Driving to the south of France... help me plan?

Vidar

Vidar

Vidar

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Hi Guys, looking at a family holiday to the south of France next year, and would like your help planning and costing the journey?

I've got permission from Motability to take my car to France and I'm covered by RAC European Breakdown Cover.

Traveling from Liverpool to Argeles Sur-Mer is an almost 18hr journey. I need to plan for fuel costs and a hotel stop around the halfway mark. Can you guys help? I've never done anything like this planning wise.
 
koolpc said:
I done it twice. Non stop except for fuel and food. But, over 12 years ago now!! Can be very tiring.
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Yeah, I've done the journey myself a few times as a passenger when I was in my teens... My ex brother in law was a long distance lorry driver so thought nothing of it. My Missus, not so much. This will be her first time
 
How many drivers will you have for the car? Being able to tag-team driver/passenger helps to keep chewing through the distance. A fuel / toilet / food stop also become a driver change.

For getting to France, a couple of options...
  • For summer holiday this year we drove to Folkestone on the Friday night and used the Premier Inn in Folkestone which is about 10 minutes drive from the Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) terminal. We properly filled our boots at the PI breakfast and were setup for the day.
  • I've also used the Premier Inn at Manston Airfield (listed as the Ramsgate Manston Airfield), then a short drive to jump on the ferry from Dover.
  • Alternatively, I've also used the overnight ferries from Portsmouth to Le Havre and Cherbourg. Crossing likely to be more expensive than a Le Shuttle (assuming you have a cabin) but you don't need a hotel in this country - you drive off in France fresh and ready to hit the road. Food and drink available on the ferries, though last time we grabbed a Domino's which was about 1 mile from the ferry terminal in Portsmouth and munched that in the boarding queue. Board, dump your stuff in the cabin and be first at the bar for some drinks.
Plenty of time to weigh-up total costs / times / destination, not to mention travel preference. Mrs Chris is happy on Eurotunnel but would never take the ferry option as she gets horribly sea-sick.

If do plan to use the French autoroutes for your trip, get a toll tag. There's an offer if you have an Eurotunnel booking which says you £10. Makes the toll booths so much quicker, especially during peak holiday season and a RHD car if you are solo up-front. You can try to avoid the autoroute to save the money but it makes for slow progress going through all the towns & villages. Last year the tolls to / from the Alps came to something like £130 IIRC.

www.leshuttle.com

Emovis tag

Emovis Tag, the French motorway operator has now extended its Liber-t automatic toll payment service to UK motorists
www.leshuttle.com www.leshuttle.com

Have a think if you want to split the trip somewhere as a destination (town / city) to visit and look round (somewhere like Orleans) or if it's just a bed for the night enroute. If it's the later, there are loads of hotels like Ibis, Comfort, B&B Hotel (etc) around to offer something for most budgets. For our trip to the Alps last year we stopped a little independent hotel / restaurant in the Morvan park. A bit off the autoroute but in a pretty little hamlet so chance for a leg stretch, a few beers and a really good meal to feel properly refreshed the next day.

Fuel is cheaper off the autoroutes, so having a passenger can be helpful to plan ahead and look for supermarkets close to junctions. As a random example I just picked, a motorway services was 1.990 euro/litre for unleaded (SP95) but 1.799/litre if you nipped off at the previous junction for the supermarket. You can look up garages and prices at:

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 www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr

Much closer to going - check the rules on what you need to carry in the car (eg high-vis vests) and pre-load the car with a good selection of drinks / snacks / music.
 
I've been travelling through France this summer hols. The tags are a lot less essential now that all the tolls are contactless. Even most of the French drivers don't seem to bother.

Although if I were solo in a RHD car it might be worth it.
 
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I think on day 1 I'd set off really early and aim for Orleans. There's either B&B or Ibis hotel there, which seems to be their version of Premier Inn. Then on day 2 aim for Argeles Sur-Mer.

Here's a website to estimate fuel costs:
https://fuelcostcalculator.uk/

Then double it because you have to do the same in reverse to get back.

It's pretty far and quite an expensive trip, I'd be considering whether the journey can be split into three days and see cool stuff along the way to make it less boring. If I was on my own I'd smash it in two days, but with kids I don't know if that's realistic.
 
@#Chri5# So it's a single driver unfortunately I don't think I'll have passed my test by then.

Fortunately we're all good on boats, the less actual driving she needs to do the better so an overnight ferry might be perfect, I was mainly thinking of just a hotel en route for the night so she can get plenty of rest. And we'd rather stay on the autoroutes for speed and time really
 
I'd try to stop somewhere with a swimming pool. Something for the kids to break out and enjoy - rather than just a room and 4 beds.

We stopped at a lovely B&B in a castle last time. Made the day feel like part of the holiday instead of just pure travel.

Orleans is relatively good distance for a day without killing yourself.
 
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Vidar said:
@#Chri5# So it's a single driver unfortunately I don't think I'll have passed my test by then.

Fortunately we're all good on boats, the less actual driving she needs to do the better so an overnight ferry might be perfect, I was mainly thinking of just a hotel en route for the night so she can get plenty of rest. And we'd rather stay on the autoroutes for speed and time really
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Don't underestimate how challenging driving this kind of distance is. Especially if you've not had a decent sleep the night before.
 
Hawk Tuah said:
I've been travelling through France this summer hols. The tags are a lot less essential now that all the tolls are contactless. Even most of the French drivers don't seem to bother.

Although if I were solo in a RHD car it might be worth it.
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Some of the tolls we went through in August were much quicker on a tag. We had a tag but the in-laws in their car paid on card and on some very busy tolls we could end up 5 to 10 minutes in front of them. Pont de Normandie was probably the most extreme example as that had big queues both ways and even getting to the dedicated tag lane had you in the queue. However, when we've travelled in June they've been quieter and the tag benefit much less noticeable.

As @Hawk Tuah says, it's a long slog for a single driver. Fifteen minute breaks for toilet & driver change probably turn into 45 to 60 minutes to let the driver relax and get a good break. At peak weekends in the summer, some of the French autoroute services can be very busy and even finding a parking space might need a few laps of the car park. The aires with no facilities can be quieter but you're obviously not going to get a coffee or anything.

A ferry into Le Havre saves about 100 to 200km (each way) in France compared to the tunnel, so maybe a 1 to 2 hour saving.

Are you totally set on Argeles Sur-Mer?
 
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#Chri5# said:
Some of the tolls we went through in August were much quicker on a tag. We had a tag but the in-laws in their car paid on card and on some very busy tolls we could end up 5 to 10 minutes in front of them. Pont de Normandie was probably the most extreme example as that had big queues both ways and even getting to the dedicated tag lane had you in the queue. However, when we've travelled in June they've been quieter and the tag benefit much less noticeable.

As @Hawk Tuah says, it's a long slog for a single driver. Fifteen minute breaks for toilet & driver change probably turn into 45 to 60 minutes to let the driver relax and get a good break. At peak weekends in the summer, some of the French autoroute services can be very busy and even finding a parking space might need a few laps of the car park. The aires with no facilities can be quieter but you're obviously not going to get a coffee or anything.

A ferry into Le Havre saves about 100 to 200km (each way) in France compared to the tunnel, so maybe a 1 to 2 hour saving.

Are you totally set on Argeles Sur-Mer?
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Not 100% set on it but it is a place with a lot of memories of my dad. Do want to add this will be in May 2025 and not during the school hols as I've gotten permission to take the kids out of school.
 
Fair enough having family connections - good to give it plenty of thought.

Autoroutes should be quieter then (compared to July / August), so as I said above the time saving from a toll tag is likely to be much reduced and it becomes a nice to have for convivence.
 
Vidar said:
Traveling from Liverpool to Argeles Sur-Mer is an almost 18hr journey.
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Just to throw it out there but how about taking a ferry to Santander and then driving? Especially if you can get a ferry that arrives in the morning. It's then a one day drive to Argeles Sur-Mer.
 
I did a trip like this last Summer.

Think the route roughly went something like the below:

Newhaven
Dieppe
Saumer
Bordeaux
Condom
Carcassone
Marseille
Lyon
Epernay
Dieppe

All of those places were where we had stopped off to stay for a 2-3 nights and explore.
Great trip will deffo be doing it again in future in other areas of France.
 
with a years notice , if you haven't already got something like the halifax account for the health&breakdown insurance,
also eu cover on car insurance, roaming on mobile contract.
 
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