Campsite Guides & Locator

BerndRos · May 13, 2023

Just wondered what the up to date situation is regarding what people are using to locate a campsite while on the go, book or app or a mixture of both. Mainly thinking of France, Spain & Portugal.

My factory fitted satnav is a 2010 RNS500 without internet.

WelshGas · May 13, 2023

Look up Archies. 30,000 campsites covering all European countries. GPS coordinates + contact details. You can also load the data into the RNS 500 . That's what I have done. Has worked well.

Archies camping - Google Suche

Barbara · May 13, 2023

WelshGas said:
Look up Archies. 30,000 campsites covering all European countries. GPS coordinates + contact details. You can also load the data into the RNS 500 . That's what I have done. Has worked well.

Archies camping - Google Suche

just spotted this: https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-...sites-touring/archies-campings-end-of-an-era/

WelshGas · May 13, 2023

Barbara said:
just spotted this: https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-...sites-touring/archies-campings-end-of-an-era/

The app for apple/android phones/tablets is continuing.
Never used the website as I found the app on my iPad and phone were better.

BerndRos · May 13, 2023

WelshGas said:
Look up Archies. 30,000 campsites covering all European countries. GPS coordinates + contact details. You can also load the data into the RNS 500 . That's what I have done. Has worked well.

Archies camping - Google Suche

WG…are you please able to advise how to get the data onto my RNS500 ?

Thanks

Ting Tong · May 14, 2023

We use park4night extensively outside the UK and find it excellent for finding sites: plus, if you select “itinerary” it has the handy option of gps routing to the selected site on a variety of platforms such as google maps, Navmii, Tom Tom and Waze (which is what we use on Apple play ).

briwy · May 15, 2023

WelshGas said:
Look up Archies. 30,000 campsites covering all European countries. GPS coordinates + contact details. You can also load the data into the RNS 500 . That's what I have done. Has worked well.

Archies camping - Google Suche

Yes, second Archies. Used it for years. We very rarely book anywhere and have always found a site Europe wide if we aren't wild camping or on an Aire.

Richard Love · May 20, 2023

The ‘park4Night’ app is fab.

sbmcd · May 20, 2023

We use park4night APP, paid version in the UK and all over Europe. It's worth paying the small fee as it allows you to check the reviews for all the listed locations. We have found that very useful for avoiding some otherwise seemingly attractive sites.

Ch1pbutty · May 20, 2023

sbmcd said:
We use park4night APP, paid version in the UK and all over Europe. It's worth paying the small fee as it allows you to check the reviews for all the listed locations. We have found that very useful for avoiding some otherwise seemingly attractive sites.

Some suggestions on P4N need a bit of caution. Put your local area into into the App, and see what it comes up with. Some might be National Trust car parks that do not permit overnight parking (but are not really policed, but would suggest not drinking in case you are asked to move the van in the middle of the night), other spots might get the reaction “oh, that car park…” (ie local dogging or boy racer meet spot).

sbmcd · May 20, 2023

Ch1pbutty said:
Some suggestions on P4N need a bit of caution. Put your local area into into the App, and see what it comes up with. Some might be National Trust car parks that do not permit overnight parking (but are not really policed, but would suggest not drinking in case you are asked to move the van in the middle of the night), other spots might get the reaction “oh, that car park…” (ie local dogging or boy racer meet spot).

That's where the reviews become very useful.

Mehdime · May 20, 2023

Ch1pbutty said:
other spots might get the reaction “oh, that car park…” (ie local dogging or boy racer meet spot).

I’ve certainly quickly learned that

Mostly it’s fine though. And having a two tone cute camper that’s the opposite of discreet helps too - nobody is going to think that you’re showing up for a bit of action in this….

Ch1pbutty · May 20, 2023

Mehdime said:
I’ve certainly quickly learned that Mostly it’s fine though. And having a two tone cute camper that’s the opposite of discreet helps too - nobody is going to think that you’re showing up for a bit of action in this….

Until you press lock/unlock and the headlights flash!

Mehdime · May 20, 2023

To get back on topic: having tried a few different things, I now just use just Park4Night for wild camping and the ACSI app for campsites. Both provide GPS coordinates if that helps.

In France, we’ve used the France Passion book a few times but only because they have no app and their website is unusable on mobile. A book is a real pain to use though especially when you’re trying to filter down by arrival time or amenities so we’ve largely given up on France Passion.