hi gwiddicombe have a look at the two sites below have found them quite usefull

http://www.drive-alive.co.uk/

http://www.autoroutes.fr/index.php?lng=2

Make sure your insurance is OK for abroad. Some companies only give 3rd party cover outside of the UK. You usually need to inform your insurance company that you are taking the car out of the UK and they should send you a travel pack with things like incident forms in other languages, GB sticker and other advice. The company may also have clauses about how long you can drive outside the UK (usually 30 consequetive days).

You will need a GB sticker if your number plate is not already badged.

Masks or lenses for your headlights to prevent you dazzling other drivers.
A warning triangle (2 for Spain)
A set of spare bulbs
A first aid kit
A fire extinguisher

You will need your car's documents including registration document and your drivers' licence including the paper part if you have a picture licence. You will need your certificate of insurance to show you have cover abroad. You used to need a photo licence for Spain not sure if you still do.

If you have breakdown cover you can check that you are covered abroad, there may be a charge to extend the cover if you need it.

A decent book of Maps such as Michelin or AA for France.
Michelin also do regional maps which are good but they unfold to a huge size and so it is difficult to consult them on the move.

Enjoy

If you get the Michelin map or road atlas, scenic routes are edged in green.

If you look up 'Bison Fute' (crafty bison) in a search engine, you will come across alternative routes for when the traffic is very heavy.

Although not yet compulsory, a fluorescent jacket is advisable to be worn outside the car in case of breakdown.

Personally I would suggest adding drinking water and non-chocolate nibbles for hot weather, and possibly a long sleeve shirt to cover the driving arm as you can burn all too easily if you rest your forearm on your window when driving .... but you are talking about Brittany .....

Sunglasses and suncream are also essential ... and a headcovering if you've got a sunroof or convertible as the top of your head can burn too!

Should have added that you will also need a dayglo jacket in the car (you may even need one for every passenger)!

These are not expensive I got mine from the local Army and Navy stores.

Hello Everyone,

Me and my boyfriend will be driving to Nice in September, this is the first time we have driven so far. We want to get there as quickly as possible as we are going to take our time on the way back. We were planning to get to Boulogne at 12.30pm on 10/9, drive part of the way, stop overnight and hopfully get to Nice the next day. Can you help me with the following:-

- Any tips on routes, anywhere to avoid etc
- How much I can expect to pay in tolls
- Any tips on where we should plan our overnight stop.
- Anthing else you can think of that we need to know.

Thanks

Hi,

Have just found a cracking website for calculating road toll costs in France. Have a look at THIS

Peter

Hi Becky05,

Assuming that you are looking to spend not too much money I would suggest driving to Beaune on the first day, this is near Dijon but right next to the Autoroute. If you're just looking for an over-night stop the Villages Hotel at Beaune is good and you can get a "continental breakfast" the whole lot will cost about £40. Unfortunately you have to find your own evening meal but there are some nice places in the town centre about half a mile away.
Total driving time about 5 1/2 hours, 351 miles.

Day two would require a drive of just under 400 miles, by leaving Beaune at 9.30 am you would arrive in Nice at around 3pm with no stops.

This route has been taken from Autoroute Express, we did the trip last Christmas on our way to Tunisia.

I think tolls were about £50-60.

Kevin
BTW I was driving a LR Discovery and not flat out.

Just a word of warning about speed limits, keep to them, have been driving on the french motorways for many years now but noticed on my last trip (May/June) many more police radar traps than on previous trips. It's a big temptation to drive fast as the roads are often almost empty, but it's not worth risking the hefty fines.

Driving to Brittany again in September, and it's been a couple of years since i drove to France, so are there any new regulations or requirements that have come in during the last few years ..... seems every time i get down to Portsmouth, the wee shop at the ferry terminal seems to be plugging something new that you require for France!!!

Hi Becky, I am posting from Monaco. We crossed to Boulogne on Saturday night and crashed at an hotel there. We set off on Sunday morning to our next stop at Valence. The usual way we go is A26/A31/A6/A7 which would have been 1020km. The RAC routeplanner recommended A16/Paris perifique/A6/A7 which was 850 km. I am not a fan of Paris but decided to try it (it was Sunday after all). It worked a treat. The perifique was a doddle and we got into Valence at about 4pm (8 hours drive). I filled up with diesel on the Monday at Valence (1.06 per litre about 73p) and then we drove to Monaco. Not in a hurry we did the N7 which is a beautiful run down the Rhone valley as far as Orange then got on the A7 and A8. we kept the speed down to between 90 and 100kph (around 60 mph) which meant we could drive with the windows open and arrived in Monaco at about 3pm. I do have AC but at 60mph my car does somewhere in the region of 70mpg

Last year we drove to Port Grimaud.. We got off the EuroTunnel in Calais about 8am (CET) and drove down to Valence stopping for a 15 min break every 2 hrs. In Valence we stayed at a Logis hotel (St Jaquecs) which gave all 3 of us, bed/breakfast and evening meal for under £60.

On the return journey we stopped off at Reims for the night..

The only stressful part of the journey was when we arrived back in the UK

Just a tip, shop around and buy all your travel essentials before arriving at the port. We arrived at Portsmouth last year only to find that we needed a fire extinguisher, which was a new requirement since our last trip. So we dutifully forked out £25 for one only to find we could have got it for half the price on the ferry, even better Lidl had been doing them for a fiver the week before!!

Hopefully, you will only ever need to buy the full kit once, but it can be pricey to do in one hit.

To echo a previous post we got back from France a few days ago and I don't remember ever seeing so many police on the toll roads, so do watch the speed limits. Toll roads are great, such an improvement on the roads here but don't shy away from the non-toll roads as we have found them to be just as quick in the past and of course it saves a few euros into the bargain.

Pam

Aye, exactly why i was asking the question a few posts back, as you are correct ..... buying at the port is very expensive!

So ..... have there been any changes to the requirements in the last year or two?

Hi
nothing new that I'm aware of in addition to the previous posts. Someone mentioned the high visibility jackets, which we did take as we had them anyway, but as of last year they were only a requirement for Spain and not France.

The high vis jackets are needed in Belgium too so if you sail to Zeebrugge you'll need one. We got ours in Lidl. I also picked up a warning triangle in a 99p shop.
The AA website lists what is compulsory for each country.

Hi

We are new to this forum and were wondering if anybody had any experience of driving through France to Florence, Italy with 2 small children.

We are going to a family wedding near Florence in June 2007, and planning to drive from Calais through France to Italy.

Does anyone have any experience of this, we would love to hear all about it, nightmares and everything.

How long did it take? How much does it cost in tolls?
Recommendations for Travel Lodge style hotels in France? (I have heard of Formula 1???)

Any info you can pass on will be a great help.

Thank you
Annette and Graham

If you type inhttp://www.viamichelin.fr, and enter Calais as your starting point, and your address in Italy as your ending point, it should offer you quickest route, most economical route, and SOMETIMES most scenic route!

However, you could look at an atlas and compare the A26 to Rheims, the A4 to Strasbourg, the A35 to the Swiss border, the N2 from Basel to Chiasso, or the A26 to Paris, the A6 or A7 to the south and then enter Italy from Ventimilia, depending on where in Italy you want to head for.

Good luck - or should I say Bonne Route!

Having now seen that you are going to Florence from the Italy forum, I would suggest the first of the routes I suggested (and not JUST because it goes through my region of France!!). You should be able to type in French Motorway Tolls into a search engine and calculate your costs for that part.

For Switzerland you will need to buy a windscreen sticker at the border - payable in Swiss Francs or Euros. It is valid for a year, ending in December of the year you buy it. Don't try to use the Swiss motorways without one! Fines are on the spot and VERY pricey!! Italian motorways are also tolled ... suggest you collect Euro change.

Depending on when you go, the Gotthard pass may not be open and you should allow (regretfully) for a delay at the tunnel!! There are also long ongoing road works south of Basel around Pratteln but they are well sign posted, and only hell in the Swiss rush hour.

You should try to enjoy the journey because it IS a long one. Calais to Rheims will take you about 2-3 hours if you drive at a legal speed! (Yes, I know that a lot of people do it in less, but two kids are precious cargo.)

As you enter Rheims, just after the junction with the A4, the TINQUEUX exit has all the hotels - Formula 1, Ibis etc.

From Rheims to Strasbourg, it will take you (330 km) about 3.5 hours. There are a collection of hotels in the suburb of La Vigie/Geispolsheim to the south of Strasbourg - F1, Ibis, Novotel, Campanile. This area is VERY CLOSE to the chocolate museum (with free tasting and a wicked tea shop!).

Strasbourg gets very busy in the rush hour 7.30 am - 9.30 am and 4-7 because work starts at 8 am here. (Not that the shops open that early except for hypermarkets ... about 8.30). Just make sure that you breathe deeply and keep in the middle lane in the dense 3/4 lane session!! It miraculously thins out just before the hotel area - follow N83 and NOT, repeat NOT A35 to Colmar, which will take you to the airport and away from where you want to be.

From Strasbourg to the Swiss border at Basel will take you about 2.5 hours. Two exits before the border, at Basel Mulhouse airport turn off there is a Formule 1, which will save you time and money ... book in advance if you think you'll need it, but it is open 24 HOURS which is unusual for this chain.

From Basel to Milan if all goes well should take you about 4 hours, but the scenery is magnificent. If you need a stop, (and remember that you'll need Swiss Francs and Switzerland is pricey!!) just south of Lugano, at Mendrisio there is a lovely 'Switzerland in Miniature' park where you can stretch your legs in comparatively cute surroundings ... though they do charge you!!

Just before you get to the Italian Border (Chiasso/Como), there is a service area with a hotel and Mc Donalds at Coldrerio.

Border waits in Italy can be somewhat frustrating if the Swiss and Italians are scoring points off each other, but we haven't had much longer than a 15 mins wait in peak season.

There is a toll point about 2 exits into Italy just after Como South ... and they come up fairly regularly after then.

You should plan very carefully your foray around the Milan ringroad, knowing not only the road number you want, but which town name to follow (it may be nearer than Florence itself), and the exit number. This is another area in which to take deep breaths and fortify yourself with water and non-chocolately snacks. It can take ages, and some of the other drivers (including those in trucks who should know better) are less than competent, so ask the family to specifically treat you with kid gloves at this point.

Once you get on the road to Florence ... I do hope an Italianophile can help you further ... sufficit to say there will be tolls, the odd expensive service area, and lots of fast cars.

If pushed, we do Colmar to Calais in about 10 hours (remember that you lose an hour between the UK and France). Other friends do it in 6 hours, but don't stop and go at breakneck speed. We often go to Como, which takes us 4 hours, or 5 to Milan. If you want to have a side trip it takes 8 hours from Colmar to Venice Mestre ... but that's another story!!