Peages to cost more.. will it make you change your route?

For those who regularly use the peages, this could be a nasty surprise.

However, if you are able to come off the motorways, there are some delightful villages etc to discover. Yes, the journey will take longer, but it should be more fun and certainly less stressful.

Do any of you use the “Tag” that gets you through the Tolls ahead of everyone else ?? :sunglasses:

Hi Stella

I use’ Bip & Go’ to get through the péages, just take the priority lane on the left and …well it bips and I go. Saves all that faffing about with tickets and searching for change. :slight_smile:

I use the autoroutes because with an elderly disabled passenger I don’t have a lot of choice, try finding a toilet with wheelchair access on the N roads!

Come to that trying to find toilets for the disabled even in tourist areas is a nightmare, but I digress :wink:

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Here is the link for anyone interested …

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Ann… does the Bip&Go thing work in carparks as well ???

I had a doofer but in the end I stopped using it because I wasn’t keeping track of how much I’d spent in tolls. Not an issue on local routes where you know the cost, but touring in the motorhome, you can easily clock up many hundreds of euro in tolls over a month. I like to keep an eye on it so that if I’ve paid a lot in tolls one day, I keep off the motorways for the next few days to even it out. Not knowing was making me nervous, I was imagining a bill of 1,000s. And I like to be stress free and carefree on holiday.

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I won’t change my route to avoid the autoroute because the price has gone up.For me its the quickest way to travel to the north west of france from the south east of France without flying and hiring a car.En route tourism when you are not on holiday only adds to the time and distance.

It’ll probably put Brittany back at the top of my list of places to tour. I love Brittany in any case but recently I’ve been tending to explore different parts of France. To date, Brittany has kept its entire motorway network toll-free.

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I don’t know Stella, but I would think it unlikely …car parks are generally controlled by local councils in my unhappy experience !

Edit : apparently yes, I just looked on the site and it says it works in nearly 400 parkings !

I understand your reasoning…

Do you make that long trip very often (sorry, just being nosey)…:wink:

For convenience, i will still use the autoroutes ( with my tag😁), but I do look at alternative routes to use the free network if possible. Drove down from Dieppe Friday/Saturday, using motorways but toll was only 13€. Have the choice of taking the A71 to Montlucon and paying lots, or the A20 from Vierzon to J23 toll free, journey takes 5 mins more. Used to travel to UK via Paris, Calais or Boulogne last time, 8 or 9 years ago tolls were over €50!

Anyway, the toll motorway was fog bound and the A20 was mostly clear - what are we paying for if they can’t keep the fog away?

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We often, (3 or 4 time per year) make the return trip to the UK from down here in The Aude. If costs about 60€ one way in tolls, about 120€ the return journey. We will keep using it because we can get on the autoroute, put the cruise control on and do the best part of 1000km at whatever the relevant speed limit is. It makes the journey so easy. Come the glorious day when we retire we may well spend time going north or south off motorway to see more of the regions but for the moment it is means to an end and is worth every euro to us, even if it becomes a few euros more.

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Just out of interest Dave - how much do you spend on fuel, food (accomm?) and ferry / tunnel for the round trip?

Do I make the trip often ? Last year with the car 4 times, once by air.

How would you rate Air versus Car…?

OH is not allowed to make long car journeys any more, (he is driving less and less anyway)… so we are looking at alternatives.

Air is way quicker,but there is the inconvenience of not being able to have much stuff with you, over officious airport staff, waiting to pick up hire car,usual gripes about air travel. If you can book a long time in advance then the price is cheaper then driving, but for last minute not so competitive.
My opinion of course others might have other views

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We have a friend who lives in the south east of France. He is blind but manages to travel by using Bla Bla car sharing. His niece does all the arranging and whoever he is visiting picks him up at the pre arranged drop off point. It works reall well and the price he pays is incredibly cheap. He has visited us here 3 times by this method. No worries about safety as the company has a lot of security checks in place. Points and comments are left by passengers so you can check out what the driver is like, what type of car, how much luggage, pick-up and dropping of points along the routes. A great idea, check it out … :slight_smile:

https://www.blablacar.fr/

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Hi Stella

I’ve always flown between the UK and France but I do live in the far south which makes for a long journey by road/train. I’ve always used Ryanair and always been very happy with their service. The price is fantastic as well. Have never paid more than 100€ for the return trip. I usually go for a short time so being restricted to a small amount of luggage is never a problem. But, you do have to park your car somewhere (or get a lift) and airport parking can be expensive and a space not guaranteed and there is the wait at the airport.

Maybe the train would be worth considering as you are a bit further north than us.

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I love train travel and find it relaxing, but it can work out really expensive unless you manage to grab one of SNCF’s promotions.
The station change at Paris can sometimes be a bit daunting too.
We have the opportunity to stay free of charge in a lovely appartment in Antibes owned by my ‘partner’s’ cousin. No need for a car once there.
We have done the drive a couple of times but it is long and tiring. Checked out the train fares and they are astronomical, as well as the dreaded trip to Paris, for the TER !

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My French friend often travels by train in preference to the car and she usually manages to get a bargain. She takes advantage of offers or travels at odd hours - either late at night or very early morning - to get the cheapest fares.

The worst part is definitely changing at Paris and waiting for connections.

works in some carparks - when it is indicated.