UKC

Can anyone recommend a decent campervan hire company in France. Have had a look around online but be good to have a recommendation if possible. 

We need a reasonably large van (family of 5) and are happy to fly in a pick up from almost anywhere in France, ideally Bordeaux, Nice, Lyon or even Geneva.  

Also any other advice on this type of holiday would be welcome as this will be a first for us...thx.

why not hire one here and use the ferry. ( I assume you are in the UK). It will save you a lot of money and CO2 on flights.

I'm not sure it will save that much money and we waste two days (there and back) of the holiday driving in UK and across the channel. 

Yes, it's not as if taking a ferry and driving 3000km produces no C02...

The other main advantage of doing what you plan is that you save on kms on your rental contract. We rented a camper two years ago from a company in Perpignan for a 2 week holiday in northern Spain. We drove our own car to Perpignan which saved 600 kms. However the company, WeVan, only rents VW Californias, so no good to you. So basically just agreeing that it's a good plan.

"So basically just agreeing that it's a good plan"

Thx, that's good to know.

I came across this site recently:

https://indiecampers.com

I haven’t used them, but it looked interesting.

We used Indiecampers this summer. Flew into Geneva and picked up a California. No complaints really and they were pretty much the cheapest from what I could find. Think they also have a dept near Lyon airport so couple of good options for access to the alps if that's what your after 

https://www.yescapa.co.uk/ is worth checking out...

Is there much availability of five berth vans to rent?

I'm not having much luck re 5 berths, but my kids are young and could share a double. I have found some 6 berths, but only hiring from the UK, and they are expensive.

There's this: https://blog.motorhomerent.fr/nos-vehicules/camping-car-capucine-premium-6-... They're in 5 locations on France - Toulouse, Narbonne, Castelnaudary, Vendargues and Pennes-Mirabeau.

This company look good. We almost booked a camping car through them from Nimes to do a trip around northern Spain. They looked good value and do have 5/6 berth vans.
Didn't bother in the end as we're skipping a year's holiday and going a bit further afield.

E

Looks like an airbnb for van hire?

Yes - exactly like that. Has a good smartphone app, etc.  Have used it once in the UK - it was good.