In Pays de la Loire the free night is inland, not on the water. On the Atlantic coast the night runs from 6 to 13.50 euros depending on the commune and the season, and increasingly it can only be paid by card or through a phone app. Budget for the coast, and keep the free nights for the inland Vendée and Anjou.

The coast: paid, and no coins

Le Croisic runs three aires, the stopovers a French commune lays out for motorhomes: la Vigie on avenue de la Pierre Longue with 9 places, Lingorzé on chemin du Lingorzé with 9, and the Coopérative maritime car park on rue de Kerdavid with 8. The night, counted from 8pm to 9am, costs 13.50 euros. Water is billed separately at 10 euros for 10 minutes and 150 liters, and none of the three has electricity. Parking is capped at 48 hours. The part that catches people out: payment is by bank card only, through the ISIPAY system and the ALTEKIP app. Checked August 12, 2026. A pocketful of coins buys you nothing here.

La Tranche-sur-Mer prices by season on its aire at the Stade de l’Atlantique, 80 bays behind a barrier. It is 9 euros a day from June 15 to September 15, and 6 euros a day from April 1 to June 14 and from September 16 to 30, tourist tax included. Stays are capped at 15 days, the ticket has to stay visible on the windshield, and the service point is paid through the Quipéo app. Checked August 12, 2026. Outside those windows the commune publishes no rate, so open its page before you count on a night there in winter.

Inland, the parking is free and the water is not

Behind the coast the constraint moves. It stops being the price and becomes the mairie’s opening hours.

Chantonnay, in the inland Vendée, publishes three free aires open seven days a week: Clemenceau and Arc en Ciel with 6 places each, plus the Leclerc car park. The token is what unlocks the services, and it is worth 100 liters of water and 1 hour of electricity. It is free, and you collect it from the service Événementiel on place de la Liberté, Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 5.30pm. Checked August 12, 2026. In practice that means arriving on a weekday before 5.30pm if you want water.

Moutiers-sur-le-Lay is the simple version: 7 places, free, open all year, with drinking water, a dump point and toilets, and no electricity. Checked August 12, 2026.

Anjou and the château run

Saumur puts its aire at Dampierre-sur-Loire, behind the town hall on the route nationale 947. The night is 6.60 euros plus 0.20 euros per person in tourist tax, and the part that matters more for a route: the dump point and the drinking water only run from April to the end of September. Checked August 12, 2026. For a château loop in October, treat it as a parking space rather than a service point.

Montreuil-Bellay opens its aire year-round, no booking. Water is paid, by token, sold at the mairie and at the listed outlets, there is a waste water dump, and there are no electrical hookups. The commune says itself that the water supply can be shut off in winter depending on the weather. Checked August 12, 2026.

Saint-Georges-sur-Loire, between Angers and Nantes, is the most generous of the set: 15 places, free parking for 72 hours, free water and free waste disposal, with the water available only outside freezing periods. Checked August 12, 2026.

Nearer Angers, Montreuil-Juigné has 8 bays by the Juigné port, a 72-hour maximum, water paid by token and a token-operated ecological station for the dump. The aire is not accessible when the river is in flood, which on the Maine happens. Checked August 12, 2026.

What a week here looks like

Two or three paid nights on the coast, then a retreat inland. Saumur, Montreuil-Bellay and Saint-Georges-sur-Loire make a château axis of roughly 100 kilometers, and two of those three do not charge for the parking. Le Croisic or La Tranche-sur-Mer take the sea nights.

Three habits do most of the work. Carry a card and a charged phone, because two coastal communes here take nothing else. Go to the mairie on a weekday when the water is on a token. And fill up whenever the chance appears, because several bornes in this region shut down for winter. If the vocabulary is new, start with what an aire is.

Everywhere, the sign at the entrance and the mairie’s word today beat any website, this one included. For the region as a whole, open Pays de la Loire; for the camping-versus-parking distinction that sits underneath all of this, the France bivouac rules.

Sources

  1. Stationnement, Ville du Croisic
  2. Aires de campings-cars, Commune de La Tranche-sur-Mer
  3. Campings et aire de camping-car, Ville de Saumur
  4. Aire de camping-car, Ville de Montreuil-Bellay
  5. Aire de camping-car, Commune de Saint-Georges-sur-Loire
  6. Aires de services pour les camping-cars, Ville de Chantonnay
  7. Aire de camping-car, Commune de Moutiers-sur-le-Lay
  8. Aire de camping-cars, Ville de Montreuil-Juigné

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