What does it cost to motorhome in France?

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One of the most common reasons people don’t travel is the high costs. The cost to motorhome in France is often comparable to staying in hotels or even Airbnbs, with the added bonus that you can get away from the touristy spots and head into small villages and national parks.

I went through all of our credit card statements to put together a rough estimate of how much our one-month road trip across France cost. The answer: expensive. And worth it!

We are a family of four, with a one-year-old and a three-year-old. All of the prices include meals and food for four, plus additional costs that we incurred traveling with a baby. (Like diapers, wipes, and baby food!)

Disclaimer: During my last visit to France, the US dollar was stronger than the Euro, making the country more affordable than usual. Conversion rates change frequently, so your costs will vary based on your currency at the time of your visit. Every dollar amount here is based on the USD charged to my credit card. I specifically use a card with no foreign transaction fees—an absolute must before traveling.

Disclaimer #2: During our road trip around France, we also crossed into Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain. France borders eight European countries, making hopping over the border in your RV a breeze. When I say these were my costs for RVing in France, it also includes buying meals in Monaco, groceries in Italy, and tolls for crossing borders. I found it impossible to parse these specific expenses out of our records without making our month-long trip numbers seem inaccurate. So this includes RVing across six countries!

RV Rental

Our Anywhere Campers rental cost about $5,000 for one month, which breaks down to $165/night. This is a little more than other motorhome rental options; however, you get a little more with this particular rental company. This type of motorhome that sleeps four is perfect for families like ours, but you can find smaller vehicle rentals for couples or solo travelers.

Cost: $5000

You can watch our Anywhere Campers van tour here for more details on the motorhome itself!

Toll Roads

You will need a line in your budget just for toll roads because, holy moly, they are expensive. And ubiquitous. The equivalent to an interstate or highway in the US will be a toll road in France. On our most expensive day, we paid over $60 in tolls. This involved taking the tunnel through the French Alps and into Italy to escape an early-season snowstorm.

We used the “Avoid Toll Roads” feature on Google Maps to save on tolls. On days when we needed to cover a few hundred miles, we hopped on the toll road to save time and have access to aires.

Total spent in a month: $225

Campgrounds

Before I share our total cost spent on campgrounds, I want to note the number of nights we spent camping in France and our average nightly spend. During our one-month road trip, we spent 10 nights in French campgrounds. On other nights, we camped for free with our France Passion membership.

Campgrounds charge per person, so these fees are based on two adults and two small children. In most cases, we weren’t charged anything for our kids since they were aged three and under during our visit.

We spent, on average, $32 per night. So, specifically in France, we paid around $350 for camping fees. It’s worth noting that sometimes those camping fees included paying for laundry (around $10 a load 😬 ) and a few extra dollars when we ordered freshly baked croissants in the morning! That might be the biggest perk of French campgrounds.

The amount you spend on campgrounds depends primarily on how often you intend to stay in campgrounds. You can easily find alternative camping options to save money. 

Campground fees: $350

Read Next: 5 Camping Options in France (Free & Paid!)

Groceries

By far, groceries were our biggest expense. We cooked more often than we ate out so we could camp in more remote places.

When we travel abroad, my grocery store mindset is that if I want to try it, I buy it. This included buying a lot of macarons and gourmet chocolates from Le Clerc. (No regrets. They were always delicious and half the price of visiting a pâtisserie!)

Here, our grocery bill includes food and toiletries for our family of four, as well as wine, cooking utensils for the RV, and occasionally small toys for the kids. Most notably, this includes buying baby food, diapers, and wipes, which tend to be expensive and skew our numbers a bit.

Total spent: $900

Fuels

This includes diesel fuel for our motorhome and propane (GPL or LPG), as we filled up with both at gas stations.

As I mentioned earlier, we did travel across borders and fill up with gas in other countries. Specifically, our most expensive fill-up was outside of Barcelona, where we returned our one-way motorhome rental. Gas was a bit more expensive in Spain compared to France, but it is a good representation of a month-long road trip. We covered more than 2,500 km or over 1,600 miles. I was shocked that this number was so low!

Cost: $600

Restaurants

We didn’t eat out often—probably every couple of days. But our meals were always extremely affordable compared to eating out in America. Monaco, Andorra, Switzerland, and Spain were all significantly more expensive than France and Italy. We frequently found multi-course meals in France for around $15 USD per person. A trip to the bakery for coffees and pastries for the family cost about $10 each morning.

Naturally, our most expensive French meals were in Paris before we picked up our motorhome. But I was still pleasantly surprised at the affordability of restaurants as a whole. My personal favorite meal was roasted duck salad with champagne dressing, cassoulet, a traditional Toulousian dish of pork and white beans, and ice cream. $16 for all three courses and something I still think about and crave!

Cost: $400

(This total cost includes a meal of $100 in Geneva, Switzerland! Cheese is very expensive there.)

Champagne

Oh yes, this did need its own line item!

Even if you don’t tour the Champagne region, you will likely spend a pretty penny on wine. It’s Europe, after all! We purchased multiple bottles of champagne and a few tastings during our two-night stay in Epernay.

Cost: $150

Experiences

We often purchased admission tickets to family-friendly adventures like zoos, an aquarium, a cog train tour of the Alps, and food tours. We also opted for free experiences as often as possible, like walking the double-walled castle in Carcassone and hiking in the Pyrenees.

Cost: $400

Public Transport

Once in the camper, we only used public transport a few times. In many cases, bus tickets and shuttles were included with campground fees. However, we bought train tickets to visit Monaco while we were camping on the Côte d’Azur.

Cost: $20

SIM

I paid a one-time $100 fee for my Airalo eSIM. This covered me in France as well as bordering countries. However, it is data-only and doesn’t include calling.

My husband purchased an Orange SIM that included calling for $40, but it only lasted for 14 days and had to be reloaded multiple times, totaling around $100. This SIM also did not work in bordering countries, making it a less attractive option if you plan to venture outside of France during your road trip.

Total Costs: $200

Summary of Costs

Oh, I so don’t want to add up all these numbers! Traveling for a full month was an expensive trip.

Total spent: $8,595 or $277/day.

I always love breaking down these numbers by day because I know that if we didn’t cook our own meals and were in hotels every night for a month, our costs would be much higher! Of course, if we just bought an RV in Europe and didn’t have to spend 5,000 bucks on a rental, RVing abroad would be much more affordable… 😉

Was this number higher or lower than you thought? Share what you think in the comments!