes day and night, from the aire de services, a sanitary point for emptying waste water and filling drinking water.[1]
A commune can set the conditions of use of an ordinary car park and reserve it for motorhomes. An aire with more than 50 places needs a planning permit (permis d'aménager); smaller car-park aires need a prior declaration. Motorhome pitches inside a campsite follow campsite rules instead.[2][1]
What aires cost
Prices are set by whoever runs the aire, so they vary. The table above shows, for each region, the share of aires that OpenStreetMap contributors have tagged as free or paid, and the typical tagged price where enough aires have one. Always check the sign or the aire's page: prices change and many aires aren't tagged.
How long you can stay
There is no national stay limit specific to aires: the commune or operator sets the conditions.[2][1]
On the public road, any vehicle left in the same spot for more than seven days is abusively parked (Code de la route R417-12), and a commune can set a shorter limit by arrêté.[4][5]
Parking outside an aire
Outside aires, a motorhome may park on the public road like any other vehicle provided its parking is not dangerous, obstructive or abusive. Mayors can restrict motorhome parking by a reasoned arrêté, but the government says such a measure cannot be general and absolute.[3]
Full details, with the fines: overnight parking rules in France.
Motorway aires: can you sleep there?
We have not found an official rule on sleeping overnight in motorway rest areas (aires de repos or aires de service on autoroutes). What is clear is that stopping and parking on the motorway carriageway and its verges, including the hard shoulder, is prohibited.[5]
Before you go
If your route passes Paris, Lyon or another city with a low-emission zone, read Crit'Air stickers for motorhomes. To empty your toilet cassette, see where to empty a cassette toilet or dump stations across France.
Sources
- Question écrite n° 121715, réponse JO 17 janvier 2012 (aires de camping-cars), Assemblée nationale. Accessed 13 October 2026.
- Question écrite n° 3128, réponse 25 juin 2013 (aménagement des aires), Assemblée nationale. Accessed 13 October 2026.
- Question écrite n° 01232 (stationnement des camping-cars), réponse JO Sénat 7 août 2025, Sénat. Accessed 13 October 2026.
- Question écrite n° 09136, réponse JO Sénat 7 mars 2024 (stationnement abusif), Sénat. Accessed 13 October 2026.
- Stationnement gênant, très gênant, dangereux ou abusif, Service-Public.fr. Accessed 13 October 2026.
How this guide was made: Drafted with AI assistance from the official sources listed below; every statement was checked against those sources on the review date. All counts and prices are computed from our OpenStreetMap data when the page loads.
Published 13 October 2026. Something out of date? Tell us.