Any tips for road tripping around France?

[R.O.S.S.I]

Hi all, my partner and I are going to be doing a bit of a road trip around France for about 16 days next month to attend a wedding.

Our route is as follows and we've booked accommodation already but I would love to know if you have any France specific road tripping tips and any road tripping tips in general. I'd love to know if you think there are some "must-see" stops along our route too!

• Loire Valley (3 nights)
• Bordeaux (2 nights)
• Condom (3 nights)
• Marseille (3 nights)
• Lyon (3 nights)
• Epernay (1 night)

 

[XeNoN89]

One thing I know that is handy is the electronic toll tags that lets you pass through the toll roads without queueing

 

[DRZ]

Get an Emovis Tag for the tolls: www.emovis-tag.co.uk

It looks like you're not really doing huge stretches of driving in one go or back to back without enough rest which is often unwise so that's good. Make sure you have breakdown cover that covers France and your car - a fair few of them specifically exclude cars which are over 11 years old for example. You've probably seen all the requirements for high vis jackets etc etc already but if not go check out what you must have in your car. Read up on the rules about speed limits in towns and how to recognise when the limit changes as it isn't a speed limit sign you're looking for. Remember if it is raining the speed limits drop as well.

 

[jpaul]

I might spec a petrol price app .. Carrefour usually a good option.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I might spec a petrol price app .. Carrefour usually a good option.

There’s a government website for this:

Prix des carburants en France, site gouvernemental

Site du prix des carburants du Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle : SP95, Gazole, E85, GPL, E10, SP98

www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Get an Emovis Tag for the tolls: www.emovis-tag.co.uk

It looks like you're not really doing huge stretches of driving in one go or back to back without enough rest which is often unwise so that's good. Make sure you have breakdown cover that covers France and your car - a fair few of them specifically exclude cars which are over 11 years old for example. You've probably seen all the requirements for high vis jackets etc etc already but if not go check out what you must have in your car. Read up on the rules about speed limits in towns and how to recognise when the limit changes as it isn't a speed limit sign you're looking for. Remember if it is raining the speed limits drop as well.

I can’t recommend these enough. Just skip through the 30kph lanes at Péages. Saves your passenger (assuming an RHD car) having to deal with Péage machines as the number of ones which serve on both sides drops rapidly as you travel south.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

I know its not a huge amount but is there a reason the Emovis tag has so many more costs associated with it compared to the Ulys tag?

Badge télépéage autoroutes Ulys

Simplifiez-vous la route ! Découvrez dès maintenant nos offres de badges de télépéage pour particuliers et professionnels. ⏱️

ulys.vinci-autoroutes.com

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Just in case…

You need a hi-vis vest for each occupant in the vehicle and you must don them before exiting the vehicle on Autoroutes. Get your passengers behind the armco first then place your warning triangle 50-100 metres upstream.

Have a decent first aid kit in the vehicle.

Have copies of all your vehicle’s documents with you.

Remember that the speed limit on roads marked “90” is actually 80kph in some Departments, but the level of enforcement varies. Best to drive at 80kph.

Be aware that the Gendarmes can take your U.K. driving licence off you on the spot if you’ve done something stupid or demand a cash spot fine for minor infractions. Don’t bother arguing even if you speak fluent French. Don’t swear under your breath at them as many understand some English.

Come to a complete stop at stop signs. You‘re expected to stop, apply handbrake, look around and then move off when the road is clear.

On some rural roads, you might still find junctions/forks where traffic joining from the right has priority over you. If there’s no Stop or Give Way (Céder Votre Passage) sign facing the joining road, slow down and watch for incoming Citroens. Some elderly French drivers don’t even bother to slow at these when joining from the right as they know they have priority and don’t give a **** if they have a crash.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I know its not a huge amount but is there a reason the Emovis tag has so many more costs associated with it compared to the Ulys tag?

Badge télépéage autoroutes Ulys

Simplifiez-vous la route ! Découvrez dès maintenant nos offres de badges de télépéage pour particuliers et professionnels. ⏱️

ulys.vinci-autoroutes.com

I remember them being about the same cost. £20 deposit for the tag and £2 per month handling fee for the months when the tag is used.

Emovis is just a U.K. agent for Ulys IIRC.

I have a sneaking suspicion that you need a French bank account for the Direct Debit with Ulys. I know you need a U.K. address and U.K. bank account for Emovis as they wouldn’t let me transfer mine when I moved to a France.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

I remember them being about the same cost. £20 deposit for the tag and £2 per month handling fee for the months when the tag is used.

Emovis is just a U.K. agent for Ulys IIRC.

I have a sneaking suspicion that you need a French bank account for the Direct Debit with Ulys. I know you need a U.K. address and U.K. bank account for Emovis as they wouldn’t let me transfer mine when I moved to a France.

Looks like you can enter an IBAN during sign up with Ulys so I may just give that a crack.

Just in case…

You need a hi-vis vest for each occupant in the vehicle and you must don them before exiting the vehicle on Autoroutes. Get your passengers behind the armco first then place your warning triangle 50-100 metres upstream.

Have a decent first aid kit in the vehicle.

Have copies of all your vehicle’s documents with you.

Remember that the speed limit on roads marked “90” is actually 80kph in some Departments, but the level of enforcement varies. Best to drive at 80kph.

Be aware that the Gendarmes can take your U.K. driving licence off you on the spot if you’ve done something stupid or demand a cash spot fine for minor infractions. Don’t bother arguing even if you speak fluent French. Don’t swear under your breath at them as many understand some English.

Come to a complete stop at stop signs. You‘re expected to stop, apply handbrake, look around and then move off when the road is clear.

On some rural roads, you might still find junctions/forks where traffic joining from the right has priority over you. If there’s no Stop or Give Way (Céder Votre Passage) sign facing the joining road, slow down and watch for incoming Citroens. Some elderly French drivers don’t even bother to slow at these when joining from the right as they know they have priority and don’t give a **** if they have a crash.

Thanks for the pointers. I'll pick up a couple of hi-vis jackets and a first aid kit for the car.

Must admit i'm slightly nervous about driving on the other side of the road having never done it before. The Mrs has a smidge of experience doing it so she can start us off!

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Just pay attention in and exiting car parks. I’ve never forgotten what side of the road I should be on with on main road, but I have been known to head for the wrong lane on leaving a car park back before I lived here.

Whoever is riding shotgun will be the spotter for overtakes on Autoroutes/dual carriageways and looking further around bends on country roads.

Prepare yourself for the French drivers closing to with a couple of metres of your rear bumper before pulling out to overtake you. It’s not regional or anything to whether they drive a German car, THEY ALL DO IT.

 

[poosemon]

Was looking at tags myself a couple of days ago as in France in the August.

Ones that require an IBAN i have found refusing my UK bank account. Reading around they will only accept Euro bank accounts so a common work around seems to be to open a starling bank account that allows you to have a Euros currency account.

I think a few used to allow a credit card but not any more for fresh sign ups. Emovis does quite charge a premium for a uk based account comparing to local providers, maybe not worth it for one trip (will have wife in car with me so can grab the tickets)!

 

[jpaul]

for a while I used an aide-memoire like leaving a cloth on the steering wheel or gear-knob when you leave car, to remind yourself later which side of the road you should later be heading off on , post-it maybe.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

check toll road requirements.
Learn what the fuel types are in French... seriously.

and the thing that catches most out is that if you drive through ANY rural area assume that Priorité à droite is in effect even if not signposted (and if it is actually knowing what the sign looks like comes in handy). This gives junction priority to those on the right NOT you, you stop not them. Yes its backwards as hell and yes ignorant UK drivers absolutely ignore it.

 

[Rroff]

Be aware that the Gendarmes can take your U.K. driving licence off you on the spot if you’ve done something stupid or demand a cash spot fine for minor infractions. Don’t bother arguing even if you speak fluent French. Don’t swear under your breath at them as many understand some English.

I have a relative who fell foul of that LOL. Skipped out on a speeding fine thinking they'd get away with it then decided to use the same vehicle to take a holiday in France at a later date... they didn't get away with it. My mind boggles sometimes.

 

[geekman]

As mentioned before, get a toll tag.

The whole Priorité à droite thing is completely over exaggerated by English people IMO. I lived there for several years and encountered very few cases where that rule applied. The ones I did see were all in villages where you wouldn't be going fast anyway so it's really not that hard to spot them and slow down.

Personal opinion and all that, but Marseille is basically the Bradford of France. Pretty much every town in the PACA region (with the possible exception of Brignoles) is far nicer. I'd skip it and do Aix-En-Provence or even Porquerolles / Nice / Menton / Cannes if you can go that far.

 

[dlockers]

I know its not a huge amount but is there a reason the Emovis tag has so many more costs associated with it compared to the Ulys tag?

Badge télépéage autoroutes Ulys

Simplifiez-vous la route ! Découvrez dès maintenant nos offres de badges de télépéage pour particuliers et professionnels. ⏱️

ulys.vinci-autoroutes.com

Firstly, thanks for recommending this. My in-laws drive on the continent constantly and they've never sussed this out, so it was a definite one-up moment.

FYI for others - this thing takes an age to be processed (relative to Amazon):

12th - Order Placed

21st - Order Prepared, Subscriber Created, Despatched

25th - Notification Direct Debit to be taken soon

Still no tag though.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Interesting, we leave in 3 weeks so better get my skates on applying for one.

 

[Ian_Eb]

I requested a replacement one on Friday as the battery on my existing one was flagged as low. It was dispatched this morning. Email from them said that they had been struggling to get stock for a while, but they have them in at present.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Hmmm the Emovis website says they are not taking orders for a French tag atm as they have more orders than they can fulfill and will be turning it back on this Weds/Thurs.
Will pop my order in asap once its re-enabled.