Driving to the south of France, avoiding some tolls?

[jontie]

Hi all, wasn't sure where to post this, sorry if it needs moving.

I will be driving to the south of France on wednesday overnight till thursday morning. I’m going from calais to Frejus (near cannes). The current route i get from Viamichelin and google is.

Calais to Reims to Troyes on the A26
Troyes to Dijon on the A5
Dijon to Lyon on the A6
Lyon to Orange on the A7
Orange to Frejus on the A7 then A8

I will be driving a diesel Mondeo estate barge, so i’m not looking for great driving roads, just a making good stress free progress, but i will be in no rush and have plenty of time.

The Tolls add up to 95 euro, and it would be great to avoid some of these if it’s not too hard, but in anyones experience is it worth the extra effort? I wont have a SatNav with me only a map, and getting lost in some random french town at 3am, wouldn’t be much fun. However is there any sections of this route that are easy to skip the toll rolls on?

Also while i’m there i may visit Monaco for a day, dose anyone know of the diesel is significantly cheaper (or more expensive) there?

First experience of French tolls so please excuse my ignorance, many thanks

Jontie

[JCKST1]

Currently in South Spain and drove down last month (Return in two weeks). I done Dover Calais and missed out the tolls past paris, I then joined the A20 to and paid about 40e to Andorra. The main ones are north france and south (Near Toulouse etc).
In my opinion its worth paying them, I am on the way home. I will avoid Toulouse then just stay on. My plan was to avoid all of them but you just cant make progress, You either get stuck behind someone or get stuck in little villages, really pisses you off when you have covered about 40miles in an hour instead of about 90.

Diesel is similar price all over France, About 138ish. Andorra is definitely worth a visit, Diesel was about 108 when i was there, 112 for premium as its tax free. Bought my self a camera, load of fags/booze for less than half the price of England. I also filled the tank and Jerry can to get my to Alicante.

I used viamichelin for my route and it was a load of st. It barely got me past Paris then I had to stop at Mcdonalds to use the Wifi to get directions off Google Maps. Same again when I got to Andorra.

If you have any questions let me know and i will try and help. Im also looking for a route back to Calais which is relatively quick, Dont mind paying Tolls but would prefer to avoid some of the 20-30euro ones if possible

[FisiP1]

Just pay the tolls, you are already paying out for fuel, accommodation and ferry/tunnel, don't lose time(probably getting on for a full day loss each way) getting through the boring areas of France on non-toll roads unless you specifically want to see those regions. Getting stuck behind countless slow moving vehicles and spending hours sat at red lights in towns or in jams in narrow towns is not much fun personally. Oh and without a Satnav you most likely will get lost several times on the way if you are taking the back roads, the signage can be horribly inconsistent at times, and you'd have to pull over to check the map a fair bit.

The Autoroutes are superb, very well maintained and realistic speed limits, complete hassle-free option.

I have done the trip many times as a passenger and driver on both types of roads, I'm never doing the non-toll route again.

Edited by FisiP1 on Monday 6th August 02:27

Edited by FisiP1 on Monday 6th August 02:30

[Audi 525i]

I worked in Reims last year (170 miles south of Calais/ Dunkirk) and made at least 10 return trips to the UK - never once used a toll road.

Average speed was only 45mph though, typically.

[anonymous-user]

It's worth paying the tolls if you're after hassle free driving. You're adding about 5 hours to your journey and have to deal with speed cameras. With no sat nav you are likely to get lost too. I've done what you did down to Le Mans and it's not worth the hassle unless you are completely skint.

[AtticusFinch]

Use the tolls, avoid Monaco (it's a dump)

Have a great trip.

[Vitorio]

Just take the toll roads, they are the quickest easiest way to get around in france. There will off course be alternate routes, but expect them to take longer and be filled with toll-dodging tourists.

On toll autoroutes you can expect to make decent progress and find good facilities in terms of service stations, much better then off the tolls

[Egbert Nobacon]

It's summer, early August (all of France is on the move), loads of Dutch and Belgian caravans on the road etc - you'd be mad not to use the Autoroutes.

Other times of the year it might be worth considering but why go through all the hassle, delay, extra time just to save 95 euro.

[g3org3y]

Vitorio said:

Just take the toll roads, they are the quickest easiest way to get around in france. There will off course be alternate routes, but expect them to take longer and be filled with toll-dodging tourists.

On toll autoroutes you can expect to make decent progress and find good facilities in terms of service stations, much better then off the tolls

Echo this.

Toll Roads:
- fast
- efficient
- well maintained
- services are very good
- you won't however see much of the countryside which is a shame

Non Toll:
- nice views
- some opportunity for twisty fun
- likely to get stuck behind (typically Dutch) caravans and the like
- 'services' are not - basically a toilet (hole in the ground) and picnic tables
- more likely to get caught speeding by sneaky policemen hiding behind bushes

When we drove France last year we did a combination of the two. On the days when time was a factor, we used the Autoroute. On the lazier days we actively avoided them to find more interesting fun (albeit slower) roads.

[jontie]

Thanks for all the replies. Tolls it is, set the cruise control to 85mph and have a nice stress free journey.

Jontie

[mikey77]

Forget buying fuel in Monaco, it's just not worth the hassle of finding somewhere. Only obvious place is on the road out on the Cap d'Ail side. I think the place is well worth a visit though. Why not drive to Nice, go to the bus station (easy to find) and get a bus into Monaco - you can get off in Casino Square - and avoid all the traffic hassle at a fare of 1 euro for a 45-minute trip along the breathtaking coast?

[anonymous-user]

jontie said:

Thanks for all the replies. Tolls it is, set the cruise control to 85mph and have a nice stress free journey.

Jontie

It's the only way to go if 'stress free' is the operative phrase. I'm glad we were unanimous in our advice!

Also, if using an old map, many of the roads have changed names since toll roads were put in. It's an absolute nightmare. You end up having to resort to driving by the signs pointing towards towns/cities, and ignoring any road names, which results in many mistakes and swearing.

[trunnie]

Possibly a bit late for the original poster, but there is a way to economise on tolls (up to 20%) whilst using French autoroutes. The tolls are regulated and so on average, the companies that run the autoroutes have a cap on what they can increase the tolls by. However, they tend to increase the costs for popular sections and not increase them so much if you leave/enter the autoroute at unpopular ones. So if you hop of the autoroute mid route at an unpopular exit, pass through the tolls and pay at the exit and then get straight back on the autoroute then you'll almost certainly pay less than if you did the entire route without getting off.

One enterprising French guy has worked this out and has a website (only in French but free and simple to use) where you stick in the autoroute and it will give you the recommended exits and entries and how much you'll save by making 1,2 or 3 intermediate exits - see www.autoroute-eco.fr

[cptsideways]

If you can find it the D100 is a small B road that pretty much goes south, its an awesome route if you can find it!! Definately worth it in something interesting

[marciasuomi]

could anyone advise on what happened to my friend?
he is driving a rental car from barcelona, spain to beziers, france and was charged this toll of 244.5 euros!
to note: the date is not correct if i am reading it as may 7, he actually drove may 16th.
he isn't savvy and didn't know it was too much so he just paid it! and he isn't very good with directions or memory, so i'm trying to piece together what could have happened.

any advice for what he should do? where he should go to complain? he is still in france but leaves sunday to drive back and is extremely worried he will run into this again.

i have advised him to contact his bank and dispute the charge that way, but the bank is in yet another country and it's just a mess.

from everything i have been able to find, there is no way he should have had a toll this amount even driving across the whole of france! am i wrong?

thank you.

[Herdwick]

That's not a toll charge.
Its a receipt for the camping at Rene Oltra Cap d'Agde.

Guess he found the paper in the bottom of the rental car, hence the 'wrong' dates. Obviously hire car used week before.

[marciasuomi]

Thank you! Will advise.

[anonymous-user]

[silverthorn2151]

That's the worst explanation for having be caught out having a sneaky naturist week at the Cap!

I am heading down through France for the first time in a few years staying near Pau. I believe there is a new Autoroute down the west side of the Massif. Even longer while since I headed south of Bordeaux as most recent drives have been to Antibes. Looking forward to a leisurely drive down over a couple of days, stopping near Tours, probably.

I got a Peage doofah last year but haven't used it yet. Looking forward to trying that as well. In fact, looking forward to ALL of it. Driving through France remains one of my greatest pleasures in life.

[Russwhitehouse]

The newish stretch of auto route down to Pau from Bordeaux is great. It cuts across the Landes and stops all that infuriating crawl when stuck behind trucks/caravans/Sunday driver retards etc etc. I live near Angoulême and make the drive frequently in the winter for skiing in the Pyrenees. It has lowered my blood pressure considerably!!