VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
Motorhome Rental in Pau: Béarn, Gateway to the Pyrenees
Where to rent a motorhome or campervan in Pau, the Aspe and Ossau valleys, the Tour de France passes, the Jurançon vineyards and the Basque coast an hour away.
From the Boulevard des Pyrénées, Pau takes in the whole mountain chain at a single glance — from the Pic du Midi de Bigorre to the Pic d’Anie. Few French cities offer such a launch pad: within an hour’s drive, a campervan leaves Henri IV’s boulevards for the mountain streams of the Aspe and Ossau valleys, and that same evening you are dining below the summer pastures. Here is how to organise the rental.
Where to rent in Pau
The local market runs mostly on private owners renting through Yescapa — the city and its outskirts (Lescar, Billère, Idron) list campervans, family low-profiles and a few overcab coachbuilts. For a denser professional fleet, Toulouse and Bordeaux are under two hours away. A search of motorhomes for rent in Pau queries the platforms in one go and shows the total price; our guide to rental prices sets out the ranges by vehicle size. This way of travelling is no niche: the reference review by Brooker and Joppe, published in 2013 in the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, documents the steady worldwide growth of camping and outdoor hospitality (Google Scholar page).
Aspe and Ossau: the two campervan valleys
The Ossau valley is the obvious one: a steady climb to Laruns, the Bious-Artigues lake at the foot of the Pic du Midi d’Ossau, and in summer the option of tipping over the Col d’Aubisque. The wilder Aspe valley runs towards the Somport pass and Spain via Bedous and the Portalet fort — the doorway to an Iberian escape. In both cases the roads are good but narrow higher up: our guide to mountain driving covers engine braking, and the pass-weather check becomes essential from autumn onwards.
The Tour de France passes
Aubisque, Soulor, Marie-Blanque: Pau is one of the Tour’s most faithful host cities, and the Béarn passes are made for a motorhome stage — arrive the day before, sleep at altitude, cheer as the race sweeps past. Our guide to following the Tour by motorhome covers the closed-road logistics; outside July the same passes can be savoured in absolute calm, and the full traverse is described in our Pyrenees itinerary.
Jurançon, Madiran — and the ocean an hour away
On the city’s southern edge, the Jurançon hillsides are toured estate by estate along panoramic ridge roads; Madiran country stretches north-east towards the Gers. And when the mountains cloud over, the A64 puts the Basque coast an hour from your campervan — Biarritz, the corniche, the surf — with the Landes beaches barely further. Few bases offer this mountain-and-ocean double act.
Budget and season
Expect the classic French ranges — €75 to €150 per day for a campervan, more for a family low-profile — with a July-August peak. Spring (transhumance, streams swollen with meltwater) and early autumn (golden pastures) are the finest Béarn windows; the high passes stay closed from November to May or June depending on snow.
Free checklist: your first campervan trip
Licence and vehicle size, pick-up inspection, stopovers or campsites, water and electricity, insurance, drop-off: everything to check before and during a first trip. Sign up — the link to the full checklist appears immediately.