Driving Roscoff to Aix en Provence

murphydublin

Hi All

Planning to take the ferry to Roscoff and driving to Provence - any recommendations for a stopover? Is there much difference if I get the ferry from Dublin? 3 children (am I mad!) So hoping to make a nice road trip of it.

650Ginge

murphydublin wrote: »

Hi All

Planning to take the ferry to Roscoff and driving to Provence - any recommendations for a stopover? Is there much difference if I get the ferry from Dublin? 3 children (am I mad!) So hoping to make a nice road trip of it.

Unless you have a car that's special just fly cheaper quicker and less aggro.

That said I will be driving this year but in a camper and via the UK.

Carawaystick

Have driven that far before.
Have stayed in Kyriad hotel in Clermont Ferrand and in Bourges, in some budget hotel beside the Autoroute.
Bourges city is very nice, worth an evening ramble around the cathedral, which has a playground beside it.

I'd recommend taking the A75 south from Clermont instead of crossing to Lyon and the A7, which is a fairly mental busy road. it's ~20km longer, but less stress and much better scenery over the mountains and the Millau viaduct, which is the tallest bridge in the world.
Mappy.fr will give you the toll costs and an estimate of fuel costs.
Abelard.org will give his quirky take on the motorways.... but he is usually informative about the rest stops ( called Aires) on the motorways in France; especially ones with playgrounds or obstacle courses.

Bring food for picnics and snacks; feeding children are peaceful children. Snacks bought en route are dear
Diesel in Supermarkets in France is cheaper than here. Diesel bought on motorway stations is dearer than here...

Pack summery clothes so the children and you can change out of Irish clothes as the weather heats up going south.


You will be able to drive to Rosslare much quicker than the ferry from Dublin would make it down, so it's shorter that way.

bizguy

I drove straight to St Etienne 2 years ago, stayed the night in an F1 and then hit Aix the next morning, was there for lunch.

Try to see the Gorge Verdon, you can rent canoes on Lac de Saint Croix. I've driven to almost every part of France and this is an alltime highlight.

Lucena

I'd agree with Carawaystick, stay off the A7 as long as possible, it is possibly one of the busiest motorways in Europe. I'd also agree with them regarding buying as little as possible on motorways, best thing is to fill up in a supermarket petrol station and buy any food, drink etc there. I don't know if you've been to France before, but it can get very hot, so bring lots of water in the car before you hit the motorway, you don't want to be paying 2 euros for a 1.5l bottle in a rest area!

Saint Etienne might be ok for an overnight stop, depending on what time you arrive in Roscoff, but there's not a whole lot to see in the town. Having said that, the Formule 1 hotel there is a couple of hundred metres from the motorway, which is limited to 90km/h on that section, so motorway noise won't be an issue there, as opposed to a lot of other Formule 1 hotels which are right beside the motorway.

I'd look into car rental as an above poster advised, but possibly it won't be worth it, as prices in the south of France during the summer tend to shoot up for accommodation, so I'd imagine cars might be the same. Maybe you just want to bring back tonnes of wine with you!