Cork Travel Forum

I'll be in Ireland for the merry month of May with my wife and campervan. I'm Irish but live in France and we're going to relive a tent holiday we had before we were married. Now France is very set up for campervans but are there any services besides campsites along the road. And can we stop anywhere? They sound stupid questions now that I look at them but I need to know. Your help would be most appreciated.

Cheers for now

Monseg
http://www.avendaburnellwalsh.com

I have spent a total of 6 months on various vacations in my motorhome camping "wild" in the streets, at the beach, at any free parking I did find. I simply obeyed the "No camping-signs" that existed unfortunately now and then, some of the best parkings like at Crough Patrick are blocked for higher cars by a bar, but you might as well drive on a few miles and find a lot of parkingspaces free of charge and absolutely nobody cares.
Every 10 days I went to a real campingsite in order to empty my toilet and fill up fresh water.
NO there are no services except at the campingsites, at least I did not realize.
The locals also told me that the most signs "NO overnight parking" are ment against the tinckers / gypsies and NOT the tourists !
In Glendalough you may stay at the official parking for an extra-fee of just 1 euro over night with your campervan.

I would be very careful "free camping" especially with tinkers, just for safety reasons. We were warned by family members when we over there, but you might be able to get permission to stay a night here or there in a pub carpark if you ask. Our brother in law did this, we decided to take the easy way out and pay for our sites. Most of the sites we stayed at were very good, safe and clean and not that expensive either.

Of course I always stayed far away from the tinckers !!
the biggest problem with the campsites is that you have to arrive in the afternoon and are not able to pay before noon the next day, especially on a sunday. I once even left without paying, after having been sent to various private adresses in the village, where I should pay for the camping, because I arrived late at night.
Once I woke up in the morning on the mainsquare of Bantry, where I had parked my car at night and found myself in the centre of the weekly market the next morning. AND even in this case nobody knocked at my window to tell me to get lost...

There are no services apart from the campsites and by French terms,you will probably find these a bit basic. As the previous posters mention, parking in lay-bys, car parks and open spaces in general can be quite contentious because ther is an ongoing problem with travellers setting up camp in such places and being very difficult to shift.

Of course you could be lucky or unluucky and 'chance your arm' as we say inIreland but using the campsites would probably be easier. Enjoy !