What is France like to drive through?

Stonedofmoo

Stonedofmoo

Stonedofmoo

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I've never driven abroad before, but me and my GF have been invited to stay with her Aunt who lives in Olonzac in the south of France. This will be during the summer and I'm thinking of driving.

Has anyone driven through France before. Is it a nightmare of traffic jams and hold ups like here in the UK, or do they have their road system sorted out?
We would be driving from Le Harve to Olonzac directly, which is about 550 miles of their motorways. I have a TomTom 700 with western european maps already loaded, would this be enough?

Does anyone have any advice?

Ta :cool:
 
Traffic jams aren't as much as a problem as they are here apart from in cities/towns. Main problem of motorways is being driven off the road and cut up by frenchmen.

Towns and cities are horrible to drive through, especially Paris, and the worst road I've ever driven on is the Périphérique. It's a free for all, and scary as hell, avoid.
 
That's worth knowing. My original plan was to go via the channel tunnel and down, but apart from it being many miles further, the route planners always plotted right through Paris and I didn't want to go anywhere near there.

Where are you off to Lopéz? :)
 
France is a dream to drive through.

The autoroute (toll roads) are mostly 2 lanes, which sounds bad, but the first thing people do once they've overtaken you is pull in, almost cutting you up.

I've driven from Calais to Nice, Monaco, Antibes many times and it's much nicer than motorway driving in the UK - the service station food is good too - steak and chips, cooked to order but do not go for the rare - in France this is still mooing.

The worst traffic is around Paris - avoid the periphique (M25 basically).

They have 1 FM radio station for the entire motorway network - if you speak any French tune in for updates as there are jams somtimes wherever there are cars.

Tom tom is good Idea as the signs are either very good for a long way back or so close to the exit that you need to be psychic.

Be aware that they have variable speed limits which drop when it's wet, 110km/h I think - do not exceed this if it is wet, too many Gendarmes to empty your wallet

Enjoy the drive.
 
Did it in the car a couple of times years ago.
On the bike went to the South of France last year and off to the Pyrenees this year.

Paris, it's a challenge not a nightmare :D

Generally the roads are quieter (inc. motorways)
They have great big signs warning of speed camera on the motorways

In short much better than driving over here, go for it :D
 
CrazySpeaker said:
Main problem of motorways is being driven off the road and cut up by frenchmen.
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You just need to drive something bigger then the usual French small hatch and with a few dents on it - my pickup doesn't get pushed around - but I have driven 10's thousand miles in France too.

Back to OP - if Olonzac is South east - head for Dijon bypassing Paris to the east via Reims - nice well signed route and not a bad drive.

If Olonzac is South and West - head towards Le mans (nice fast road) avoiding Paris to the West - not so nice but very straight for 100's miles.

Put Dijon in as via and see what it does for the route - same with Le Mans, see what that does.
 
I found the motorway surfaces were crap. Pot holes all over the place! Having said that, the motorways did seem to flow quite nicely.

2 points i want to make though:

1) When you're joining a motorway, the ******** never make room for you.

2) You need to have your passenger helping you out for the first hour or two. It's very easy to get confused and start looking right at junctions, when you should be looking to your left! Also, in towns it helps no end if you've got someone who can keep an eye out too.
 
vcl_X1 said:
You just need to drive something bigger then the usual French small hatch and with a few dents on it - my pickup doesn't get pushed around - but I have driven 10's thousand miles in France too.
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Well the first time I went I drove a bright red Volvo 740 Estate, and the last time I went I drove my current Silver Shadow, and I got cut up by 206s and Clios in both of those :p
 
vcl_X1 said:
The 80 in dry is slightly negotiable.
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I wouldn't recommend speeding at all in France (well, unless you're quite rich).

After seeing articles that the French police have had enough of foreign motorists caining it and seeing how huge the "on the spot" fines are now, i stuck to 80 rigidly.

EDIT: also, from what i've read, one of the favourite things for the police to do is pull you over for speeding - then look to see if you have a fluorescent jacket in your car. If you don't you can be fined up to 130 euros + whatever you get for speeding.
 
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fingers crossed we have not had any problems speed wise. We get the Hull - Zeebrugge ferry and first day hit the motorways hard, doing prob 500+ miles then stop midway.
That leaves us about 250ish to do so we hit the bendy roads into our destination. same on way back up. Like I said touch wood we've not had a problem and we tend to sit around the 100mph mark.

Be careful around the channel ports they tend to sit and wait for the Brits giving it snot off the ferrys !!!
 
Gaygle said:
I wouldn't recommend speeding at all in France (well, unless you're quite rich).

After seeing articles that the French police have had enough of foreign motorists caining it and seeing how huge the "on the spot" fines are now, i stuck to 80 rigidly.
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LOL I aint rich !!! I'll prob post at end of May and say "well you know I said we'd not had a problem before . . . . ." :D

I have to say in general the French have a far better attitude to bikers than over here
 
Driving through France on the motorways with sat nav is an absolute breeze. Really enjoyable. Bear in mind the tolls will soon add up, but are well worth it IMO.
 
Expensive, toll roads are a complete rip-off...
Also French can't drive, they don't look sideways and nearly ram you off the road quite often when changing lanes, and cut you up very often. Also they can't keep to their lane properly, a lot just randomly go over the lane markings regularly. From what I can remember the shoulder lanes are often thin and not safe to stand on if your car brakes down, but every so often they have a small widened bit where it's a bit safer to stand on.

The traffic isn't high though from what I can remember, even on busy days you're not likely to stay still really.
 
There's only one major downside to driving through France, which is the fact that after all this time they STILL haven't gotten the hang of traffic lights. Light goes green.....pause.....more pause.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off oh no wait we've stalled wait for it wait for it wait for it and we're away.

They've finally just about got roundabouts sorted now. And they've always been good on motorways. But show them a traffic light and it all goes to hell.
 
Don't speed on the toll roads, they double as average speed tarps.

If you're caught speeding by a camera, you're fine, but the po po will drag you to a cash machine.
 
you usually find poxy little cars doing 90mph (ie) not enough and you'll be held up by them on 2 lane motorways, but other than that it's fine.

the lanes are narrower that in the UK, but that's not really a problem.

the french avoid the toll motorways, so if you go down those they're empty so you can blast along happily
@the "they're used as avg speed traps", who's going to fine you? the woman in the hut?
as long as you don't do 50 miles in 10 minutes, you're fine
 
Driven through and in France of many occasions and with the exception of one year getting lost in Paris it has been a delight. Toll roads are quiet and with good lane control from the locals and not that expensive. Some fantastic roads too if you fancy a hoon but driving in France is no problem if you are use to British roads and stay out of the city which can be a little hectic come rush hour, but again nothing too bad if you have your eyes open.
 
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