Last verified: October 4, 2026. Every campsite price in my table for camping in France was read on the campsite’s or the town hall’s own 2026 tariff sheet on October 4, 2026. Rules were read on French government pages the same day. Tariffs change each season, so I re-read the sheets before each update and change the date above.
Camping in France is not the fringe choice. In summer, it’s the main one. From May to August 2026, French campsites sold 126.5 million nights, against 92.0 million in hotels (INSEE, Saison touristique d’été 2026, September 2026).
Yet most English guides explain it with old statistics, no prices, and a shrug about wild camping. So I read the 2026 tariff sheets of 12 campsites and the state’s own rule pages. Here are the five things to get right: the type of site, the stars, the price, the rules and the timing. This is the camping chapter of my guide to where to stay in France.
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Key Takeaways
- Campsites outsell hotels in summer: 126.5 million nights against 92.0 million, May to August 2026 (INSEE).
- A high-season pitch for two cost €17 to €25 at six sites run by or for a town, and €35 to €47 at three private ones (2026 tariff sheets).
- Wild camping needs the landowner’s agreement, and mayors can ban it.
Table of Contents
Why Is Camping in France Such a Big Deal?
Because it’s the country’s biggest summer lodging type. In 2026, campsites took 126.5 million of the 260.5 million summer nights sold in hotels, campsites and other collective lodging. That’s up 1.1% on 2025, and the overall total was the highest in 15 years, on INSEE’s September 2026 count.
The stock is huge. On January 1, 2026, INSEE counted 7,370 campsites with 848,302 pitches (INSEE, tourist accommodation capacity, February 2026). France holds 29.3% of Europe’s campsites (DGE, campsites and leisure parks, updated August 2026).
Who’s on the next pitch? Mostly the French. Residents spent 89.1 million of those summer nights, about 70%. The Dutch came next with 11.8 million, then Germans (9.7 million), Belgians (4.8 million) and the British (4.4 million). INSEE notes that foreign campers are “almost exclusively European”. So if you fly in from North America, you’ll be a rarity. I think that’s part of the appeal.
And where do they go? The coast first. Campsites sold 69.7 million coastal nights in summer 2026, about two thirds of every night spent in coastal lodging. The mountains took 22.8 million and the rest of the country 34.0 million.
One more number explains the feel of it. In 2026, the campsite federation’s economic study found that 77% of French campsites are rural. And 52% sit in communes of under 2,000 people (FNHPA, 2026 press kit, Asterès study, April 2026). Camping here mostly means a village, a river and a bakery.
What Types of Campsite Are There in France?
Four kinds, plus one for motorhomes. In 2026, French law separates the equipped campsite, which usually carries stars, the unstarred aire naturelle and the small declared site, often a farm. A declared site takes six pitches or 20 people at most (DGE, declared campsites, updated April 2026). Municipal sites are a fourth kind in practice.
| Type | Who runs it | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipped campsite, usually 1 to 5 stars | A private owner, a chain or a town | Bare pitches plus mobile homes and lodges, often a pool at the top end | A week in one place, families |
| Municipal campsite | The town, or an operator on its behalf | An equipped site, starred or not. Mostly bare pitches and a shower block, near the centre | Road trips, a night or two |
| Aire naturelle | A farmer or small owner | Tents, caravans and motorhomes only. No mobile homes. Open six months a year at most | Space and quiet |
| Declared site (camping à la ferme) | A farmer or private owner | Six pitches or 20 people at most, drinking water and basic sanitation | The simplest stop |
| Aire de camping-car | The town or a network | Parking, water and waste points for motorhomes. No tents | Motorhomes in transit |
Sources: DGE pages on equipped and declared campsites, read October 4, 2026. An aire naturelle carries no stars, and its pitches can’t be plumbed one by one.
Look for one word on the sign, too. A site marked “Tourisme” lets more than half its pitches by the night, week or month to passing guests. One marked “Loisirs” lets more than half for longer than a month (DGCCRF, four tips before you book a campsite, July 2026). As a traveller, you want “Tourisme”.
So which should you pick? For a touring trip, I’d string together municipal sites and the odd aire naturelle. For a week with children, I’d book one starred site and stay put.
What Do Campsite Stars Mean in France?
They grade equipment, on a scale of one to five. As of 2026, Atout France awards the stars for five years after an inspection against more than 200 criteria: equipment, services, accessibility and sustainability. The DGE’s campsite page sets this out, and says the scheme is voluntary.
What changes as you climb? The official inspection guide gives a few clear lines (Atout France, Guide de contrôle, campings et PRL, 2026):
- Space. The minimum average area per pitch is 80 m² at 1 and 2 stars, 89 m² at 3 stars, 100 m² at 4 and 114 m² at 5.
- Wi-Fi. Coverage across the pitches is required from 2 stars, unless the site sells itself as Wi-Fi free.
- Language. A website in one foreign language is required from 2 stars, and in two at 5 stars.
- Adaptors. From 3 stars, reception must keep electrical adaptors to lend. Bring your own anyway, as my France packing list suggests.
A 2-star by a river can be a better night than a 5-star by a main road. But most campers do head for the top. From July to September 2025, 4 and 5-star sites took 65.7 million of 107.0 million campsite nights, or 61%. Those are INSEE figures, printed in the FNHPA’s 2026 press kit. The supply leans the same way: 45% of all pitches are in 4 and 5-star sites, on INSEE’s January 2026 count.
The star also sets your tourist tax. In the 2026 national grid, a 1 or 2-star campsite charges €0.20 per person per night. A 3 to 5-star one charges €0.20 to €0.60 (Service-Public, taxe de séjour, January 2026). Local surcharges can push the printed figure a little higher, to 66 cents in my sample. The full table is in my France tourist tax guide.
How Much Does a Campsite Cost in France?
It depends on who runs the site. On the 2026 tariff sheets I read on October 4, a high-season pitch for two cost €17 to €25 a night at six town sites. At three private ones it cost €35 to €47. Electricity added €4 to €9 depending on the amperage, and tourist tax 20 to 66 cents a person. By “town site” I mean one run by or for the town.
| Campsite | Stars | High-season pitch for two | With electricity | Low season | 2026 season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cénac municipal, Dordogne | n/a | €17.00 | €21.50 | €17.00 | May 30 to Sep 12 |
| Amboise municipal, Loire | 2★ | €17.20 | €23.00 | €14.80 | Mar 23 to Nov 1 |
| Aixe-sur-Vienne municipal, Limousin | n/a | €19.00 | €23.40 | n/a | May to September |
| Saint-Malo, Cité d’Aleth (the city’s site) | n/a | €21.00 | €26.00 | €21.00 | Mar 27 to Sep 28, then Oct 16 to Nov 2 |
| Bayeux municipal, Normandy | 3★ | €22.30 | €27.60 | €18.60 | Apr 4 to Nov 1 |
| Annecy municipal | n/a | €25.10 | €32.90 | €18.00 | n/a |
| Ribeauvillé municipal, Alsace | 4★ | Sold with power only | €23.00 | €21.00 | Mar 16 to Nov 8, then Advent |
| Quiberon municipal, Brittany | 2★ | Sold with power only | €33.00 | €17.00 | All year |
| Riquewihr, Alsace | 4★ | Sold with power only | €26.60 | €25.00 | Apr 1 to Nov 1, then Advent |
| Chamonix, Mer de Glace (private) | n/a | €34.60 | €38.60 | €28.00 | May 6 to Sep 20 |
| La Briquerie, near Honfleur (private) | 5★ | €36.00 | €43.00 | €20.00 | Apr 4 to Sep 30 |
| Château de Martragny, near Bayeux (private) | 4★ | €46.50 | €53.60 | €34.80 | May 28 to Aug 28 |
One night, two adults, one pitch, from each site’s own 2026 tariff sheet, read October 4, 2026. “n/a” means the sheet didn’t print it. Low season is with power at the three sites that only sell it that way. Five prices are my sums of the printed pitch and per-person lines. Annecy’s comes from the city’s tariff guide in force from September 21, 2026. La Briquerie does not accept a tent on its own on a pitch. Twelve sites are a sample, not an average for France.
How to Read a French Tariff Sheet
A pitch is sold in parts. Amboise’s sheet lists the pitch at €5.15, each adult at €4.45 and the car at €3.15. That makes €17.20 for two, plus €5.80 for a 10-amp hook-up. Other sites sell a forfait, one price for the pitch and two people.
The clearest gap is around one town. Bayeux’s 3-star municipal site charges €22.30 for two in high season. The 4-star château site at nearby Martragny charges €46.50. Same beaches, twice the price. For a room in a château and not a pitch beside one, see my guide to château hotels in France.
One thing surprised me. Most of the 4 and 5-star sites I looked up printed no price list online at all, only a booking engine. For those, you have to search by date. On site it’s different: prices must be posted at the entrance and at reception, the DGCCRF says.
For scale, a 2026 survey of about 2,300 European campsites put the average French high-season pitch at €46 a night. That’s for two adults and a child with a caravan or motorhome. Europe averaged €49, Italy €63 and Croatia €73 (PiNCAMP, 2026 price analysis, March 2026). That survey leans towards bigger sites in popular areas.
How does that sit against a room? The cheapest chain in my budget hotels comparison cost a median €42.50 for two. A town pitch is about half that, and a private pitch with power costs about the same or more.
The pitch isn’t the whole bill, either. In 2026, the federation’s study put campers’ spending outside the campsite at about €52 a day each, mostly on transport, eating out and food. To fit it into a whole trip, see my France trip cost breakdown.
Are Municipal Campsites Worth It?
Yes, for a night or two on the road. A camping municipal belongs to the town and usually sits close to the centre. In my October 2026 sample, six town sites charged a median €20 for a high-season pitch for two. That’s about half the price of the private sites.
They’re getting rarer, though. In 2026, the federation counted 1,448 municipal campsites, down from 3,483 in 1990 (FNHPA figures reported by Planet.fr, August 2026). Many towns now hand theirs to an operator. So “municipal” on the sign doesn’t always mean the town hall answers the phone.
Don’t assume they’re all basic, either. Amboise’s is a 2-star, Bayeux’s a 3-star whose tariff sheet includes entry to the swimming pool, and Ribeauvillé’s a 4-star. What you usually give up is the water park and the restaurant. What you gain is location. Some keep one price all season, too: Cénac charges €17 for two and Saint-Malo’s Cité d’Aleth €21.
When I read the 12 sheets side by side, the municipal ones were also the easiest to price. Each put a full tariff grid online, as a PDF or a page on the town’s or the campsite’s own website. To find one, search “camping municipal” plus the town’s name.
They also line up neatly with a touring route. Bayeux’s site works for the D-Day beaches, Amboise’s for the Loire Valley châteaux, and Cénac’s for the river villages in my Dordogne travel guide. Ribeauvillé’s sits on the Alsace Wine Route. For the driving between them, see how to get around France.
Is Wild Camping in France Legal?
Not as a right. As of 2026, camping outside a campsite is allowed only with the landowner’s agreement and where no ban applies. It’s banned within 200 metres of a drinking-water source, among other places. The mayor can also forbid it across a zone. A notice goes up at the town hall, with signs at the usual access points, as the DGCCRF’s July 2026 guidance explains.
Some places are off limits everywhere. The planning code bans camping on the seashore, in listed and classified natural sites, in protected heritage areas and around historic monuments. The 200-metre water rule sits in the same article. The DGE’s page on declared campsites sets out that list, with the narrow exemptions an authority can grant.
So is it “a grey area”, as some guides say? Not really. The rule is clear: ask the owner, and check for a local ban. What’s grey is finding the owner of a field at seven in the evening.
Hikers have a better option, the bivouac. In the heart of the Écrins National Park, camping is banned. But a bivouac is allowed from 7pm to 9am, more than an hour’s walk from road access and the park limits (Parc national des Écrins, regulations). Each park sets its own version, so read the park’s page before you go. For day walks that need no tent at all, see my Chamonix hiking guide.
Motorhomes follow the same logic. A declared farm site can take them, and many towns provide an aire for the night. Where camping is banned, the ban covers a van as much as a tent.
When Should You Go, and Do You Need to Book?
My advice: go in June or September if you can, and book the coast early for mid-July to mid-August. In 2025, July to September alone carried 107.0 million campsite nights, on INSEE figures in the FNHPA’s 2026 press kit. Most sites shut for winter, as my best time to visit France guide shows.
The season is shorter than you’d think at small sites. In my sample, Amboise and Bayeux ran from late March or early April to November 1. Cénac opened only from May 30 to September 12, and Martragny from May 28 to August 28. Quiberon’s municipal site stays open all year.
Low season can halve the price, and not only at private sites. La Briquerie fell from €36 to €20 for two, and Quiberon’s municipal site from €33 to €17 with power. Bayeux moved only from €22.30 to €18.60, and Cénac and Saint-Malo not at all.
But check which weeks count as low. La Briquerie’s €20 runs in April and the second half of September. Quiberon’s €17 runs only from October 5 to November 1. Martragny’s low rate of €34.80 ends on July 3. Amboise calls May 1 to October 2 high season. Read the dates on the sheet.
Booking has its own small print. Bayeux adds a €15 fee to a reservation. Quiberon’s municipal site asks for a two-night minimum from July 9 to August 23. Outside the peak weeks, a one-night stop at a town site is the easy case.
The tent isn’t dying out. In summer 2025, nights on bare pitches rose 4.8% to 52.7 million, on INSEE’s first estimate for that summer. Nights in mobile homes and other equipped pitches grew more slowly.
The map is shifting north as well. From 2017 to 2025, April-to-September campsite nights rose 67% in Hauts-de-France and 61% in Normandy, against 10% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Those are INSEE figures from the FNHPA press kit, which adds that the four big southern regions still hold 62% of nights. That makes a Normandy itinerary or my Brittany travel guide a sound plan for July.
Fire now shows up in the count. In summer 2026, campsite nights on the South Atlantic coast fell from 17.6 million to 17.1 million. INSEE links that coast’s dip across all lodging to July’s fires in Gironde, and notes that June was already down. The FNHPA says about 2,000 campsites sit in flood, fire or erosion risk zones. In the south-west in August, check the prefecture’s fire alerts before you travel.
One Alsace surprise to finish. Ribeauvillé’s municipal site reopens from November 27 to December 21. The Riquewihr campsite reopens from November 27 to January 2, at €27.50 for two with power. Ribeauvillé’s sheet says its winter pitches come with compulsory electricity and no access to the shower block, so they suit motorhomes. They exist for the Alsace Christmas markets.
Glamping, Mobile Homes or Your Own Tent?
Most “camping” in France isn’t under canvas you carried. In summer 2025, equipped pitches took 72.2 million nights against 52.7 million on bare pitches. That’s INSEE’s first estimate, printed in the FNHPA’s 2026 press kit. Equipped means mobile homes, lodges and furnished tents.
If you’re flying in with no gear, that’s your way in. A mobile home with a kitchen is the campsite’s answer to a gîte, and my gîte vs hotel comparison covers that trade. French law has two names for these: the résidence mobile de loisirs, a mobile home, and the habitation légère de loisirs, a chalet or lodge. Neither is allowed on an aire naturelle or a declared farm site.
What should you check before you pay? The DGCCRF says the operator must tell you the type of unit, its floor area and how many people it sleeps. You’re also owed the all-in price for your dates and every extra, such as power, linen or a car supplement.
I haven’t priced glamping across France, so I won’t give you a range. Three rental prices from my sample show the spread. Annecy’s municipal chalets cost €772.50 a week from July 4 to August 21. A two-berth pod at Saint-Malo’s Cité d’Aleth was €60 a night in July and August, with a two-night minimum. Amboise rents a ready-pitched two-person tent from €37 a night in high season.
No car? Look for the Accueil Vélo label. In 2026, 1,101 French campsites carried it, on France Vélo Tourisme’s count in the FNHPA press kit. It means a covered bike shelter, a repair kit and a cycle route nearby. My guide to cycling the Loire Valley shows how that works on the ground.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is wild camping legal in France?
Only with the landowner’s agreement, and where no ban applies. Mayors can forbid it by zone. It’s banned on the seashore, in protected sites and within 200 metres of a drinking-water source. In the heart of the Écrins National Park, a bivouac is allowed from 7pm to 9am, over an hour’s walk from a road.
How much does a campsite cost in France per night?
On the 2026 tariff sheets I read, a high-season pitch for two cost €17 to €25 at six town sites. At three private ones it cost €35 to €47. Electricity added €4 to €9 a night, and tourist tax 20 to 66 cents a person.
What do campsite stars mean in France?
Campsites are graded from 1 to 5 stars by Atout France for five years, on more than 200 criteria covering equipment, services, accessibility and sustainability. The minimum average pitch area rises from 80 m² at 1 star to 114 m² at 5 stars. Stars are voluntary.
When do campsites in France open?
In my 12-site sample, most opened between mid-March and late May and closed between late August and early November. The shortest season ran from May 28 to August 28. One site stays open all year, and two in Alsace reopen for the Christmas markets.
Do you need to book campsites in France?
For the coast from mid-July to mid-August, yes, and early. Campsites sold 126.5 million nights from May to August 2026, and about two thirds of all coastal nights were in campsites. In June and September, in my view, you can usually just turn up.
The Bottom Line
- 1. Type: a municipal site for a night or two, a starred site for a week, an aire naturelle for quiet.
- 2. Stars: they grade equipment and space, from 80 m² a pitch on average up to 114 m². They don’t grade the view.
- 3. Price: about €20 for two in high season at the six town sites I priced, and €35 to €47 at the private ones. Power adds €4 to €9.
- 4. Rules: wild camping needs the owner’s agreement. In the national parks, look up the bivouac hours.
- 5. Timing: low season cut the price by up to half at the sites that vary it. In July, look north.
Camping in France is one answer among several. If you’d rather have walls, start with my gîte vs hotel comparison. For the whole trip budget, read my France trip cost breakdown. To pick your base first, go back to my guide to where to stay in France.
