Driving on thecontinent and toll charges

[MonkeyHanger]

Hi all,

Were going touring in France next year and it will be the first time abroad im a bit worried but not as much as the brother in law.

We are going to use tom tom sat nav and it give you options to go around toll charges what i would like to know is how much the toll charges are? if you dont go on the toll roads what are the roads like for pulling the van? And generally what is it like to tour in france and if there is any funny little rules we are going to disney near Paris then on down to the louare valley.

If you can also suggest any nice sites.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Rioja]

We are going for the first time very soon.I am looking forward to the challenge ! I think if you are going no further than the Loire it won't cost that much for the tolls anyway. Make sure you spell it right for the TOM Tom though or it could cost a fortune !

 

[ThePlotter]

Hi firstly France is brilliant and towing there is so much easier than here either on or off the Autoroutes as there is so much less traffic,try to avoid travelling onSaturdays as they do get busier whilst on Sunday lorries are banned.It is much quicker by Autoroute but dearer and you do not see the real France.In a lot of cases the ordinary roads run parallel to the autoroutes so you can chop and change.Not sure where on the Loire you are going but a nice site is Chateau Des Marias which is very close to the Chateau Chambord the largest in France and a must see.

If you want to check autoroutes look as www.autoroutes.fr but for charges etc go to www.mappy.com on here you can get a route,(input car with caravan)and it will show you pictures of the road signs that you will see,the distances,time taken,where to pick up a toll ticket,where to pay and how much and also where the fixed speed cameras are,this will give you all the info you need but of course you can still use your Tom Tom,try to get fuel from supermarkets as it is much cheaper than from the autoroute services.There are guide books for the Aires de Service (the book is in french and can be found on www.outdoorbits.com.

Finally look on this forum under polarity and read up and kit yourself out with the testers and converter cables.

Finally-finally enjoy!

 

[Robtel]

Hi Plotter,

You say lorries are banned on Sundays in France? Can I ask when this happened as I have travelled the French Autoroutes on a Sunday and certainly came across HGVs. Most recently in July this year they were certainly still using the routes on a Sunday.

Re original question I would agree with all that the others have posted (except for no lorries on a Sunday. Once you are away from large cities the roads are much quieter than in this country. Going to the Loire area the tolls should not be that expensive. To give an idea of cost we travelled from Zeebrugge to Northern Spain predominantly on autoroutes with a cost of

 

[chrissie2]

Hi Plotter,

You say lorries are banned on Sundays in France? Can I ask when this happened as I have travelled the French Autoroutes on a Sunday and certainly came across HGVs. Most recently in July this year they were certainly still using the routes on a Sunday.

Re original question I would agree with all that the others have posted (except for no lorries on a Sunday. Once you are away from large cities the roads are much quieter than in this country. Going to the Loire area the tolls should not be that expensive. To give an idea of cost we travelled from Zeebrugge to Northern Spain predominantly on autoroutes with a cost of

 

[Alex_374296729]

Hi firstly France is brilliant and towing there is so much easier than here either on or off the Autoroutes as there is so much less traffic,try to avoid travelling onSaturdays as they do get busier whilst on Sunday lorries are banned.It is much quicker by Autoroute but dearer and you do not see the real France.In a lot of cases the ordinary roads run parallel to the autoroutes so you can chop and change.Not sure where on the Loire you are going but a nice site is Chateau Des Marias which is very close to the Chateau Chambord the largest in France and a must see.

If you want to check autoroutes look as www.autoroutes.fr but for charges etc go to www.mappy.com on here you can get a route,(input car with caravan)and it will show you pictures of the road signs that you will see,the distances,time taken,where to pick up a toll ticket,where to pay and how much and also where the fixed speed cameras are,this will give you all the info you need but of course you can still use your Tom Tom,try to get fuel from supermarkets as it is much cheaper than from the autoroute services.There are guide books for the Aires de Service (the book is in french and can be found on www.outdoorbits.com.

Finally look on this forum under polarity and read up and kit yourself out with the testers and converter cables.

Finally-finally enjoy!

Hi Plotter,

Next year we intend to visit the Loire, this year going down to Bordeaux. However you mention 'a nice site is Chateau Des Marias which is very close to the Chateau Chambord the largest in France and a must see.'

Where do I find info on this site and the rest etc.

Thank you

Alex

 

[ValA.]

Hi firstly France is brilliant and towing there is so much easier than here either on or off the Autoroutes as there is so much less traffic,try to avoid travelling onSaturdays as they do get busier whilst on Sunday lorries are banned.It is much quicker by Autoroute but dearer and you do not see the real France.In a lot of cases the ordinary roads run parallel to the autoroutes so you can chop and change.Not sure where on the Loire you are going but a nice site is Chateau Des Marias which is very close to the Chateau Chambord the largest in France and a must see.

If you want to check autoroutes look as www.autoroutes.fr but for charges etc go to www.mappy.com on here you can get a route,(input car with caravan)and it will show you pictures of the road signs that you will see,the distances,time taken,where to pick up a toll ticket,where to pay and how much and also where the fixed speed cameras are,this will give you all the info you need but of course you can still use your Tom Tom,try to get fuel from supermarkets as it is much cheaper than from the autoroute services.There are guide books for the Aires de Service (the book is in french and can be found on www.outdoorbits.com.

Finally look on this forum under polarity and read up and kit yourself out with the testers and converter cables.

Finally-finally enjoy!

Here's the website http://www.chateau-des-marais.com/. It looks lovely - haven't actually been.

 

[ThePlotter]

Alex,I see that someone has given you the website for Chateau Des Marais,we have stayed there a few times usually on the way to or from elsewhere it is a nice site and has all the facilities you could want is easy to get to but for bread walk into the village 5 mins to the baker still hot,scrummy.

Chateau Chambord is only a mile away and has 400 rooms is open to the public,and fun to see the double helix staircase.The entire estate is surrounded by a wall many miles long and encloses herds of wild goats and wild boar which you can watch from viewing platforms.Cost is about 10 eoros to go around the house,they have tape recorder things in english so you know what you are looking at.There is a lovely vineyards a short walk away and several other chateau near by.The site is an easy walk into the village and to the Loire River.A good supermarket is just over the river,and the site is within just a few minutes of the Autoroute that runs from Orleans to Bordeaux.

 

[ThePlotter]

For Chambord look at www.chambord.org/

 

[cabapino]

Hi Plotter,

You say lorries are banned on Sundays in France? Can I ask when this happened as I have travelled the French Autoroutes on a Sunday and certainly came across HGVs. Most recently in July this year they were certainly still using the routes on a Sunday.

Re original question I would agree with all that the others have posted (except for no lorries on a Sunday. Once you are away from large cities the roads are much quieter than in this country. Going to the Loire area the tolls should not be that expensive. To give an idea of cost we travelled from Zeebrugge to Northern Spain predominantly on autoroutes with a cost of

 

[giovanni_5060838]

If you go to the viamichelin site [just put viamichelin it will

find it] it will tell you routes services stations and the price

of tolls for anyroute in france, also shows speed cameras.

note. toll will be around 1.5 times the rate of a car only toll.

 

[Olly]

Hello Andy.

As has already been suggested, by far the best route-mapping service to use in France is the one run by Michelin tyre company ( they are a French company after all and have the most up-to-date information on roadwork's and the location of new speed cameras ).

The details are at .

http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/int/dyn/controller/Driving_directions#
On the page where the details of your Start and Finish points are entered, there is also the facility to chose the type ( ie size ) of tow-car car you will be using, whether or not you will be towing a caravan, the type of fuel the tow-car uses, whether you want the route details in miles or kilometres and the subsequent costs to be shown in Euros or Pounds Sterling.

Enjoy your trip; I'm sure that it will be the first of many.

Olly.

 

[RayS]

The toll roads are run by different companies and the charges per kilometer vary widely. You can get all the info from the sites already suggested.

The RNs are generally pretty good, so one idea is to use them where possible and then just get on the autoroute for one or two junction to get round the big cities. This will save quite a lot of money but avoid most of the hassle.

You don't say whether you are CC members. If so, get the CC Camping Europe volume 1 which will give members reports on hundreds of sites and also road and toll details.

Fuel is much cheaper at supermarkets, but many of these have pump layouts which are very caravan unfriendly, so it may be better to refuel solo or leave the van (attended) in the main parking area while you refuel the towcar.

As other have said, France is very much worth while particularly off-peak. Just take it easy until you have built up a bit of experience. I will almost guarrantee that the worst bit of your trip will be the UK roads when you come back.

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

The toll roads are run by different companies and the charges per kilometer vary widely. You can get all the info from the sites already suggested.

The RNs are generally pretty good, so one idea is to use them where possible and then just get on the autoroute for one or two junction to get round the big cities. This will save quite a lot of money but avoid most of the hassle.

You don't say whether you are CC members. If so, get the CC Camping Europe volume 1 which will give members reports on hundreds of sites and also road and toll details.

Fuel is much cheaper at supermarkets, but many of these have pump layouts which are very caravan unfriendly, so it may be better to refuel solo or leave the van (attended) in the main parking area while you refuel the towcar.

As other have said, France is very much worth while particularly off-peak. Just take it easy until you have built up a bit of experience. I will almost guarrantee that the worst bit of your trip will be the UK roads when you come back.

If you by your fuel from suppermarkets only by it when the booth is manned. You can buy fuel 24hrs. by inserting your cedit/debit card into the pump, but I was warned not to do this as it will not accept uk cards (unless it has changed receintly) & you will loose your card.

If you intend to use a credit/debit card I recomend Nationwide cards. They do not charge commision on purchasses. When the exchange rate this spring was 1.40, 1.42 Euros/

 

[martin.]

Use the toll roads, it's well worth it, better and quieter.

 

[martin.]

Hi Plotter,

You say lorries are banned on Sundays in France? Can I ask when this happened as I have travelled the French Autoroutes on a Sunday and certainly came across HGVs. Most recently in July this year they were certainly still using the routes on a Sunday.

Re original question I would agree with all that the others have posted (except for no lorries on a Sunday. Once you are away from large cities the roads are much quieter than in this country. Going to the Loire area the tolls should not be that expensive. To give an idea of cost we travelled from Zeebrugge to Northern Spain predominantly on autoroutes with a cost of

 

[Rioja]

Use the toll roads, it's well worth it, better and quieter.

Depends where and how far you are going.My round trip costs potentially