Driving in France & French roadsEssential information for driving in France |
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Driving through France - the main routes for driving to the south or
west : ►
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Quiet country roads....
Motorway driving in France is normally quite relaxed...
Related pages:
Public
holidays in France.
The following days are public holidays ("jours fériés") in France, when all or most shops tend to be shut.
Note that on public holidays, hypermarkets will generally be shut, so unless you have a chip and pin credit card that works in French automatic petrol pumps, you'll need to fill up on the motorway or in normal filling stations.
The following days are public holidays ("jours fériés") in France, when all or most shops tend to be shut.
- January 1st, New year's day
- Easter Monday (though not Good Friday except in Alsace),
- May 1st, Labour Day, Fête du Travail
- May 8th, Armistice Day
- Ascension Thursday
- July 14th, Bastille Day, Fête Nationale
- August 15th, French August bank holiday
- November 1st, Toussaint, All Saints' Day
- November 11th, Armistice, first world war.
- Christmas (though not Boxing Day)
Note that on public holidays, hypermarkets will generally be shut, so unless you have a chip and pin credit card that works in French automatic petrol pumps, you'll need to fill up on the motorway or in normal filling stations.
Other
"driving in" pages....
You may also like....
You may also like....
- Driving in Spain
- Driving in Britain for foreign visitors
- Driving in California
- Driving in Quebec (and Canada)
Photo above: Joe Schlabotnik
Licence CC.
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Driving
in France is generally a pleasure for anyone used to the heavy traffic
encountered on all roads in much of the south of England or the
Netherlands. Apart from round big cities like Lille, Paris, Lyon,
Marseilles or Toulouse, and apart from the country's busiest motorways,
the A1 (Paris - Lille) the A10 (Paris - Bordeaux) the A6, the
A7
and the A9 (Paris - Marseille - Nice - Perpignan), and apart of course
from the busiest holiday Saturdays, traffic is generally free-moving on
the main network, and light to very light on minor routes. About-France.com helps you pick the best routes, and avoid the worst bottlenecks and the busiest periods. PLAN YOUR
JOURNEY......
AVOID THE BUSIEST WEEKENDS
Here
are the days on which to avoid the French motorway system if you
possibly can. Heavy holiday traffic on these days will lead to delays
and tailbacks across the network, most particularly on the following
motorways: A1 Lille-Paris, A6 Paris-Lyon, A7 Lyon Marseilles,
A8 Marseille-Nice, A9
Avignon-Perpignan, A10 Paris-Bordeaux (in
parts). A63 around Biarritz, and Alpine motorways in general. |
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Southbound |
Northbound |
July:
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July
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August:
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August
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MOTORWAYS OR NOT ?
► Avoiding problems. When driving in France, in spite of the cost, it is generally worthwhile taking motorways (autoroutes) unless you have time to go at a more leisurely pace. However, there are some useful tips to help you cut down on the cost of your trip across France.a) Petrol (gasolene) (fr. essence): don't fill up on the autoroute! Wait until a major intersection near a town or city, and come off the autoroute. You will almost certainly find a hypermarket / superstore within a kilometer or so of the exit, offering cut price fuel. The saving can be us much as 15 centimes per litre.
b) Anyone who intends to do lots of driving in France could find it in their interest to have a diesel car, particularly a modern fuel-efficient model. Diesel fuel in France (often called gasoil, pronounced gaz-warle) used to be about a third cheaper than unleaded, but that is no longer the case; today - 2017 - diesel retails for about 20 centimes a litre less than unleaded, but it also goes further. Very few service stations now stock the old leaded petrol, known as "super". See petrol prices in France below for recent updates.
c) Use free autoroutes or dual-carriageways where they exist. See below for details.
See below for ideas on avoiding accidents.
► French road signs:
Signs indicating a motorway route (whether on the motorway or pointing to it) are indicated with white lettering on a blue background, as in the picture below left.
Signs indicating a non-motorway main route (route nationale or other) are indicated with white lettering on a green background, as in
►FRENCH MOTORWAYS:
French motorways, known as autoroutes, are designated with numbers preceded by the letter A (for Autoroute). Thus, when driving to the south of France from Calais, you can either take the A16 autoroute towards Amiens and Paris, or (normally an easier solution) the A26 motorway via Rheims. Most French autoroutes are toll motorways, and entrances to them are marked as such with the word "Péage" (pronounced pay-arje). The normal procedure is to pick up a ticket from a booth as you enter the autoroute (just press the button); tolls are paid either when you leave the autoroute, or else when the toll section comes to an end. In a few places, there are fixed toll points on the autoroute, notably in urban areas or toll bridges.
Principal signs on French toll gates:
- X - Red cross: closed -
- Green arrow: open, all methods of payment
Blue CB
rectangle or black and white
credit card pictogram : debit or
credit cards only
- Orange T : Télépéage – slow down only, no stopping - only for vehicles fitted with toll charging sensors.
Cash payment toll-gates (green arrow or pictogram of coins) will provide change – even the automatic ones.
Frankly, for occasional French motorway users, subscribing to the Liber-T system is a waste of money - unless you think that 20 € a year is worth paying in order to save perhaps a total of 10 minutes at the tolls, or are only travelling at very busy periods. On normal days, you can be through a credit-card payment booth in a minute or less.
The "Liber-T" charging sensor is available in the UK, but Sanef, the French motorway operators' company, charges higher rates for users applying via its English language website than for applications from its French website - which can only be used by people having a bank account in France.
2017 Motorway tolls in France - Tolls valid as of January 2017
The cost of motorway travel for a car without caravan or trailer is about 1 €uro for 10 miles. For example, in March 2016 motorway tolls on the 1060 km trip from Calais to Marseille, via Reims, almost all of it on toll motorways, cost 88.2 €uros, about £64. . Here are the toll costs for a selection of other common journeys that use toll motorways over long distances:| Sample
selection of motorway tolls : Jan 2017 (for
cars) (For Car + caravan or normal size motorhome ; add about 50%). Truck / HGV toll rates (class 4) : approximately three times the rate for cars. |
|
| From
Calais : Calais - Abbeville (- Rouen). 8.00 € Calais - Paris, via A 16: 20.60 € Calais-Marseilles, via Reims: 88.20 €uros Calais-Bordeaux, via Rouen & Chartres 57.00 € Calais-Bordeaux, via Rouen & Le Mans 72.50 € Calais-Toulouse, via Paris 56.40 € Calais-Toulouse via Rouen, Dreux: 37.10 € Calais - Perpignan via Rouen, Chartres & A 71: 55.20 € Calais-Nice, via Reims, Dijon & A39: 103.80 € Calais-Grenoble, via Reims, Dijon, A39: 74.00 € |
From
Le Havre : Le Havre - Montpellier via Chartres & A 71: 44.70 € Le Havre - Bordeaux, via Alençon: 62.80 € Le Havre - Bordeaux, via Paris: 74.20 € Roscoff - Toulouse via Bordeaux: 43.00 € Paris - Nice via Beaune 75.00 € Paris - Bordeaux via A10: 54.40 € Paris - Bordeaux via A10 to Poitiers then N10 via Angoulême: 34.60 € Bruxelles / Brussels - Marseilles, via Valenciennes and Reims: 78.60 € Strasbourg - le Perthus (Spanish border): 69.80 € Freiburg im Breisgau / Mulhouse - Perpignan: 68.20 € Freiburg / Mulhouse - Montpellier, via Lyon: 54.30 € Freiburg im Breisgau - Bayonne, via Châlon sur Saône and Bordeaux: 64.80 € |
The average cost per kilometre depends on what proportion of the journey involves free motorways or other roads. Drivers wanting to avoid French the tolls should remember that it is not necessarily the best solution, particularly in fairly populated areas. Using other roads, with their traffic lights, speed restrictions and roundabouts will mean longer journey times and more stress. ... even if you have a satnav to help you along...
Alternatively, check out this low-tolls or no-tolls route to Southwest France and the Spanish border.
► TIP
: Ways to save on motorway tolls when driving to
southwest France
Though it is usually easiest and in the end worth it to take direct motorways and pay the tolls, there is one journey where you can make an appreciable saving for just a few extra kilometres.
If driving from Paris to Bordeaux and southwest France, do not follow the A 10 motorway all the way. Leave the A10 at Orleans, following A71 > A20 Toulouse. At Limoges, follow N141 > Angoulême. At Angoulême, follow the N10 for Bordeaux. All but about 60 km. of this alternative route to Bordeaux is on autoroutes or dual carriageway, but after Vierzon, it's all free. Saving: about 36 €uros less in tolls, for a distance of about 15 miles extra.... and cheaper off-motorway petrol if you need it.
Alternatively, check this low-tolls or no-tolls route to Southwest France and the Spanish border.
Click here for a zoomable detailed road map of France.
For more information on French motorway tolls, follow this link to the French motorway network website in English: this site provides a form to fill in, to calculate the cost of a motorway trip through France.
For a detailed route, use the route-finder map and distance calculator page on About-France.com.
Though it is usually easiest and in the end worth it to take direct motorways and pay the tolls, there is one journey where you can make an appreciable saving for just a few extra kilometres.
If driving from Paris to Bordeaux and southwest France, do not follow the A 10 motorway all the way. Leave the A10 at Orleans, following A71 > A20 Toulouse. At Limoges, follow N141 > Angoulême. At Angoulême, follow the N10 for Bordeaux. All but about 60 km. of this alternative route to Bordeaux is on autoroutes or dual carriageway, but after Vierzon, it's all free. Saving: about 36 €uros less in tolls, for a distance of about 15 miles extra.... and cheaper off-motorway petrol if you need it.
Alternatively, check this low-tolls or no-tolls route to Southwest France and the Spanish border.
Click here for a zoomable detailed road map of France.
For more information on French motorway tolls, follow this link to the French motorway network website in English: this site provides a form to fill in, to calculate the cost of a motorway trip through France.
For a detailed route, use the route-finder map and distance calculator page on About-France.com.
►Free motorways and routes avoiding tolls
There are a few free motorways in France, and some long-distance dual carriageways that are up to motorway standard. It is even possible to drive right through France avoiding all tolls - though this is not necessarily the best nor the most economical solution. The two links below show our recommended routes to the South of France avoiding most tolls - and alternatives avoiding all tolls.- ►
toll-free
route to
Southwest France and northern Spain
► toll-free route the Alps and the Mediterranean
Among free motorways note in particular
- two thirds of the section on the A16 - A28 route between Calais and Rouen
- the A 84 from Caen to Rennes
- 275 km of the A20 from Vierzon to just south of Brive la Gaillarde (the longest stretch of free motorway in France, and the main Paris-Toulouse route).
- the A75 motorway between Clermont Ferrand
and Beziers -
an alternate route for people driving to Languedoc and the
Spanish border. Note however the Millau
viaduct has a toll (Toll
prices). Mountain motorway not recommended for caravans or in
winter.
- the motorway between Dunkerque and Lille.
- Most urban and peri-urban autoroutes in France are also free; and even when they are not, it makes more sense to pay the toll and avoid miles of traffic lights and congestion.
- Main arterial roads west of Rennes, in Brittany
- The N 10 from Poitiers to Bordeaux. See map of routes through France.
► TRUNK ROADS :
These in France are still popularly known as "routes nationales". However, in the framework of "regionalisation", responsibility for most roads has been devolved to local authorities, and the concept of "routes nationales" has largely disappeared. The only "N" roads that now survive are ones that - in the absence of an "autoroute", form part of the strategic national road network, such as the N21 from Limoges to Tarbes, or the N13 from Cherbourg as far as Caen.Road numbering in France
"A" roads, such as A71, are motorways, or Autoroutes"N" roads are strategic trunk routes - the National network.
"D" roads are roads whose upkeep is paid for by the local Department, or county. They can be anything from busy local routes or former National routes now downgraded, to the quietest of country backroads.
When driving in France, it is always best to follow destinations rather than road numbers. Following the regionalisation of responsibility for many roads, the result - if you want to travel by following road numbers - is a classic state of confusion; Drivers following the N13 south from Cherbourg lose it at Caen, as it becomes the D 613 thereafter! From Evreux to Mantes the "N 13" signs reappear, but after that it's the D 113....For another example, anyone wanting to avoid the toll motorway by driving along the old "route nationale" to the southwest corner of France, from Chartres to Biarritz, will follow three disconnected sections of main road known as "N 10"; but in areas where the old N10 is now close to a parallel motorway, the road is now signed as "D 910" or the "D 1010". Some old "N" roads now blithely change their number each time they pass from one department to another !!
This is all very confusing for foreign visitors driving in France, but not so much for the French, since with the exception of motorways, they follow a destination, rather than a road number. Destinations via main trunk routes are indicated by the names of towns in white letters on a bright green background, as shown above.
Note that France also displays European
route numbers where appropriate; these are marked with a white number
on a green background, and are in addition to the French road number.
For example the A
6 motorway from Paris to Lyon is also marked as
E15
- E15 being a European route running
from Inverness to Algeciras.In the motorway sign on the right, the A43 autoroute is also indicated as being the E70; the main towns it leads towards are indicated in normal lettering; other destinations, such as airports, are indicated in italics. The word "Péage" at the bottom indicates that this is a toll motorway.
Click for information on Traffic accidents in France
Avoiding main roads in France
"Bison Futé" and driving on the byways of France
Photo: In bygone times many great "alignements de platanes" - or avenues of plane trees - were planted to give shade to travellers on French roads, specially in the south of France. Though the plane-lined road remains one of the iconic images of France today, few remain, except for short sections on country roads, such as here in Languedoc.
"Routes bis"
Sometimes you may see direction signs starting with the word Bis, in italics. These are the equivalent of the British "HR" (holiday route) itineraries, using less crowded main roads. Thus a sign saying "bis Lyon" is an alternative route avoiding the main roads, and generally with less lorry traffic. Bis, in French, means second (as in the prefix bi-).The "Bison futé" (in English the cunning bison) is the motorist who does not follow the crowd, but seeks out less crowded easier roads, the "routes bis", thus the "bis-on". If you see a bison futé sign, it will be directing you either to alternative routes themselves or to an information point. On summer Saturdays, being a cunning bison is often well worth it, unless you love driving in heavy traffic or sitting in traffic jams.
Driving on the backroads of France requires a good map - or a Satnav that allows you to wander off the beaten track; but in many places, it can still make driving a pleasure, rather than a chore
► Avoiding Paris
This is a good idea on most days. When driving from Calais to the south of France, use the A 26 motorway via Reims, Troyes and Dijon.If driving to south western and central France, avoid Paris going via Rouen, Evreux, Chartres and Orleans. There is no motorway between Evreux and Orleans, but the road over this section is currently being upgraded to dual carriageway, and over half of it is now complete. Avoiding Paris- click for details and route map
► Avoiding peak periods
If you can avoid travelling on Saturdays between July 10th and August 30th, this is very advisable. On these days, many French autoroutes - and in particular all the main arteries to the south - are liable to reach saturation. The worst bottlenecks are in the Rhone valley south of Lyons, along the south coast, and around Bordeaux.
In January and February, Alpine motorways can get hyper-snarled up with traffic.
Check out the busy holiday weeks for 2016
However, outside these periods, Saturday and Sunday are the best days for driving in France, on motorways and arterial roads. Indeed, on these days, HGV's - lorries or trucks - are banned, meaning that unless you get stuck behind caravans or camper vans, combine harvesters or other various slowdowns, driving is relatively hassle-free.
Night driving in France
Driving between the hours of 8 p.m and 6 a.m. can be a good way to avoid the traffic. Motorway driving can be considerably easier at night during peak holiday travel periods. Leaving Calais at 6 p.m., you can be almost half way down France by midnight. Depending on the route you take, you can book a hotel near the motorway near Tours (A10 route) or Bourges (A71 route) or Dijon (A26 route)However it is vital to ensure that you have had sufficiient rest or sleep in the day before setting out on an overnight journey. Cars from the UK and Ireland must have headlight dip deflectors if driving after dark
►HGV restrictions in France
See themed page : HGV information for France
► Petrol (Gas) stations in France
Almost all petrol stations in France accept Visa and Mastercard; however take care with 24h automatic pumps in supermarket forecourts. Many of these do not accept credit cards without integrated chip and PIN number. Most UK cards now have integrated chip and pin, so the times when UK cards did not work in French petrol stations are now history for most travellers. However, if you think you may need to fill up in an emergency while driving in France, check your card out at a supermarket self-service pump well before you run out. If it doesn't work, nip round and join the queue for the pay-at-the counter pumps. Make sure that you don't have to fill up in an emergency using an untested card at an unmanned filling station at night or on Sundays.France Fuel price watch:
Compared to the UK, there is not a big difference, except for diesel which is much cheaper (about 15%) in France. In early August 2017 typical supermarket fuel prices in France were :| Unleaded 98 octane | 1.40 Euros per litre |
| Unleaded 95 octane | 1.37 Euro per litre |
| Diesel | 1.15 Euros per litre. |
E10 graded fuels (containing 10% of ethanol bio-fuel) are a couple of centimes cheaper, where they are available. These are compatible with most modern cars; if in doubt check with your supplier.
(There are 3.79 litres to 1 US gallon; but generally speaking cars in Europe are smaller and consume less fuel than cars in the USA.)
Click for information on Traffic accidents in France
► Overnight stops.
Motorway hotels or something else? France is very well equipped in hotels and other types of accommodation. Many of the chains , such as Novotel (3 stars) , Mercure (3 stars), Ibis (2 stars) , Ibis budget (2 stars), and Formule 1 (1 star), have outlets clustered near motorway exits, notably near the exits from toll motorways and around towns and cities. The hotel links below list only the French motorway hotels that are really easy to find.Find and book an overnight stop
....
► Click here for hotels beside motorways to west and southwest France.
► Click here for hotels beside motorways to east and southeast France.
► For quiet B&B accommodation, check out the B-and-B in France website.
► Click here for hotels beside motorways to west and southwest France.
► Click here for hotels beside motorways to east and southeast France.
► For quiet B&B accommodation, check out the B-and-B in France website.
Stop to shop...
See the French shopping guide page for useful information if you are planning to stop to shop on your way back home...
DRIVING IN FRANCE
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Find
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in France
Click
for best
online rates for hotels near the following towns on main motorway routes.
Calais
Reims
Dijon
Beaune
Lyon
Rouen
Orleans
Tours
Limoges
Poitiers
Bordeaux Clermont-Fd.
Reims
Dijon
Beaune
Lyon
Rouen
Orleans
Tours
Limoges
Poitiers
Bordeaux Clermont-Fd.
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