French No Travel Day

[RosscoPCole]

My daughter is going to Spain by coach with Scouts. We have just been informed that that cannot leave on the 11 August as the French Government have declared a No Travel Day on that date. I cannot find anything about this. Can anyone enlighten me further?

Edited by RosscoPCole on Monday 5th June 20:06

[Truckosaurus]

The 15th August (Tuesday) is a public holiday so there might be some restrictions that weekend for the air quality zones.

Seeing as the French are rioting because they might not get their pensions for another year I can't see them being happy with a blanket 'no travel' day, so I suspect something has got lost in translation.

[Screenwash]

It’s probably a “Please don’t travel on that day” road traffic warning that the French put out for peak travel weekends when they expect gridlock.

[JQ]

If you do find out any more info, please can you update this thread - we're planning to drive from Calais to the Alps on either Friday 11th or Saturday 12th. I'm now staring to panic.

Edited by JQ on Tuesday 6th June 09:55

[leyorkie]

Well sat here in France this is the first I’ve heard of this.
As stated it’s one of the days where you avoid travel as it’s the start of the return from the first two weeks August holidays.
I think the way things are if Macron declared a no travel day then everyone would be out on the roads.



Depart is north south return south north. All based on Paris

[JQ]

That's really helpful, thank you Leyorkie. Do you know if the whole country grinds to a halt or just routes in and out of Paris? ie. if using the route below and avoiding Paris is there less likely to be Armageddon?

[Deesee]

They tend to have a few of these days every year, theres also the situation where (it would seem) everyone goes north south, and the south go north!

Auto routes will be fine.

Google map link above the A39/A31 route I generally find quickest when heading in that direction, and is almost always practically empty, and will save you a Swiss Motorway tag if you don't need to go beyond in Swiss.

Paris is always busy if you need to go near, when we do we use the a16, then the a86 tunnel (a marvel of engineering and time saving).

[Lotusgone]

Thanks from me too Leyorkie,

It shouldn't really have come as a surprise that a Saturday in July might be busy on the roads...must remember to have some water in the car.

[leyorkie]

I think the A26 route will be OK. You’ll probably not see any traffic up to and past Reims,
Could be busy around Dijon but depends on the time of day, main delays are at the toll barriers otherwise traffic moves just as it manages to on the M25 at times.
Bison Futé is the official site and you can stay up to date with that. You will see signs for Bison Futé routes to bypass some of the worst spots, I think you can find them online.
Bison Futé stands for clever little indian so you see the logo along the routes

Bon voyage

[leyorkie]

It’s all happening in Paris


I always have a titter as traffic jam is a bouchon which is a bottle cork which in turn is a bottleneck

[RicksAlfas]

leyorkie said:

It’s all happening in Paris


I always have a titter as traffic jam is a bouchon which is a bottle cork which in turn is a bottleneck

We got caught in plenty of bouchons and when we finally arrived at the house we said to the French owners there had been a lot of jambons on the road…!

[leyorkie]

Confiture de traffic!!!