Take to the road with Camping Road Trips France and Germany and explore a selection of stunning handpicked trips.
The selected trips are suitable for campervanners, motorcaravanners, long-distance cyclists. basically anyone on a set of wheels, especially those who like to go camping, wild or otherwise (although details of finding alternative accommodation are also included).These self-guided tours will provide the inspiration to set out and explore the less obvious regions of France and Germany. There are routes of all distances, from day/weekend trips of no more than 30 or 40 miles to routes of 1,000 miles and more for those enjoying a longer holiday.
Here the author Caroline Mills recommends the best road trips for food lovers in France:
Honfleur–Bonnebosq, Calvados/Pays d’Auge, France (90km/2 days)
The sun that flickers through rows of gnarled apple trees bursting with birdsong casts long shadows from tree to tree. Glossy berries ripen across thorny brambles alongside hushed country lanes and wispy old man’s beard scrambles over hedge tops and into ancient oak trees, creating a squirrel’s climbing frame. Though each rosy apple won’t be pressed for at least another fortnight, there’s a scent of cider in the air.
This is cider country or, as the name of the départment foretells, the countryside of Calvados: apple brandy. The focus of this journey is the Route du Cidre, a 40km loop exploring some of the most exquisitely rustic countryside and stopping at villages and farms that produce the best quality cider the region can offer. It’s easy to follow; converging on the villages of Cambremer, Bonnebosq and Beuvron-en-Auge – used as entry and exit points – a series of apples signpost you, anticlockwise, round the circuit. What makes the route so pleasant is that all the farms, the producers and their products are each very different; it’s not difficult to become transfixed with nomadically walking, cycling or slowly touring from farm to farm, collecting booty on the way. This golden nectar is pure; there’s no comparison to the chemical-tasting commercial brands sold on supermarket shelves.
Bouzy–Chamery, Champagne, France (543km/4 days)
This route starts in the village of Bouzy (pronounced ‘boozy’) – the perfect setting for a journey in the heart of Champagne country. A Grand Cru village – the highest accreditation afforded in the Champagne region – it produces a red wine favoured by kings, a wine so scarce that it’s rarely available to purchase outside the village and its environs. You can also find G H Mumm champagne in the village, Moët & Chandon and Vranken too. Laurent-Perrier is in neighbouring Tours-sur-Marne, while Bollinger (James Bond’s favourite) is based a matter of miles away in the village of Ay.
For hundreds of kilometres, our route winds through French villages renowned for their fizz: Avize with the vendangeoir of Veuve Cliquot; Épernay, home to one of the finest addresses in the world, the grand Avenue de Champagne; not to mention Hautvillers, birthplace of Dom Pérignon. It also explores impossibly pretty Les Riceys, unique in France as the only village in the country to hold three AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) classifications, granted to identify specific origins and, in theory, the quality of the wine. Plenty of places to enjoy just the occasional glass of bubbly.
Toul–Rodern, Alsace, France (507km/4 days)
You will start this route with a slow meander along one of France’s most enticing rivers, the Moselle, and a gastronomic jamboree of biblical proportions in Alsace. The river is perhaps best known for its passage through Germany, including a stretch along the idyllic Weinstrasse (wine route). Alternatively, this route will take you upriver, to the lesser-visited French valley region, to quaint villageseach flanked by orchards, growing the greatest variety of grapes in the country.
Small and verdant mountain-foot hummocks sprout from the river valley, characterised by picturesque villages. In each, you’ll find carts filled with Mirabelle plums from the valley’s orchards, or the larger Quetsches, unique to the region. Lending from their German neighbours, Alsatian specialties also include a brioche-like cake with raisins, the Kougelhopf. Punctuating your wine tasting, the cake soaks up the region’s sweet Rieslings, Gewurtztraminers, and Muscats. Look out for Grand Cru status, which is considered the best.
Apt–Aigues-Mortes, Provence, France (258km/4 days)
Starting at the summit of Las Alpilles, you will head out on a road lined by silvery green olive trees, baked in parched soil. The scents of this route are beguiling; rosemary, thyme, lavender, marjoram, pine, all mingling together in a heady concoction that explodes among the senses. You’ll stop off at the sight of riotous coloured cloths in customary Provençal patterns, covering the tables of open-air cafés in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, each groaning with a plentiful supply of mouthwatering platters.
The scenery is characterised by its produce along this route through this southern route, under the gaze of Mt Blanc. Grenoble’s famous walnut trees slip out of sight, replaced by almond trees and vineyards and patches of purple lavender, leading into well-known Côtesdu-Rhône wine villages. Stopping off at Provençal markets, expect to find olives, oils, charcuterie, fish, bread, meats, cheeses, wine, herbs, delicious lavender honey, and freshly plucked strawberries. Endless options to enjoy in a picnic, under the blossoming cherry trees or amid the sloping lavender fields that you’ll find along this route between the castles and characterful villages of the Rhône delta.
Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne–Brantôme, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France (161km/6 days)
When bells from the Église Abbatiale peal, resonating through the hills and sending ripples along the River Dordogne, they are not always calling a congregation to church. Every second Sunday in May, they ring in homage to the nation’s favourite summer fruit – the strawberry – in particular, the Gariguette. The small town of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne is home to La Fête de la Fraise, a festival celebrating the local produce. Despite a population of just 1,300 inhabitants, the town produces 1% of the country’s Gariguettes, equating to 400 tonnes of strawberries.
All along this route of medieval towns and fairytale castles, tucked away in verdant forests, you can find a daily dose of the region’s speciality. You’ll explore red seas of market lanes, lined with the glossiest, most perfectly red strawberries ever likely to be seen. No bruised or mouldy specimens that have travelled across Europe in a refrigerated container, no hard bullets, no white tips; these juicy fruits were plucked hours before. Pâtisseries sell strawberry tarts and pink meringues, syrups and jams packed with fruit, and market stalls offer other local specialities like vin paillé (straw wine).
Camping Road Trips France & Germany: 30 Adventures with Your Campervan, Motorhome or Tent by Caroline Mills is available to buy now.