Calais to Bordeaux - what's the best route?

geekman

geekman

geekman

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I'm travelling from Calais to Bordeaux and back in early september with some friends from uni.

We'll be doing the journey overnight as the ferry was cheaper and it should hopefully allow us to avoid traffic, so we're not bothered about taking a scenic route.

The main priority is cost - we want to have as much money as possible to spend during the week and as we're sharing the costs of petrol/tolls/ferry, the cheaper the journey the better!

According to google, if I were to take a route avoiding tolls, it would take 10 hours 23 minutes to cover a total distance of 820km. If I were to go for the quickest route and pay the tolls, it would take 7 hours 40 minutes to cover a total distance of 866km.

I was aiming to spend around 8 hours driving - I think that even with breaks, any longer than that would be too dangerous as I don't want to risk falling asleep at the wheel.

So, in theory the non-tolls route would take far too long, but I'm struggling to believe that it will take anywhere near as long as google says, especially as I'm travelling extremely late at night, so I'm tempted to just go with that route and hope I can do it fairly quickly.

So, has anyone done a similar route before and what would you recommend? If I'm being an idiot and should just take the google suggested route with the toll roads, feel free to say :p
 
To me it would just be a matter of personal opinion, with the choices being pay more (tolls plus extra fuel as well for the extra mileage) or drive longer. I would say that if you want to save money and feel up to driving for 10 hours take the non-toll. If you don't think you could last the 10 hours I would take the toll roads, that is one hell of a lot of metal to break if you did fall asleep. (assuming you are taking the Jag)
 
I'd be inclined to believe that the toll route will use LESS fuel, not more, as it will all be autoroute, and not stop start through towns and villages.

I drive to the French Alps at least once a year, and I'd not even consider avoiding the (frankly not that expensive) tolls. I don't stop for rest breaks either, I stop if the car needs fuel and if a passenger needs the loo, and that's it.
 
SilverTongue said:
To me it would just be a matter of personal opinion, with the choices being pay more (tolls plus extra fuel as well for the extra mileage) or drive longer. I would say that if you want to save money and feel up to driving for 10 hours take the non-toll. If you don't think you could last the 10 hours I would take the toll roads, that is one hell of a lot of metal to break if you did fall asleep. (assuming you are taking the Jag)
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In reality I know I could last the 10 hours as I'd take regular breaks, but I'd rather not have to force myself to stay awake. I will be taking the Jag which should make for a nice relaxing drive but the thought of having an accident in France fills me with horror (I speak decent French but I can imagine recovery and repairs would be an absolute nightmare)

paradigm said:
I'd be inclined to believe that the toll route will use LESS fuel, not more, as it will all be autoroute, and not stop start through towns and villages.

I drive to the French Alps at least once a year, and I'd not even consider avoiding the (frankly not that expensive) tolls. I don't stop for rest breaks either, I stop if the car needs fuel and if a passenger needs the loo, and that's it.
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I thought the autoroute would use less fuel under normal circumstances, but given the time we'll be travelling at, I'd imagine the non-toll route would be fairly empty and free-flowing. I assumed the tolls were quite expensive, but it's been a while since I've gone through France in a car so I could be wrong.

As for breaks, I'll have 4 passengers so I reckon I'll be pretty much forced into regular breaks what with people needing toilets/coffee etc.
 
Thee Toll roads are great, not that inexpensive and pretty light in terms of traffic for the most part whenever I've seen them. Only seemed to get busy near Paris, the rest of the tolls were remarkably free, even the one to Calais.
 
Have you already booked dover calais? The money you'll save on tolls and fuels I'd go Portsmouth caen or Newhaven dieppe plus Portsmouth caen you can get a night ferry have a meal and a drink and do the rest by lunch the next day
 
Will said:
Thee Toll roads are great, not that inexpensive and pretty light in terms of traffic for the most part whenever I've seen them. Only seemed to get busy near Paris, the rest of the tolls were remarkably free, even the one to Calais.
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Yes, that's what everyone's been telling me, I was just wondering if the other route was quick enough at night to make it viable, but judging by the replies so far I'll probably be taking the toll roads.

maccapacca said:
Have you already booked dover calais? The money you'll save on tolls and fuels I'd go Portsmouth caen or Newhaven dieppe plus Portsmouth caen you can get a night ferry have a meal and a drink and do the rest by lunch the next day
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Have already booked unfortunately - a couple of my friends are on the way to dover so we thought it'd be easier that way. To be honest I never even considered other ferry routes as we've done dover-calais so often it just seemed to be the obvious choice.
 
I do this route down to Angouleme (~60 miles north of Bordeaux) a lot. Take the peage all the way down to Poitiers then save yourself a bit of time and money and take the N10 - it's dual carriageway all the way and all the truckers heading down to Spain take this route (happily they aren't allowed to overtake on most of it).

This is a long journey however and I'd strongly recommend stopping somewhere on the way. I've also done the route before they built the A28 extension from Rouen to Alencon - it was utterly soul destroying.

Speaking of Rouen, I think there still might be a bridge that's closed on the main road through, which means you'll need to look out for the diversion signs.
 
I would definitely take the tolls. We went down to La Rochelle in September, and though it was in our motor home, we saved about 3 hours on the way back by taking the tolls and were more efficient in the process. Not 60 euros more efficient, but it was so much more relaxing and easier to make progress.
 
paradigm said:
I'd be inclined to believe that the toll route will use LESS fuel, not more, as it will all be autoroute, and not stop start through towns and villages.

I drive to the French Alps at least once a year, and I'd not even consider avoiding the (frankly not that expensive) tolls. I don't stop for rest breaks either, I stop if the car needs fuel and if a passenger needs the loo, and that's it.
Click to expand...

This. French toll roads are awesome, what you lose in paying the toll and travelling a little further you will probably make back in fuel economy cost wise, and a 2.5 hour time saving is not to be sniffed at.
 
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