In Alsace the free night is not at the foot of the vines. On the wine route you will pay 10 to 25 euros, published by the communes themselves, and the free aires sit in three belts around the vineyard: the Sundgau in the south, the Florival valley above Guebwiller, and northern Alsace. The trip that works is two or three paid nights among the wine villages and the rest of the week somewhere else.
The wine route charges, and it says so
Kaysersberg Vignoble puts its aire, the stopover a French commune lays out for motorhomes, at the Erlenbad, and posts a motorhome rate of 10 euros per 24 hours, payable around the clock. Checked August 15, 2026. It is not in the old town, which is the point: you leave the vehicle and walk up, and that is the only sensible way into those streets anyway.
Riquewihr prices by time band at place Jean Monnet, on the edge of the old town: 10 euros for the night from 7pm to 9am, 20 euros for the day from 9am to 7pm. The forfait post-stationnement, what you owe if you have not paid, is 40 euros. Checked August 15, 2026. Arrive in the evening and leave in the morning and you pay the cheaper band once. Stay through the afternoon as well and you pay both.
Eguisheim, at 21 Grand’Rue, is the dearest of the three: 25 euros a day for a pitch with electricity, or 11 euros for 4 hours, with water and waste disposal included. Checked August 15, 2026. That price covers what other communes bill separately, but it is still double Kaysersberg in the same valley.
Ten minutes off the vineyard, the same money buys more
Sélestat sits at the northern end of the wine route, halfway between Colmar and Strasbourg, and runs its stopover on the municipal campsite rate on rue de la 1ère D.F.L.: 5 euros for services only with a 2 hour maximum, 10 euros for 24 hours, 20 for 48, 30 for 72. Fifteen hardstanding pitches, open all year, 24 hours a day. A 16 amp electric hook-up is included, and so are the dump point and the water fill, at no extra cost. Add 0.44 euros of tourist tax per vehicle per night. Checked August 15, 2026.
Munster, in the valley climbing toward the high Vosges, charges 16 euros a day on rue du Dr Heid and puts everything inside the price: 16 amp electricity, water, heated toilet blocks with shower access, waste disposal and the tourist tax. Forty-nine standard pitches plus 5 for long vehicles, open all year. Payment is by card or app only, no cash. Checked August 15, 2026. As a base for several nights in the mountains it is the best value in the region, as long as your card works.
Where the nights are free
Three areas, all within an hour of the vineyard. The Sundgau, in the far south between Mulhouse and the Swiss border, with Ferrette, Oltingue and Hirtzbach: quiet villages, aires tucked behind the church or up on a shoulder of land, footpaths from the door. The Florival valley immediately above Guebwiller, with Murbach, Orschwihr, Soultzmatt, Linthal, Hartmannswiller and Soultz-Haut-Rhin, which puts you a few miles from the vines without paying vineyard money. And northern Alsace, around Wissembourg, Haguenau, Bischwiller, Betschdorf, Hatten and Val-de-Moder, the least visited part of the region.
Those aires are recorded as free to park by the Alsace tourism information system, but none of the communes publishes what is actually on them. Treat them as parking rather than as service points: arrive with your water full and your tanks empty, and do the filling and emptying where the price is on a board.
Carry something to pay with
Thann tells you there is a motorhome borne, the French service terminal, on the central car park, and does not say what it costs. Checked August 15, 2026. That is the common case across Alsace: the borne exists, the price only appears when you are standing at it. Carry coins and a card, and do not build a route around a service point whose payment method nobody has published.
Obernai has no aire at all. The town points you to its municipal campsite in the Vallon de l’Ehn, which has 30 hardstanding pitches set up for motorhomes. Checked August 15, 2026. If you wanted to sleep in Obernai itself, that is where.
The sign at the entrance and whatever the mairie says today beat all of this, because a tariff changes faster than a web page. The rest of the region’s stopovers are on the Grand Est page, and if the word itself is new to you, start with what an aire is.
Sources
- Stationnement visiteurs, Commune de Kaysersberg Vignoble
- Aire de camping-cars, Ville de Munster
- Aire camping-cars, Camping municipal de Sélestat
- Aire de stationnement pour camping-car, Riquewihr (Système d'informations touristique Alsace via DATAtourisme)
- Aire de camping-cars d'Eguisheim (Système d'informations touristique Alsace via DATAtourisme)
- Y dormir, Ville de Thann
- Camping d'Obernai, Ville d'Obernai
When a source is not in English, follow the link for the official wording.