Service area, aire or campsite: how to choose where to stop for the night

On a map, not everything marked with a motorhome symbol offers the same services. In France, an aire de services (motorhome service area) is not necessarily somewhere you can sleep, an aire de stationnement (motorhome parking area) does not always have water, and a camping (campsite) may be closed out of season. Understanding the difference saves you some unpleasant surprises at the end of the day.

The aire de services: fill up and empty out

A service area is built around a service point (Flot Bleu, Euro-Relais, AireServices, Urbaflux…) that lets you:

• fill your fresh water tank;
• empty your grey water (sink, shower) into a drain in the ground;
• empty your black water cassette (toilet) into a dedicated disposal point;
• sometimes recharge your battery from an electric hook-up.

The service may be free or paid (tokens, coins, bank card). One important point: a service area does not necessarily allow overnight stays. Read the sign at the entrance. For everything you need to know about the job itself, see our guide to emptying a motorhome's waste water.

The aire de stationnement: a pitch for the night

A motorhome parking area welcomes motorhomes for one or more nights, often with a maximum length of stay. It may be nothing more than a reserved car park, or it may offer marked pitches, electricity and Wi-Fi. Many aires are mixed: parking and a service point in the same place.

What you can and can't do there: you sleep in the vehicle, but you avoid putting out a table, chairs and awning. Those belong to camping, as explained in our guide where to sleep in a motorhome in France.

The campsite: full comfort

A campsite offers a marked pitch, electricity, toilets, showers and almost always a waste disposal point. It is the most comfortable option for a stay of several days, for doing the laundry or for fully recharging your batteries. Some campsites also offer a reduced-rate "stopover" deal, with late arrival and early departure.

Its downsides: often a higher price, reception opening hours, and closures out of season.

How to choose based on your day

• Just sleeping: an aire de stationnement.
• Sleeping and emptying before you set off: a mixed aire.
• Shower, electricity, laundry: a campsite.
• Only emptying and refilling with water: an aire de services, during the day.

A good rhythm is to alternate: a few nights on aires, then a night at a campsite to recharge, wash and shower. And if your overnight stop has no service point, plan a service area on the next day's route.

What Pakvia does for you

Every evening, Pakvia picks an official overnight stop (a motorhome aire or a campsite for a campervan or motorhome) and shows what is known about it: free or paid, drinking water, electricity, waste disposal. When the day's stop has no waste disposal, a waste disposal point is suggested along that day's route. Places that are too small for your vehicle or closed to it are left out: that is the subject of our guide on motorhome height, length and weight.

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