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Rural CouchSurfing
Rural areas (also referred to as "the country", countryside) are settled places outside towns and cities. Such areas are distinct from more intensively settled urban and suburban areas, and also from unsettled lands such as outback, American Old West, or wilderness. Inhabitants live in villages, hamlets, on farms and in other isolated houses.

For more information, please visit this page.

Rural Hosts Map
The main concern rural hosts have is their lack of visibility within the search tools of the present Couchsurfing website. Newer, integrated search tools are in the process of being developed, but in the meantime, the creators of the Rural Hosts concept offer you the possibility to be registered on this map, enabling you to be easily found by surfers who are looking to travel in your area.

This global map is presently being tested by French Couchsurfers. They are, therefore, the pilot testers for this experiment, and in so doing, they will be improving this system during the following weeks and months.

Link to the Rural French Hosts map.

How to find a Rural Host in France.
It’s very easy. No need to register if you are just searching… all you have to do is consult the map of Rural French Hosts and to click on the points that are in the area you desire visiting. A link will bring you directly to the Couchsurfing member’s profile who is registered on the map. You can then send the member a request to Couchsurf if their profile corresponds to your liking.

Registering as a French Rural Host
A procedure has been put into place which will allow volunteer hosts to be seen on the map. This procedure ensures your motivation and that you are indeed in a rural area. We assure you that this procedure is very simple.

If you wish to be on the map, you should contact an organizer by sending a short message to animateurs.ruraux@gmail.com

The organizer will then explain how to make the CS Rural icon appear on your profile page and the link to the project.

They will also verify the rural aspect of the Couch offered and your availability. The requirements are :
 * An available couch (Yes or Definitely)
 * Lack of mass transit serving the area (less than 1 bus per day)

Case by case studies will be examined: If you are farmer, for example, even if you are in a city (yes, this does indeed exist), you do have a rural aspect, even if your situation is the exception.

Then the organizer will register you on the map with a point linking to your profile page and the approximate location of the city/town hall of your local community. The organizer will also sign you up to be part of the Rural French Hosts group, so you can also indicate within this group, the details of the couch you are able to offer. That is it ! All what’s left to do now is to get your couch ready and wait for the travelers.

Why must an available couch be offered ?
This being a map of Rural Hosts, the main concern of the Couchsurfer that is using it is to find an available couch. The Couchsurfer will most likely not be aware of the different communities surrounding a given region. Once a mode of lodging has been chosen, the user can then easily use the « CouchSearch » function within an area of 5 to 50 km in order to find other Couchsurfers to meet, to share a drink with or to go on a hike and just have a good time.

Why is the map point placed on the city/town hall of the local community ?
Placing the point on the city/town hall may seem a bit odd. For example, a member living within the community of Arles, (the most wide-spread community in all of France) but located very far away from the urban zones of the community, is clearly living in a rural area. This member will see their point right in the city center ! This is done for security reasons. As this map is a public document, everyone on the internet is able to consult it. We, therefore, strongly recommended not to show one’s place of personal residence (nor that of any other person).

The city/town hall is a public building and very easily identifiable on maps of all sorts all over France. However, upon a member’s written request, we can put a point on the exact place of their residence, although we do not recommend it (The e-mail request, will then be printed out and conserved on file).

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