What we wish we had read before leaving
8 practical guides,
with the numbers.
Where to sleep, what French law actually says about wild camping, how to split a route into stages, what a day really costs. Every guide draws on the same data as the app — and says what that data does not cover.
By Paul Sokol · Updated 17 September 2026 · Where these figures come from
All the guides
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Where to sleep on a cycle tour
Sleeping on the road
There are four ways to sleep on a cycle tour in France: the campsite, the bivouac, the mountain hut and staying with a host.
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Is wild camping legal in France?
What the texts say
Wild camping is not banned in France, but it is not a right either.
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The EuroVelo routes that cross France
The European network
9 EuroVelo routes cross France, from the Atlantic coast to the Rhône valley.
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Hospitality networks for cyclists
Staying with hosts
Warmshowers remains the largest hospitality network for touring cyclists, with around 200,000 members, but access is now paid: 30 US dollars for life.
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Splitting a route into stages
The method
Splitting a route means spreading the total distance across achievable days, then moving every day’s end onto a real place to sleep.
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Using a GPX file
The universal format
A GPX file holds a sequence of geographic points describing a track.