On the Atlantic coast of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the aire is not the cheap option. It is the only legal one, and it charges. The coastal communes have closed off the alternatives by arrêté, the mayor’s local order, usually for the whole season. Budget for the seaboard and keep your free nights for the Périgord and the Limousin.

The coast: the aire or nothing

Capbreton restricts parking for vehicles over 1.90 meters tall, motorhomes included, across the whole commune from April 1 to November 15. The aire it has laid out sits at the plage des Océanides, with reception at the Océanides car park in summer and at camping la Civelle year-round. Checked August 9, 2026. That changes the evening question from where to find somewhere quiet into whether the aire has room.

Hendaye prices the night plainly. Its stopover and service area is in rue Ansoenia, opposite the Hendaye-Plage railway station, and takes 25 vehicles. The borne, the service terminal, debits your card in 24-hour blocks: 15 euros a day, 30 euros for two days, and two days is the maximum. On top of that, from June 1 to September 30 the commune bans parking on a list of streets for vehicles over 2 meters wide and over 3.5 tonnes. Checked August 9, 2026.

Further north it works the same way. Royan points to arrêté 24-2353, which lists the streets and places where motorhomes and caravans may neither stop nor park, and concentrates everyone on its aire in the Planet Exotica sector: 5,500 square meters, around 40 bays, two dump points, drinking water and access control on the gate. Biscarrosse regulates the parking of motorhomes, caravans and any vehicle fitted out as accommodation, and publishes arrêté AM85 of January 27, 2026 alongside its 2026 motorhome guide. Checked August 9, 2026. Read the arrêté before you choose a spot, not after.

The Bassin d’Arcachon

Andernos-les-Bains keeps a municipal aire at the oyster port, with drinking water, toilets and a dump point. The price is not published anywhere: Andernos, Arès, Le Teich and Arcachon all leave motorhome rules and rates off their own sites. Arrive with a card and coins, and go by the sign at the entrance.

The Périgord, where the arithmetic eases

Le Bugue charges a flat 7 euros per 24 hours at 480 allée de la Vézère, covering the parking, the waste water dump and the drinking water. Maximum stay 72 hours, closed from mid-November to mid-March, card only at the machine or cash at the mairie, with eco toilets on site. Checked August 9, 2026. Worth knowing: the regional SIRTAQUI dataset behind the record for this aire still shows 11 euros a night. The commune’s own page is the one that counts, so carry enough for either.

Bergerac runs the aire de Pombonne in rue du Coulobre, 22 serviced bays. The first two hours are free, then 11.86 euros per 24 hours excluding tourist tax, up to 72 hours. From the fourth day the rate jumps to 39.39 euros a day, which on its own costs more than the first three days put together. Checked August 9, 2026. Set your departure before that.

Bornes, and what happens when one dies

Hendaye lists water at 2 euros for 10 minutes, electricity at 2 euros an hour and a free dump, and in the same breath says the service area is out of order, with no water and no electricity, for an indefinite period. Checked August 9, 2026. A listed borne is not a filled tank.

Ondres runs its municipal aire at Ondres-Océan next to the beach, around 80 vehicles, with water, electricity and a waste water dump, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Checked August 9, 2026. Coming down the Landes coast, treat it as a service stop as much as a night stop. If the vocabulary is new, start with what an aire is.

Planning the summer stage

Free nights exist in this region, and they are inland. The Corrèze, the Creuse, the Haute-Vienne, the Deux-Sèvres and the Vienne hold most of the aires the SIRTAQUI dataset records as free to park, while a single one in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is recorded that way. Three paid nights on the coast and four free ones in the Limousin is a far kinder week than a beach-only run.

Two habits carry the day. Fill the water and empty the tanks whenever the chance appears rather than waiting for the evening’s aire. And arrive early in July and August: Hendaye has 25 bays, Bergerac has 22, and there is no legal fallback beside either of them.

Everywhere, the sign at the entrance and the mairie’s current word beat any website, this one included. For the whole region, open Nouvelle-Aquitaine; for the rest of the groundwork, the aires guides.

Sources

  1. Camping-cars, Ville d'Hendaye
  2. Stationnement, Ville de Capbreton
  3. Stationnement véhicule aménagé, Ville de Biscarrosse
  4. Aire de camping-cars, Ville de Royan
  5. Aire de camping-cars, Commune du Bugue
  6. Venir en camping-car, Ville de Bergerac
  7. L'aire municipale de camping-cars Ondres-Océan, Ville d'Ondres

When a source is not in English, follow the link for the official wording.