Any tips for road tripping around France?
- Thread starter R.O.S.S.I
- Start date
The Ulys website is pretty slick. You just need an ISBN from a Revolut account.
Soldato
You don’t need breathalysers.
Some cities (e.g. Paris) require a Crit'Air certificate (https://certificat-air.gouv.fr/) to show the car is allowed to drive in the city, can get a fine without one. Easy enough to apply but takes time, my first application got lost in the post so had to re-apply and took two weeks the 2nd time. Cost isn't much (~€5 iirc) just a faff to apply.
As others have said the emovis tag is a huge help, when driving down to Nice on my own a few weeks ago was great and then even when I had a passenger helped us skip long queues on a few occaisions. May be too late for you to get one now though.
I did a trip for three weeks in July and found the petrol prices (E10/Sans Plomb 95/unleaded) on the motorway weren't much higher than in towns and sometimes even less. Prices I saw ranged from €1.89-€2.14, small towns were the highest, a couple of places in Nice were the lowest and a few autoroute pumps had around €1.91 so never worried about cost of a tankful.
Aside from Paris, Nice and Saint Tropez the roads were pretty quiet, likely busier now, only had to kepe an eye out for Belgian cars who generally seem to be driven by people who don't use indicators or mirrors when changing lanes (this isn't an attempt to start an international driving standards debate, just an observation over 2,300 miles of recent driving).
As others have said the emovis tag is a huge help, when driving down to Nice on my own a few weeks ago was great and then even when I had a passenger helped us skip long queues on a few occaisions. May be too late for you to get one now though.
I did a trip for three weeks in July and found the petrol prices (E10/Sans Plomb 95/unleaded) on the motorway weren't much higher than in towns and sometimes even less. Prices I saw ranged from €1.89-€2.14, small towns were the highest, a couple of places in Nice were the lowest and a few autoroute pumps had around €1.91 so never worried about cost of a tankful.
Aside from Paris, Nice and Saint Tropez the roads were pretty quiet, likely busier now, only had to kepe an eye out for Belgian cars who generally seem to be driven by people who don't use indicators or mirrors when changing lanes (this isn't an attempt to start an international driving standards debate, just an observation over 2,300 miles of recent driving).
Presumably that is just bang in the centre of Paris?
Not sure where the boundary is, knew I needed the sticker but didn't see signage (maybe missed them watching out for other things). I saw some signs in Lyon that indicated the clean air zone started when coming off the motorway (which runs through the centre of town).
Associate
There are other areas too, but not sure of dates things become active/are not etc.
Rouen, Reims and Grenoble i believe have low emission zones too as saw plenty of signs for the first two when was in France earlier in the year. I did get a Crit'Air certificate just incase as was only a few ££ (less then 5 i think!) and it arrived in less then 2 weeks.
Rouen, Reims and Grenoble i believe have low emission zones too as saw plenty of signs for the first two when was in France earlier in the year. I did get a Crit'Air certificate just incase as was only a few ££ (less then 5 i think!) and it arrived in less then 2 weeks.
Fair, just ordered...
Associate
Marseille is a **** hole and a half. Wouldn't pay me to go there.
Granted I drive a LHD car but I tend to find the French drive like terrorists and therefore you should just do the same and drive similarly.
In all the time I've driven there I've never been asked for anything by the police. They are generally absolutely fine.
Be careful of the cameras though, plenty about. Easy to judge by how others drive. Especially in villages.
Oh and check your journey for toll and non toll routes. Some are expensive and boring to drive on and country roads are more scenic. Lots of time it makes sense to do however.
We don't have a Revolut account but can provide my IBAN from a Monzo, Halifax or Natwest account. Do we know how long it takes roughly for delivery. Would need it to be here by 2 weeks on Friday latest.
Just ordered off Ulys and says delivery by July 30th 2022! However i'm not confident it will go through to my UK bank account but i'm not too sure how to check any of this. Maybe its easier if I just cancel and order through Emovis.
Last edited:
27th - Delivered
Associate
Must have been stock problems. Ordered my replacement on Friday afternoon and it arrived on Tuesday morning.
Soldato
This might be helpful.
The busiest driving days on the roads in France
Avoid traffic congestion in France - The weekends and other days of the week when traffic will be particularly dense on the French motorway network,
about-france.com
Still no stock on the EMOVIS UK site, says they are hoping for them back in today or tomorrow though.
This is just making me wonder if it is even worth the hassle for a 2 week holiday.......
How much busier are the non-tag lanes on toll roads?
This is just making me wonder if it is even worth the hassle for a 2 week holiday.......
How much busier are the non-tag lanes on toll roads?
Associate
For us, it it the hassle of paying at them. My wife is only around 5ft and last time she would hardly reach to get the tickets and so on. I had to pull the car/caravan right over so she could reach etc.
With the tag, i just drive through and thats it.
With the tag, i just drive through and thats it.
Soldato
I've just driven in France for the first time and driving on the right in a RHD is fine after about 10 minutes. On the motorways lane discipline was much better than the UK (and less traffic when we were travelling) so motorway driving was much more pleasant than the UK. I originally sat at 70mph/112kph GPS speed in our little fiesta but after a while was more like 75mph just because pulling out into the fast lane is easier at that speed when frenchies are doing 125 to 140kph.
We were mid-week and didn't queue much at all on the motorway tolls, but it did cost about 75e to get from Calais to Lyon.
They have little services every 15km or so with just little parks / benches and toilets which are a bit nicer than the large services we get here (although they do have those too).
We were mid-week and didn't queue much at all on the motorway tolls, but it did cost about 75e to get from Calais to Lyon.
They have little services every 15km or so with just little parks / benches and toilets which are a bit nicer than the large services we get here (although they do have those too).
one thing I noticed when I was in Paris and got a lift from work back to my hotel by a local is that if there is a big queue of traffic at a set of lights, as soon as they go green everyone in the queue starts moving forwards at the same time, makes sense to some extent compared to here where you wait for the car in front of you to start moving.
Being driven about in Paris was interesting.
Not quite sure how that works - but I wish people here would get on with moving when lights go green - always seem to get a small number who dither about, etc.
