Published by Lyn on 9 April 2015
Jamie emailed from Taiwan to ask about following the 2015 Tour de France in a campervan. Here's our email exchange.
And there they go! Photo: Photigule
You can post your own cycling in France questions on our Facebook page.
Hello,
This is Jamie from Taiwan. I'm planning my Tour de France trip and I found your website. My first idea is to rent a campers to follow the Tour de France at each stage and so we can bring our road bikes, but we are just 2 people and it may too expensive for us.
Is it possible to join others campers, or to join a tour? We would like to see the mountain top finishes and can have a nice ride. If you can share some information with me, that would be appreciated.
Best regards
Jamie.
I wrote back:
Hi Jamie
It really depends how much of the Tour you want to see and how you'd prefer to see it.
1) Seeing it independently
If you want to see it all (or most of it), then you really will need your own car or campervan. You would need to shop around for the cheapest deal and definitely book ahead. July is a very busy time in France and it can be very difficult to find campervan hire. Don't forget to budget for fuel, road toll charges and campsite fees as these can add up. Weigh up the costs of a campervan against the costs of a small car + tent.
I have some suggestions here for companies to try here.
See also my car hire page.
I did post your query on a French campervan website and the general feedback was that people generally tend not to hook up with other travellers/share campervans as the space in the vans is quite limited.
It may be worth considering narrowing the Tour route down to a handful of really good stages you'd like to see, or concentrate on one area and either camp or stay in a B&B/hotel.
If you're in one place and staying with locals at a B&B, hotel or gite, you benefit from their local advice on where is best to watch, road closures etc. It's possible to plan your way right around France using my Tour de France accommodation list.
2) Tours
Organised tours are a great way to experience the Tour de France if you'd like a bit of on-the-ground support from people who know the routes best and have in place accommodation and itineraries so you can just relax and enjoy the event. It really depends how independent you want to be, plus prices and inclusions vary considerably. See our Tour de France cycling holidays page for some recommendations.
There are some other useful articles you might want to check out in my Tour de France section.
I'd highly recommend Graham Watson's Tour de France travel guide. I'm not sure how to access it via a Taiwanese website but Stanford's bookshop in London ships worldwide. (US readers reading via the blog can click here).
Please let me know if I can help further.
Cheers.
Lyn.