France on a budget

suneye

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Anyone know how much they spend in France - per day or per week - on average. So aires, food, diesel (I know this depends) just want to get a realistic budget before planning it. I know lots of you have been doing this for many years but I have yet to leave England and don't want to plan something that I can't finish.
 
I would budget about £1000 a month. We are generally in France in July and August and IMO its the best place to be peak season as its huge, diverse and you can choose to be part of the holiday throng in places like Annecy or the Ardeche Gorges or just disappear up the Alps or Pyrenees or some of the less visited regions but equally as brilliant such as Jura or the Auvergny. Also peak season you have more free aires and wild spots than you can shake a stick at so you can avoid the campsites packed with kids and of course their peak season prices.

Eating out I would say cost wise is similar to here. If you go out for a drink and I like a good drink then go for wine rather than beer if you want to save money as wine in a bar in France is half the cost of what it is here although the more touristy places will be more expensive but beer is generally more expensive than here but the French dont down six pints in an hour. Ive seen them nurse a glass of Leffe for an hour! Its often more expensive if you sit outside on a terrace than if you just sit at the bar.

I dont bother shopping in Lidl or Aldi as they are rubbish but Intermarche, Carrefour, E'Leclerc are all pretty good and some stuff is more expensive than here but its better quality. The stuff we have become accustomed to actually works out better value than here and of course then there is the cheese! I Can spend an hour at Leclerc cheese counter. Heaven and half the cost of what it is here, assuming you can get it here.

I Wouldnt avoid anywhere. You have a motorhome, if its too busy or not to your liking, move on.
 
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Yep

barryd said:
I would budget about £1000 a month. We are generally in France in July and August and IMO its the best place to be peak season as its huge, diverse and you can choose to be part of the holiday throng in places like Annecy or the Ardeche Gorges or just disappear up the Alps or Pyrenees or some of the less visited regions but equally as brilliant such as Jura or the Auvergny. Also peak season you have more free aires and wild spots than you can shake a stick at so you can avoid the campsites packed with kids and of course their peak season prices.

Eating out I would say cost wise is similar to here. If you go out for a drink and I like a good drink then go for wine rather than beer if you want to save money as wine in a bar in France is half the cost of what it is here although the more touristy places will be more expensive but beer is generally more expensive than here but the French dont down six pints in an hour. Ive seen them nurse a glass of Leffe for an hour! Its often more expensive if you sit outside on a terrace than if you just sit at the bar.

I dont bother shopping in Lidl or Aldi as they are rubbish but Intermarche, Carrefour, E'Leclerc are all pretty good and some stuff is more expensive than here but its better quality. The stuff we have become accustomed to actually works out better value than here and of course then there is the cheese! I Can spend an hour at Leclerc cheese counter. Heaven and half the cost of what it is here, assuming you can get it here.

I Wouldnt avoid anywhere. You have a motorhome, if its too busy or not to your liking, move on.
Click to expand...

Agree with most of what you post
We spend about £1000 a month (excluding Ferries)
Aldi and Lidl have their advantages but others are better quality
 
barryd said:
I would budget about £1000 a month. We are generally in France in July and August and IMO its the best place to be peak season as its huge, diverse and you can choose to be part of the holiday throng in places like Annecy or the Ardeche Gorges or just disappear up the Alps or Pyrenees or some of the less visited regions but equally as brilliant such as Jura or the Auvergny. Also peak season you have more free aires and wild spots than you can shake a stick at so you can avoid the campsites packed with kids and of course their peak season prices.

Eating out I would say cost wise is similar to here. If you go out for a drink and I like a good drink then go for wine rather than beer if you want to save money as wine in a bar in France is half the cost of what it is here although the more touristy places will be more expensive but beer is generally more expensive than here but the French dont down six pints in an hour. Ive seen them nurse a glass of Leffe for an hour! Its often more expensive if you sit outside on a terrace than if you just sit at the bar.

I dont bother shopping in Lidl or Aldi as they are rubbish but Intermarche, Carrefour, E'Leclerc are all pretty good and some stuff is more expensive than here but its better quality. The stuff we have become accustomed to actually works out better value than here and of course then there is the cheese! I Can spend an hour at Leclerc cheese counter. Heaven and half the cost of what it is here, assuming you can get it here.

I Wouldnt avoid anywhere. You have a motorhome, if its too busy or not to your liking, move on.
Click to expand...

Lots of good stuff to think about here thanks
 
***** said:
I can't agree with eating out been as cheap as the UK, we find it bl**dy expensive!
I am comparing it with everyday pub meals here in the UK!
Maybe if comparing high quality restaurants, it would be different, but we are taking of France on a budget!
Up to about four years ago, we could do 6 weeks in France, including ferry and fuel for under £1000.
Since then we have done little France except for transiting!
Click to expand...

Thanks I don't intend to eat out - except the odd snack so this won't be an issue. Looks like cheese and wine will be on the menu chez moi!
 
France is a big country

On our first trip we
a) drove too far on most days
b) did not stay for 2 or 3 nights often enough.

There is too much to see to do it all in one visit

On our 2nd trip we just went to the SE corner (slowly via Rheims)
ie to the Vosges and the Jura.
Then made our way back via Burgundy.
Bearing in mind your original post...ALL low cost or free Aires
 
jagmanx said:
On our first trip we
a) drove too far on most days
b) did not stay for 2 or 3 nights often enough.

There is too much to see to do it all in one visit

On our 2nd trip we just went to the SE corner (slowly via Rheims)
ie to the Vosges and the Jura.
Then made our way back via Burgundy.
Bearing in mind your original post...ALL low cost or free Aires
Click to expand...

This is useful - thanks. I had thought not to plan and just see how far I get. I went to wales last summer having planned to see the sights in north wales and didn't get any further than Pembrokeshire, just fell in love with the coast all round there. So may not get out of Brittany! Hope to see some of the west coast but open to hear what others have done.
 
barryd said:
I would budget about £1000 a month. We are generally in France in July and August and IMO its the best place to be peak season as its huge, diverse and you can choose to be part of the holiday throng in places like Annecy or the Ardeche Gorges or just disappear up the Alps or Pyrenees or some of the less visited regions but equally as brilliant such as Jura or the Auvergny. Also peak season you have more free aires and wild spots than you can shake a stick at so you can avoid the campsites packed with kids and of course their peak season prices.

Eating out I would say cost wise is similar to here. If you go out for a drink and I like a good drink then go for wine rather than beer if you want to save money as wine in a bar in France is half the cost of what it is here although the more touristy places will be more expensive but beer is generally more expensive than here but the French dont down six pints in an hour. Ive seen them nurse a glass of Leffe for an hour! Its often more expensive if you sit outside on a terrace than if you just sit at the bar.

I dont bother shopping in Lidl or Aldi as they are rubbish but Intermarche, Carrefour, E'Leclerc are all pretty good and some stuff is more expensive than here but its better quality. The stuff we have become accustomed to actually works out better value than here and of course then there is the cheese! I Can spend an hour at Leclerc cheese counter. Heaven and half the cost of what it is here, assuming you can get it here.

I Wouldnt avoid anywhere. You have a motorhome, if its too busy or not to your liking, move on.
Click to expand...

We have had a motorhome for 10 years and have done over 70,000 miles including France – in fact in 2013 we wrote an article for MMM called “The Route of the Kings – on a Shoestring”. Visiting the first half of the 38 royal castles, churches, abbeys and places of historical interest on this route along the Loire valley. The aim for the magazine was to see how cheaply we could do the trip

We use Tesco vouchers for the Eurotunnel (1/3 the price in vouchers - which makes popping over to Europe for a few weeks a few times a year a good option).

The whole journey, approximately three weeks, cost only a few hundred Euros, and that was mainly for admission to chateaux.

We stopped in Aires, French Passions and wherever we could, ate in the MoHo and had a great time.

I think barryd must be a Waitrose devotee as we have found Lidl France (and Germany Italy and Spain) to be excellent for basic staple items, and especially good for fruit and pastries – agreed they don’t have a ‘cheese counter’ but you can always go to Carrefour or L’Eclerc for that.

In fact Lidl is the main overnighting place (allowed by them for Motorhomes) in Algeciras while waiting for the ferry to Morocco.
Basically you can spend what you want, but we did the 3 weeks for about £350.
 
We have had a motorhome for 10 years and have done over 70,000 miles including France – in fact in 2013 we wrote an article for MMM called “The Route of the Kings – on a Shoestring”. Visiting the first half of the 38 royal castles, churches, abbeys and places of historical interest on this route along the Loire valley. The aim for the magazine was to see how cheaply we could do the trip

We use Tesco vouchers for the Eurotunnel (1/3 the price in vouchers - which makes popping over to Europe for a few weeks a few times a year a good option).

The whole journey, approximately three weeks, cost only a few hundred Euros, and that was mainly for admission to chateaux.
We stopped in Aires, French Passions and wherever we could, ate in the MoHo and had a great time.

I think barryd must be a Waitrose devotee as we have found Lidl France (and Germany Italy and Spain) to be excellent for basic staple items, and especially good for fruit and pastries – agreed they don’t have a ‘cheese counter’ but you can always go to Carrefour or L’Eclerc for that.

In fact Lidl is the main overnighting place (allowed by them for Motorhomes) in Algeciras while waiting for the ferry to Morocco.

Basically you can spend what you want, but we did the 3 weeks for about £350.
 
gadabout said:
We have had a motorhome for 10 years and have done over 70,000 miles including France – in fact in 2013 we wrote an article for MMM called “The Route of the Kings – on a Shoestring”. Visiting the first half of the 38 royal castles, churches, abbeys and places of historical interest on this route along the Loire valley. The aim for the magazine was to see how cheaply we could do the trip

We use Tesco vouchers for the Eurotunnel (1/3 the price in vouchers - which makes popping over to Europe for a few weeks a few times a year a good option).

The whole journey, approximately three weeks, cost only a few hundred Euros, and that was mainly for admission to chateaux.

We stopped in Aires, French Passions and wherever we could, ate in the MoHo and had a great time.

I think barryd must be a Waitrose devotee as we have found Lidl France (and Germany Italy and Spain) to be excellent for basic staple items, and especially good for fruit and pastries – agreed they don’t have a ‘cheese counter’ but you can always go to Carrefour or L’Eclerc for that.

In fact Lidl is the main overnighting place (allowed by them for Motorhomes) in Algeciras while waiting for the ferry to Morocco.
Basically you can spend what you want, but we did the 3 weeks for about £350.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, have you got a link to your article?
 
I've looked on line for this - biut it must be too old for it now.

Here is a link to Loire Valley : French "Valley of the Kings" and UNESCO Heritage Site
Loire Valley : French "Valley of the Kings" and UNESCO Heritage Site | Slow Europe Travel Forums

e did the second half the next year and it was brilliant. Our friends said to us ‘When you’ve seen a couple of chateaux, you’ve seen them all!’ Well, don’t believe them. They are all very different and each is interesting in its own way.

Have a great trip whatever you do
 
Nah! I dont rate Waitrose either. Booths supermarket makes Waitrose look like Aldi but you will only find them ooop North!

Suneye (OP)

You didnt say how long you were going for or what sort of places you like. You also mentioned you probably wouldnt plan. Like many our first trip to Europe and France I didnt plan much as it was all a new adventure but I quickly realised the error of my ways as we ping ponged around Europe at way too fast a pace with no real idea of where we were going.

I plan everything now. You always deviate but I work on the old motto "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail" :D

Tell us the sort of things you want to see and do and maybe we can make some recommendations and how long you have. France is massive.
 
barryd said:
Nah! I dont rate Waitrose either. Booths supermarket makes Waitrose look like Aldi but you will only find them ooop North!

Suneye (OP)

You didnt say how long you were going for or what sort of places you like. You also mentioned you probably wouldnt plan. Like many our first trip to Europe and France I didnt plan much as it was all a new adventure but I quickly realised the error of my ways as we ping ponged around Europe at way too fast a pace with no real idea of where we were going.

I plan everything now. You always deviate but I work on the old motto "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail" :D

Tell us the sort of things you want to see and do and maybe we can make some recommendations and how long you have. France is massive.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree it is huge and I only have just over three weeks, so not long. I had in mind to see some of the west coast in particular Bordeaux and the area around it. But I am not going until the summer to have time to listen to suggestions and adapt my ideas. In Britain I tend to leave home with a list of stopping places as I have been caught out driving in the dark looking for somewhere to stop. Otherwise will rely on POIs and following my nose!
 
The first time we went to France, two years ago, for three months, April to June. Out of interest I kept all the supermarket receipts, fuel, etc. we went on campsites every three weeks to do laundry and have a break from the road. We didn't eat out too much, but didn’t stint on the food we bought, and definitely drank more of the red stuff! Apart from the fuel, we hadn,t spent anymore than we would at home to our surprise. We used Aldi and LidL as well as the dearer supermarkets. I have it all written down somewhere, if I can find it will,post it here. Campsites are half the price, and entry fees to places of interest are cheaper than here too.

Next time we go we may claim asylum!
 
Our max weekly spend over 12 wks is £100 just occasionaly having a coffee an pastry out
Fuel inc but not ferry
 
Have always found we spend similar amounts to what we do in UK, saying that haven't been since the drop in exchange rate since Brexit.
Note that like the UK there are cheap areas to go and there are expensive.
 
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