Just thought

Whilst it may be cheaper to hire in France have you driven a left hand drive vehicle before ??? or have you driven a RHD car on the other side of the road

and Camper vans ( in France called Camping Cars to) get so much more than us tuggers as there are loads of facilities in almost every town to stay for Free

Sorry I can't help with companies as we have our own Touring Caravan so don't need to look at hire firms

I think it depends where you want to go in France and how you will get there initially that will determine where you hire your van from.

I think your best bet is to look at the French yellow pages

http://www.pagesjaunes.fr and in the top window, write LOCATION DE CAMPING CARS and then below enter the town or the department number which is relevant to where you start your holiday. I typed in Calais hypothetically and got the following information about 2 companies:

***************************************************************************
1.
Budget Locanor (SAS) Concessionnaire
Coordonnées principales

*

Terminal Car Ferry 62100 CALAIS
o .03 55 33 14 34

Informations

* Budget Locanor (SAS) Concessionnaire
*

Location sur simple appel
Tourisme, utilitaires, voitures sans permis
Location camping cars. Livraison société

* Activité :
o location de camping-cars


Liens de fonctions

* Appeler gratuitement
* Envoyer vers mobilemail

**********************************************************************
2 Calais Caravanes
Coordonnées principales

*

1265 av Roger Salengro 62100 CALAIS
o .03 21 96 77 86
o fax : .03 21 96 94 46
o Plan
o Itinéraire
o Vue aérienne
o A proximité

Informations

* Activité :
o location de camping-cars

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However, might I just add a couple of pointers.

1. ACT NOW - the schools finish early next week - Tuesday - and many camper vans will already have been booked. Camping car hire is less popular in France than in Germany where it is well established and some companies are small and individually owned and have very few vehicles in their camper fleet.

2. MAKE SURE THAT YOU WILL HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH HIRING ON YOUR AUSSIE LICENCE. I'm sorry if you've already checked this, but it would be horrible to turn up and be refused. You might like to consider getting a one-year International Driving License, which you can get from the AA and the RAC to back it up.

3. YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED TO PAY A HEAVY CREDIT CARD DEPOSIT - just as the French do!

4. CHECK THAT YOU CAN TAKE IT OUT OF THE COUNTRY ie to Germany, Switzerland, Italy or Spain for starters!

5. YOU WILL HAVE TO BOOK AHEAD as it is illegal to wild camp or park on a residential street overnight, and you will need to make sure that you can get hooked up .. again the French have a long way to go compared to other European countries in having power ready campsites.

6. BON VOYAGE and drive safely!! Note that the speed restrictions can be lower for camping cars and tolls higher on motorways! As France becomes insanely busy on the roads, you might like to visit the website for BISON FUTE (crafty bison) for alternative routes in heavy traffic and what special amenities are available on motorway service stations during the peak summer period.

Sorry to BUMP, but what happened in the end to our visitors from down under? What did they decide to do?

Same as you not heard anything
Hope they come back and let us know

Just wish I was still in 17130 by the lakes instead of cold wet England

It shows on Google Earth (lat 45.29990 long-0.43577) where we go but the picture is a little old as the top lake is still bright clay coloured