France - to use tolls or not?

[REC]

Best way I think is to check each section of the trip say in 100 mile chunks on the sat nav or online, toll and without toll and see if there is much time difference. I worked on the principle of it it saves an hour over 100 miles definitely take the toll but if it's 20 minutes don't bother.

Pretty much what we do. The only time we did tolls most of the way was during lockdown when we returned via fastest roads with fewest vehicles on them!

 

[UFO]

I thought I would report back on how it went.

Day 1
Departed Calais. 406 km. 5 hours 23 minutes (helped by getting to Dover early and being put on an earlier ferry, thus getting an extra 1 hour 30 minutes driving time in France). Overnight Vitry-Le-Francois.

Day 2
142 km, 2 hours. Overnight Langres.

Day 3
218 km, 3 hours 45 minutes. Overnight Charchilla.

Day 4
192 km, 3 hours 42 minutes. Arrived Chamonix.

No toll roads.

Have used toll roads a couple of times since, including in Croatia - which was good value.

 

[alcam]

I thought I would report back on how it went.

Day 1
Departed Calais. 406 km. 5 hours 23 minutes (helped by getting to Dover early and being put on an earlier ferry, thus getting an extra 1 hour 30 minutes driving time in France). Overnight Vitry-Le-Francois.

Day 2
142 km, 2 hours. Overnight Langres.

Day 3
218 km, 3 hours 45 minutes. Overnight Charchilla.

Day 4
192 km, 3 hours 42 minutes. Arrived Chamonix.

No toll roads.

Have used toll roads a couple of times since, including in Croatia - which was good value.

If you are happy with the times and roads then that is what matters . Wee bit mental arithmetic , mph not great but difficult to assess without comparison

 

[Habu66]

We sometimes use tolls but not as a rule. I go to the Le Mans 24 hour race every year and the section around Abbeville to Rouen is about 13euros so I always use it but as my friend from Denmark says, "I ain't paying for their Asphalt.

 

[rugbyken]

we had to return from portugal 2 weeks early for a funeral couple of euros at the spanish french border in tolls then 3 x 6:50 tolls on the A 10 got us to poitiers €20 to tours though they tried to charge for a class 3 no argument though , we then spent €40 to get up near bernay where we went off toll for the last day over the pont de brontonne , portugal to dieppe in 3 days 900 miles impossible without using the tolls

 

[Nikeboro]

We always avoided the toll roads and enjoyed poodling through villages and seeing 'real France'. However, having not been for a few years, on our last visit we found that strategy no longer worked because the off-toll routes are now so slow.
We found that most towns and villages have lowered the speed limits drastically and there are hundreds of roundabouts, road humps etc. A 2 hour trip had become at least 3 hours and closer to 4. It just took too long and had become hard work. So, grudgingly, we took to zooming down the toll roads to the region we wanted and then reverting to off-piste.

 

[marchie]

We sometimes use tolls but not as a rule. I go to the Le Mans 24 hour race every year and the section around Abbeville to Rouen is about 13euros so I always use it but as my friend from Denmark says, "I ain't paying for their Asphalt.

A lot of men would think that €13 was cheap for the pleasure of having their ashphalt ...

Steve