Information about the availability of camping in Provence, Côte d'Azur, Southern France

Officially, there is no French department or administative region called Provence. The word P.A.C.A. emerges as a leading contender for what could be considered Provence. P.A.C.A. stands for the administrative region of "Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur," and consists of six departments: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Bouche-du-Rhône, and Vaucluse. This is a vast region of snow-topped mountains and bustling sea resorts, of cork oak and palm trees, the simplicity of life, the complexity of the terrain, but for the visitor it all boils down to being Provence, famous for many things, camping holidays being one of them.

Where the border of Languedoc finishes the border of Provence begins - at least that is so in terms of going from west to east, and Provence carries on to the border with Italy. The department also has a shared coastline with Languedoc which begins just a tad west of Marseille and going east past Toulon, Hyeres, St Tropez, St Raphael and Frejus, Cannes and Nice. This is the famous Côte d'Azur and I (the editor) can remember the days when places like Agay and St Raphael were dusty little villages with a couple of camping sites and the odd restaurant! Look at them now! We have linked to a map of the area so that you can get your bearings.

Getting to Provence from the UK is easy enough, but a longish journey nevertheless. Calais has to be the ferry port of choice for this trip, and at the start you follow the trail of first and second war battlefields and graveyards as you glide down the Autoroute. St Omer, where the famous beer/lager is brewed, Bethune, Douai, Cambrai, St Quentin and Reims, famous worldwide for being at the heart of Champagne.

We are not doing the whole trip on this page but we need to stress to self drive holidaymakers en route to Provence that they have a long and tiring road ahead of them. This is not a journey to be done by one driver without a night's rest! For example: The distance between Calais and Nice is 1219 km or near enough 762 miles - and that is without the milage from your home in the UK to the ferry port, for example again I (the editor) live in the Midlands and it is 245 miles to Dover. Add to that the distance from Calais to Nice and you have a total of 907 miles. What you do is your affair but it is our duty to provide you with the facts.