France - toll roads or not??
Hi there
Last year we travelled from Caen to Sarat de Caneda via toll roads and had no problems with towing the van. However over the space of the holiday (we moved on to Il de re and Brittany) total toll cost was round £180. My hubby is thinking about choosing a route this year that avoids toll roads but I am nervious that these roads maybe too small for the van, or that it will be easier to get lost!! Therefore what we save in £'ss will be added in addtional journey time/fuel costs and stress!! Has anyone ever done this trip avoiding toll roads or is it best to pay up and have a stress free journey??
Comments
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If you have plenty of time then non toll routes are generally fine but they do go through lots of towns and villages with 20-30 mph speed limts. There will be lots of stop start driving which can be anoying/stressful and it will take you a lot longer than
toll roads. We nearly always use toll roads as our time is limited so we generally want to get to where we are going as we only have 2-3 weks holiday, but others will tell you to go non toll and give advice and routes but they may have a lot more time to
get to destination.Now changing to a M/H so I thik we will do more touring so may use non toll roads more as the end destiantion would not be so important as it is with a caravan where the aim is to get to site and then explore.
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Its not all a bed of roses off the toll autoroutes. Unfortunately the French seem to delight in increasing rumble strips and sleeping policemen, very often to get you to use the autoroute. This from my notes:
The drive between Chambery and Grenoble was very tedious and slow with many 30kph speed limits enforced by speed humps and in retrospect this section is best done on the autoroute.
Some of the main routes remain pretty good and thanks for the tip about Caen to Ile de Re. I assume that is via Rennes?
peedee
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Hi Jasper12, you manage in the UK, don't you?
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If we have time we don't use toll roads preferring to look ar the local views. There are plenty of villages to stop in to visit the bread shop etc. We always fill up in supermarkets, the only one I would avoid when towing is the Le Clerc in Bolougne.
there are some places that it's difficult to avoid paying a toll, for example the Normandy bridge
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If we have time we don't use toll roads preferring to look ar the local views. There are plenty of villages to stop in to visit the bread shop etc. We always fill up in supermarkets, the only one I would avoid when towing is the Le Clerc in Bolougne.
there are some places that it's difficult to avoid paying a toll, for example the Normandy bridge
I believe that is the only toll I have paid in France, after crossing to Le Havre , don't do that one anymore as swmbo was scared witless crossing the bridge, although she is quite happy crossing the Severn bridges in gale force winds.
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The motorway routes from Caen are expensive. If you cross to Le Havre, then Rouen, through to Chartres, Orleans, Vierzon and down to the Dordogne, the route is much cheaper. When we want to get somewhere fairly quickly rather than meander, we look on
Viamichelin for a route that uses motorways where they are free and avoids toll roads. We find this the best compromise between cost and convenience.0 -
Are you planning the same destinations then? We came to the Dordogne over the last couple of days from Caen. We intended to do Caen to Limoges toll all the way as hubby likes an easy life when towing, but our plans were changed when we found the entrance
to the A85 shut so we carried on to Poitiers and came across country to Limoges. It was an N road and single carriageway most of the way so slower than the toll road but perfectly easy to use and no problems whatsoever.0 -
If you have the time the French N roads are an excellent alternative. You won't average more than about 70 km an hour due to slowing down to go through towns but you will see much more of the real France. Take a stopover half way and you need not drive for
too many hours a day - wsomewhere on the Loire around Tours might be nice. . The Viamichelin website gives you routes avoiding motorways.0 -
Combination of the two to relieve boredom of autoroute driving and on the other side relieve the hard work of negotiating speed bumps, mini roundabouts etc. The best choice is to pick N Roads passing through the minimum number of towns and villages, northern
France is usually the best for this option.0 -
We will be using the route outlined by AD at the end of this month. We use a Michelin map, Google maps and viamichelin to plan and usually use a mix of toll and non toll roads. We dont mind paying to avoid the very efficient French traffic calming and, as said, many N roads are to Autoroute standards. We also have some routes that we know on D roads, our favourite being from Angers to Rennes which is a Liberation route.
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We manage to do most of our French towing off the toll autoroutes. Yes, in some areas, journeys can be a bit tedious, but we are rich in time and not rich in money, so would rather not pay for a journey just to save a few hours overall!
We plan well using our local knowledge acquired over many years, viamichelin, and a good detailed map (SatNav
not preferred as an option) and have rarely had problems. Yes, you may get to the Dordogne a few hours ahead of us, but we can have several meals out, a lot of campsite nights, and a few bottles of wine with the money we save.0 -
we just stump up the tolls because we want to get there ASAP rather than spend our fortnights holiday driving ..... & though I've never worked out mpg, I reckon 56mph (honest Gendarme!) on an autoroute is better than traipsing through towns with speed humps
etc at 20 to 30 mph0 -
There are no toll motorways in Brittany. The main "motorway" runs right round the coast of Brittany as an orbital route and is free.
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Hi Jasper, using viamichelin for the Caen to Sarlat route shows a difference of app 60 miles and toll of €55.7. The route that it shows for the non toll is the same as AD and myself referred to,Caen-Rennes-Nantes and then Cholet-Bressuire. From there you
can head for Poitier or Angouleme and on to Sarlat.0 -
Last year I drove back from Spain to Calais, using non toll roads where possible, it was a pleasure generally speaking. Yes you slow down a bit for towns and villages but that apart for most of the time you can cruise at around the 60mph mark. I reckon it
took only an hour and a half longer than the journey down, but saved all that toll money and for some reason my economy went up by around 3mpg !!0
