Cutting the Cost of French Tolls

JohnnyBananas

Hi All,

I’m planning a trip to France for the first time and I want to research the burden of French tolls beforehand. I have heard estimates of €100 to €200 to get from Cherbourg to the south of France (and the same back again).

While I will accept the fact that tolls are part of a French motorhome holiday, I would like to know if these costs can be significantly controlled. I’m sure a lot of my time will be spent on non-tolled back roads but I am also sure there will be times when I’ll want to get to places as quickly as possible. Below is a collection of routes where I envisage that this could potentially be the case.

Can I now ask experienced motorhomers if they come across any clever ways to reduce these costs. The kind of things I’m looking for include “this motorway route is a similar length but is more toll cost efficient than that one”, “the non tolled backroad for that route is actually a very good road” or indeed other things that you may have thought of that I haven’t.

All pieces of information in relation the above will be greatly appreciated, no matter how small. Thank In Advance for all responses.

Potential Routes

Cherbourg To/From (cities)
Paris
Brest
Tours
Nantes
La Rochelle
Grenoble
Biarritz
Rodez
Carcassonne
Marseille
Nice

Cherbourg To/From (countries)
Belgium
Luxembourg
Germany
Switzerland
Italy
Spain

OuterBombie

Howdy,

Last September, Cherbourg to Biarritz, I think about 50-60 euros one way.

You didn't need to pay until you get onto the autoroute del sud (or something like that) which is down past Nantes.

You could easily skip this by heading down the coastal route.

I wanted to get the drive done so up and back spent a day each time (8-9 hours on the go).

The tolls also vary depending on van size.

OB.

OuterBombie

OuterBombie wrote: »

Howdy,

You didn't need to pay until you get onto the autoroute del sud (or something like that) which is down past Nantes.

Which was about 350-400 kms.

stapeler

Try http://www.autoroutes.fr/index.php?id=583 which will calculate the toll cost for you. It also displays distance, drive time and fuel cost. Somewhere in there it also lists rest areas.

killalanerr

in your post you dont indicate what time of year you intend to travel,if you are traveling in the summer months stay off the tolls and tour to your destination the weather in the summer months in France can be very pleasant without going to to far south,last year in may we headed back north because it was to warm in the south,while some forward planing is needed dont over plan and enjoy your trip

beanie

Hey,

There's a website that can choose the route most economical(wihtout tolls), fastest route and total costs including petrol.
This should answer all of your questions:

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/

Hope it helps


Bean

John Dough

JohnnyBananas wrote: »

Hi All,

I’m planning a trip to France for the first time and I want to research the burden of French tolls beforehand. I have heard estimates of €100 to €200 to get from Cherbourg to the south of France (and the same back again).

While I will accept the fact that tolls are part of a French motorhome holiday, I would like to know if these costs can be significantly controlled. I’m sure a lot of my time will be spent on non-tolled back roads but I am also sure there will be times when I’ll want to get to places as quickly as possible. Below is a collection of routes where I envisage that this could potentially be the case.

Can I now ask experienced motorhomers if they come across any clever ways to reduce these costs. The kind of things I’m looking for include “this motorway route is a similar length but is more toll cost efficient than that one”, “the non tolled backroad for that route is actually a very good road” or indeed other things that you may have thought of that I haven’t.

All pieces of information in relation the above will be greatly appreciated, no matter how small. Thank In Advance for all responses.

Potential Routes

Cherbourg To/From (cities)
Paris
Brest
Tours
Nantes
La Rochelle
Grenoble
Biarritz
Rodez
Carcassonne
Marseille
Nice

Cherbourg To/From (countries)
Belgium
Luxembourg
Germany
Switzerland
Italy
Spain

Been there for the last couple of years and found that you are better off going to Roscoff and travelling down from there where there are very little tolls until nr. Bordeaux ,however the N roads are a pain as when you get behind a truck there is little or no opportunity to overtake safely so the tolls are well worthwhile for a motorway experience which is wonderful as most drivers pull over immediately after overtaking unlike Ireland where the twits NEVER pull in to the inside lane!! Rant over

A excellent stopover spot is in Biarritz where there is a aire with power, water, drainage etc. cost €10 night and just five minutes by bus to the main beach/Shopping area or 1 minute across the road to a surfing beach.

Ano0ther good spot is St. Pee sur Neville not far from the border and lovely manmade lake with great facilities for children.

Essential piece of equipment is a good quality GPS unit as if you get lost it will bring you back on track. Enjoy mate.

Pkiernan

I had to drive from Cherbourg to Stuttgart, and was quite surprised that the tools each way were coming to €65.

On my return journey, I used my Garmin Sat Nav to calculate a route that would avoid the tolls. It took about 10 minutes to calculate the route, and would have taken so much longer that it wasn't worth trying to avoid them.

The motorways there are very good however, so I would be happy to pay for them. Although pricey, you will save significantly on fuel by being able to cruise efficiently for very long stretches. The backroads will be full of stops, turns and starts.

pandos

There is no easy answer to French tolls.

The route that takes you over the Mileau viaduct is a very cheap route to the south coast, you can even avoid the toll on the bridge by going through the town.

La Rochelle has a fantastic carpark that is taken over by campervans in the summertime and is free. ( or at least it was a few years ago)

To get to Nice you could take the Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland etc rather than pay the tolls on the Motorways, particularly if you have a twin wheeled motor home, we spent a fortune on tolls over the years and frankly we just decided to avoid them if we can, So-what if the route is longer the scenery is great.

The french N roads are awful by day but from 6 on they are often deserted,

Definitely would get good gps and set option to avoid tolls, study rout on paper map before following it as at times a short tolled section may be worth it.

But one point that may be worth considering is that on a long run the ability to cruise at a steady speed particularly at night can lead to savings in fuel that outway the cost of tolls.