Tolls in France

M

Mikecarruthers

Joined
Sep 30, 2019
Posts
55
Likes collected
86
Location
Worksop, UK
Funster No
64,867
MH
Autotrail Apache 700
Exp
2009
Hi All
Just spent 16 days over Xmas in France and Holland we decided to go down to the south on to the med which was lovely apart from we went down the toll road from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage via Tours down towards Marseille it cost over €200 in tolls have the French gone mad they want tourists to visit and then rip them off when they get there we went to Aigues-Mortes a beautiful walled town but €22euro per night you have to be careful not to stay on the same ticket for more than 23 hours or they charge you €1.20 for every half hour after so you have to go out and come back in again it’s the same at le Touquet-Paris-Plage for the first 23 hours it’s €11.00 then for the 24 th hour they charge you a extra €6.60 for the last hour if you use Calais as a starting point the new aires is great 24 hour security gated excellent waste and fresh water, hard standing and it’s takes 5 mins to the beach and only €10.00
 
You do have a choice with the toll roads.

They are excellent and if you choose not to use them, it is a free alternative to use normal roads.

France is much cheaper and less rip off than the UK in our experience.
 
Good money making idea, French toll roads, convenient but expensive, that’s why we never use them.
We also use free Aires where we can, if you use the Camping CarPark Aires, they are convenient but expensive too, we very rarely use those either.
 
Plenty of good roads to get down to the south of France without using tolls, we hardly ever use toll roads in France.
Last time we went to Aigues-Mortes a few years ago it was €22 then and you could only pay with coins, we went a few miles down to the coast and stayed in a big car park behind the sand dunes for €5.
80% the Aires we have stayed at in France have been free.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
We now use toll roads quite often but only certain sections.
The D and N roads are generally very good but sometimes it’s quicker and easier to jump onto a toll section to miss out some ‘Micky mouse’ sections of towns, constant roundabouts, or busy areas.
Use the toll roads sparingly and carefully and they make the journey much less stressful for driver and vehicle but work out the route in advance to make the best of the free roads.

Richard.
PS. Buy a toll tag to make life even easier.
 
Have you tried The Michelin Route Planner, set for no tolls, and as much about the vehicle as you can like diesel etc. Then you can set POI's change route should you wish en route.

Also I bet you already know about Camper Contact, & Park4 Nite, these apps are what most people travelling use, look at the pictures, read the most current reviews.

The new edition of All The Aires is out for 2020 for northern & Southern France, prices vary so check on line.
Happy Travels
LES
 
French Autoroutes, and their Services, put the U.K. to shame. The surface is generally well maintained without pot holes every few metres.

As others have already said there is no requirement to use them. There is usually a “Route National” running parallel to them. Normally much quieter than British roads they allow you to see the countryside and the villages of the Country you are touring.

If you are in a rush to get to the South of France then Autoroutes are fine, if expensive, but you miss a lot of France.

The Tolls are not there to rip off tourists, the French also pay.

There are some expensive Aires but there are also a lot of cheap/free ones with plenty of info available in advance. France is still one of the most motorhome friendly countries.
 
More importantly, what was the weather like on the Med and did you have a good time?

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Googlebot said:
You do have a choice with the toll roads.

They are excellent and if you choose not to use them, it is a free alternative to use normal roads.

France is much cheaper and less rip off than the UK in our experience.
Click to expand...
We have been overcharged so many times at French supermarkets that when it doesn't happen we are delighted. Promos that aren't promos, putting unpriced articles on promo shelves and advertising them as promos but charging full prices, having the same items on different shelves with different prices (and always being charged the higher price), tills that have different prices to what is on the shelf or packaging. Not saying it is done on purpose but it has happened a lot to us. The worst we ever experienced was a small supermarket in a village where 9 out if 13 items we purchased were overcharged at the check-out, including everyday items such as butter and ham. Even when we were reimbursed the overcharges the manageress decided we should pay an extra euro! We went to the local Mairie about that shop as we felt that all the local people deserved better.
Prices in France have increased quite a lot and there are fewer offers around. That's not so important for holidaymakers but very important for residents, especially those on fixed incomes.
Autoroutes can be very useful, especially to now avoid the endless speed limit changes and chicanes. We used to use national and departmental routes but not so much now. Autoroute charges do vary, the A28 from Rouen to Alençon is very expensive. What is annoying is when the autoroutes are having works done and vast sections are low speeds and curtailed lanes yet the charge is the same.
We love France and keep going back, we were there four times last year but it is like everywhere, a mix of good and less good.
 
Allanm said:
Good money making idea, French toll roads, convenient but expensive, that’s why we never use them.
We also use free Aires where we can, if you use the Camping CarPark Aires, they are convenient but expensive too, we very rarely use those either.
Click to expand...
I certainly would not say Camping Park Aires are expensive . Where in the UK can you park with a borne and electric for the same price ?

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
I like others think this link is very useful, loads of tips, loads to read & digest.
Bon Voyage.
LES
about-france.com

Driving in France

Driving in France - main routes, rules of the road, practical information
about-france.com about-france.com
 
Mikecarruthers said:
Hi All
Just spent 16 days over Xmas in France and Holland we decided to go down to the south on to the med which was lovely apart from we went down the toll road from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage via Tours down towards Marseille it cost over €200 in tolls have the French gone mad they want tourists to visit and then rip them off when they get there we went to Aigues-Mortes a beautiful walled town but €22euro per night you have to be careful not to stay on the same ticket for more than 23 hours or they charge you €1.20 for every half hour after so you have to go out and come back in again it’s the same at le Touquet-Paris-Plage for the first 23 hours it’s €11.00 then for the 24 th hour they charge you a extra €6.60 for the last hour if you use Calais as a starting point the new aires is great 24 hour security gated excellent waste and fresh water, hard standing and it’s takes 5 mins to the beach and only €10.00
Click to expand...

What class is your MH on the toll barriers ? We use the Toll roads from Calais all the way down to Adge via Lyon and for our Class 2 it's just over 100E.
 
LesW said:
Still cheaper than touring in the UK.
Click to expand...
Is it?

Fuel is more expensive.

It seems nearly all of our aires that ive been using for my many years of motorhoming now appear online or in a book and subsequently get a barrier and a 10€ price tag minimum, yet i can spend 10 £ on a decent CL in the UK.

Toll roads as said are a joke, especially in a 6 wheel van like ours.
The UK provides free roads by comparison.

Having Just come back from skiing in France, something we previously done for many years, but the last few years done Austria and Italy I'm astounded at how its changing...

Prices are rocketing,
Its getting full of rubbish, (not disimilar to the UK)
Dog shit everywhere,
The thieving continues,
A denise in what ive always liked about France that of the family unit..
A country in chaos if you ask me and one losing its precious socialist values and have it replaced by a more extreme level of capitalism.

Not me saying the above but conversations with French people when i was there. Them telling me how it's changing and my witness of it.

I now prefer to go east, Germany, ,Austria, Poland, To name a few.

That's before you look at the beauty of what the UK has to offer.

Pembrokeshire
West coast of Scotland
North Yorkshire
The Peak district
Grimsby,
Devon and Dorset..

To name just a few you can do without having to spend what's now a fortune on a ferry crossing...

I think there's a lack of respect for this great country of ours.

Britain is still a great place to live.
 
LesW said:
Wouldn't disagree with this.. but the rest?

A different experience to me.
Click to expand...


Maybe my experience is one from when France was a great place to tour and when it was far cheaper than the UK..
Having been going to France for 30 years, it's changed financially beyond recognition to where it was even 10 years ago.

Get your van out, head north , try if you haven't and visit the places i mention.
Or go east, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia.

France is changing, has changed...
Not somewhere i would choose now each to their own..
Wasn't that many years ago where my plan was to retire / move my family to France...that's hows high i once rated it... not now

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Mikecarruthers said:
Hi All
Just spent 16 days over Xmas in France and Holland we decided to go down to the south on to the med which was lovely apart from we went down the toll road from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage via Tours down towards Marseille it cost over €200 in tolls have the French gone mad they want tourists to visit and then rip them off when they get there we went to Aigues-Mortes a beautiful walled town but €22euro per night you have to be careful not to stay on the same ticket for more than 23 hours or they charge you €1.20 for every half hour after so you have to go out and come back in again it’s the same at le Touquet-Paris-Plage for the first 23 hours it’s €11.00 then for the 24 th hour they charge you a extra €6.60 for the last hour if you use Calais as a starting point the new aires is great 24 hour security gated excellent waste and fresh water, hard standing and it’s takes 5 mins to the beach and only €10.00
Click to expand...
Have a look at this. It could save you a shed load of money for future trips.
 
We have just done the toll roads from Le Harve heading for Burgos the cost of the tolls for us out ways the possibility of a speeding ticket low speed limits, roundabouts etc in the winter we like to get to the sun as soon as possible we have the toll sanef tag it makes the journey through the tolls stress free. We have found the prices in France have risen significantly in the last couple of years so don’t use the supermarkets only for fuel and bread.
 
haganap said:
Is it?

Fuel is more expensive.

It seems nearly all of our aires that ive been using for my many years of motorhoming now appear online or in a book and subsequently get a barrier and a 10€ price tag minimum, yet i can spend 10 £ on a decent CL in the UK.

Toll roads as said are a joke, especially in a 6 wheel van like ours.
The UK provides free roads by comparison.

Having Just come back from skiing in France, something we previously done for many years, but the last few years done Austria and Italy I'm astounded at how its changing...

Prices are rocketing,
Its getting full of rubbish, (not disimilar to the UK)
Dog shit everywhere,
The thieving continues,
A denise in what ive always liked about France that of the family unit..
A country in chaos if you ask me and one losing its precious socialist values and have it replaced by a more extreme level of capitalism.

Not me saying the above but conversations with French people when i was there. Them telling me how it's changing and my witness of it.

I now prefer to go east, Germany, ,Austria, Poland, To name a few.

That's before you look at the beauty of what the UK has to offer.

Pembrokeshire
West coast of Scotland
North Yorkshire
The Peak district
Grimsby,
Devon and Dorset..

To name just a few you can do without having to spend what's now a fortune on a ferry crossing...

I think there's a lack of respect for this great country of ours.

Britain is still a great place to live.
Click to expand...

I love your post and it fits in very well with what we've been thinking lately. We also love Norfolk and The New Forest.
 
haganap said:
Is it?

Fuel is more expensive.

It seems nearly all of our aires that ive been using for my many years of motorhoming now appear online or in a book and subsequently get a barrier and a 10€ price tag minimum, yet i can spend 10 £ on a decent CL in the UK.

Toll roads as said are a joke, especially in a 6 wheel van like ours.
The UK provides free roads by comparison.

Having Just come back from skiing in France, something we previously done for many years, but the last few years done Austria and Italy I'm astounded at how its changing...

Prices are rocketing,
Its getting full of rubbish, (not disimilar to the UK)
Dog shit everywhere,
The thieving continues,
A denise in what ive always liked about France that of the family unit..
A country in chaos if you ask me and one losing its precious socialist values and have it replaced by a more extreme level of capitalism.

Not me saying the above but conversations with French people when i was there. Them telling me how it's changing and my witness of it.

I now prefer to go east, Germany, ,Austria, Poland, To name a few.

That's before you look at the beauty of what the UK has to offer.

Pembrokeshire
West coast of Scotland
North Yorkshire
The Peak district
Grimsby,
Devon and Dorset..

To name just a few you can do without having to spend what's now a fortune on a ferry crossing...

I think there's a lack of respect for this great country of ours.

Britain is still a great place to live.
Click to expand...
We live in France and I haven’t found France to be anything like the picture you have painted.
I suppose it depends where you go, just like anywhere else.
 
We use the toll roads when we are heading somewhere specific eg Spain and want to get there quickly and stress free. We are in Spain now and just got our toll tag notification for December: 100€ and I thought we’d taken a mostly toll free route!
on the other hand, we hate roundabouts with a passion and if you avoid at least one speeding fine (remember that most single carriageway are now 80 km/hr)then perhaps it’s not quite so bad...

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Allanm said:
We live in France and I haven’t found France to be anything like the picture you have painted.
I suppose it depends where you go, just like anywhere else.
Click to expand...

two things, you live in the lovely North West, like so many other Brits..

Secondly, you're confused. Not actually me that's painting this picture, it's a picture I am seeing, but the many French people I spoke with Skiing who are telling me this. I am merely reporting what I have seen recently having thankfully bailed out of France in the recent years and then returned this year.

you are of course correct, one of them told me they love the UK and London is the greatest city in the world, I couldn't think of anything worse than London. each to their own and it's a big country.

But the actual comment I was referring too was from LesW that told me that it's cheaper to tour France than the UK. Sadly I truly believe it's not anymore.

Higher Fuel, poor exchange rate, increased price of Ferry, Toll roads (should you choose them) and an ever increasing network of aires that are being brought to paying aires bit by bit...
 
I may live in the lovely north east ( your right there) but we travel all over France. I am with LesW in his assertion that France is cheaper to tour, even if you use toll roads.
Fuel in France is cheaper. I paid £1.29 in Tesco last week. A few days ago here, I paid €1.43 (equivalent to around £1.22)
We just spent 6 weeks driving around France, almost 3500 miles. Total cost of aires and services that we had to pay for was less than €20.
We spent just over a week just after Christmas travelling from Dover to Cambridge, spent a week in Cambridge then back to Dover
Total cost of campsites ( there’s only one open in Cambridge so there was no alternative) was around £170.
Now, even with basic maths, that tells me France is substantially cheaper.
And this isn’t based on one visit, we visit 3 or 4 times a year and we find just about everything is more expensive in the UK.
 
Vickysponge said:
I love your post and it fits in very well with what we've been thinking lately. We also love Norfolk and The New Forest.
Click to expand...
Where do you stay in Norfolk? Where do you like best?
 
violet said:
What is annoying is when the autoroutes are having works done and vast sections are low speeds and curtailed lanes yet the charge is the same.
Click to expand...
Yes you are paying to be travelling ath the speed limit as far as I'm concered. Also not only are you paying but when you need fule it is extremely overpriced. Then there is the lack of anything decent to eat. How anyone puts up with sandwiches & stuff like that with not even any fast food or restaurants is beyond me. Then you have the filth that is served by vending machines.
Then we finish off with 10 pm comes & everything shuts.
& you're paying extortionately for all this.
 
EllF said:
We have just done the toll roads from Le Harve heading for Burgos the cost of the tolls for us out ways the possibility of a speeding ticket low speed limits, roundabouts etc in the winter we like to get to the sun as soon as possible we have the toll sanef tag it makes the journey through the tolls stress free. We have found the prices in France have risen significantly in the last couple of years so don’t use the supermarkets only for fuel and bread.
Click to expand...
We’re with you on this, tolls all the way.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top