Anyone used French Toll roads much?

unkle

unkle

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Going on a bit of a road trip this summer, driving from Calais to Barcelona then catching the ferry to Ibiza. Should take a couple of days hoping to see a few sights along the way.

Just wondered if anyone had any tips for driving across France, will it be worth spending the extra to use the Toll roads or should I stick to the regular French motorways? Ive driven back from Germany a fair few times and always found the roads in France to be pretty quiet.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance! :)
 
Oh and just another quick one, is it worth making a slight detour to Andorra for loads of cheap fags and diesel haha! :)
 
the toll roads are well worth it i worked over europe for abit and found that the toll roads saved you the foreign idiots of the little 106s flying about under your front bumper, but sounds like a wikid trip, thinking of going over to france for a bit of a holiday sometime in august or end of july. however with all the toll roads they are very depressing as on the **** nav it comes up with "stay right for ... 205miles" and the tollls are also average speed checks as well... sneaky frogs
 
We drove to Benodet last year via the Tunnel. We did a couple of d-tours along the way, but mainly stuck to the toll roads. Well worth it, the roads were mostly quiet apart from certain junctions. The French do however have a tendency to carry out roadworks any time of the day, which could possibly effect your journey. To get an indication of toll prices, put your route into ViaMichelin: Itineraries, Maps, Traffic, Weather, Restaurants and Hotel Booking for the UK and Europe.

If you are going to take a route off the motorway, unless you have a good nose, use a satnav. The French also have a tendency not to install too many direction signs. You will also find the other roads slow in places because of towns, etc.

The only other thing is to check you have all the mandatory/essentials for motoring in France (yellow vest, triangle, etc)
 
We drive to the French alps every summer for a cycling holiday. The first time we went we tried driving some of it not on toll roads - it was the one and only time we've done it. The roads tend to go through towns and so you'll be lucky to average 40mph - compare that to a legal 80mph / 130kph on mostly deserted toll roads and on a 700+ mile trip that's a lot of extra time in the car to save a few Euros.

Try to avoid the Saturday before Bastille day (14th July) - I think that's when French schoolkids break up for summer holidays and it gets very busy. I can remember last year stopping at a services at 2:30am and having to wait nearly 15 minutes just to get to a fuel pump - it was crazy busy for that time of night.
 
Just a quick update, had a wicked time in Ibiza, was an amazing drive, nice new roads all very quiet. Agree with people that the toll roads are well worth it, couldnt believe the price of diesel in France think its more there than here quite shocking. As far as average speed cameras go I didnt hang about on the drive but made sure I filled up and took breaks on the services on the toll roads so think that helped to avoid any sort of speeding problems...
 
Wicked! Did you go to Andorra? Drove there once for a day trip when I was staying in France, took ages because of the Alps. Scary roads in a brand new ST24 lol, Anyway, they had cheap everything in Andorra, they even had ashtrays in department stores so you could have a ciggie while the missus looked at clothes.
 
Ah man well really wanted to visit but got stuck in traffic on the way there which killed what little time I had to visit Andorra, heard the fuel there is very cheap.....maybe next time :D
 
Turksters free Tip,

I travel every summer to turkey, via the toll roads in France, I always take a hand sized magnet with me, why ? Well when you enter the Toll Roads you will be presented with a card size card with a magnetic strip on the rear, on the front in printed where you got on, and the magentic strip holds your "TIME" of entry,

if you get from point "A" to point "B" to quickly they will auto fine you at the exit point for "Speeding"! So if you wipe the "Time" info with a magnet then you can get away with going at your own pace with ease, Speed camera detectors are illegal and will get you a massive fine and a smashed unit by the road side,

Always have with you: 1st aid box, a fluorescent jacket for every person in the car, a warning triangle, or you can be subjected to on the spot fines for not having any of them,

hope that helps some of you!
 
And a set of onions worn around the neck so you can blend in with the locals.
 
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